Sampler by Ann May Horwell

Date1798

Artist/MakerAttributed to Ann Horwell (ca. 1780-1814)

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 34 x 34 threads per inch (fiber identification by Textile Lab)

DimensionsOH: 21 3/4 x OW: 16 7/8

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1985-90

DescriptionThis is a rectangular needlework sampler worked in shades of green, brown, peach, and gold silk embroidery threads on a natural color linen ground. The sampler is hemmed with an approximate 1/4" hem at left side and has a selvage at top and raw edge at bottom and right side.
From the top the sampler consists of the title: "On WAR" flanked by hearts and stylized flower motifs, worked in eyelet and cross stitches. Below this is a decorative centered band of strawberries worked in queen stitch and the verse: "Why these scenes that wound the feeling mind/ This sport of death this cockpit of mankind/ Why sobs the widow in perpetual pain/ Why cries the orphan x oh my fathers slain/ Why hangs the sire his paralytic head/ And nods with manly grief x my son is dead/ Oh could I paint the passion I can feel/ Or point a horror that would wound like steel/ To the unfeeling unrelenting mind" followed by a short band of wave motif "Id send a torture and relieve mankind" followed by a decorative box in cross and satin stitches.
The bottom quarter of the sampler consists of a large central stylized flower within an arcaded band flanked by decorative flower/fruit motifs. To the left of this arcaded motif is a tree, labeled "Liberty", with laurel-like leaves and a fountain at top. To the right side is "R x A/ 17 H 98" worked in cross and eyelet stitches, presumably for Richard and Ann Horwell. The initials are set off from the sampler by undulating bands worked in cross stitch that run above the first line ("R x A") and below the last ("17 H 98").

Stitches: cross, double cross, eyelet, outline, queen, and satin
Label TextThe modern viewer cannot help but be caught up in this sampler maker's quiet protest of war, an embroidered declaration that transcends time and speaks to us today. During the Federal period poetry was an acceptable method of expressing emotions. By stitching these words of grief on her sampler, the maker has "painted the passion that she feels."
The verse is an excerpt from "An Address to Lord Howe" by Thomas Paine. The words are taken out of Paine's sixth and seventh stanzas with a few lines skipped in between. Instead of "torture" in the last line of the sampler, Paine uses the word "destruction." Lord Howe was the commander of the British Army in the Revolutionary War. Given that the sampler is dated twenty years after this event, the choice of the poem at first appears puzzling, but a 1798 current event may have reignited feelings that made this poem a timely choice. In 1798, what historians now call the Quasi-War began. The Quasi-War was an undeclared naval war fought between France and the United States from 1798 to 1800.
Ann May Horwell (ca. 1780-1814) was the daughter of Edward Arthur May (1751-1810), an Alexandria merchant, and his wife, Sarah Isabel Butler (b. 1747). In 1797, Ann opened a school in her father's home to teach reading and needlework. At some point between 1797 and 1799, Ann married Richard Horwell (b. 1766). The stitched initials "R" and "A" over "H" on the sampler presumably stand for Richard and Ann Horwell.
Inscribed"On WAR/ Why these scenes that wound the feeling mind/ This sport of death this cockpit of mankind/ Why sobs the widow in perpetual pain/ Why cries the orphan x oh my fathers slain/ Why hangs the sire his paralytic head/ And nods with manly grief x my son is dead/ Oh could I paint the passion I can feel/ Or point a horror that would wound like steel/ To the unfeeling unrelenting mind/ Id send a torture and relieve mankind"
"Liberty"
ProvenanceThis sampler, along with three other samplers, descended in the Horwell family to Miss Frances Horwell Massoletti, granddaughter of Sarah May Horwell (daughter of Ann May Horwell) and Vincent Massoletti. In 1921, the samplers were recorded in Bolton and Coe's AMERICAN SAMPLERS; at that time they were still owned by Miss Massoletti.

History of Maker:
This sampler is believed to have been worked by Ann May (ca. 1780-1814), daughter of Edward Arthur May (1751-1810), an Alexandria merchant, and his wife, Sarah Isabel Butler (b. 1747). In 1797, Ann opened a school in her father's home to teach reading and needlework. At some point between 1797 and 1799, Ann married Richard Horwell (b. 1766). The initials "R" and "A" over "H" presumably stand for Richard and Ann Horwell. Edward May's will of Aug. 1, 1810, names his daughter Ann Horwell and his son-in-law, Richard Horwell, who was also executor of his will. Richard and Ann Horwell were members of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Alexandria and had at least five children: Ann, Emily, Lucinda, Nancy, and Sarah (b. ca. 1799, d. 1884).