The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-25 00:00:00

erection of the national monument, arrived at the Pavilion
soon after 3 o'clock, and was hailed with loud acclamations.
A company of rifle volunteers had been ranged on each side
of the entrance from Southen's-lane, that the guests might
be duly honoured, the band playing the old country air,
" The Warwickshire Lasses."
At about half past 3 o'clock the work of eating began,
the eaters numbering, say 700, and there could scarcely be
imagined a more brilliant picture than that presented to a
spectator, who, from an elevated place, could contemplate
the apparently innumerable tables, all occupied, though not
inconveciently crowded. However, it was necessary to
take several points of view to appreciate all the scene. The
persons who sat at the extra tables on the stage were backed
by a decoration representing a landscape, and thus to a
spectator on the dais presented the appearance of a snug
party at a fete champetre. On the other hand, the spectator
who from the centre of the pit looked straight towards the
president and his row of illustrious guests, curved almost
into a semi. circle, had a picture of quite a different descrip-
tion. Nor should I give a correct notion of the impression
produced by this picture did I not refer to the personal ap-
pearance of Mr Flower, the Mayor of Stratford, who was
regarded with universal admiration, as a figure singularly
symbolical of an Elizabethan celebration, Though seated
at some distance from the chair, he was at once conspicuous
almost abovo all others, from his fine, strongly marked
features, and his luxuriant white hair and beard, looking
more like a patrician burgomaster of the 16th or 17th cen-
tury, even still more like a Doge of Venice, when the Doge
was a Doge indeed, than a Mayor of the 19th century.
Much had been done to indicate by outward marks the
purpose for which the banquot had been given. The Earl
of Carlisle and several of the guests wore a tercente-
nary badge, manufactured Messrs. lfulloney and John-
son, of Coventry, and approved by the committee. Sta-
tuettes representing various characters from Shakspere
adorned the tables, and miniature busts of the poet were
placed even in some of the dishes. The following bill of
fare is too characteristic not to merit insertion :
" BILL OF FARE,
" Ladies, a general welcome'—Henry VIII, 1, 4.
" Pray you bid these unknown friends to us welcome, for
it is a way to make us better friends, more known'—
Winter's Tale, Iv, 3.
" Roast Turkeys—' Why, here he comes, swelling like a
turkey-cock'—Henry V, v, 1.
" Pea Fowl—' A. very, very, pea. cock'—Hamlet, in, 2.
" Roast Fowls—' There is a fowl without a feather'—
Comedy of Errors, 111, 1,
"Capons—' Item, a capon, 2s 2d'—l. Henry IV, 11, 4.
"Ducks—' 0 dainty duck I '—Midsummer Night's Dream,
v, 7.
" Boar's Head—' Like a full-acorned boar'—Cymbeline,
ri, 5.
" York Hams—' Sweet stem from York's great stock'—l.
Henry VI, 11, 5,
"Tongues—' Silence is only commendable in a neat's
tongue dried'—Merchant of Venice, I, 1.
"French Raised Pies—' They are both baked in that pie'—
Titus Andronicus, v, 3.
" Mayonaise Salmon—' Epicurean cook sharpen with cloy-
less sauce his appetite'—Anthony and Cleopatra, 11, 2.
" Mayonaise of Lamb—' Was never gentle lamb more mild'
—Richard, 11, 1.
"Braised Lamb and Beef—' What say you to a piece of
beef and mustard. A dish that I do love to feed upon'—
Taming the Shrew, iv, 3.
" Roast Lamb'—' Come you to seek the lamb here ?'—
Measure for Measure, v, 1.
" Galantines of Turkeys and Fowls--, The Turkish pre-
paration'—Othello, 1, 3.
"Lobster and Mayonaise Salads—' Salad was born to do
me good'—ll. Henry IV, iv, 10.
" Dressed Lobsters and Crabs—' There's no meat like them
I could wish my best friend at such a feast'—Timon of
Athens, 1, 2.
"Potted Meats—' Mince it sans remorse'—Timon of
Athens, iv, 3.
" Potted Lamperns and Lampreys—' Front the banks of
Wye, and Sandy-bottom'dSevern—l Henry IV, 111, 1.
"Aspics of Eels, Soles, and Salmon—' Cry to it, as the
Cockney did to the eels when she put them i' the paste
alive'—Lear, it, 4.
" Dessert Cakes, Jellies, and Creams—' The queen of curds
and cream'—Winter's Tale, iv, 3,
" Tourtes, Meringues, and Charlottes de Russe—' They call
for dates and quinces in the pastry'—Romeo and Juliet,
iv, 4.
" Bee Hives—' For so work the honey bees'—lienry V,
I, 2.
"Fruit—' Hercules did shake down mellow fruit'-,Corio-
limns, Iv, 6.
"Dinner Rolls—' The Roll where's the Roll Henry
IV, tit, 2.
" Dressed Potatoes—' Let the sky rain potatoes'-.•Merry
Wives, v, 5.
"Bitter Ale—' And here's a pot of good double beer,
neighbour : Drink, and fear not your Henry
VI, ti, 3.
' Champagne, Hock, Claret, Port, and Sherry—' He calls
for wine ; a health,' quoth he'—Taming the Shrew,

