could be of any value to a composition. How these changes came about, with their approximate dates, may now be considered. The Age of a Sampler The approximate date of any sampler, which is not more than two hundred and fifty years old, should, from the illustrations given in this volume, be capable of being arrived at without much difficulty, and it is, therefore, only those undated specimens which, from their appearance, may be older than that period that call for consideration here. They are but few in number, and a comparison of one or two of them may be of service as indicating the kind of examination to which old specimens should be subjected. [Illustration: FIG. 4.--SAMPLER OF CUT AND EMBROIDERED WORK. EARLY 17TH CENTURY. _The late Canon Bliss._] [Illustration: PLATE III.--PORTION OF LONG SAMPLER BY A. S. DATED 1648. _Author's Collection._ Owing to its great length this Sampler is not shown in its entirety. A portion of the upper part, which consists of various unconnected designs, and figures of birds, beetles, flies, and crayfish, has been omitted. In the portion illustrated is a man with a staff followed by a stag bearing a leaf in its mouth, a unicorn and lion, and the initials "A.S.," with date 1648. The bands of ornaments which follow are in several instances those which find a place nearly two centuries later as the borders of Samplers still. The lower portion is interesting for the changes which are rung upon the oak leaf and acorn. The silks of which it is made are in three colours only--blue, pink, and a yellowish green--which are worked upon a coarsish linen. Size, 34-3/4 × 8-1/2. It is in the author's collection. A somewhat similar Sampler, dated 1666, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.]