St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-10-10

walls and roaming through the ancient
Keeps and halls. The present Earl OF
Clarendon has done much to arrest the
decay of the historic edifce, of which
however, little remains except the bat
Cered and ragged walls to tell of its
former greatness. For over five hun
dred years Kenilworth Castle and its
lofdly and kingly owners held an i'm
portant place in England's history, and
many OF the events which have there
occurred have given to it singularly ro-
ihantlc interest. More than once have
these old walls held royal enemies cap
yves, and several of the numerous line
OF England's royal Harrys held state in
lGs OLD festal hall. Grim old John of
Gaunt lived here; and so did Robert
dudley, Earl of Leicester, the favorite
OF Queen Elizabeth. The Queen visit
ed the Castle and was entertained with
most cOurtly hospitality, while Leices-
ter's unhappy Countess was imprisoned
ID one of the gloomy dungeons almost
within hearing of the revelry. Walter
Scott has invested KenilwOrth with pc
culiar charms as he has many places in
the North and it is his magic pen more
than the prOsaic pen of the historian
that has given the old Castle its chief
attractiveness in the eyes of chance
tourists.
From the castle some of us wandered
through the old part of the town, to the
ancient church and ruined priory and
then through a "tum ble-down" stile, a
peculiar sort of bar which is said to ex-
ist nowhere else, and thence across
the beautiful green fields, where cattle
and sheep were feeding, back to the
railway station.
STRATFORD-ON-AvON.
The birthplace and burial place of
the greatest of English dramatists is
where we next halted. We went first
from the station to the Shakespeare
house in Henley street. Here the great
poet was born. The two kind and
gentle old ladies who act as custodians
of the place, were astOnished to see
such a crowd of American visitors, but
preserved their equanimity all the
same, and answered every one of the
thousands of questions. An adjoining
cottage, and some of the rooms in the
Shakespeare house have been convert
ed into a Shakespearian Museum. The
most interesting relic, however, is the
celebrated Stratford portrait, which
makes Shakespeare very different
man in appearance than many of the
old prints represent him. We went
from Shakespeare's birthplace to the
New Place where he afterwards lived.
There is no vestige of Shakespeare's
house at the New Place, as it was long
ago destroyed. The great mans rnst-
Holy Trinity. The graves of the Shakes
peare family are in a row in front of
the altar rails. In addition to Shakes
peare himself, his wife Anne, his
daughter Susanna and her husband
DR.. John Hall, his granddaughter
Elizabeth, and the first husband of the
latter, Thomas Nashe, are buried here.
On leaving the church we went to the
new Memorial Theatre, which may
amount TO something in the future, but
which at present has cheap aspect.
In connection with the theatre, a Me-
mortal Hall is being built. We lunch
ed at the Red Horse Inn, and then hav-
ing some time to spare | wandered
across the fields to Shottery, where Anne
Hathaway lived-about mile distant.
The Hathaway cottage is preserved in
its ancient condition more fully than
the Shakespeare house, and its SUI
roundings are formed by the struggling
| farm houses and cots of a primitive
English village. The Hathaway house
is a long low building with panelled
walls formed by the old wooden frame
work and a filling of bricks and plaster,
and thatched roof. 1t stands in a
garden of flowers and the air was sweet
with perfume as we made our way up
to the doorway, where we were cordial
ly met by an old lady, descendant Of
the Hathaways, who now makes the
place her home. The kitchen, bed
room and other apartments are in the
same condition now they were when
Shakespeare came across the pleasant
fields to WOO. The house contains some
old furniture and few other relics
and an ancient settle occupies the
chimney corner. When we left kline
hearted Mrs. Taylor-that is the ole
lady's name-loaded us down with roseI
and other floral mementos of the place
BUSY LONDON.
Leaving Stratford-on-Avon, we pro
ceeded to London joining the main lint
of railway at Rugby Junction. Ant
what shall 1 say to adequately describe
the great metropolis in few words
The task is too great, and l shall con
tent myself by simply telling of some o
the many things we saw. A city o
such great age and vast extent and o
such wealth and exhaustless resource
in every branch of art, might occup.
the visitors time many months, an,
then the whole might not be explored
London is world in itself, and a YER
busy world. The busiest place in tn
whole world is said to be the open spac
near the Bank and Royal Exchange