Object Description
Circa 1830 Mary Ann Papworth Sampler. Framed in an old black, ebonised wood frame with rippled, old glass. Fixed to linen with card and brown paper backing. The sampler is worked in silk on linen ground, in cross stitch throughout. Meandering floral border. Colours green, yellow, pale blue, white, black, red and brown. Verse entitled, ‘On Britain’ reads, ‘A fairer isle than Britain, never sun>View’d in his wide career: a lovely spot>For all that life can ask; salubrious; mild.>Its hills are green, its woods and prospects fair,>its meadows fertile; and , to crown the whole in one>Delightful word, it is our home, our native isle.’. The verse is an extract from ‘Alfred, an Epic Poem, in Twenty-four Books. By Joseph Cottle. Signed, ‘Mary Ann Papworth. Aged 9 Years’. A good set of motifs, some finely embroidered, including roses, lions, birds, flowers, potted flowering plants, fir trees, crowns, hearts, stags, diamonds and butterflies