Samplers bearing the foregoing verse are usually decorated with a picture of our first parents and the Tree of Knowledge, supported by a demon and angel. The parent or teacher sometimes spoke through the sampler, as thus, in Lucia York's, dated 1725:-- "Oh child most dear Incline thy ear And hearken to God's voice." Or again:-- "Return the kindness that you do receive As far as your ability gives leave." _Mary Lounds._ "Humility I'd recommend Good nature, too, with ease, Be generous, good, and kind to all, You'll never fail to please." _Susanna Hayes._ Samplers Expatiating upon Virtue or Vice, Wealth or Poverty, Happiness or Misery Amongst these may be noted:-- "Happy is he, the only man, Who out of choice does all he can Who business loves and others better makes By prudent industry and pains he takes. God's blessing here he'll have and man's esteem, And when he dies his works will follow him." Of those dealing with wealth or poverty none, perhaps, is more incisive than this:-- "The world's a city full of crooked streets, And Death's the market-place where all men meet; If life was merchandise that men could buy The rich would always live, the poor alone would die." An American sampler has the following from Burns's "Grace before Meat":-- "Some men have meat who cannot eat And some have none who need it. But we have meat and we can eat, And so the Lord be thanked." [Illustration: PLATE VIII.--SAMPLER BY MARY POSTLE. DATED 1747. _Mrs C. J. Longman._ An early specimen of a bordered Sampler, dated 1747, the rows being relegated to a small space in the centre, where they are altogether an insignificant feature in comparison with the border. Some of the ornament to which we have been accustomed in the rows survives, as for instance the pinks, but a new one is introduced, namely, the strawberry. Here are also the Noah's Ark animals, trees, etc., which henceforward become common objects and soon transform the face of the Sampler. The border itself is in evident imitation of the worsted flower work with which curtains, quilts, and other articles were freely adorned in the early eighteenth century.] Inscriptions having an Interest owing to their Quaintness The following dates from 1740, and has as appendix the line, "God prosper the war":-- "The sick man fasts because he cannot eat The poor man fasts because he hath no meat The miser fasts to increase his store The glutton fasts because he can eat no more The hypocrite fasts because he'd be condemned The just man fasts cause he hath offended." An American version of this ends with:-- "Praise God from whom all blessings flow We have meat enow." That self-conceit was not always considered a failing, is evident from the following verses:--