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

C LUNA.

Mr, BAXTER gave notice that on Friday- next he
would call the attention of the house to the state of affairs
of China, and ask the First L)rd of the Treasury a ques-
tion on the subject.

CIVIL SERVICE ESTIMATES.
Mr. FERRAND gave notice that :to-morrow ho would
ask when the civil service estimates would be brought on
again.

THE IRISH ADMIRALTY COURT.
Mr. MAGUIRE asked the Attorney-General for Ireland
whether the report of the Royal Commissioners with respect
to the Irish Admiralty Court had been received by the Go-
,
vernment ; and, if so, when the promised bill for the re •
constitution of that court would be introduced.
Mr. O'HAGAN said that although the report was not
received, he had every reason to believe it would be unani-
mous, and could be partially acted upon.
THE MAIL PACKET CONTRACT AND THE
WEST INDIES.
Mr. CAVE asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether
'he would lay upon the table, in order to complete the papers
already promised, the communication stated by him
to have been sent from the Treasury to the West India
Colonies two years ago, apprising them that they would be
called upon to contribute to the new Mail Packet Contract,
as well as any rep:ies received from them thereto : And
whether similar notices were sent to those foreign. countries
and colonies whose mails were conveyed under the same
contract ?

Mr. F. PEEL repeated the statement he had made last
week, to the effect that the Government would take on
themselveelthe whole expense of the contract, but that they
expected that the West India colonies would contribute
their quota to that expense.
_____

THE MEETING AT PRIMROSE HILL.
Mr. H. LEWIS drew attention to the circumstances con-
nected with the Garibaldian demonstration at Primrose Hil
on Saturday, of which he had previously given notice to the
Secretary of the Home Department. Ile wished to know if
the right hon, gentleman had given any instructions to
disperse that meeting; or, if nut, if he had made any in-
quiries into the subject. •
Sir G. GREY said that no member of the Government
had given any instructions in regard to the meeting. Ho
understood that a gentleman rose to address the meeting,
and an inspector of police, accompanied only by two or three
policemen, went to him and told him that according to regula-
tions the meetingcould not be held in that place. The people
quietly dispersed, and the meeting was adjourned. In con-
sequence of the disorders that had taken place on previous
occasions at public meetings in Hyde-park, it had been
found necessary to issue a special order to prevent such
meetings being held there in future, and by that means to
avoid converting the park into a purpose for which it was
not intended. (Hear, hear.) There was not the slightest
appearance of tumult or disorder, on the part of the people
assembled. It might perhaps have been as well it the
gentleman had been allowed to proceed with the address,
but the inspector of police acted in accordance with his in-
structions.

ALLEGED STATEMENT OF GARIBALDI.
Mr. C. BENTNICK rose to correct an error which ho
had committed in roferance to a statement he made on a
previous night, to the effect that General Garibaldi had
stated that he was in some degree indebted for his success
in Sicily to the assistance he had received from Admiral
Mineola& He understood that there was no foundation
for what ho had stated.

WAYS AND MEANS.
The report of the Committee of Ways and Means in refe-
rence to the Fire Insurance Duty was brought up and
agreed to.
CUSTOMS AND INLAND REVENUE BILL.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in moving
the second reading of this bill, said that the revenue for
excise articles had increased £21.0,000 a year, in consequence
of the excess in the quantity of excisable articles over
previous years. lie proposed in committee to move
certain resolutions with respect to fire insurance,
and also with regerd to lima: es granted to dealers in tea,
in reference to which latter he proposed to strike cut the,
words, " not within the limits of a municipal borough.,
would also move certain resolutions on the subject of