was received with deafening applause and clapping of hands.
He was unwilling, even in giving that toast, to divert from
the immediate purpose of the day, but Shakspere himself
supplied, in part, a most fitting description of the character
of the monarch now happily reigning over this country,-
4, She shall be
A pattern to all princes living with her,
And all that shall succeed.
All princely graces,

(Cheers.)

With all the virtues that attend the good,
Shall still be doubled on her; truth shall nurse her,
Holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel her."
The toast was drunk amid loud cheers, and the national
anthem followed, sung by an efficient corps of vocalists.
The CHAIRMAN next gave " The Prince and Princess of
Wales, and the rest of the Royal Family." He said that
with respect to the illustrious couple who headed the toast,
it would not be inappropriate to resort to the Court of Den-
mark for a description of them. (Hear, hear.) He would
characterise them as—

" The expectancy and rose of the fair State,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form?
The observed of all observers."
:Loud cheers.)

The CHAIRMAN next rose and said :—Ladies and gentle-
men, I come now to what we sometimes hear called " the

toast of the evening"—yes, and the toast of the year ; and
I may with truth call it the toast of my life. (Cheers and
clapping of hands). This may give a hint to me before I
say one word more, that I ought in some way to account for
being where I am, I will make no excuse for my own un-
worthiness, because, if ve come to that, who can be deemed
worthy to speak in behaiof Shakspere ? (Applause.) Plato
might write of Socrates, but who could be the interpreter of
Shakspere l I believe that lam wholly indebted for the
signal honour I am nov possessed of to the circumstance
of my having filled the office of Chief Commissioner of

Woods and Forests Wien some negotiations were being
carried on respecting th) purchase of Shakspere's house in
this town, which apparently established a kindly feeling
between me and the inhabitants of Stratford-upon-Avon,
which may have naturally led to their recurring to their
previous recollections it connexion with the present celebra-
tion, (Hear, hear.) it my case, it is a distinction which,
as it was the last I should have anticipated for myself, I
also thought the last Wit ought to be declined. I pass on
to worthier themes. I heartily approve the idea of this
festival. (Cheers.) I ,hink the leading events, epochs, and

persons of this our earth require their occasional comme-
moration. Life is stagnant enough men and women

are commonplace enough, to avoid the risk of such dis-
turbances cropping up too frequently. Least of all can the
nation which boasts of Shakspere fear to misplace her
homage; and as I think it right that such a celebration
should be held, I am not less clear that the right place to
hold it in was Stratford-upon-Avon (loud cheers)—his own
Stratford-upon-Avon—that Stratford-upon-Avon around
which all we know of Shakspere—all except his undying
works, is exclusively clustered—here, on about the most
central ground of his own fair England, where I cannot but
fancy that the whole impress of the scenery and rural life
around !s so unmistakeably English that we like to be re-
minded how home-like and special and insular was the
cradle of that poet for whom we claim the mastery over the
universal heart of man, the password over the earth, and
the many worlds beyond it. We are following, too, the
gocd English rule of precedent, which was set for us by
the celebration at Stratford in the last century, mainly
under the auspices of him who semis to -I.)e universally ac-
knowledged, out of the long line of illustrious players of
either sex, dead or living, who ha-vo distinguished, and, in
some instances, identified thenaselVes.witi the leading cha-
racters of Shakspere, to have held the-Wen:lost place as the
interpreter of Shakspere—David Garrick. (Cheers.) But
since that well-timed homage of the England of the 18th
century to the memory of Shakspere, with what colossal

