The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-01-25
SHAKEsPEARE's HOME.
A Visit 90 tho seonsa or tho Poets Life
md n,

Thc<& nr0 three places In St1atford
which everybody must SEQ, and, these
seen, wo GO our hurried way, writes
Rev George Hodges, in tho Pittsburgh
Dispatch. One is Shalzespeare's house
whore no was born; another is Anne
Hathnway's cottage where no did his
counting. The third is the church in
whose chanccl he lies buried There
was once fourth, the house In which
he lived, he and his Ammo. But that is
pulled down and nothing left of It, 1t
he'd been repaired out OF an likeness to
the original, anyway; 80 that the loss
may not be great. But the circum-
stances of the pulling down were pecul-
lar. 1t seems TINT there WIS ON ancient
mulberry tree in the garden, under
which the poet meditated. And every
body who came to Stratford wanted to
sec the mulberry tree. But the garden
and the house belonged to IN lima
tured parson. And the parson was not
pleased at all this swinging of his cato
and trampling over his lawn; no doubt
1t was not altogether pleasant And
after he had endured the turists to tho
limits of his patience (which wac prob
ably not greatly extended), he took his
clerical coat off one fino morning and
got stout axe and chopped that his
toricnl mulberry into small pieces and
made bonfire of the pieces. And
shortly after he effected n clean swecp
OF the whole business by tearing down
the house to the last brick; and having
thus revengcd him of his enemies he
departed, leaving this curious memory
behind him.
"Shnl1espearc's house." where he was
born, is n rather respectable looking
dwelling on the outside. 1t is in that
style Of architecture which is known as
"post-and-paye," that is, it is built of
great timbers, with wide spaces be-
tween, which arc filled with lath and
plaster But the house within is I'M
comfortable and checrlcss enough to
satisfy even the most ardent nd
mirer of the good old times" The
first room into which the street
door opens is that upon whose dingy
and contracted walls John Shakes
peore's baby first opened its obscrvant
eyes. They knew none Of our modern
distinctions between parlor and u bed
room in Shakcspcarc's day. The only
evidence of the wcll-to-to condition of
the family is in the presence of n CHIN
ncy. chimney was luxury. Common
people built their fires informally upon
the floor, and allowed the smoke to
make its graceful exit through hole
in the ceiling. But John Shakespeare
had chimney. Indeed, during sea-
son Of brief prosperity he was an i'm
portant man in Stratford, holding the
two significantly related positions of
nlc-taster md alderman. The splcndors
OF the house begin and end with that
plain brick chimney. Tho rooms are
low, chcerless, comfortlcss, dark, like
the rooms of IL low-class tenement.
Out among the fields at Shottcry is
Anne lathaway's cottage. You go out
along footpath. with whose windings
Shakespeare was familiar. And it is
early morning when you make your
pilgrimage, and the dew is on the grass,
and everybody is asleep but the early
birds, and the sun and the mist are
contcnding in the meadows, and the air
is fresh and clear, and you have pleas
ant company-why your long walk
through the green fields and over the
stiles and beneath the great trees is an
event which you will always mark with
red line. Shottery is little village
OF low-browed, thatch-roofed cottages,
any one OF which is picturesque enough
to have been o counting place for
William Shakespeare. Anne Hath
away's stands close by the way
side, prcttier than the prctticst
pictures of it, with vines climbing
Here young Master Will came with
ntH, n0t -l..f ~.. H.. r..
and they were marricd-the boy Of
eighteen and the young woman of
twcnty-six-nnd lived happily Oct us
try TO thinl1) forever after. The happi-
ness is somewhat open to question, this
fact in the case being at least certain,
that the poet in his will left as sole
bcqucst to his wife, out of his consider
nblo possessions, his ''sccond-bcst bcd!"
But the flowers grew brilliantly beside
the brown WALL for all that, and how
ever much prose may have come into
the two lives nftcrward, the cottage is
as charming as Il love story.
Beneath the pavement of the chancel
floor of Holy Trinity Church, in n grave
seventeen feet deep, with n protective
curse against disturbers inscribed on
the top of it, lies the body Of William
Shakespeare. To the left, on the
chanccl wall, is the painted bust with
whose looks everybody is familiar.
low Shakespeare really looked is n
question with rs mnny answers as the
similar inquiry about Mary Queen OF
Scots. AS i'll her case, there isn't lack
of pictures, but they are all different
This bald-hcadod, sharT-bcardcd statue
on the chanccl wall was set there
shortly after his death, and probably
looks most like him. Certainly it can
not fatter him.