Stratford-on-Avon Tercentenary Festival,

been anticipated, its delivery was marred by the
nervousness natural to a lady addressing so large
and so public an audience for the first time. At the
conclusion of her address she plentifully sprinkled
the tree from the water of Avon, and christened it
the " Shakspere Oak," amid continued cheering,
during which enthusiastic devotees to) as much of
the water of Avon as they could conveniently carry
away with them by drinking it out of the can.
Mr. Henry Marston then recited the following
ode, written for the occasion by Miss Eliza, Cook
Joyous, yet solemn, is our purpose here :
Claiming, alike, glad smile and tender tear.
The smile—to know our Jubilee is given
To him who left on earth some rays from Heaven.
The tear—to think that he who spread such flame,
Passed from his place too soon to learn his fame.
Yet smile and tear are hallowed as we breathe
The name of Shakspere o'er the bays we wreath;
While glowing spirits in that name unite,
Blending Love's festal with Devotion right,
The world is wide—yet all the world will own
That England's Shakespere fills its noblest throne;
That Wisdom, Wit, Mirth. Feeling, Mind, and Soul
Rule 'neath his sceptre-touch from pole to pole.
tweet Nature tuned his harp of myriad strings,
To rouse an echo in all human things,
Possessor of the strange, magician power—
Heir to Creation's vast and mystic dower,
He held no honours from our schools below;
God gave him more than monarch can bestow;
For Genius—simple, mighty, and sublime—
Stamped him—the Priest and Poet for " All Time,"
Here do we gather—sacredly to raise
Our shouts of triumph and our songs of praise.
Here have we met, in warm and earnest bands,
To twine his Glory-crown with toil-worn hands.
Here do we help to stud his diadem
With Labour's sweat-drop—England's richest gem.
Here do the people write with blazing pen,
" Shakspere was born of England's Working Men.' "
Well may our forehead's flush—our hearts rejoice—
While the loud boast is heard from every voice :
For all the tides of all the Crosses blood
Fade by the side of Avon's rippling flood :
The heroes of Rome, Persia, Greece, and Troy,
Must yield the palm to Stratford's peasant boy;
And England's Princes bend with high regard
To swell the homage paid to England's Bard.
Three hundred years—long years—have rolled away
Since first he saw the world he came to sway;
And unborn millions—proud as we are now—
In untold ages still will crown his brow.
Time's " Curfew Bell" will ne'er ring but his fire ;
For Truth—Eternal Truth—illumes his lyre.
And While Truth dwells in man's responsive breast
Shakspere shall live—the matchless and the blest I

LONDON.

" On Saturday a very feeble and, under almost all
its aspects, a most ridiculous attempt was made to
celebrate the birthday of our great poet, by what '
was called in the handbills a " Working Men's
Shakspere Jubilee and Great National Festival."
To say that it was not a "jubilee" nor a "great
national festival," would only be to tell the public
exactly what they expect, for their recent experi-
ences of Shakspere Committees has led to a most
judicious distrust of their plans ever turning out
anything but the reverse of what their concoctors
orieinally wished or intended. It was not a Work-
ing Men's Jubilee, for the procession, all told, did
not include 500 members, who were of the usual
idle stock of banner-bearers, or the harmless idiots
who, in green velvet and feathers and point, will
insist—a 3 oa the occasion of Garibaldi's entry—on
exhibiting their lunacy before the gaze of hundreds.
So far from being a National Festival, it was not
even a local one, and the pathetic entreaties of the
handbills inviting the co-operation of " benefit end
trade societiep, brass bands, corporate bodies, foreign
workmen, and the poet's admirers," fed on reluc-
tant and unsympathetic ears as far as compliance
with these adjurations was concerned. So also did
the request " that householders along the line of
route would give effect to the scene by the display
of flags and by the ringing of the bells in the various
parish churches, in order that the day might be made
as it ought," &c. Not a flag was shown except the
time-worn and now rather illegible banners brought
by the few processionists themselves ; not a bell was
rung, and the procession was constantly reminded
that it was not a national holiday by having to open
its thin ranks for the passage of prosaic carts and
'busses. in fact, it was a dull and tame affair
throughout, and nothing so much redeemed its dul-
ness as its general tone of absurdity. The demon-
stration " fell through," as our American cousins
says, for want of some living principle, some motive
power, greater than the mere accident of a tercen-
tenary. Notwithstanding this 300th anniversary,
Shakspere is not a whit more admired this year
than lae was last year, or will be next year, and
though nations may go to war for an idea, and do
so, if the truth were known, much more often than
is generally admitted, yet a jubilee for an idea, or
a procession for an idea, seems after Saturday's ex-
perience to be out of the question.
The procession was ordered to assemble in Rus-
sell-square at 1 o'clock, and at that hour disjointed
and very fragmentary elements of processional
grandeur did in fact begin to draw together. But
the process of assembling was exceeding intermit-
tent, and it was only semi-occasionally that the
nucleus was reinforced by a stray banner or by
some " extra grand," whose panoply of orders would
have formed a respectable stock-in-trade for any
whitesmith beginning business. Every addition,
however, seemed welcome, and, to do them justice,
the members of the procession appeared to enter as
heartily into the fun of the display as even the
little boys of the neighbourhood, only, of course,
not in se candid and demonstrative a manner as to
their expression of opinion. It was 2 o'clock, how-
ever, before preparations were made for starting,
those entrusted with the ceremonial waiting to the
last minute apparently in the hope that some
accession to their numbers would drop in. Such
an addition was, in truth, sadly needed. We are
sure we are well within the limit in saying that the
procession was short of 500 persons, and certainly
short of 300 yards long, though in its ranks
two charity schools" were thinly scattered to make
up a show." As a demonstration it was very weak ;
as a pageant it was weaker still, some 20 banners
comprising almost all its claims upon the notice of
the passer-by. Altogether it formed an assemblage
which might be fairly classed as among those with
which Falstaff would have avoided Coventry.
" Save me from my friends" is an old and very for-
cible truism, bat after the experience of Garibaldi's
entry and Saturday's jubilee, " Save me from a pro-
cession" is likely to become a proverb more forcible
still. This es iemblage, or procession, or whatever
it may like to be called, was marshalled some six
abreast, and headed by the band of the Havelock
Volunteer Corps, marched leisurely through Bed-
ford.equare, Tottenhanrcour-road, Hampstead-
road, and High-street, Camden-town, to Primrose-
bill.