stridessetiibl still
l:hawanseddh fame Garrick
arer
rpi
representation
ehniadvancedtraatsieoi
hetisit:t:mß playsarut estimation fb(menoaenvaekr:i
)lnadi
f
of
inb\rsdfitFst
vohnuepyieerhndneeeiraottocerdt
nmnhulieet
eai:onehrsi f
iledtkaoecs Dieaisdtenlawwmnpulefipidanmwerodt
ethl
ahneosshegrginpaaoernoarmersnnewgiarentoatetesaeusli nsnfsoattrydtihutyltsiiii
tchannot
enwinengranooeartaswasfedhmsel
noh,l
tleteonshdahagpubtkebdereroruseadrdymkpttissi
ilebtettomhi
spoken
rniafooarewreunawnybohthstwtaeifoi
irosromhcll
eintfitahsevtsaanDleeoei
crrdltrfreaffehosy.ajet:efehs:sdidwsstedre:Cohhenarvoci,
innkeoe
ori-
ginal text, and let me add the scrupulous attention to the
s
h
of the representation, supplies in our days. Then abroad,
literature
theedof.
A.s to Germany, I believe her boast is that she reveres, un-
derstands, and fathers him even more thoroughly than outo
selves. (Some laughter.) I believe I may cite Goethe as the
most representative name in the varied and teeming range
of German literature; how does he designate Shakspere ?
lbwiendeavouremoaui tslsd a muchnbthtoao beyondldefine
aretvh ery requirementsoci
arl gauge
m msoyfa r
aktwhs
worshipper
scegeniusne
befit
plpike
ero
wouldf
at
thi
bga
this,
sbs ple eyitr
:the
immortal
think
ru ilt
theadel
as the greatest traveller in the journey of life. Happily any
shrine who would
retranscendent,
range
heo
et
oanfdomht i
its
only
nhtahlarytier
thissyf
still
merits
sxer
unequal,bit
esloawn admittedd
hbai
and
beauties,
ottaihiassnt:
while
son
me
ho theyee w
n
level, but that of several of his contemporaries and
successor. But take him in his height, and who may ap-
risodhi
hanesentfmey:°:
htetruelaahhaiooici Irgravlmoutkrithsli
otellondelinaY,rtn.tgvrhasuh'oasettketta t the previous period, the public taste
ap-
proach him ? Presumptuous as the endeavour may appear
to classify, there would seem to be a few great tragedies
which occupy summits of their own—" Macbeth," " Ham-
let," "Lear," "Othello." I feel we may take our stand
within that unassailable quadrilateral—(cheers and laugh-
ter)--and give our challenge to all the world. (Cheers,) I
feel indeed tempted to upbraid myself when I think of all
the outlying realms of strength and comeliness which I thus
seem to leave outside; the stately forms of Roman heroes,
the chivalry marshalled around our Plantagenet Kings, the
wit of Mercutio, Beatrice, and Falstaff, the maiden
grace of Imogen and Miranda, Ariel the dainty sprite, Obe-
ron and his elfin court, the memories which people the
glades of the Ardennes, the Rialto of Venice, the garden of
Verona, giving to eaeh glorious scene and sunny shore a
stronger lien upon our associations than is possessed even
by their own native lend. (Cheers.) It is time that I should
call upon you, in the right of all the recollections which
must throng in your owa breasts far more copiously and
vividly than I couk hope to present them to you—by the
thrill you have felt in the crowded theatre, amid all the
slendour of dramatc pageantry—by the calmer enjoyment
cf your closet leistre—by the rising of your soul when the
lines which breath and warm have led you to recognise and
adore the Giver of such gifts to mon, to join nee in drinking,
not with the solemn silence which a more recent death
might have enjoined, but with the reverential love and the
admiring fervour duo to the day and the man—" The Me-
mory of Shakspeio."
This toast was followed by prolonged cheering. and de-
This
to
c doitlerg
y m;
li marked honour, ande
the glee, " Thou
monstrations of the liveliest enthusiasm, the whole company
in
soft flowing Avon," was sung.
