The sampler contains the following verse:
"Jesus permit the gracious name to stand / As the first effort of an infant’s hand / And, while her fingers on the canvass move / Engage her tender thoughts to seek thy love / With thy dear children let her have a part / And write thy name, thyself, upon her heart"
This verse has been attributed to the priest and (converted) slave trader, John Newton (1725-1807), best-known for 'Amazing Grace', or Isaac Watts (1674-1748), who allegedly wrote it for his niece. This verse is found on many samplers from the Anglo-Saxon world. A prose equivalent was also sometimes used on children's samplers, from the mid-eighteenth century: '…Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them...' (Ecclesiastes 12,1).
See also the Victoria and Albert Museum online publication on samplers and childhood.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin online catalogue (retrieved 4 December 2016).
WV