The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-22

| +
mediately," says Shelley. caught up
my brace of pistols, and, pointing then
both at him, said to him: i have. had
enough Of your impertinence; II you
give me any more of 1t, will blow your
brains out. .
But the landlord was quite collapsed
by his servant girl, "a dirty little
nymph, by name Christie" ShelIey's
friend, Hogg. who Joined them in Edin-
I burgh, has left vivid sketch Of this
parsonage. Christie spoke the broad
est Scots, and her unmusical accent
tortured the poet. Shelley was always
an incessant tea drinker. as Christie
soon discovered. So impressed was she
with the fact that, Whenever the ben
rang, she darted into her room, ex
claiming, "Ohl the kit5le," AT the
sound of the dreaded accent Shelley in
continently fled into a corner of the
room and covered his ears with his
hands. Send her away, Harriet he
would groan oh send her away, for
Gods sake, send her away. This, of
course, was a source of unbounded
amusement to Harriet and Hogg. They
schemed and planned to entice Christie
into conversation. Have you had your
dinner today. Christie?Y was common
question "Yess." '.And what did
you get?" question usually evok-
ing the reply, "Sengit heed and
I bonnocks." NH
Apart from Christie, what impressed
the party most was the Scots Sab
bath. They noted with curiosity the
grave Presbyterians, with downcast
looks. like oonscience-strici5en sinners.
slowly crawling toward their place OF
gathering" Only once did Shelley VEN
ture to church. The sermon had not an
celebrating effect on him. Il neveE
saw Shelley so detected, so Responding,
so despairing," says his friend. Tho
one occasion. One Sunday evening their
Landlord announced: They are draw
ding nigh unto the, oatechist-children
and domestics must attend" For some
strange reason Shelley obeyed this
summons, and followed the children
and domestics to a building hard by.
Here they found the catechist standing
in the middle of the floor, with chill
dren grouped round him. ''Wha was
Adam 2? shouted the catechist There
was no answer. Again the question was
urged, 'Wha was Adam?" Still no re-
Spouse came. Indignant at this silence.
the catechist, raising his voice to a
higher pitch shouted, "Whas tha
| De-il?" At this point Shelley's gravity
gave way. and with a wild burst of
laughter he made for the door.
AS regards the city, the Shelleys
seem not to have fallen under it's spell.
They observed that 1t was g. city of ex-
and nature" but, at the same time,
Astounding with many "odious and re-
voting Objects" Hollywood House APP
peared to them "a beggarly palaceG"
and the pictures they considered per-
haps with truth, the production Of
some very inferior artist, who could
not get employment as a sign painter
Beyond this visit to Hollywood and an
excursion to Arthur's Seat they went
little abroad AT the end of five weeks
the Shelleys tired of the Scots capital
and made their way south. Three years
later-in October, 1S13-the poet again
found his way north. In the mean
time his first child had been born This
time the party lodged at No. SO Fred
erick street. Mr.. Rossett says that
Shelley's first act was to marry Har-
riet over again" in an Episcopal chapel
This statement has been called in
question by Prof. Dowden, and, IL
would seem, with good reason.
We are told by by the London Acad-
envy that Miss Fiona Macleod has had
to make extraordinary efforts to main
tain the secret of her personality,
Miss Macleod's letters have to be re-
addressed three or four times before
they come gEinto. her hands. She 10 -
known to small circle who keep the
secret well; her forcible handwriting is
known to many. No editor has man
aged to get her photograph, though
one had ii in his hands. We doubt II
Miss Macleods publishers have met
her. AT first Mr. William Sharp did
a good deal of her business work, but
she superintends it herself now.sclFhes
mystery as to her identity is not oneA
that will arouse the. suspicion ofMti16
/ literary, but certain Gaels, whose disc
like for Miss Macleod's work amounts
to passion, have sought assiduouslyA
to hon 10. II I,
Every sort of criticism except that
which is literary has been applied to-
/ her work. One ardent Gael turned up
/ the files of Glasgow paper to see IT.
any of the tragedies Miss Macleod de-gt
picts. actually occurred, another took
a cefAus of Iona--no difficult task---to
4 discoVer the originals of her characters. d
1t is startling to learn that their re-
searches were unavailing. Still another
Gael is said to have done detective duty
opposite "a house in Edinburgh where +
I Miss Macleod sometimes stays, and I.
Miss Macleod is as unknown as ever. ssl
| To the mere American the lady's Ht-
erary performances seem hardly int
| portant enough to rouse so much .
curiosity,7-New York Tribune. 70" 'gt
The mere announcement that Shaks-
pere's birthplace is in danger ought to
provide a prompt remedy. 1t Is happily
/ IlUJl the DulldlnB IL5elr tflaI IS Ehredts
ened. though the practice Of burning
open coal fires at Anne Hathaway'a
cottage Is said TO be fraught with peril
The current issue of Literature states
that the present complaint relates to
the walls and ceilings of Shaksperes
cottage, which, even in Washington Ir-
Wings day, were covered with names
and Inscriptions in every language by
pilgrims or all nations, ranks and con-
ditions, from the prince to the peas
ant" Now the heat from the hot-water
pipes is causing the plaster to peel off;
the names of Tennyson and Dickens
have already disappeared. and 1t Is
suggested that the remaining auto
| graphs should be encased in glass to
save them from the same fate. We
grumble at the vandalism Of the people
who insist on scribbing their names on
every famous wall and monument. And
! then we grunble when the names be-
gin to peel off, because some OF tho
vandals happened to be famous them
! pie have done better with the birthplace
Of their greatest poet than the Scotch,
who have, we believe. turned the birth
place OF Burns into a temperance re-
! freshment room.
! Mr.. Frank Harris. who s very busy
writing about Shakspere, does not be-
! lieve in the Emersonian theory that we
DO not know much about that great
! poet. There is no one in literature."
ne says whom ! know half SO well as
\ 9hakspere and no one half so well