Sir L. PALI. the): proposed " The Archbishops ,the Bishops,
and the smaiedethinegksnwewheroef
landoieosccaansidongewnhtleen
their presence at festive .
man congregated were unwelcome, and never could it
be more welcomethan when they were met to offer homage
and praise to that great name, rendered illustrious by the
noblest sentiments which could emanate from the mind of
a human being, (Cheers.)
The Archbishop of Duman' responded to the toast. He
observed that neither himself nor any of his brethren had
come there as a mere formal act, but they felt that there was
an intimate connection between all true art, and therefore,
especially, between the art of Shakspore and the faith of
which they were the ministers. They felt that if art be dia.
severed from that faith it would ultinattely parish. In the
name of himself and his brethren he thanked the company
for the kind manner:in which they had received the toast.
Mr. Mr. BYNG proposed " The Army,
Volunteers," observing that he supposed ,e
he had been se-
Novyomanry,
lected to give it on account of the singular and melancholy
reason that he was the oldest Volunteer in :the three king-
doms. (Cheers and laughter.)
Glen. AINSLIE returned thanks for the army.
The Earl of SHREWSBURY acknowledged the toast on be-
half of the navy; and added that,
an Englishman, and,
still more, as a Talbot, he felt he could not forbear being
present at a festival designed to honour the memory of the
immortal man, from whom he was lineally descended. He
concluded by proposing " The Lord-Lieutenant and magis-
trates of the county," and highly
eulogised the exertions
raadeiby Lord Leigh to relieve the distress of a neighbour-
ing town,
Lord LEI= returned thanks for himself and brother
magistrates, and expressed his obligations to the noble earl
in the chair for honouring the festival by his presence, and
thereby giving additional lustre to the present brilliant
meeting. (Applause.)
Sir W. FRASER said he had a toast to propose so vast in
its extent and comprehension that he thought it might re-
quire ten hours' reflection to make a speech even of ten
minutes on it ; but he believed that the present audience
would make allowance for one who only knew late last
night that he was to give the toast, and consequently
had not had time sufficient to do justice to it. The toast
he had to give was "The Drama," which he would simply
propose without attempting to point out the beauties of the
Greek and Latin drama, for his experience of Euripides and
Terence rather suggested painful recollections (laughter),
or the merits of such plays as " Othello," "Hamlet," and
"Romeo and Juliet," for if they had not studied them for
themselves, nothing he could say would be sufficient to ex-
plain them. (Hear, hear.) The toast was drunk with d
cheers.
Mr, CRESWICK, who was warmly applauded, sai that
upon that day, when the sacred memory of the great high
priest of the drama was receiving the homage, not only of a
nation, but almost of an entire universe, he, a humble pro-
fessor of the poet's art, found himself, in the absence of
more distinguished persons, called on to discharge a duty
which required the most gifted eloquence to do it justice,
but, at the same time, he felt it a gratifying circumstance
that in this age of liberal advancement it was not necessary
to defend the claims of the drama. (Applause.) Those
were now generally admitted, but, as they all knew, such
was not the case when the first wail of the infant Shak-
spore's voice was heard in the yeoman's house in Stratford.
(Cheers.) Then the drama was almost extinguished by

