Nothing of a similar character in work of the eighteenth century has come under my notice, but the Peace of 1802 produced the following lines on a sampler:—
“Past is the storm and o’er the azure sky serenely shines the sun
With every breeze the waving branches nod their kind assent.”
ON PEACE
“Hail England’s favor’d Monarch: round thy head
Shall Freedom’s hand Perennial laurels spread.
Fenc’d by whose sacred leaves the royal brow
Mock’d the vain lightnings aim’d by Gallic foe
Alike in arts and arms illustrious found
Proudly Britannia sits with laurel crown’d
Invasion haunts her rescued Plains no more
And hostile inroads flies her dangerous shore
Where’er her armies march her ensigns Play
Fame points the course and glory leads the way.
*******
O Britain with the gifts of Peace thou’rt blest
May thou hereafter have Perpetual rest
And may the blessing still with you remain
Nor cruel war disturb our land again.
“The Definitive Treaty of Peace was signed March 27th 1802 proclaimed in London April the 29th 1802—Thanksgiving June the 1st 1802.
Mary Ann Crouzet
Decbr 17 1802.”
Later samplers gave expression to the universal sympathy elicited by the death of Queen Charlotte.
Map Samplers
Needlework maps may very properly be classed under the head of samplers, for they originated in exactly the same way, namely, as specimens of schoolgirl proficiency, which when taken home were very lasting memorials of the excellence of that teaching termed “the use of the globes.”
Maps were only the product of the latter half of the eighteenth century; at least, none that I have seen go back beyond that time, the earliest being dated 1777. Their interest for the most part is no more than that of a map of a contemporary date; for instance, the North America reproduced in [Fig. 39] has nothing whatever in the way of needlework to recommend it, but it shows what any map would, namely, how little was known at that date of the Western States or Canada.
A map of Europe in the Exhibition, dated 1809, was a marvellous specimen of patient proficiency in lettering, every place of note being wonderfully and minutely sewn in silk. The executant was Fanny le Gay, of Rouen.