The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-10-09

VINO can Imagine Inc mdTVeIOuS Idu-
cies that teemed in his brain as he went
to and fro? Fancies that were after
ward embodied in lines that will en-
dure while the English language lasts
The grave of Shakespeare is in a
beautiful church, ancient, and now be
ing restored. 1t is in the chancel, and
the slab above it bears5this inscription,
which l had transferred to large sheet
of paper, fac Sjmile, byfubbing the let
ters with plumbago:
Good friend, for Jesug sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here
Blessed be he that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones"
The church occupiesa lovely site or
the banks of the Avon, and is ap-
preached by an avenue of magnificent
lime trees, while ancient elms and
other trees surround the edifice, and
drop their limbs into the surface of the
placid river. Around the church the
tombstones, many of them ancient, add
an air of serenity to the scene that can
never be forgotten by one who has
looked on the cradle and the grave of
the Bard Of Avon. The NEW Place"
where Shakespeare lived, after his re-
turn from London, and where he died,
is possessed of much interest. The
house is private, but the grounds are
elegantly fitted up as a public garden.
Here, in 1887, Shakespeare bought 10
acres, and cultivated his own estate,
in the intervals of writing, and resided,
rich and honored, among those who had
known him in youth, during his last
years.
The Shakespeare memorial is mag
nifcent monument to the memory of
the poet. 1t was opened April %, 1879,
and contains pictures. relics, Shake
speare library, an elegant room for the
atricals, and is, inside and outside, an
architectural gem.
But besides these buildings the en-
tire place seems full of Shakespeare.
Many of the houses are older than the
days of the poet, and one cannot get rid
of the thought, as he stTolls about, that
he is looking on the same scenes that
Shakespeare saw, and SO the poet is
brought nearer than he ever realized
him before.
We had an interesting conversation
with the woman in chngge, as to the
controversy Of theaat4-ssssfip0 Shalzes
speare's plays. She remembered Miss
Bacon, but secuted the idea that Lord
Bacon, or anybody else than Shakes
peare could have written the poems. Her
method of disposing of the matter was
more English than logical; for she
said. in response to my suggestion that
Shakespeare's mother was 8 woman Of
genius. and out of a talented family
the Ardens. "Oh, yes, they were con-
nected with the gentry, too, and it is
said that even royalty had visited the
family" Could funkeyism so farther
in demonstrating the genesis Of Shake
speare's genius.
Returning by train to bennington,
we drove to the Coventry, nine
miles. Nothing can surpass this drive,
hedges, trees, fertile fields, elegant
homes, the very heart of England, and
the ideal English landscape. Some one
has said: 1.-The ride from Coventry to
bennington is the finest in England,
except the ride from bennington to
Coventry" Time would fail me to de-
scribe a route, every inch of which is
an ideal English landscape, of Warwick
and its great castle, five miles from
Stratford, with its Warwick vase, its
effigy of Richard Beauchamp (prO-
nOunced here Beecbanl, as vase is every
where called uarz) the great Earl of
Warwick, who died in 1889, and it's
unrivalled grounds; of Kenilworth
castle, five miles from Warwick
(Warrick,) one Of England's ancient
and most celebrated strongholds, the
abode of Elizabeth's favOrite, Drd-
ley, and the scene Of Scott's novel
of the same name, the home of
John of Gaunt-the banquetting hall
is S6 by As feet; of Coventry, immortal
Coventry, where the good Lady Godlva,
wife of Leofric, Saxon Earl of Mercia,
submitted to a voluntary martyrdom,
by riding naked through the streets,
only yelled by her long hair, in order
to release the people from the feudal
exactiOns Of her tyrannical husband,
who, in response to her petitiOning,
consented, on what, knowing her mod
esty and purity, he named as an impOs-
sible condition, that she should thus
ride: all this, and how much more,
was crowded, condensed into two mem
orable, delightful days, en- route to Lon
don. The region is the heart of En-
gland. The soil is the best on the isl
and the foliage and bloom is beyond
anythingwe have seen elsewhere; every
tree, aud shrub, aud flower, is at its
best, full of life, bursting with vitality.
Add TO this the place Of Shakespeare's
birth and death, and the earliest and
latest years Of his life, Warwick, Kenil-
worth, Coventry, and the great events Of
which this opulent portion of England