111, Z.
"Purveyor—Mr. B. U. Ilifautford, 78, iligh-street.
Worcester."

In the course of this morning Professor Mae
Muller presented at the Town hall a German ad-
dress, to which more special reference is made in
the account of the banquet, and accompanied the
presentation with the following remarks:—
Mr Mayor and Gentlemen of the Town Council,—The
city of Frankfort, the birthplace of G,:ethe, sends her greet-
ing to the city of Stratford-on-Avon, the birthplace of
Shakspere. The old free town of Frankfort, which since
the day of Frederick Barbarossa has seen the Emperors of
Germany crowded within her walls, might at all times
speak in the name of Germany. But today she sends her
greeting, not as the proud mother of German Emperors,
but as the proud mother of the greatest among the poets of
Germany, and it is from the very house in which Goethe
lived, and which has since become the seat of the "Free
German Institute for Science and Art," that this message
of the German admirers of Shakspere has been sent across,
which we are asked to present to you, the Mayor and
Council 61 Stratford-on-Avon. When honour was to be
done to the memory of Shakspere, Germany could not be
absent, for next to Goethe and Schiller there is no poet so
truly loved by us, so thoroughly our own, as your Shaks-
pere. He is no stranger with us, no mere classic, like
Homer, or Virgil, or Dante, or Corneille, whom we read
and admire and then forget. He has become one of our-
selves, holding his own place in the history of our literature,
applauded in our theatres, read in our cottages, studied,
known, loved, "as far as sounds the German tongue."
There is many a student in Germany who has learnt English
solely in order to read Shakapere in the original, and yet
we possess a translation of Shakspere with which few
translations of any work can vie in any language. What
we in Germany owe to Shakspere must be read in the
history of our literature. Goethe was proud to call himself
the pupil of Shakapere. I shall at this moment allude
to one debt of gratitude only which Germany owes to the
poet of Stratford-on-Avon. I do not speak of the poet only,
and of his art, so perfect because so artless, I think of the
man with his large, warm heart, with his sympathy for all
that is genuine, unselfish, beautiful, and good ; with his
contempt for all that is petty, mean, vulgar, and false. It is
from his plays that our young men in Germany form
their first ideas of England and the English nation, and
in admiring and loving him we have learnt to admire and
to love the people that may proudly call him their own. And
it is right that this should be so. As the height of the Alps
is measured by Mont Blanc, let the greatness of England
be measured by the greatness of Shakspere. Great nations
make great poets; great poets make great nations. Happy
the nation that possesses a poet like Shakspere. Happy the
youth of England whose first ideas of this world in which
they are to live are taken from his pages. That silent influ-
ence of Shakapere's poetry on millions of young hearts in
England, in Germany—in all the world, shows the almost
superhuman power of human genius. If one looks at that
small house in a small street of a small town of a small
island, and then thinks of the world-embracing, world-
quickening, world-ennobling spirit that burst forth from
that small garret, one has learnt a lesson and car-
ried off a blessing for which no pilgrimage would
have been too long. Though the great festivals which
in former days brought together people from all parts
of Europe to worship at the shrine of Canterbury exist no
more, let us hope, for the sake of England more than for the
sake of Shakspere, that this will not be the last Shakspere
Festival in the annals of Stratford-on-Avon. To this cold
and critical age of ours the power of worshipping, the art of
admiring, the passion of loving what is great and good are
fast dying out. May England never be ashamed to show
to the world that she can love, that she can admire, that
she can worship the greatest of her poets. May Shakapere
live on in the love of each generation that grows up in Eng-
land I May the youth of England long continue to be nursed,
to be fed, to be reproved and judged by his spirit I With
that nation, that truly English, because truly Shaksperean
nation, the German nation will always be united by the
strongest sympathies; for, superadded to their common
blood, their common religion, their common battles and
victories they will always h. vo in Shakspere a common
teacher, a common benefactor, a common fund.
THE BANQUET.
The banquet commenced about the time we have already
mentioned, under the presidency of the Earl of Carlisle,
who, upon assuming the chair, was loudly cheered by the
company. To his right, at the principal table, sat the Arch-
bishop of Dublin, the Bishop of St. Andrews, the Vicar of
Stratford, the Mayor of Stratford, Lord Houghton, Lord
Wrottesley, Hon. F. Ponsonby, Sir R. Hamilton, Sir L.
Palk, Sir E. Wilmot, Mr C. M. Caldecott, Rev, J. C.
Young, Mr Creswick, Mr E. A. Cooke, Dr. Ward,
Professor Leitnes, and Dr. Breekham. On the left of the
chair were, Lord Leigh, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord
Lyttelton, Right Hon. C. B. Adderley, Sir J. B. East, Hon
F. Byng, the Lord Mayor of York, lion. E. C. Leigh,
Hon. and Rev. J. Leigh, Sir W. Fraser, Mr M. Caldecott,
Sir A. H. Elton, Bart., Sir Michael Shaw Stewart,General
Ainslie, and Mr. T. Baldwin.
The usual loyal toasts were, of course, the first that were
proposed, but they were ingeniously illustrated by quot6t-
times imparting to them a peculiar connection with the fes-
tival of the day.
The noble CHAIRMAN, OH rising to propose Tll4 Queen,

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 25, 1864.

clouds of bigotry and prejudice; but a sun rose from out a
small house in Stratford, dispelled those clouds, and gave
to the drama of England its strength and vigour and en-
during brightness. (Cheers.) Who could forget the noble

works which the child then horn into the world had done

for the world ; and who could forget that kings, princes,
conquerors, and the mighty wielders of the pen and the

sword had entered with reverence the little home of Shak-

spere and the neighbouring chancel which contained his
dust ? (Applause.) These things spoke with a trumpet
tongue that the prejudice formerly existing with respect to

the drama bad been dispelled. On such an occasion he
trusted that the confession of a little extra pride would be
pardoned on the part of one who had the happy privilege
of making the study of Shakspere's matchless works the
pleasant labour of his life (cheers) ; and he could not
but believe that at this present day the hearts and

minds of all his fellow students must be moved by similar

emotions, (Continued applause,) He could assert from ex-
perience that whatever cares, disappointitientsi or rebuffs

they met wish in their career they found their greaiea
solace, support and streaght—eave that which religion gave
in the remembrance that their art was one for which great

