Visit To Stratford-On-Avon And Its Vicinage.

dryad ; and where one might have sung with Amiens in that delightful comedy of As You Like It : "Under the greenwood tree AA'ho loves to lie with me , And tune his merry note Unto the sweet bird ' s throat , Come hither , come hither , come hither ; Here shall he see No enemy . But winter and rouerh weather . "

But we have reached Alcester , placed near the confluence of the Alne and the Arrow , and along the Eoman consular way , Ikenihl or Ichiield-street- ( for the name is variously written ) before referred to ; and we are now only eight miles from Stratford , Many Roman remains have been found at Alcester , which is a jilace of great antiquity . In the reign of Henry I . it was a

borough ; and in the year iUiO , Ralph Pincerna founded a Benedictine Abbey , on the banks of the Arrow , the site of which covers an area of two acres . The manor of Alcester belonged to the noble families of Beaiichamp and Grevile , and the church contains the altar tomb of " Sir Eoulke Greyvill" and of the lady Elizabeth his wife .

A free school was founded here in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; and a Freemasons' lodge ( the Apollo , No . 378 ) , in 1794 . Agriculture and the needle manufacture afford the principal employment to the people of Alcester and its immediate neighbourhood . Alcester is eight miles from Henley-in-Arden , as well as ei ght

from Stratford ; sixteen from Warwick ; and nineteen from Birmingham . As we neared Stratford-on-Avon , I became more and more impressed with the idea that every spot on which my eyes rested was familiar to the bright hazel eyes of the great bard of humanity ; that on every side his footsteps had wandered ; and when the spire of Stratford

Church at last appeared to my view , I felt that I was at last appiroaching the tomb of him whom Hallam has pithily described , when he said : — "His name is the greatest in our literature—is the greatest in all literature ! " And when a direction post ou our right showed the simple inscrition— " To Shottery . " Oh ! then sweet

p Willie seemed to stand before me in all tlie vigour and exuberance of youth , with his beloved Anne Hathaway hanging on his arm , whilst he vows to her , in the beautiful language of his Sonnet : —

"When in disgrace with fortune and men ' s eyes . I all alone beweep my outcast state , And trouble dear heaven with my bootless cries , And look upon myself and curse my fate , Wishing me like to one more rich in hope , Featured like him , like him with friends profess'd , Desiring this man ' s art and that man ' s scope , With what most

' I enjoy contented least ; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising , Haply I think on thee , —and then my state ( Like to the lark at break of clay arising From sullen earth ) sings hymns at heaven ' s gate : For thy sweet love remembci- 'dsuch wealth brings , That then I scorn to change my state with kings . "

And there , sure enough are larks carolling on every hand , and much , very much indeed , all round about Stratford , to remind one of the works of Shakspere , who never would have become the adored poet of the human race had he not allowed nature to photograph herself indelibly on his heart and brain .

" \ v ould you like to call at Shottery , now , Sir , " asked my driver . " ' No , thank you ; we must make for Stratford at once . ^ or I shall be too late for the dinner with the Beecher Club—besides I" have a fancy for strolling between Stratford and Shottery by the ' footpath at even-

Visit To Stratford-On-Avon And Its Vicinage.

tide , as I have no doubt Shakspere and Ann Hathaway have done many a time and oft . You had better drive at once to the Golden Lion . " We were presently bowling along down the streets of Stratford-on-Avon , and I found myself safely landed at that comfortable and respectable hotel , the Golden Lion , which more than one of my friends had recommended

to me , and which I lilted none the worse for the fact of mine host being not only a lover of the drama-, but also ( as I soon found out ) a brother Mason . ( To Le Continued . )

Architecture And Archæloogy.

ARCHITECTURE AND ARCH ? LOOGY .

GLASGOW ARCH / EOLOGICAL SOCIETY . At the annual meeting and conversazione of the Glasgow Archaeological Society , Mr . James Smith , of Jordanhill , was voted into the chair , and the proceedings commenced by the reading of the annual report , by Mr . Honeyman , jun ., the honorary secretary . The President then gave a few short sketches of the

"Pre-historic Antiquities of the AA est of Scotland . " He said the stone hatchet belonged to the rudest and earliest state of society , and it had been the same here as elsewhere . John Buchanan had left him nothing to do with regard to the canoes of antiquity part of the question . Where these canoes had been found it must have been under water , for they were found imbedded in the sandand sometimes

, nearly in a vertical position , as if the vessel had been run down . Then the question presented itself—Was that water fresh or salt ? Both were possible , for they knew that in elevated land , which had either been the seabottom or that of an ancient lake , marine shells were found , but then they were edible ones , and might have been brought up from the sea coast ; but he thought it belonged to a before the last

period upheaving . The study of silts of elevated lands , then stone hatchets and stone arrow-heads , w hich had recently attracted much attention , was the same with the canoe question of this part of the country . They knew that such changes of level did take place hi the human period , although in great periods of time . He then remarked that there were a few stone monuments of a single stone in this

country , which were doubtless erected " in memory of" some of the great and important persons of the day , who were quite unknown to fame . One of these was at Inverary , and another at Strachar . There were what were called Druidical circles of stones also , although no one knew what they were for ; and in Baldernock parish there were three cromlechs , or , as they were called , the "Three Old AA ^ ivcs' Lifts . "

GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL INTELLIGENCE . The new parish church at Whitfield , Northumberland , has been consecrated . This church , which is substituted for the old ] 3 arish church , which was inconveniently situated for the greater part of the parishioners , has been built at the sole cost of the Rev . J . A . and Mrs . Blackett Ord , the owners of the surrounding property , in memory of the late '

AVilliam Ord , Esq ., 3 I . P ., of AATiitrield . The style of the church is Early English . It is cruciform in plan , with central tower and spire , the latter rising to a height of 150 ft . It is simple , in its arrangement and general outline , but is moulded and carved ; and is finished inside with chiselled stone , no plaster being used in any part . In plan the structure comprises south porchnavenorth and south

, , transepts , and chancel and vestry . The nave is one bay longer than the north aisle , from which it is separated by three arches springing from clustered piers . The nave and aisle arc each lighted by coupled lancets , and have slender shafts standing detached on the inner piece of wall , opposite each outside centre mullion : they support coupled arches above , which sjiring at each side from foliated corbels . At

the west- end of the nave are two long lancets , between which is a memorial niche with inscription . In the gable is a rose window of six lights . Tho chancel occupies a considerable portion of the area of tho whole church . It is