The effect of the ode wes greatly aided by Mr.
Marston's excellent delivery. The proceedings,
which had been enlivened throughout by the ad-
mirable music of the band of the Hon. Artillery
Company, were then brought to a close by a brief
address from Mr. Marston, and the spectators be-
gan to disperse.

It appears, however, not to be in the nature of any
Shakspere celebration this year to pass off as it
is intended, and the Working Men's Garibaldi
Reception Committee, having accordingly on Sa•
turday sought to improve the occasion of there being
a crowd ready made to hand, at once proceeded
to hold an " indignation" meeting oa the bill for
the purpose of " protesting against the manner in
which General Garibaldi had been hurried away
from Eogland, and to &mend further explanations
from the Government as to the cause of hls hurried
departure."

At a little before 6 o'clock the committee, to the
number of about 60 or 79, came on the ground
and took up their position on the top of the hill
amid loud cheers. The proceedings, which were
very brief, commenced by calling Mr. Beales to the
chair, and he at once began by expressing his dis-
satisfaction at the mysterious manner in which the
visit of their friend General Garibaldi had been cut
short. He believed that the mein and true facts
connected with the departure of the General had
been suppressed, :and, with great respect for Mr.
Gladstone and Lord Shaftesbury, he did not think
they had stated all they knew.
The speaker had proceeded thus far when an in-
spector of the S civision, supported by a strong
body of police, made his way to the centre of the
meeting, end the inspector informed the chairman
that his orders were not to allow any political meet-
ing to take place on Primrose-hill, and added, in
reply to a question, that if the meeting was persisted
in he would be compelled to use force to carry out
his orders. Upon this strong hint great groans and
hissings arose among the crowd, which now num-
bered about 4,000 persons, but which, beyond this
noisy ebuilitik nof feeling, was very orderly. Mr.
Hartwell, the secretary of the committee, implored
the meeting to be perfectly quiet, adding, amid
loud cheers, that the suspension of the meeting by
the police would reflect more discredit on the Go-
vernment than anything that could have been said
by the speakers, or any resolution they may have
carried, however strong.

At Primrose-hill, which it is stated upon autho-
rity is to be henceforward known as Shakspere's-
hill, anything to the contrary notwithstanding,
arrangements had been made for planting a
" People's Oak" in honour of the people's poet.
This tree was given by her Majesty for the pure
pose, and was a fine young tree of some 15 or 20
years' growth, taken, we believe, from Windsor
Forest, with the earth around its root undisturbed.
The ceremony of planting took place at the foot of
the hill, the long slope end summit of which were
pretty densely thronged with spectators. The ar-
rangements for the planting were as simple as
could well be conceived, and bore a whimsical
'resemblance to the primitive rules and regulations
which obtain at prize fights. There was the tradi-
tional bottle of water (brought from the Avon to
christen the tree), there was an outer and an inner
ring, the occupants of which latter were made to
sit on the ground, so that the outer might see, and
when Mr. Phelps was brought forward with cheers,
supported under each arm by a friend, it only re-
quired the appearance of Mr. Pechter from an op-
posite corner to make the fistic illusion complete.
Instead, however, of proceeding leisurely to un-
dress, or at least to toss for corners, Mr. Phelps
only looked at his watch, and Explained the neces-
sity which would compel him to depart at four
o'clock, an hour then near at hand. \V hereupon it
was proposed that ihs ceremony of theoretically
planting the tree should be gone through at once,
for practically it had been planted long befere. To
this course, however, others took a mild objection,
observing that the day was due to the Foresters' pro-
cession; that they had brought it all about, that they
had made it a success, &e., remarks whites appeared
to have the weight that facts, if they were cor-
rect, certainly deserved, and it was at once decided
to wait till the procession came. This it did at last,
though not till after many false alarms had been
caused by the itinerant lvalis of music being heard
in the distance, and not till after serious doubts
had been expressed as to the probability of getting
at the contents of the bottle of Avon water, caused
by the fact of its being firmly corked, and the
usual repugnance of the spectators on such occa-
sions to admit that any one carried a corkscrew
about him. Eventually, however, these difficulties
were got over, and the procession began to pour
into the enclosure just as the obdurate cork was
extracted, and the contents of the bottle safely de-
canted into a large watering pot.
When the prccessionists had all gained the hill,
and when Colonel George Cruikshank, who headed
the guard of honour of the Havelock Volunteers,
had with his officers taken their places in the inner
ring, the proceedings commenced by Mr. Moore
addressing Mr. Phelps in behalf of the Working
:Men's Shskspere Committee, and asking him to
plant the tree in honcur of England's poet. The
committee felt, acting for their countrymen at large,
that to no fitter hands than those of Mr. Phelps
could be consigned the work of that day, and
when the next century came round he doubted not
their descendants 'would admire the example their
forefathers, had set them, and that they would plant
another tree, or do something more to enshrine the
memory of the immortal dramatist.
To this Mr. Phelps, who was greeted with the
utmost enthusiasm, both on his arrival and when
he spoke, replied simply as follows
•