Shakspere wrote, which gent'e Shakspere practised, and
which good Shakspere loved. (Applause.) To a reflecting

mind it appeared strange that the Great Creator should
have inspired the greatest genius, humanly speaking, not
to counsel them from the senate, not to judge them from the
bench, not to admonish them from the pulpit, but to teach,
move, soften, mould, and instruct them from the stage.
(Cheers.) It was a happy and fortunate thing for him that

he could invoke Shakspere's sacred memory to vindicate
the fact that that great genius had ennobled the drama.
(Applause.) He thanked the company in the name of his

profession for drinking their health; he thanked the people
of Stratford for what they were now so nobly doing, and he
thanked the Festival Committee for the honourable position

accot ded in the programme to the actor's art, (Great al-
plans.) Actors would best show their appreciation of the
honour done them by their deeds, by the conscientious and
honourable fulfilment of their mission. When Shakspere
first drew breath thay had barely escaped from the miracle

plays of Coventry and the mysteries of the travelling monks.

Now they had passed through three centuries of glorious

names, and perhaps for both dramatic author and actor
they had culminated. If so the drama might languish, as
it had done before, but could it ever die ? No, while
Shakspere lived it would endure until—
" The cloud capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit shall dissolve ;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind."
(Loud cheers.)

At this period of the enfztainment, an address from the
Free German Hochstift, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, for the
spread of sciences, &c., to the mayor and corporation of
Stratford-upon Avon, was read by Professor Leitner, of
King's College, London, who was attended by Dr. Karl
Dammann and Mr Heinrich Brock haus.

Professor LEITNER observed that it was both right and
fitting that the reasons should be given why the deputation
regarded the Stratford Corporation as representatives of the
nation of Shakspere, and themselves as not altogether in-
appropriately speaking in the name of the nation of Goethe.
With the highest civic body in the town which had given
birth to shakepere, the many associations of his name must
make a worship of the intense veneration which all English-
men felt for his mighty genius, or else it were vain that a
great man should live and labour and bequeath a legitimate
source of pride to his country for all succeeding if in his
own town he were not regarded with gratitude. Here the
house of Shakspere had been rescued from the stranger's
hand with powerful efforts and disinterested self-sacrifice,
and in Germany it had been deemed a duty to acquire the
House of Goethe, and in that house the Hochstift met, and
that house with its varied appliances they threw open to
every aspirant for knowledge and literary usefulness. A
fellow-feeling had thus been engendered between them by a
community of action with regard to their respective national
poets, and what had been conquered by private energy had
been ratified by public sanction. (Hear, hear.) The
Hochstift might, therefore, worthily represent the nation
of Goethe. They also sent their address to Stratford-
upon-Avon, because of the performance of a corporation,
while committees for special celebration were apt in their
very nature to be of ephemeral existence. The Hocbstift

