The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-10-11
At TIE TOMB OF
SHAKESPEARE
Wakenan'S Visit to the Town Of STRAIT
i0Td-0l-AT0l.
The Effect Thst Is Produced Upon the Visitor
to the Place Whsre Lived the Immortal
Bard-Holy Trinity Church.
Special to THE SUNDAY CALL

Something akin to tender feeling of unrest
and vague consciousness of unfulillment
possesses you in this sweet 0 d town of STRAIT
ford on-Avon From first to last the entire
experience is tinged with the nature and
wrought in the very tissue Of dreams. 1t
has been your dream to some time know this
greatest Of all literary shrlnes. While you
are within its strange influence, you wander
and dream as in the actual region of dreams,
among dream born folk who are themselves
dreaming within the dream After you turn
away, all that you can possibly recall seems
to have had Its origin in some far-Of age OF
dreams.
If you come to this shrine by railway and
its interminabe changes, giving you
glfmpses of all sorts of midland towns, from
ancient Warwick with its stately battle
ments to bennington with its modern
glitter, you have reached pleasing state Of
confusion not remote from the Vasaries OF
dreams. If you have come to the place on
the box of one of those famous coaches
which spin to various points OF interest
throughout the SHIRE, you Will nave
seen in few hours countless sue
cessiOn of the most beautiful and dTeamtul
countryside pictures in England. And II
miles, as l did, along the hard, white Nigh
way from Warwick, underneath au almost
unbroken archway Of elmS, through tHe
crisp yet dToWSy atmosphere OF an EnSuSn
midland autumnal morning, there IS still
surrounding you tbs glamor OF DeWltchlHg
unreaIity yea cannot AMI would not dlspel.
Tramping over this witchlnS way, what
flood of historic memories sweeps IN with
the breath of the rosy morning! Here upon
this noble emineuce, with historic CIOpton
.-t.A / H.. ION 2 n
the left, beneath the arching elms IS caught
the first glimpse of the valley OF Avon. An
hundred lesser gentle verdure-clad emil
nence rise and fall, as II with the thT0ODlng
of natures heart, in its fair, FAR sweep:
From away in the northeast winds thread
Of silver. 1t bToadens as 1t disappears and
reappears in its course toward the severn,
and is finally lost completely, where above
4 mass OF Gins ana lines and red-tllted
roofs, rises a slender spire, The sllyeTy
thread is the Avon. The mass of ems and
lines and red-ttled roofs is StratfOrd. The
slender spire of its Holy Trinity Church
marks the tomb and shrine ut the world
immortal bard
Lettering here the old days, places and
stirring scenes fit quickly into the wide
horizon rim. The three spires OF ancient
Coventry can almost be seen not far away
to the uUrth-Coventry with its legends Of
pilErimages and the deed Of fair Godlya
which brought freedom from the oppression
CT her farce grim lord TO the people OF her
well-belOved town. The grand ruin OF
KenIwOrth, with its memories Of loustS,
tournaments and reyeiTies of Elizabeth and
her favorites, are nearer still. GRAY old
Warwick, with its walls still as mighty
as in the furious times of the third
Henry, is just behind you TO the north.
Over to the west Evesham and Tewk5-
bury recall a gruesome ta!e' Only NJ
teen miles TO tie north, jas. at the edge
Of OXfOrdShire, the first great battle be-
tween the Kings and Parliamentary forces
was fought in the seventeenth century at
Edge Hill Not far away, in Nortnampton-
shire, is Futheringay. notably connec ed
with the lives and fateS OF princes, and
famous and Infamous as the place of execu-
ton Of Mary Queen OF Scots.
THE IvY-HID RUGBY.
Below Edge Hill is Banbury Of cherished
nuTSeTy-THyme memory, to whose tOGthSOme
cheese Shakespeare lkeael Falstaff, for his
rich aud unctuous habit. 1t is but few
miles away, lust over there IN Nor.hamp-
ton, beyond The ivy-hid Rugby of Tom
Browns School Days" that the Avon
springs from the hills about Naseby, where
Cromwell and Fairfax drove the hlpless
Charles from his throne and king ION. SIX
ty-fOuT great seats with their castles OF halls
from Allesley Park to WroXall House, be-
sides many fine cathedrais and superb mon
astic and castle ruins, cluster close within the
shire The chimueys and minaTeted turrets
of one rise above primeval trees down there
to the east in the dreamtu. Avon Valley.
They mark old Charlecote, scene OF a
certain Ihymi1g pORcheTS escapade, And
this same CharlecOte once stood in the
greatest Of all British forests, tile forest
Of Arden, whose name and fame can never
grow cid, so long as the fair and tender
Rosaiind and all the other winsOme brood
in As You Like IT. shall repeat their wise
and wOndruuS human truths to those who
own and love the English thought and
tongue.
As you descend into the old town every
thing is strangely still. On the way you
see a few blackbirds hopping sagely amo z
the stubbie, close to the sheltering hedge.
Here and there wary pheasant that has
escaped the annual au,Umnal slaughter
Nhisks into the road, trOtS along its grassy
border for a little, and then as suddenly
and silently disappears. The kline are
sleapilv chewing their cuds against the farm
house byres 4 few stocks" of late-gath-
cred grain are huddled in tile little fields.
The smoke asCend5 iaintly from the Chin
leys Of cottage and hall. They are late
risers these English folk, and the low sun is
far up in its slender arc before jewellers give
sign OF being aStir. Even the sable rocks
that haunt Tie dead trees and high, wide
chimnpys f ancient demesnes rise slug
gishly from their hiding, wheel lazlly about
it, and settle down quietly again, not yet
ready to unloose their saucy, chattering
tongues.
You know, as everybody knows, when
you have come to the little closely hedged
tiled houses, where the open highway has
merged into a long. picturesque though
humble street, that were you to remain IN
SlTatfOrd for u months time there could be
only just the half dozen places Immediately
identified with Shakespeare, to visit-the
house where he was born, tbs vacant site of
the house where he lived at New Place, the
church where he ia buried, Ann Hatha-
WAYS cottage and the memorial fountain
and theater. And while you could see these
in An hOuTs time, the impulse,
now that they are so near
your ken, is to avoid them; to wan-
der away through the town for little at
first, and, shaking off the dreamful captivity
Of it all, to try and come back to those Oh
Iects and places one by one, with increased
attitude and power of recognition and COM
paniOnShip.
You are now in the center Of Stratford,
On High street. You suddenly recall the
curious fact that in all the hundreds OF
English towns YOU have visited, you have
always found High street, and that every
place Of interest to he seen as at Stratford,
is only a few moments walk from every
other place, of or on this old familiar High
street. Here is an open space, the ancient
''mercate square," Jagged, zigzag thorough
fares lead to it from outlying picturesque
spots and quarters All about are half
timbered houses projecting story over story
into the market place; and You wonder how
long before, from sheer age, they will
tumble, red roofs fist, over into the clean
cool square below. Quaint shops, lust now
opening, are pinched in between staid old
mansions. Baudboxes Of inns, scores oil
them, each striving to Guido the other In
curious name or escutcheon suggestive oil
the one memory of the slumberOus old
town, speck the gray facades with gid and
color.
OLD HENLEY STREET
Down one of the streets, old Henley street
through whose windings glimpse of the
uplands is caught, you know is to be found
the house OF all others in Stratlord. But
you turn in the opposite direction. You
pass az ancient inn named for the bard
Each of its rooms is given the name of same
one of tho characters he created. Servant,
are hIggle-haggling wish rosy-faced buck
ster over the price of vegetables on
its comfortable porch. Old stone
houses with the Oldest of peaks. gables