Adapted from a mid eighteenth century English
sampler
The combination of several unusual stitch techniques with bold primary
colors, makes this sampler outstandingly beautiful and a rewarding project
to stitch. While the majority is
done in cross stitch, large sections of Queen, stem, satin, rice and Irish
stitch provide a beautiful counterpoint to the humble cross. The poignant
verses are as follows:
Could we forbear disputes:
And practice Love; we
Should agree as Angels do
above. Weak tho we are, to
Love is no hard task: and Love
for Love is all that Heaven doth ask. I go to sleep before you but we
shall wake together*
Remember this and bear in mind a constant friend is hard to find.
NO SPRING TILL WHEN**
Emily Lucille is my name and England is my
nation. Oxford is my dwelling place: a place of
habitation. When I am dead and laid in grave &
all my bones are rotten: when this you see:
Remember me tho I was quite forgotten.
(*This last line appears on the early 17th
century tomb of a husband and wife [who predeceased him] in Burford
Cathedral, Oxfordshire, England.)
(**A similar line of verse- "No Spring Till Now"- appears on the painting of
Mary Throckmorton, Lady Scudamore, now hanging at Montacute House near
Yeovil, in Somerset, England. It is part of the National Portrait Gallery
collection. It was painted to commemorate the marriage of Lady Scudamore's
son. This marriage symbolized hope and regeneration within the family. A
wreath of flowers surrounds the date of the marriage. The version of that
phrase used in this sampler implies an uncertainty of the future.) |