met in Frankfort, the possible capital of a united German
empire, a free city, whose noble and enlightened citizens
were the pride of Germany, a free city and a national
body that was worthy to address a free people. Let, then,
the present greeting be considered as the greeting of
Goethe's country to that of Shakspere, and as a tribute
to his mighty genius. The Germans also grudged to
England the accident of his birth. (Cheers.) His influence
first roused the Germans to a consciousness sf their powers,
and showed them that there was a race of emulation to run
with a kindred nation, and this race they believed they had
not disgraced by want of diligence or by prejudice, (Ap-
plause.)
The following is a translation of the address, the reading
of which elicited much cheering. The document was beau-
tifully emblazoned and ornamented with representations of
Shakspere's house at Strattord-upon-Avon, and Goethe's
house at Frankfort :
"The Free German Hochstift, for the spread of sciences,
arts, and general enlightment, from their seat at the house
of Goethe.
" Lends its voice to t he whole German people in congra-
tulating by this document the people of Great Britain on the
tercentenary of the birth of William Shakspere, and ad-
dresses this letter to the Mayor and Council of the town of
Stratford-on-Avon.
" Once as their blood so was the language of the nation
of the Saxons on both sides of the German Ocean, the same
sprung from one stem, two separate branches developed into
a separate and perfect growth.
"On the one side was formed that English tongue which
enabled the greatest poet and painter of the human heart
and its passions, whose cradle stood on the banks of the
Avon, to give expression to the creations of his mind. On
the other side grew that German mother tongue in which
Goethe, the greatest among the host of admirers of Shak-
spere, described with such graphic touches, as before him no
other mortal bad done, the macrocosm (the universe) toge-
ther with the microcosm (man),
" At one time our country sent to Britain's shores that
heroic youthful band, who came as deliverers, and vic-
toriously established themselves against the invasion of
Latin races and influences by the foundation of a new Saxon
nationality. Shakspere's poems, in return, restored to
the mother home of Germania at a time when in a cen-
tury of civil commotion they were almost forgotten in their
own country, old Teutonic virtue gained their footing
as emancipators and expellers of Latin corruption, and
finally gave birth to a new heroic youth, but this time, one
of intellect, which forced its way through storm and op-
pression into light, and grouped the brilliant host of our
writers round the bold forms of Goethe and Schiller. As
England's sons, wherever they be on this globe, so do all
Germans, in their middle empire of Europe, gratefully
praise the one and only William Shakspere. May the kin-
dred of blood once more assert its power by uniting in one
fellow-feeling all the members of the nation of the Saxons
on this or that side of every sea. This we wish by our
greeting—' Hail to the memory of William Shakspere I
Hail to the town of Stratford-upon.-Avon I Hail to the
people of England.' In the name of the Executive of the
Hochetift, at their seat in Goethe's house.
" TOLGER, President.
KeeRE rs' Vice-Presidents.
n.E Y DEN,
S CHIDECK, Secretary."
The Mayor of ST RATPORD-UPON AVON (Mr Flower) said
it was a pride to him and to the corporation to receive the
address just read from a kindred nation, which had so great
a sympathy with Englishmen in honouring the genius of
Shakspere. He promised that the address should be depo-
sited in Shakspere's house and preserved there for future
generations. (Cheers.) The corporation of Stratford was
not a juvenile body ; for it was 600 years old—but though
he and other members of it were getting into the sear and
yellow leaf, they had new recruits, and he trusted that the
corporation would last as long as England existed, in which
case the present address, together with many other docu-
ments deposited in Shakspere's house, where it would be
seen by thousands who visited Stratford from all parts of
the world, and be handed down to many succeeding gene-
rations. (Great applause.)
Sir R. HAMILTON proposed the health of the Chairman,
the President of the Festival,
The toast was drunk with unanimous applause.
The CHAIRMAN returned thanks and proposed, " The
Poets of England," coupling with the toast the name of
Lord Houghton.
Lord HOUQHTON, in acknowledging the toast, said that
when he looked through the list of toasts and found that
after the eloquent speeches they had heard already, they
were to hear three more speeches all about the poets of Eng-
land, Ireland, and Scotland, which were to be followed by
the glee, "Ye spotted snakes," he did not think that last
connexion very flattering—(laughter)—but the kindness of
the present audience took away all bitterness from his
mind, and, therefore, he was able to say that he was most
grateful for having been invited to that splendid spectacle.
He only wished that the poets of England had been collected
round that table, and that they could have chosen the wor-
thiest among them for the honour they had done him.
Nevertheless, as his humble name had been connected with
the toast, he could say that at an earlier period he would
have been glad to have occupied some minutes of their at-
tention by illustrating the relation of Shakspere to the poetry
of the country; but at the same time he was quite consci-
ous that he could have performed the task but imperfectly
at whatever time he had risen to address them. They no
doubt recollected the Arabian tale of the great genie who
came out of a small jar and spread over the whole heavens
with his strength and power. That was wonderful, but the
astonishment was greater still when this genie was seen to
descend into the jar again. (Laughter.) That was something
like what he was asked to do—to concentrate into a short
after-dinner speech an exposition of how the mighty genius
of Shakspere expanded over the whole world. (Hear,
hear.) What were called the poems of Shakspere consti-
tuted a portion of his less familiar writings, and though re-
markable for unsurpassed ingenuity, and interesting on ac-
count of biographical facts connected with them, they never
would have made Shakspere what he was. That great man,
however, applied himself to dramatic composition; his stage
was the world ag hie dram4irpersonsv amkirtd, An idea