Mr. Cremer then, without making any speech,
moved the adjournment of the meeting, which was
seconded and carried, and the committee prepared
to retire. By this time, however, the police had
been largely reinforced, and their somewhat rough
manner of pushing the people to make them " move
on" created at last a feeling of anger in the crowd,
which soon began to show itself, and nothing but
the constant appeals of the committee to preserve
order prevented a serious breach of the peace.

Eventually the committee left the hid amid loud
cheers, and proceeded to the Adelaide Arms, Chalk
Farm-gate, where they held a meeting, attended by
about 60 m tubers, Mr. Wiseass in the chair. The
following resolutions were there unanimously
adopted :

That this committee, representing the trade, friendly
societies, and other organised bodies of working
.men of
London, protest in the strongest manner possible against the
fircible suppression by the police of the Garibaldi meeting
on Primrose-hill, as an unjustifiable interference with the
liberties of the people and the rights of public meeting,
That a deputation be a. pointed from this committee to
wait upon the Home Secretary to ascertain whether any
special instructions were given by the Government or the
Police Commissioners to prevent the above meeting, and
whether it is intended by the Government to prohibit open-
air meetings of the people, having a political object, and
that the city committee te invited to co-operate with the
committee in sending a similar deputation from theirbody."
In the evening tte:e was a grand Shaksperian
musical and dramatic fete at the Agricultural-hall,
at which the ode was again recited, and at whioh
some music and excellent singing were given. But,
though the admission was only a shilling, the hall
was very poorly attended; in hot, the entertain-
ment was almost a failure. With these efforts
ended the attempt in London to get up a Shake-
pere jubilee and great national festival, and this
generation have only the comfort of knowing that
another attempt will not be made in their time.

STRATFORD-ON-AVON, Saturday Night,
The town did not completely wear the appearance of a
festival till yesterday evening, when the principal streets
were rendered gay by the suspension of banners on both
sides of the way. Though Stratford is a small place, its
streets, it may be observed, are remarkably wide, and
therefore singularly well adapted to popular demon-
strations.

This afternoon, at two o'clock, the festival actually began
with the banquet, and while the bells of the church of the
Holy Trinity rang a merry peal, the doors of the Pavilion
were thrown open, and the guests and spectators were alike
admitted.

As I have already said, the Pavilion.
which stands in a
paddock adjoining Southen was erected to serge the
several purposes of a bar.ivietting
hall, a leallroom, and a
theatre.; This aft`.4aoon the front of the Movable orchestra,
which stan.tis at the back of the salle, and consequently
faces the stage, was occupied by the table of honour as-
, signed to the president and the more distinguished taests,
who were thus raised on a dais of unusual_ tleVatien. Im-
medately behind them was a table for the reporters of the
press, who were thus nearer to the speakers than any of
the other guests, though it is questionable whether the po-
sition was altogether advantageous for hearing, and the
seats behind these were assigned to the sub-vicar, the pa-
rish clerk, and the boys of the choir, by whom were exe-
cuted the very few pieces of vocal music by which the Fes-
tival was enlivened. From th 3 ochestra, which presented
a curved front, and with the seats behind it occupied nearly
three sides of the dodecagon, a series of eight tables ex-
tended to opposite sides of the building, placed, of course,
at right angles of the table occupied by the President.
These covered the arena, which will be the pit during the
theatrical performances, and accommodate, the majority of
the guests. Other tables were, however, placed on the
stage, the centre of which had been raised, and even the
boxes on the grind tier, which is on a level with the pit,
were converted into supplemental banquet-rooms, the
cloths being on the front ledge.
The Earl of Carlisle, president of the festive', who with
the vice-presidents, the committee, and the other persons
connected with the proceedings, had already been received
at the Town-hall, and had inspected the si. e selected lut_the

