The sampler itself is a beautiful specimen of drawn work, and the lettering is the same colour as the linen. If, as must probably be the case, it was worked by her as a child, it was made in England, and its date may be the end of the first decade of the seventeenth century. The second, by Lora Standish, is now in the Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth (Fig. 43). Lora was the daughter of Miles Standish, the Pilgrim Father, who went to Boston in February 1621, and it bears the inscription:-- "Loara Standish is My Name Lord Guide My Heart that I may do Thy Will And fill my hands with such convenient Skill As will conduce to Virtue void of Shame And I will give the Glory to Thy Name." [Illustration: FIG. 46.--SAMPLER BY ELIZABETH EASTON. 1795. _Mr A. W. Drake's Collection._] The earliest dated sampler in America of which I have cognisance, and one which may have been worked in that country, is that bearing the names of Miles and Abigail Fletwood (Fleetwood?) (Fig. 44). It is dated 1654, and has been owned by the descendants of Mrs Henry Quincy since 1750, and is now in the possession of Mrs Frank Boxer of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who has kindly furnished me with particulars concerning it. It bears the following inscription:-- "In prosperity friends will be plenty, But in adversity not one in twenty," which, it is thought, may possibly have reference to the reverses of Miles Fletwood and his relationship to Cromwell. It is somewhat remarkable for a sampler to bear the names of husband and wife for it necessarily presupposes its having been worked after marriage. [Illustration: FIG. 47.--SAMPLER BY MARIA E. SPALDING. 1815. _Dr J. W. Walker's Collection._] [Illustration: FIG. 48.--SAMPLER BY MARTHA C. HOOTON. 1827. _Mr A. W. Drake's Collection._] If one may judge from the photographs which collectors in America have sent me, and for which I have to thank Dr James W. Walker of Chicago and Mr A. W. Drake of New York, and those noted in an article on the subject in the _Century Magazine_,[8] specimens between the period just named, that is the middle of the seventeenth century and the end of the eighteenth century, are rare. We have but two such figured, each dated 1795, and, as will be seen by the illustrations (Figs. 45 and 46), they are entirely British in character. I am glad, however, to add several interesting specimens of later date from the collections of these gentlemen. Unfortunately, not having the originals, I can only give them in monochrome. Plate XIII., however, represents in colour an American sampler. It belongs to Mr Pennell, the well-known artist and author, and was worked by an ancestress, Martha C. Barton, in 1825. From Mrs Longman's collection I also give (Fig. 51) one, worked in silk on a curious loose canvas, which was obtained by her in Massachusetts, and has the following inscription:--