Visit To Stratford-On-Avon And Its Vicinage.

should have known nothing of the personal appearance of "William Shakspere . The hands and face were painted flesh colour , the eyes of a light hazel , and the beard and hair of the head were auburn ; the coat , or doublet , was scarlet , and the tabard , or loose gown without sleeves , black ; the upper part of tlie cushion on which his hands restwas greentlie under part crimsonand the tassels

, , , g ilt . In his right hand he held a pen , which was broken by a sacrilegious scoundrel about the year 1837 . The late Alfred Bunn , * who was here on the 23 rd of Api-il , 1838 , says-. —" " We were , during this sojourn , paying a visit to the resting place of the poet , when the darlingold rectorDr . Davenportobserved : ' I was standing

, , here with a party some months since , when one of them —a foolish , and , thank heaven ! a very distant relation of mine—sprang up to the monument of Shakspere , and , with the view of possessing himself of a relic thereof , snatched the pen out of the right hand—it snapped in two , and I fell senseless on tlie floor . ' ' I am not

naturally cruel , ' as good old Izaak "Walton says ( who 'loved to kill nothing but fish , ' ) but I would have done my best , had I been present , to have made somebody else than 'the darling old rector , Dr . Davenport , ' fall ' senseless on the floor ! ' But perhaps the most fitting place for a fellow of that sort -would be a criminal lunatic asylum . "

In the year 17-18 tlie monument of Shakspere was repaired , and the bust carefully repainted , according to the original colours , by Mr . John Hall , a limner of Stratford ; the expenses being defrayed by Mr . John "Ward ( the grandfather of Mrs . Siddons and of John Phili p and Charles Kemble ) , who was then manager of a

company of players performing- in the town , and who , on the 9 th of September , 17-16 , generously performed the bard's tragedy of Othello , at the Old Town Hall , devoting the receipts to this p ious purpose . It was on that occasion that the following address , written by the Rev . Joseph Greene , was spoken by Mr . Ward :

" To rouse the languid breast by strokes of art , When listless indolence , hath nniub'd the heart ; In Virtue ' s cause her drooping sons t' engage , And with just satire lash a vicious age ; For this first Attic theatres were rear'd , When Guilt ' s great foe in Sophocles appear'd ; For tliis the Eoman bards their scenes display'd ,

And Vice in its own vicious garb array'd , Taught men afflicted Innocence to prize , And wrested tears from every tyrant ' s eyes . But , to great Nature to hold up tho glass , To show from her herself-what is and was , — To reason deeply as the Pates decree , " ) Whether 'tis best' to "be , or not to he , '— C

This , wond ' rous Shakspere , was rcserv'd for thee ! J Thou , in fhy skill extensive , bast reveal' d What from the wisest mortals scem'd conceal'd ; The human breast from every wile to trace , And pluck the vizard from the treacherous face ; Make the vile wretch disclaim his dark designs , And own conviction from thnervous lines

y . ; Reform the temper , siu-fy , roiigh , and rude , And force the half-unwilling to bo good ; In martial breasts neiv vigour to excite , And urge tho ling ' riiig warrior still to fight . Or , if a state pacific be his view , ) Inforni'd by thee , just paths he dares pursue , [• And serves his Maker and his neihbour too )

g . Ask by what magic are those wonders wrought ? Knoiv , 'tis byiiia ' tclilcss words from matchless thought . A ray celestial kindled in the soul , While sentiments unerring fill'd the whole , Hence his expressions wifcli jusfc ardour gloiv'd , "While Nature all her stores on him bestow'd .

Had , happy Stratford!—envied bo thy fame 1 ;' What city boasts than thee a greater name ? 'Herohis first infant lays sweet Shakspere sung ; Here tho last accents falfcer'd on his tongue 1 ' His honours yet with future time shall grow , Like Avon's streams , enlarging as they flow . Be these thy trophies , Bard , those might alone

Demand thy features on the mimic sfcone : But numberless perfections still unfold , In every breast thy praises are enroll'd ; A richer shine than if of molton gold ! " The conduct of Mr . Ward was in as good taste-as % was liberal . But in the year 1793 , Mr . Edmond Malone ( who really loved Shakspere in his own way , and bal

published his edition of the works of the poet only thee ® years before ) had the bad taste to cause the bust to fee thickly coated over with white paint , to make it loofe more classical ! And the recumbent effigy of old Jofes a-Combe in the corner ( of which more anon ) got a da / rib over with white paint at the same time as they daubeS the bust of Shakspere . The inscri ption on the monuinesnrf ; of the bard is as follows : —

" Jvnicio " PsTLixnt , GEXIO SOCPATEM , APTE JMAPOXEJI , Tumi A TEC IT , rorvivs MAUET OLYMPUS IIAIIET . " "STAT PASSEXGEH , WHY GOEST TITOV BY SO PAST , UEAD , IF Tirol" CAXST , WHOM EXVIOVS HATH PEAST , WlTl' . IX THIS MOXA'MEXT , SIIAICSPEEVPE , WITH WHOM QVICK JTATVHE MM ; : WHOSE XAME DOTH DECK VS . TOMLB VXV , MORE TLLEX COST ; SITU . UL XT . HE HATH WBITT , LEAVES i . tvixct APT BVT PAGE TO SEKYE HIS WITT . OBIIT AXO . DOI . 161 G , JETATIS 53 , DIE 23 ,-SB . '

On the stone flag which covers his grave , a short distance from the wall , is the following well-known inscription , said to have been composed by tlie great drainsfcist himself .- — " Goon PMEXD POP JESUS' SAKE EOEBEAUB , TO DICIG THE DUST EXCTOASED HEAPE ;

j ; T ISEESTE BE Y MAX r SPABES THES STOXES , I AXD CV 11 ST HE HE Y MOVES MY BOXES . " The whimsical De Qnincey considers this inscripiJoa , " worthy of the gravedigger or the parish clerk / " whom he thinks "was probably its author . " How far 1 & e

opium-eater ' s opinion should weigh ivith us , his foolisit speculations , dogmatically given as facts , on the origia of Freemasonry , and his estimate of tlie unsullied character of William Wordsworth ( who was both morally and mentally immensely superior to poor De Quincey ) , may at once decide . Charles Knight , too , disputes its genuineness , and calls it doggrel ; but then it is one " of Mr . Kni g ht ' s failings to endeavour to destroy the

fewtraditions which we have of Shakspere , and to substitute in their stead his own more improbable fancies . FOE my own part I see no reason for doubting the genuineness of either Shakspere ' s features as handed down ia the bust , or of the authenticity of the epitaph . Of course the bust can only be regarded as an exact copy of Shakspere ' s features at tlie most ; the spirit of the manwhicJa

, the skilful sculptor can so well depict in his statuary , is wanting : Gerard Johnson was evidentl y no Phidias ; but ' ' for what we have received , the Lord make us truly thankful ! " It is easy to recognize the cheerfulness oS "gentle Will y" in his bust ; and , whoever wrote the verse , so unnecessarily branded as dogiprel , has done good

service , for it lias effectually kept the bones of Shakspere from removal ; and , like Washington Irving , I " cou'hS not but exult in the malediction which has kept his ashes undisturbed " in his Stratford grave . Mr . Wheeler has well remarked , in his excellent little History find Anti quities of Slratford-v . pon-Axon , that " if any judgmexJifc may be formed from the imprecation contained in & s