" Mr, Moore, I beg to accept most gratefully and humbly
the task which the Working Men's Shakspere Committee
have assigned to me this day. I think the sight around me
is one of the noblest and one of the grandest spectacles that
cver met the human eye. In the name of the workmen or
England I plant this oak, and trust that it may live and
flourish and reach maturity. May it, in the words of our
great and glorious poet, become
An oak, whose boughs are mossed with age,
And hig4-topped, bald, with dry antiquity.'"
A .suer was then read from M!,,t4 EhZI Cook,

plelding indif,poaitiun as tbe cair.ie of her absenco,
and reputing a. lady named ainkes to christen tilt.,
tree and speak on her behalf. This Mrs. Thnkes
di:!, in >i siiort And excF..edingly well-worded sp. ecb,
olVy defect of whie4 was that, as mig;& have

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
inconveniently crowded. However, it was necessary to
take several points of view to appreciate all the scene. Tb.e
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 above 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 banquet had been given. The Earl
of Carlisle and several of the guests wore a tercente-
nary badge, manufactured Messrs. Mulloney and John-
son, of Coventry, and apprcved 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:—
Winters Tale, Iv, 3.
" Roast Turkeys—' Why, here he comes, swelling like a
turkey-cook'—Henry V, v, 1.
" Pea Fowl—' A very, very, pea. cock'—Hamlet, iii, 2.
"Roast Fowls—' There is a fowl without a feather'—
Comedy of Errors, 111, 1,
"Capons—' Item, a capon, 2s 2d'—l. Henry IV, it, 4.
"Ducks—' 0 dainty duck I'—Midsummer Night's Dream,

v, 7.
" Boar's Head—' Like a full.acorned boar'—Cymbeline,
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, 1, 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, ix, 2.
" May onaise of Lamb —' Was never gentle lamb more mild'
—Richard, ix, 1.
"Braised Lamb and Beef—' What say you to a piece of
beef and mustard. A dish that Ido 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'-0 thello, 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 Latnperns and Lampreys—' From the banks of
Wye, and Sandy•bottom'dSevern—l Henry IV, Hi, 1.
"Aspics of Eels, Soles, and Salmon—' Cry to it, as the

Coesney did to the eels when she put thew i' the paste

alive'—Lear, 11, 4.
" D:issert 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'—Henry V,

I, 2.
"Fruit—' Hercules did shake down mellow fruit'—Corio•
lanus, iv, 6.
"Dinner Itolls—' The Roll! where's the Roll I'-II Henry
IV, In, 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, it, 3.
" Champagne, Hock, Claret, Port, and Sherry--' He calla
for wine ; a health,' quoth he'—Taming the Shrew,
in, 2.
"Purveyor—Mr. S. H. Hountford, 78, High-street,
Worcester."

was received with deafening applausa 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,—
" She shall be
A pattern to all princes living with her,
And all that shall succeed. (Cheers,)
All princely graces,

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 obserlers."
(Loud cheers.)

