[Embroidered sampler.

Alphabet (upper and lower case), several decorative lines and two verses: 'Is there ambition in my heart / search gracious God and see.' [Isaac Watts] and 'Teach me to live / that I may dread/ the grave as little / as my bed // Teach me to die ' that so I may / with joy behold /the judgement day' [by Thomas Ken, later reused by Thomas Hardy in Jude the Obscure]. Needlework samplers remain one of the most widespread manifestations of the teaching and learning of basic literacy among girls and young women and, as here, reflect a strongly moralistic background. Silk on linen (245 × 438 mm), coloured threads. Some fading and few letters threadbare. Expertly conserved, mounted and framed.