SAMPLER  (from O . Fr. essemplaire, with dropping of initial a,

Late Lat. exemplariam, from exemplum, example; it is a doublet of " examplar " or " exempler," as " sample " is of example "), a model or pattern to be copied, particularly a small rectangular piece of embroidery worked on canvas or other material as a pattern or example of a beginner's skill in needle-work; as a means of teaching the stitches . Down to comparatively recent times every little girl worked her " sampler," and examples of 17th-century work are still found and have become the object of the collector's search . They usually contained the alphabet, the worker's name, the date, and Bible texts, verses, mottoes, the whole surrounded with some conventional design . The earliest sampler in existence is dated 1643 and is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington (see M . B . Huish, Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries, 1900, and List of Samplers in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, Board of Education, South Kensington, 1906) .