The CHAIRMAN next rose and said :—Ladies and gentle-
men, I come now tc 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, becanse, if we come to that, who can be deemed
worthy to speak in behalf of Shakspere ? (Applause.) Plato
might write of Socrates, but who could be the interpreter of
Shakspere ? I believe that I am wholly indebted for the
signal honour I am now possessed of to the circumstance
of my having filled the office of Chief Commissioner of
Woods and Forests when some negotiations were being
carried on respecting the purchase of Shakspere's house in
this town, which apparently established a kindly feeling
between me and the inhabitants of Stratford-upoa-Avon,
which may have naturally led to their recurring to their
previous recollections in connexion with the present celebra-
tion. (Hear, hear.) In my case, it is a distinction which,
as it was the last I should have anticipated for myself, I
also thought the last that ought to be declined. I pass on
to worthier themes. I heartily approve the idea of this
festival. (Cheers.) I think 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 eltratfor d-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 is 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
good 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 seems to be universally ac-
knowledged, out of the long line of illustrious players of
either sex, dead or living, who have distinguished, and, in
some instances, identified themselves with the leading cha-
racters of Shakspere, to have held the foremost 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
strides has his fame advanced in the estimation of mankind I
In our own country, at the previous period, the public taste
still allowed the representation of bie plays to be overlaid
by the clumsy alterations and tinsel additions of Dryden, of
Cibber, and of Garrick himself—Et tu, Bru.fe ! (Hear.) I
need not point out the gratifying contrast which the reve•
rential and affectionate retention and restoration of the ori-
ginal text, and let me add the scrupulous attention to the
whole keeping and chronology of the minutest accessories
of the representation, supplies in our days. Then abroad,
the middle of the last century was the time when fast and
fierce flew the arrows against the alleged barbarism of Shak-
spere, aimed from the sarcastic armoury of Voltaire, which
did not spare higher things than Shakspere himself. Con-
sult the first living names in the brilliant literature of
France and mark not how altered, but how reversed, the
tone is in which Shakspere is now spoken of and judged.
As to Germany, I believe her boast is that she reveres, un-
derstands, and fathers him even more thoroughly than our•
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?
as the greatest traveller in the journey of life. Happily any
endeavour to define or gauge the genius of dhakspere would
be as much beyond my mark as it would be beyond the
limits and requirements of a scene like this. I think he
would be a very clumsy worshipper at his immortal
shrine who would not admit that his merits and beauties,
while they are transcendent, are still unequal, and that
in the whole range of his thirty-six admitted plays,
in some of these he not only falls below his own
level, but that of several of his contemporaries and
successor. But take him in his height, and who may ap-
proach hint ? Presumptuous as the endeavour may appear
to classify, there would seem to be a few groat 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 each glorious scene and sunny shore a
stronger lien upon our associations than is possessed even
by their own native land. (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 could hope to present them to you—by the
thrill you have felt in the crowded theatre, amid all the
slendour of dramatic pageantry—by the calmer enjoyment
cf your closet leisure--by the rising of your soul when the
lines which breathe and warm have led you to recognise and
adore the Giver of such gifts to men, to join me in drinking,
not with the solemn silence which a more recent death
might have enjoined, hat with the reverential love and the
admiring fervour duo to the day and the man—" The Me-
mory of Shakstiete,"
This toast was followed by prolonged cheering. and de-
monstrations of the liveliest enthusiasm,
the whole company
,
rising to do it more marked honour, and ih© glee, " Thou
soft li.oteing Avon," was sung.
s the B !sho
Sir L. PAL; thetiptaposed " The Arch bishop , ps
• where ladies and gentle-
theirend the Clergy," He • said he knew
of no occasion when
presence at festive meetrebe --ever could it
man congregated were unwelcome, "'a —age
be mere Weltoind than xthtn they Were ttlet to offer ho.._
and prelate to dna eat iiaai9i rendered idttetrions by the
noblest sentiments which could emanate tie Mit° of
a human being, (Cheers.)
The Archbishop of DtrittiN responded to the toast. He
observed that neither himself nor anY a hie 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 SliaWere and the faith of
which they were the ministers. They felt that If att be die-
severed froth that faith it *owould nisi aielk parish. In the
11
Ratite of himself and his brethren he thanked the tVinpany
for the kind Manner in which they had
receiVed the toast.
Mr. proposed it The I•6;,yi *eoniantyi and
Volunteers," observing that he supposed he had been oa-
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.)
Gem AiNstlE returned thanke the
The earl of SFtitEWtSEURT acknowledged the toast on be-
half of the naty ; and added that, as an Englishman, and,
still more, at a talbot; lie felt lie cottla not forbear being
. ,
preaeiii at it festiial designed to litinoiir the tremor' of the
I immortal man, from whom he was lineally descended. He
concluded by proposing " The Lord-Lieutenant and raagis•
trates of the county," and highly eulogised the exertions
made:by Lord Leigh to relieve the distress of a neighbour-
ing
Lotr6ir L.EIGH returned thanks
for himself and brothel.
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., (Applattsel
Sir said he hida toast to propose ao va3t lie
its extent and comprehension that he thought it might re-
quire ten hours' refl n 3
ection to ako a speech even of ten
minutes on it ; but he believed that the present audience
would make alloWanbe for One rho only knew late last
night teat he 4E6 to gi4-o te,atit; consiecinently
had not had time sufficient to do justice to it. The toast
ho had to give was "The Drama," which he would simply
of Euripides and
propose without attempting to point out the beauties of the
(laughter),
or the nierits of siieh plays at; dthelloi" "Hamlet," and
TGerte.eetkeacitdattrintiitrgametiate,dfovrahiiiisfii7picert3ideiniec6etions
"Romeo and Juliet," for if they had not stUdled them for
themselves, nothing he could say would be sufficient to ex-
plain them. (Hear, hear.) The toast was drunk with cheers.
Mr, CRRswielt, who was warmly epplatided, said 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 alitiost 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 ago 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 ease when the first wail of the infant Shak-
spere's voice was hesird in the yeoman's house in Stratford.
(Cheers.) Then the drama vies almost extinguished by

