Words of Woe

In 1825 my GreatGreatGrandmother embroidered a sampler.

Like most such things, it has letters and numbers, motifs - birds, hearts, a house - lots of initials of family members, and a few lines of verse. No-one in the family remembered the origin of these words.

Until the advent of internet search engines, that is.  Typing in 'Yet looking down I visit oft, the humble hallowed cell, And with the penitent who mourn, It's my delight to dwell', revealed that it is verse three of Paraphrase 27 in the Church Hymnary. Words from the Book of Isiah, made metrical so they could be sung.  

What on earth made a girl of fourteen chose something so dismal?  Life on a farm in Aberdeenshire surely wasn't that bad!

'Words' is the MonoMonday theme today, thanks to Nickimaggs888 for hosting.