Casgliadau Arlein

Linen, unbleached, embroidered with coloured silks and metallic threads in cross, satin, stem, rococo, Florentine and couched stitches and bullion knots. Coloured wax is applied to parts of the design. At the top there is a winged cupid having on either side an angel within an oval compartment. The-bottom corners contain a man and woman dressed in the style of the 1720s, the man's costume being unfinished. In the middle is an oval compartment. In the lower half of which are geometrical, bird and floral designs, while the upper half contains the following inscription: “THE / LADYS . CALLING . / TEACHETH . NO . ROMANCE / NO . FOND . INTRIGUES . OF / LOVE . NOR . MODES . OF . FR/ANCE . READING . GOOD . BOO/KS . AND . NEEDLE . WORK . SH/OULD . BE . THEIR . WHOLE . / DEVERTION . AND . FELICITY . / MARY . BISSE . AGED . 12 . 1727.”

The remainder of the space contains floral stems, birds and insects. Three buds on one of the floral stems are partly of wax and traces of this substance occur elsewhere, indicating that it once formed a narrow stripe border around the sampler.
Source: Guide to the Collection of Samplers & Embroideries (Cardiff: National Museum of Wales, 1939) by F. G. Payne.