In the course of this morning Professor Max
Muller presented at the Town hall a German ad-
dress, to wh;ch 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 Goethe, 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 to-day 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 aro asked to present to you, the Mayor and
Council of 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 eta ovstt, as your Shako-
pere. Ho 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 theatresi read itt 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 Shakspere in the original, and yet
we possms a translation of Shakspere with which few
translations of any work Can Vie in any language. What
we in tlei many owe to Shakspere must be read in the
history of our literature. Goethe was proud to call hiweelt
the pupil of Shakspere. I shall at this moment allude
to one debt of gratitude only which Germany owes to the
poe, - of Stratford-on-Avon. f do hot 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 stutaeis of England
be measured by the greatness of Shakspere, Great nations
wake great poets; great poets make great nationth Sappy
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 Shakspere's poetry on millions of -ottlat hearts in
England, in Germany—in all the world, shows the almost
superhuman power of human genius. If one looks at thai
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 ear-
ried off a blessing for which no pilgrimage would
have been too long. Though the great festivals Whit%
in former days brought together people thin 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
admiring, the passion - :s.orshipping, the art of
fast dyio-
- of loving what is great and good are
_6 out. May England neVer be whetted to show
.4s the world that she tat love, that alts Ceti admire, that
she can Worship the tof her poets. May Shakspere
live on in the le'te of each generation that grows up in Eng-
land May the youth of England long continue to be nursed,
to be fed, to be reproved and judged by his spirit 1 With
that nation, that truly English.; beaaL.ise traly Sliaksperean
nation, the Germata cation will always be united by the
strotgoit Sympathies; for, superadded to their 0012a.iio
blood, their common religion, their common battles and
victories they will always h. ye in Ph.eksrere 2 ooMmon
teacher, a common beaefeetor, a isltbari•C't ftl ids
tith BANQUET.
The haliguet 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 theprintipal tahle eat the Aich-
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. 111. Caldecot4 Rev, it. C.
Young, Mr Creswick, Mr E, A. Cooke, ht A., Dr. Ward,
Professor Leitnes, and Dr. Brockharn. 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, Hon. E. C. Leigh,
Hon. and Rev. J Leigh, Sir W. Fraser, Mr M. Caidecott,
Sir A. H. Eaon, Bart., Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, General
Ainslie, and Mr. T. Baldwin.

The usual loyal toasts were, of course, the first that were
pr,posed, but they were ingeniously illustrated by quott,t-
tions imparting to them a peculiar connection with the fes-
tival of the day.

The nuble eIIAIRMAN, on rising t. propose The 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 clorlds, 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 born 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-
spare 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 had 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,) Ile could assert from ex-
perience that whatever cares, disappointments, or rebuffs
they met with in their career they found their greatest
solace, support and strenght—save 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 bad 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 ho
thanked the Festival Committee for the honourable position
accorded in the programme to the actor's art. (Great ai -
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 they 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 entertainment, 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 Brocihaus.

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 shakspere, 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, end 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
Shakapere's house at Stratford-upon-Avon, and Goethe's
house at Frankfort :

" The Free German Hochstift, for the spread of sciences,
arts, and general enlightuient, from their seat at the house
of Goethe.

" Lends its voice to the 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 wag 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 aide 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 had 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 vie
toriously established themselves against the invasion of
Latin races and influences by the foundation of a new Saxon
nationality, Shakepere'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
Hochstift, at their seat in Goethe's house.

66 VOLGER, President.
Vice-Presidents.
.nEynEN,
-TIDEcK, Secretary."

JJ... • ...ON (Mr Flower) said
The Mayor of STRATFORD-UPON A.. receive the
it war d pride to him and to the corporation neat
address just read from a kindred nation, which had so b
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
yP,II6W toff they had new recruits, and he trusted that the
corporatien *Mild last as long as England existed, in which
case the present address, together with many other docu-
in Shakspore's house, where it would be
ments deposite...l
:leen by thousands who v.l:ited Stratford from all parts of
the world, and bg handed down ;: many succeeding gene-
rations. (Great applauge.)

