Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-08-05
ENGLAND.
A VISIT TO THE HOME OF SHAKES
PEARE.
An 0ld-Fashioned Inn-Birthplace Of the
POet-A Thatch-Roof Cottage the
Scene of His Courtship - His
Grave in the Old Church.
BEAUTY or THE ANCIENT VILLAGE.
pCeial Correspondence of the Register.

Special Correspondence OF the Register.
STRATFoRD- on Avon, July 81.
A day long to be remembered finds
me writing these lines near the home
aud grave OF Shakespeare. After q
weary days travel | arrived here one
evening and came to the Red Horse Inn
that harbored Washington Irving the
pioneer of American worshipers al
the shrine OF Shakespeare; and the
American explorer Of Stratlord would
cruelty sacrifice his peace OF mind II he
were to repose under any other roof
The Red Horse is a rambling, three
small story building, entered through
a large archway, which leads into a long
struggling yard, adjacent to many Offices
and stables. 1t is thoroughly old
fashioned inn-such a one as We may
suppose the Bears Head to have been,
In the time of Prince Henry; such a
one as untraveled Americans only
know in Il Q pages OF Dickens. When
Drayton AMI Jonson came down 10
visit gentle viii" at Stratford. they
could scarcely have omitted to quatf
the glorious ale of WarwickShire in
this coy parlor. When Qneen
Henrietta Maria was esconced at New
Place. the honored guest OF Shakes
peare's elder and favorite daughter, the
general of the royal force martyred him.
self at the Red Horse, and then doubt
less there was enough and to spare OF
merry revelry within these walls. 1t Is
in the little parlor consecrated TO the
memory of Washington Irving that l
write YOU. Before me is the paper
now marked "GeOffrey Crayon sSceplre'
with which, as he sat here in long,
silent and ecstatic meditation, he 80
ruthlessly prodded the fire in the mar
row, tiny CRATE. Over in the corner is
the chair in which he sat,-when he
penued the delicious chronicle of his
visit here-a plain, straight-backed arm
chair, much worn in these latter days by
the incumbent devotions OF the faithful,
bnt duly marked on brass label, with
his renowned and measured name.
Every pilgrim to StratfJrd knows be-
fore hand, in a general way, what he
will there behold. Copious and fire.
uusnt descriptions OF its Shakespeal ian
associations have made the place
familiar TO all the world. Ietthese
Shakespeare an associations keep a
perennial freshness, and are equally q
surprise TO the sight and wonder to
the soul. Though three centuries old,
they are not vet stricken with age or
decay. The house in Henley street, in
which, according to accepted tradition,
Shakespeare was born, has been from
time to time repaired, and so 1t has
been kept sound without having been
materially changed from what it was in
Shakespeare youth. The old ladies
who take care of it and, with so much
pride and courtesy, show 1t to the
visitor, called my attention to a bit OF
the ceiling in the upper chamber-the
alleged room OF Shakespeare birth
which had begun 10 sag, and had been
skilliully mended with little laths. II
is in this room that the numerous
autographs are scrOwled all over the
ceiling and walls. One side OF the
chimney piece here is called The
Actors Pillar" so thickly is II covered
with the names OF actors, Edmund hean's
81 nature being among them. On one
Ofthe window-panes, cut with diamond,
is the name OF "W. Scott" inscribed by
the Scottish poet who visited this spot
when engaged in writing "kenilworth,
the scenes OF which are laid in the
neighborhood; here also are the auto
graphs of Byron, Tbackeray, Tennyson
and Dickens, and all the panes are
scratched with signatures, making you
think OF Douglas Jerrold's remark on
bad Shakespearean commentators, that
they resemble persons who write on
glass with diamonds, and obscure the
light with multitude of scratches. The
floor of this room, unexpected, seems
still as hard as iron; yet its boards have
been followed by wear, and the heads
of the old nails that fasten it down,
pleam like polished silver. You can
sit in an antique chair, in a corner OF
this room, if You like, and think unutter-
able things. You can sit, also, in the
room below, in the very seat in the COL
ner OF the wide fireplace, that Shake, =
peare himself must often have occupied.
They keep but few sticks OF furniture
in any part OF the house. One room IS
devoted to Shakespearean curiosities.
or relics, more or less authentic; one OF
which is school boys desk, that was
obtained from the old Grammar school
in High street, in which Shakespeare
was once a pupil. Here is the original
deed to his father, showing that he
resided in the house called The Birth
place." the celebrated letterfrom Richard
Quincy 10 Shakespeare in 1898, asking
for loan OF thirty pounds, the only
letter to Shakespeare known 10 exist.
Shskespeare's gold signet ring, With the
initials "W. ST." an 4 true lovers knot
between; specime ~ OF the original
copies OF the play, The Merry Wives
OF Windsor" On the back OF the cot
tage, now isolated from all contiguous
structures, is pleasant garden, and at
one side is a coy, luxurious lit lie cabin
the home OF order and pions decmum
for the ladies 10 are custodlans ol
the Shakespeare house. There is walk
across the fields OF ShOttery, which the
poet must often have taken IN the Lays
of his courtship OF Anne Hathaway,
whereon the feet OF the traveller are
Durl6U IN Wllu llOHeTS auu luIioh mSCoS'
The high road to the la Met also passes
through rich meadows and lands TEEN
ing with grain, fiecked everywhere
with those brilliant scarlet peoples which
are so radiant and so bewitching in the
English landscape. 1t would be hard
TO find q sweeter rustic retreat than
Anne Hathaway's cottage is, even now.
The tall trees embower it, and over Its
porches, and all along its picturesque,
irregular front, AMI on its thatch roof
the woodbine and ivy climb, and there
are wild roses and the maiden's blush.
For the young poets wOoing no place
could be filter than this. They show
you, in that cottage, an old settee, by
the tireside, whereOn the lovers may
have sat together; and in the rude
little chamber next the roof, an antique,
carved bedstead, which Anne Hathaway
once owned. This, it is thought, con-
tinued to be Anne's home for many
years OF her married life-her husband