On the upper cover is a full-length figure of Hope, with dark hair, dressed in a red dress with large falling collar, having a blue flower at the point.  In her left hand she holds an anchor.  In the distant background is a cottage and a gibbet on a hill, the sun with rays just appearing under a cloud.  On the hilly foreground is a red lily, and further afield a caterpillar and a strawberry plant.  On the lower cover is a full-length figure of Faith, with fair hair, dressed in a blue dress with large falling collar, having a red flower at the point.  In her left hand she holds an open book with the word ‘FAITH’ written across it.  On the hilly foreground is a large red tulip and a plant with red blooms, further afield are a pear-tree and two caterpillars.

On the back are four panels, containing respectively a bird, a blue flower, a squirrel, and a red flower.

On the front edge of the upper cover can be seen the remains of one tie of green silk, and the edges are protected all round by a piece of green silk braid.  The edges of the leaves are plainly gilt.

This cover is one of the rare instances of a book bound in embroidered work not made for it, the embroidery being clearly made for a book of about half the present thickness.  It is possible that it was intended for either the New Testament or the Psalms separately, and, as an after-thought, was made to do double duty.  But as it now is, the worked back is just a strip down the middle of the back itself, the designs of the sides encroaching considerably inwards.

The Daily Exercise of a Christian. London, 1623.

The Daily Exercise of a Christian, printed in London in 1623, and measuring 4-3/4 by 2-3/4 inches, is ornamented with a single flower spray, with buds and leaves.  The flower is a double rose with curving stem, one large half-opened bud and one smaller, and a few leaves, all worked in tent-stitch.  The spray rises from a small bed of grass, out of which grows a small blue flower.  In the upper right-hand corner is a small blue cloud.  The same design is on both sides.  The back is divided into four panels, the divisions being marked and bounded by a thick silver braid, which is also used as an edging all round the book; the designs, beginning at the top, are a fly and a flower alternately, differently coloured.

The background is all worked in with silver thread in chain-stitch.  With this book is one of the now rare ornamental markers, which, no doubt, often went with embroidered books.  It is fastened to an ornamental oblong cushion, probably made of light wood, and is worked in silver thread and coloured silks in the same manner as the rest of the embroidered work, and finished off at the ends with small red tassels.

[Illustration:  11—­The Daily Exercise of a Christian.  London, 1623.]

[Illustration:  12—­Bible.  London, 1626.]

Bible. London, 1626-28.