New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-10-01

L
fourth part of England at that time was wider.
ness and the entire population of that country did
mot exceed five millions of persons The Stratford-
on-Ayon OF to-day is still possessed OF many ot its
ancient features; but the country round about IL
| then must have been rude and wild, In comparison
with what it is at present If you take the loot-
path 60 shottery now you will pass between low
| fences AMI along the margin of gardens.-no in
| the sunshine and now in the shadow OF larch anu
elm, while the sweet air blows upon your face and
the exreditous rock makes rapid wing TO the
woodland, cawing as he flies. In the old cottage,
with its roof of thatch, its crooked rafters, its
odorous hedges and climbing vines. its eafy well
and its tangled garden, everything r mains the
| same Mrs. Mary Taylor Baker, the last living
| descendant of the Hathaways, born in this house.
| always resident here. and now an aged woman
still has it in her keeping and still displays to you
| the ancient carved bedstead in the garrett the
| wooden settle by the kitchen hreside. the hearth
at which Shakespeare sat. the great blackeneu
chimney with its adroit iron fish-back for the
| better regulation of the teakettle, and the brown
and tattered Bible with the Hathaway family
record Sitting in an old armchair, IN the corner
of Anne Hathaway's bedroom, couli hear In the
perfumed summer stiffness, the low twltterng of
birds, whose nest is in the covering thatch' ana
whose songs would awaken the sleeper at the earliest
light of dawn A better idea be obtained in THIS
| cottage than in either the birthplace or any other
| Shakespearean haunt OF what the real lie actuaB
| was Of the common people OF England IN ShaAe-
speare's day. The floor and oaken timDers o.
the Hathaway kitchen, stained and darkened In the
| slow decay of three hundred years, have lost no
particle of their pristine character. The occupant
of the cottaqe has not been absent from it more
| than week during upward of half a century, In
such a nook the Inherited habits OF living do not
| u I'm that ngS bepu ia the thing tldI
shall lie and the customs Of long drc the Gus
| toms of to-day.
The Red Horse Inn is in new hands now, ana
seems 70 be iresher and brighter than OF old
without however, having parted win eilher It's
anti0ue furniture OF its delightful antique WAYS
| The old mahogany and wax-candle period has not
| ended yet, IN this happy place, and you SINK To
sleep On a snov-white pillow, soft as down anu
fragrant as lavender. One important change Is
| especially to e remarked They have made meme
in the right hand corner OF Washington lrvlngS
parlor and in it have placed his arm chair, re-
cushion ed and polished and sequcstcred from touch
by "A large sheet oil pate-glass. The relic may Sill
be seen, but the pilgrim can sit upon 1t no more
| Perhaps it might be well to enshTlne Ueo"IeY
| Crayon's Scrptre y in n somewhat similar way. III
could he fastened to a shield, displaying the Amer
can colors aId hung up in this stored little ROOM
AT present it is The tenant of muslin bag ana keeps
its state IN the secusiOn of bureau drawer; nor IS
IL shown except upon request-iikc the beautiful
marble statne of Dome, in his Stroud nlched ID
the chancel wall of ST. Paul's Cathedral.
One of the strongest instincts of the English
| character is the instinct of peimanence. 1t acts
| invouutarly 1t pervades the national life. anu,
as Pope said of the universal soul, II operates ul-
spent Institutions seem TO have grown Out Oh
human nature in tins country. and are as much It's
expression as blossoms, leaves and flowers are tine
expression of inevitable law. custom, IN Eng
land once e,tal lisheG is seldom or never changed
| The brilliant caTeei the memorable achlcvcmeht'
the great character once fulfilled, takes perIna-
| nent shape in some kind Of onward AMI visible
| memorial soma absolute and palpable fact, which
thencefortl is an accepted part of the history OF
the land aud the experience of ITS people England
means stabty-the freside and the altar. homc
here and heaven horeafter and this is the secret oil
the power that she wleds in the affairs OF The world
and the charm that she Gif1uses over the domain OF
| thourht. S:cn temple rs 1t. Pauls Cathedral,
| such a palace as Hampton Court, such castle rs
that of Windsor or that of Warwick Is the natural.
spontaneous expression of the English instinct oil
permanence and it is IN memorials like these that
England has written her history. with symbols that
can perish only with time itself. AT intervals her
latent animal ferocty breaks looseas ii did under
| Henry WILL under Mary, under Cromwell, ana
| under James land for "a brief tine ramps ana
| bellows. striving to deface and deiorm the
surrounding structure of beauty that mas been
slowly and painfully reared ont OF her deep heart
and ner sane civilization. But the tears Of human
pity soon quench the fires Of Smlthhed and = IS
! only for little while that the Puritan soldiers
| play at ninepIns i'll the nave of ST. Pauis. ms
fever of animal impulse, this wild revolt of petu-
| liant Impotence is cooled; and then the great
work goes on again as calmly and surely as before
| that great work of educating mankind uD to the
! level of constitutional liberty, which England
| has been engaged for well nigh a thousand years
| and in when the American Republic though some
tin ca at variance with her methods and her spirit.
il nevertheless, her follower and the consequence
OF her example. Our Declaration was made IN
t77G: The Bill of Rights is dated 1928, and the
Declaration to tbe Prince of Orange in 1859, while
Magma Charta was established in 1918
| Thronghout every part of this sumptuous and
snlepaid domain of Warwickshire the symbols of
ENGLISH stability and the relics of historic times
are numerous and deeply impressive. At Strattord
the reverence of the nineteenth century takos lts
practical substantial form, not alone IN the hon
CRADLE preservation of the ancient Shakespearcan
| shrines but III the Shakespeare Memorial. This
noble fabric though mainly due TO the fealty Of
England, is Also to some extent, repros sentative OF
| the practical sympathy of America Several Amcri-
| cans-Edwin Booth Herman Vein. NJ. ID. Conway,
| and W. H. Reynolds among them-are contributors
| 10 the fund tnat built 1t, and an American gentle
| woman. Miss Kate Field has worked for It's cause
with excellent zeal. untirjng fidelity, and good re-
| Suits. The work is not yet finished. About $4,000
will be required to complete the tower and suit
| ally decorate the interior. But already 1t Is n
| noble monument 1t stands upon the margin of the
| Avon not great way OH from the Church OF the
Holy Trinity, which is Shakespeare grave; so
that these two buildings are the conspicuous points
&c the landscape, and seem to confront each other