Emblems and motifs were great favourites with the quilt workers of "ye olden times" and together with mottoes were worked into many pieces of embroidery. The following mottoes were copied from an old quilt made in the seventeenth century: "Covet not to wax riche through deceit," "He that has lest witte is most poore," "It is better to want riches than witte," "A covetous man cannot be riche." [Illustration: MORNING GLORIES In one of their many beautiful and delicate varieties were chosen for this quilt, and while the design is conventional to a certain extent it shows the natural grace of the growing vine] The needle and its products have always been held in great esteem in England, and many of the old writers refer to needlework with much respect. In 1640 John Taylor, sometimes called the "Water Poet," published a collection of essays, etc., called "The Needle's Excellency," which was very popular in its day and ran through twelve editions. In it is a long poem entitled, "The Prayse of the Needle." The following are the opening lines: "To all dispersed sorts of Arts and Trades I write the needles prayse (that never fades) So long as children shall begot and borne, So long as garments shall be made and worne. So long as Hemp or Flax or Sheep shall bear Their linnen Woollen fleeces yeare by yeare; So long as silk-worms, with exhausted spoile, Of their own entrailes for man's game shall toyle; Yea, till the world be quite dissolved and past, So long at least, the Needles use shall last." It is interesting to read what Elizabeth Glaister, an Englishwoman, writes of quilts in England: "Perhaps no piece of secular needlework gave our ancestors more satisfaction, both in the making and when made, as the quilt or bed coverlet. We have seen a good many specimens of them, both of the real quilted counterpanes, in which several thicknesses of material were stitched together into a solid covering, and the lighter silken or linen coverlets ornamented with all sorts of embroidery. Cradle quilts also were favourite pieces of needlework and figure in inventories of Henry VIII's time. "The real quilts were very handsome and the amount of labour bestowed on them was enormous. The seventeenth century was a great time for them, and the work of this period is generally very good. The quilting of some of them is made by sewing several strands of thick cotton between the fine linen of the surface and the lining. When one line was completed the cotton was laid down again next to it, and another line formed.