Miscellanea respecting Samplers
Under this heading we group what remains to be said concerning samplers, namely:—
The Age and Sex of Sampler Workers
In modern times samplers have been almost universally the product of children’s hands; but the earliest ones exhibit so much more proficiency that it would seem to have been hardly possible that they could have been worked by those who were not yet in their teens. This supposition is in a way supported by an examination of samplers. Of those prior to the year 1700, I have seen but one in which the age of the maker is mentioned. It reads thus, “Mary Hall is my name and when I was thirteen years of age I ended this in 1662.” On the other hand, the rhyme which we quoted at page 50, attached to one in Mrs Longman’s possession, which, although undated, is certainly of the seventeenth century, points to it being the work of a grown-up and possibly a married lady.
It is not until we reach the year 1704 that I have found a sampler ([Fig. 32]) which was the product of a child under ten, namely, that bearing the inscription “Martha Haynes ended her sampler in the 9th year of her age, 1704.”
This is quickly followed by one by “Anne Michel, the daughter of John and Sarah Michel ended Nov. the 21 being 11 years of age and in the 3 year of Her Majesti Queen Anne and in the year of ovr Lord 1705.”
1740 is the next date upon one worked by Mary Gardner, aged 9 ([page 27]).
