The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-12-06

have ls-have IL certain. But here i& Rastovn, boys. Come this evening, Mir. Wits"
 Half past eight found the three friends seated together in a small room, enjoy ing keenly their cigars. Silence had long prevailed when Irving arose and brought forth a little ancient-looking mahogany box which he regarded silently for time and then broke out almost reverently: My dear friends, /, am about to disclose fact to you which has been seldom imparted to anyone. care nothing for the world. in the ordinary term, and yet, l am to do a thing in memory of the worlds greatest men, in comparison with which, all other human attempts have been vapor-been noth- ing. am a direct descendant ot William Shakespeare my family blood is traceable through almost every great author of ancient or modem times. l am the last, however, of great race, and all men of literary distinction here after will be of a different style and character from those who have preceded the present day entirely different l have observed the human affinity be- tween you gentlemen and myself, and as 1 shall perhaps seek other fields ere long yes, ere long, would make the most of our transient friendship. hold here the last will and testament of Francis Bacon-yes, Francis Bacon. lthas been kept in my family, down from one to another, since his time. You shall not see it, but it contains an injunction that the last male heir of his blood shall build monument to the memory of poetic genius, with appropriate inscriptions.
 "The injunction provides a plan for the main structure and have the de- tails arranged to my own fanc, just to my own notion. Here is the plan:
 "'The main structure shall be two miles square at the base and four miles high, gradually slanting toward the upper base till it is only one mile square; then from the center of upper base shall rise a pedestal four hundred yards square and one-half mile high; similar pedestals only half the sizes and height of the first shall rise from each of the four corners of the main structure upon the center pedestal will be statue of Sir William Shakespeare and a similar one of Alex ander Pope, each about one hundred and fifty feet high. Upon the northeastern and southeastern corner pedestals will be statues of Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron (hom whom l have my christian name); upon the two western pedestals will be statues of William Cullen Bryant and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The whole work is to be of pure marble from the ground up. The inscriptions are to be on the front of each pedestal, in characters of gold, and the whole to be completed in a way that it will be ever lasting.
 "Hefe are the inscriptions, and as your recentlv-made friend is their author shall leave you two to comment upon their worth when am gone-yes, when am gone:
 SHAKESPEARE.
 The father of comedy, tragedy and dramatic history; mightiest sage of the lettered agesl Thy verse shah be read and thy name adored till Gabriel's bias. shall turn all eyes from earth forever Fame's iconoclast may strike at thy memory, but his hammer will be battered unshapely ere the first letter of thy great ness is brokenv ?
 ALEXANDER POPE.
 |" Mighty planet of untarnished splen- dor, scintillating through the murky ether of ages! Ten thousand years will witness thy brilliant evolutions and hail thee sacredv
 LORD BYRON.
 Thy writing hangs yonder-high up in the azure Armament of literature, as a meteor of unyielding splendor, flashing streams of pure incandescent genius through every pore of the intellectual world r
 WALTER SCOTT.
 "' He was bard of noblest strain, Admired by lord and loved by swain. To Tweed his harp paid honor due, And ne'er forgot was fair Buccleuch. He sang of maids celestial fair,
 With turing eyes and golden hair-- Yet sang he more of noble knight
 Who aye would deem it just to fight When by a tyrant or slave
 His ire was stirred for blood to crave. His heart would heave with vengeful scorn When he heard light words of majestic Lorn Ana quickly would his soul rebel,
 And every manly impulse swell,
 When twas suggested as no use