This Sampler, of which only the upper half is reproduced, is remarkable not only for the decorative qualities of its design but for its perfect state of preservation. It consists, besides the four rows which are seen, of one other in which the drawn work is subservient in quantity to the embroidery, and of seven rows in which the reverse is the case. The inscription, which is set out below, alternates in rows with those of the design. The butter colour of the linen ground is well reproduced in the plate. The original measures 32×8. INSCRIPTION. "Look Well to that thou takest in Hand Its Better Worth Then house Or Land When Land is gone and Money is spent Then learn ing is most Excelent Let vertue Be Thy guide and it will kee p the out of pride Elizabeth Creasey Her work Done in the year 1686."] As also in that by Kitty Harison, in our illustration, Fig. 13. [Illustration: FIG. 13.--EASTER SAMPLER BY KITTY HARISON. DATED 1770.] The Christmas verse is usually:-- "Glory to God in the Highest"; but an unusual one is that in Margaret Fiddes's sampler, 1773:-- "The Night soon past, it ran so fast. The Day Came on Amain. Our Sorrows Ceast Our Hopes Encreast once more to Meet again A Star appears Expells all Fears Angels give Kings to Know A Babe was sent With that intent to Conquer Death below." Ascension Day is marked by:-- "The heavens do now retain our Lord Until he come again, And for the safety of our souls He there doth still remain. And quickly shall our King appear And take us by the hand And lead us fully to enjoy The promised Holy Land." _Sarah Smith_, 1794. Whilst Passion Week is recognisable in:-- "Behold the patient Lamb, before his shearer stands," etc. The Crucifixion itself, although it is portrayed frequently in German samplers (examples in The Fine Art Society's Exhibition were dated 1674, 1724, and 1776), is seldom, if ever, found in English ones, but for Good Friday we have the lines:-- "Alas and did my Saviour bleed For such a worm as I?" Verses taking the Form of Prayers, Dedications, Etc. Amongst all the verses that adorn samplers there were none which apparently commended themselves so much as those that dedicated the work to Christ. The lines usually employed are so familiar as hardly to need setting out, but they have frequent varieties. The most usual is:-- "Jesus permit thy gracious name to stand As the first Effort of young Phoebe's hand And while her fingers on this canvas move Engage her tender Heart to seek thy Love With thy dear Children let her Share a Part And write thy name thyself upon her Heart." _Harriot Phoebe Burch, aged 7 years_, 1822. A variation of this appears in the much earlier piece of Lora Standish (Fig. 43). Another, less common, but which again links the sampler with a religious aspiration, runs:--