Stray Thoughts On The Origin And Progress Of The Fine Arts.

Sluminate what was little better than a spacious courtyard . Dwelling houses presented to the street nothing liufc a dead wall . All openings for lig ht were directed ¦ towards a largo open court . Even the sumptuous baths © f Titus , where the group of the Laocoon was in a room of costly marble , artificial light had to be employed fo ? ihe display of its beauties . The effect of this obscurity

was to cause the transaction of much of tlie public 'business to take place in the open forum or public place . Public exhibitions were also made during tlie day-time in the open air ; the theatres were without roofs , an awning being provided to shelter the spectators from the sun or rain .

Visit To Stratford-On-Avon And Its Vicinage.

VISIT TO STRATFORD-ON-AVON AND ITS VICINAGE .

Er BRO . GEOKCH : ISIARKU . VM TAVI ; II ; OELT , , Author of "SlioM-pere : his Times and Contemporaries , " f pc . ( Cord ! tilted from Vol . III ., page 4 tj-i . ) The chancel or choir of Stratford Church was erected hy the EevThomas BalshaiJDDwho was warden or

. , .., tl ' eau of the collegiate chuveVi from 11 ( 53 to 11-91 , when lie died , and was buried in the chancel which lie had raised . His ruined monument now bears no legible ascription , aud ought' to be restored by the inhabitants of Stratford . Doubtless it ivas ori ginally a beautiful altar-tomband the barbarians who could be brutal

, enough to mutilate it ought to have served the remainder of their lives working in chains . It is beside the north wall , and almost close fo that of tlie great bard whoso tomb brings so many pilgrims from afar to gaze upon

Hiis spot . I wonder what poor old Balshall would have said if lie could have been consulted as to whether the actor and play-writer was to be buried beside him , a grave Doctor of Divinity ; and said play-acting poet and illis family to bo allowed to lay until the Day of Judgment across this chancel , j list outside of the altar-rails . Perhaps lie might have considered it a iece of great presumption

p < on the part of tho Shakspercs : and I hai-o no doubt that it did make a noise at the time amongst some of the " ' old families" in the nei ghbourhood . Most probably ihe Lucys and the Cloptons would not altogether like it " ; But those who , like myself , venerate the bard for his unstyiiig writingsfeci thankful that his ashes found so

, fitting a resting-place ; for , as "Washington Irvingwell observes : " What honour could his name have derived from being mingled in dusty companionshi p with tlie epitaphs and escutcheons , and venal eulogiums of a titled multitude ? What would a crowded corner

in Westminster Abbey have been , compared with this " reverend p ile , which seems to stand in beautiful loneliness as'his sole mausoleum ! 'The solicitude about tho grave may be but the offspring of au over-wrought sensibility ; hut human nature is made up of foibles aud prejudices ; and its best aud tenderest affections are mingled with these factitious feelings . He who has sought renown

about the world , and has reaped a full harvest of worldl y favour , will find , after all , that there is no love , no admiration , no applause so sweet to tho soul as that ' R-ljich springs up in his own native place . It is there sliafc he seeks to be gathered in peace and honour anioim-Ms kindred and his earlfriends . And when tlie

y weary iheart and failing head begin to warn him that the evening of life is drawing 0 n , lie turns as fondl y as does the infant to the mother ' s arms , to sink to ' sleep in the j Ibosom of the scene of his childhood . " Near to tho monument of Dean Balshall is that which ' ¦ ¦ wSl be "remembered in my land ' s language , " ivhen all .

the marble and alabaster tombs in the church are forgotten . The monument of Shakspere is elevated some five feet from the floor , and fixed to the north wall of the chancel . Tlie bust , which is of freestone , is placed under an arch , between two Corinthian columns of black marblewith gilded bases and capitals . Above the

, entablature are the shield * and crest of Shakspere ; sitting on each side of which is the figure of a boy , one holding in his left hand a spade or shovel ( wliich in an engraving now before me , is changed into an arrow ) , and the other boy , with closed eyes , holding an inverted torch in his left hand , whilst his right rests upon a human

skullsymbolical of the torch of life being extinguished in the body , and that even of the gifted head of a Shakspere there but remained a skull and dust ! In tho engravi ' im-I have referred to , a hour-glass is substituted for torch and skull—an unwarrantable liberty to take in any engraving , for what we want in things of this sort is truth . The monum ent is surmo tinted by a representation of a skull , and as I looked upon it I thought of the fine reasoning of Hamlet on that of Yorick : — "Where be

your gibes now . ' ' your gambols ? your songs ? your flashes of merriment , wliich were wont to set the table on a roar ? Not onejroiv , to mock your own grinning ? quite chapfulJen ? N ow , get you to my lady ' s chamber , and tell her . let her paint an inch thick , to this favour she must come : make her laugh at that . " But the most interesting part ofthe monument is the

bust , which is considered to be the most genuine likeness of the poet which we possess , as there is reason to believe that the face was sculptured from a cast or model taken after death . It was the workmanship of Gerard Johnson , and was erected some time between the death of Shakspere , April 23 rd , 1 ( 516 , and the publication of the first folio , or collected edition of his works , in 1623 , as the following lines by Leonard Digges , then published , will prove : —

- ' bhakspei-e , afc length tlry pious folloivs give The work ! thy works ; thy works by which outlive Thy tomb , thy name must : when thafc stono is rent , And timo dissolves thy Stratford monument , Here AVO alive shall vieiv tlieo still . This book , When ln-ass and marble fudo , shall make thee look FrcAt to all ages ; ivhen posterity

Shall loath what ' s now , think all is prodigy That is not Shakspcro ' s , every lino , each verse , Here shall revii'e , redeem thee from thy kerse . Nor fire , nor caiik ' ring ago—as Naso said Of his—thy Avit-fi-aught book shall once invade : Nov shall I e ' er believe or think thee dead , Though mis .- 'd , until our bankrupt stage be sped with

( Impossible ) somo new strain to outdo Passions of Juliet and her Borneo ; Or till I . hear a scene more nobly take , Than when thy lialf-sivorcl partying Romans spake -. Till these , till any of thy volumes rest , Shall with more fire , more feeling , ho express'd , I 3 e sureour Shaksperethou canst die

, , never , But , ei-OAvn'd with laurel , live eternal ! )' . " The bust ( which , as I before stated , is of freestone ) was very properly painted to resemble life ; andalthoim-h Sti Henry Wotton and others censure this practice as an "English barbarism , " we could easily show that it is a ciistom of immense antiquit One would no more think

y . of painting Carrara marble than of graining good mahogany ; but I think " , both for taste and durabilit y , a bust ol : freestone was much better painted witli proper colours ; and but for this one having been done so we