Sir R. HA➢IILTON proposed the health of the Chairma;:,
the President of the Festival,

of the immense power of Shakspere may be conceited
from the observation of Goethe, the great German poet,
whd ca'A that be thought that the reading of Shakspere
was most depressing to any One hating a productive genius,
because he must despair of doing anything hin7.',4elf. (Hear,
hear.) Goethe meant thereby to say that this might,
Shakspere, this wonderful and immeasurable genius, had
gieft to English poetry a variety such as no other litera-
ture had attained. One thing which Shakspere had im,
parted to the poetry of England was its entire reality,
enabling it to be free from that mere tactitious character
such as was seen in the literature of foreign countries. The
poetry of England of each generation reflected the march of
that generation, and was the history of truth and of man-
kind, (Cheers.) This was the greatness of William Shak-
spere, that he was, above all, a really simple man, and the
only true record they had of him was in the great Spenser :
"And he, the man whom Nature's self had made,
To mock herself, and truth to imitate,
Our pleasant Will, ah is dead of late."
That was the character he lest behind him, and Ben Jon-
son said,—

The toast *eg drunk with unanimous applause.

. -
The CHAIRMAN rettiited thanks and proposed, " The
Poets of England," coupling with tha toast the name of
Lord Houghton.

Lord HOUGHTON, in acknowledging the toast, said that
when looked through the list of toasts and found that
after the eloqatett speeches they had heard already, they
were to hear three more speethes 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
conneion Tory flattering—(laughter)—but the kindness of
the present ataienee took away all bitterness from his
mind, and, therefore, he was able to say that he was moat
grateful for having been invited to that splendid spectacle.
Ho only wished that the poets of England had been collected
round that table, and that they could have chosen the wor-
thiest eeeong 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 earli3r period he would
have been glad to have occupied soma minutes of their at-
tention by illustrating the relation ef 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 tie
astonishment was greater still when this genie was seen to
descend into the jar again. (Laughter,) That was something
like what ho 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
markablo 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,
howeve-, applied himself to dramatic composition; his stage
was the world and his draincais persono mankind. Au idea

" I loved the man and do honour his memory, on this side
idolatry, as much as any ; he was indeed honest and of an
open and free nature."
This character and the intense reality of his productions
rendered his works as true to-day as they were 300 years
ago, and as ',hey will be 300 years hence. (Cheers.) The
gentle loves of Romeo and and Juliet, and the passions dis-
played in the great tragedy of Lear were as true now as
yesterday, and politicians might learn in the tragedies of
Coriolanus and Julius Caesar, as in the Parliament of the
present day, true wisdom and politics. (Cheers.)
The toasts of the Poets of Ireland, Scotland, America,
and all nations were respectively given by Lord Wrottes-
ley, Sir E. Wilmot, Mr. Adderley, End Professor Leitner.
The next toast was "The Mayor and Corporation of
Stratford," in reply to which,
The Mayor of STRATFORD (Mr. Flower;, said that they
had done all they could to give England the opportunity of
paying homage to the memory of its greatest poet. (Cheers.)
They had had a most successful meeting that day for which
he thought that thanks were greatly due to their noble
chairman, and he trusted England would now do its duty
and assist at the festival next week. (Loud cheers.)
The assembly then broke up at half-past 7 o'clock, the
Earl of Carlisle being cordially cheered on the termination
of the proceedings.

At 9 o'clock there was a brilliant display of fireworks by
Mr. Darby in an open place adjoining the town.
Sunday Afternoon.

In the Tercentenary Festival the Church takes a con-
spicuous part. Two sermons to be preached, one by the
Archbishop of Dublin, the other by the Bishop of St. An-
daew's, were set down in the official programme among the'
items of the week's occupation. The archbishop delivered
his discourse this morning before a congregation that filled
to overflowing the church of the Holy Trinity. His text
was taken from the Epistle of St. James, chap. i. v. 17—
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,"
and his sermon was not only virtually but ostensibly an
elaborate eulogy of Shakspere, that lasted for nearly an
hour. The numerous attendance at the church was a satis-
factory proof that the Shaksperians had not forgotten the
Creator in the creature; and he proceeded to show how the
great creature of the festival had been a good gift, a real
blessing to Englishmen. There is no doubt that the sermon
when printed will be found fully worthy of a careful ana-
lysis. The Cathedral service was performed at Stra. ford
Church, and the congregation did not leave till nearly two
o'clock. The Mayor and the other heads of the corpora-
tion as they left the sacred edifice were preceded by a mili-
tary band. A collection was made after the sermon, with
the offertory service, for raising contributions towards the
repair of the chancel.