Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1879-04-22


THE THATCHED COTTAGE.
Irregular Correspondence of the Press.]
STRATFoRD ON AVON, March A
have walked to-day from here to til,
neighboring village of -Shottery to see
the cottage where Anne Hathaway LIVED
and where Shakespeare won her. It wal
a charming bit of representative English
scenery-that landscape and view so un
like our own, and yet so familiar through
literature and tradition that it always
seems to me as if had seen it before in
dreams or some previous condition .O
existence. I followed footpath across
the fields, with old fashioned stiles al
every fence, and hawthorn hedges along
the lanes-the very path trod by Shakes.
peare in his quest of Anne. Tradition
does not say how often he had to walk
it.
The cottage, quaint, straw thatched
building, covered with ivy and rose
bushes, is in good state of preservation.
The old house, which was, for its time,
commodious and of some pretentions, is
1aborers The central division, which is
formed of the hall and main fireplace,
and the sitting room of the old building
as it stood in Shakespeare'st time, is now
known as the Hathaway cottage, and is
kept much as it stood then, with some of
the old furniture and heirlooms of the
family. An elderly woman, with the
pleasant manners of the humble classes
here, received me and showed a real and
intelligent interest in explaining the
legend and relics of the place. In an
swer to a question, she told me she was
herself Hathaway, and that her fami-
ly had lived on the spot ever since the
time of Shakespeare, as well as for gen.
erations before.
| Although the exterior of the home is
of humble appearance, the Hathaway
family must have been of the better sort
in their days. The room where Shakes.
peare made love, or where Anne made
love to him, as somewhat cynical and
mature damsel of the place, who seemed
to look on my walk to ShOttsry parish
as kind of mild lunacy, informed me,
is large room, some fifteen feet square,
| handsomely panelled in oak. 1t is flag
ged with broad stones, worn smooth by
the steps generations, looking rude to
US, but which was the comfortable GUS
tom of the time. The great feature of
the room is the wide, old fashioned
chimney place, in which you can sit,
and sitting look up through to the sky
In the left wing of this oapacious fire
place, as you face it, there is cut or built
in the wall the bacon closet, still serving
that homely use for the Hatheways of
1870. On the right side stands the
"courtin-settle," as my old friend phras.
ed it, very rude wooden bench, some
| five feet long, with back and low arms.
This seat my guide was sure was the
real and veritable place which did the
work, and carried the Hathaway family
into legend and history. On it sat at
the time of my visit young girl of six
teen, sewing some homsly work-a
Hathaway without Shakespeare.
| Up narrow and humble wooden stair
way you reach the half story rooms,
which are now and in the sixteenth
century the sleeping apartments of the
| family. The bedstead, the central fea-
ture, is further evidence of the substan-
tial standing of the family. 1t is hand
somely carved with scroll work and hu-
man figures, some of them resembling
the grotesque carving seen in ancient
cathedrals. This works appears, by its
style and class, to date about four hun
dred years ago. The bed has been in the
Hathaway family ever since their name
| became matter of interest, and is be-
| lieved by them to have been used for
generations before. 1t is not in use now,
and is furnished with very heavy and
soft linen, woven in the family, and
hemmed with wonderful elaboration.
This, too, an heirloom from more pros
porous times. In this bed room is q
spinning wheel seat, alleged to have been
immortalized by Shakespeare, but the
good dame would not give the passage
by which his kindly remembrance had
carried the homely object into literature.
This room, the old state bed room of
the family, like its adjoining mate, the
present sleeping apartment Of the house,
| is so low that you touch the ceiling ev-
erywhere except in the centre, and the
joists and rafters are joined together, not
by nails but by wooden pegs.
| Visitors, the Hathaway dowager in
formed me, came often, but not SO many
| in these hard times as in years before
The Americans, she said, were ''the
best" and to my inquiry as to what was
best, she said they took most interest
and seemed most pleased. I was pretty
sure my hostess took me for an Ameri-
can prince, and so, noblesse oblige, gave
her shilling, where / think sixpence
was the usual gratuity. This modest
| British coin brought me a shower of
blessings and kind wishes, and what
was more practical, some snowdrops and
| rosemary of remembrance" from the
garden. Indeed, the real gratitude
which shilling given to decent man
or woman In this land always evokes,
is sad evidence of the narrow margin of
existence here. Life is struggle, and
the poor go into it burdened and handi-
capped almost beyond hope.
| In the modest garden of the cottage.
| nIantp0 with hoy Il
rosemary, pansy, thyme and other
familiar English flowers and shrubs.
stands the well of pure cold water in the
same place and serving the homely
uses as Of old. 1t is doubtful, however,
If Shakespeare ever drank of it. The
Engllshman of the sixteenth century,
like the Englisman of the nineteenth, /
suppose, confined himself to ale,
In my walk across fields from STRAIT
ford or down to Shottery, the footpath
of course often diverged, and was fore
ed to inquire of those met, the way. I
was much struck with the familiar
knowledge of all met who knew the
story of Shakespeare's love, and their
simple pride in it. In other localities,
where there were famous churches. in
which good knights and old Earls,
famous in history, lay buried, 1 have
often inquired of respectable looking
people and found them ignorant, or only
half acquainted with the great historic
features of these places. In Warwick,
for instance, found several worthy peo-
pie who seemed to know nothing of the
great Earl of Leicester, and not to care
much whether his body was in their
church or not. All around ShotterY,
however, the name of Anne Hathaway
was a household word, and the humble
matched cottage a shrine. Some rude
farm laborers, who spoke SO thickly
could hardly understand them, and used
language so provincial as not to seem
English to American ears, and some
bright little boys, hardly twelve years
old, alike gave intelligent answers,
showed a friendly sympathy in my
quest, and seemed to think my pilgrim
age the right and p:oper and natural
thing to do.
This is Shakespeare land" The town
lives and moves and has its being in his
memory and tradition. His body lies
buried here in a beautiful and stately
edifice-a noble shrine to which the cul.
ture and genius of the world come to