Visit To Stratford-On-Avon And Its Vicinage.

and dormer windows shown in the engraving are gone ; the peaked roof is as flat and dully uniform as the most tasteless cottage one ever meets with ; and , indeed , the building as here represented , compared with what it is now , was indeed "Hyperionto a Satyr . " As it is , however , though I would not glass-case the quondam butcher ' s shop , yet I would carefully preserve

all the portions of the building which have any appearance of antiquity about them . My departed friend , John Bolton Eogersoa , Ivas sung of Shakspere" We have tho dwelling where his childish eyes First learn'd to look upon the blessed skies ; Where once ho clung" around the parent knee , Aud lisp'd the word of guileless infancy .

There pass'd the morning of his life , whoso prime Pour ' cl quenchless splendour o'er his land and time ; And near that home came on his eve and night—To him the heralds of immortal light , And shall we suffer , then , to pass away Onr Shakspere ' s homo like things of common clay ? Shall ruin desecrate his loved

retreat—The hallow" d shine of thousand pilgrim feet ? It must not be!—those lowly walls shall stand , Guarded with reverent care , to grace the land ; And countless suns shall yet a radiance shed O'er that dear roof ivhich shelter'd Shakspere ' s head . ' " This house was inhabited by John Shakspere , the father of the great dramatic bard , as early as 1552 , when ( according to Hunter ) the said John and two of his neighbours were fined for making a dunghill in the

street . Stratford appears to have consisted principally of thatched cottages here and there , open to the common , with stacks of straw , whins , and piles of firewood in the streets , during the whole life of the poet It was John Shakspere ' s own property , and at his death became the property ofthe poet , who , in his will , bequeathed it to his sisterJoan Hart ( who then lived in it ) for her

, life , " under the yearly rent of twelve pence ; " in other words , for an acknowledgment , * and , in another part of his will , this property is bequeathed to his eldest daughter , Susanna Hall . Charles Kni ght—a genial writer , but one too fond of rooting up the , traditions of Shakspere—does not attempt to destroy the belief in

this being really the birthplace of the bard , nor could he succeed were he to try . The aristocracy of wealth , ancl rank , and intellect , have journeyed from every land to visit this humble abode ; aud , thankful though I am that many of its original oak beams still stand erect—for it is a "post and panel" house—yet I cannot help

regretting that it was not purchased by the nation at an earlier period , when it was really and truly in every respect the same as when Shakspere slept beneath its roof , and played about its porch—when , in short , it retained its ancient , quaint , respectable , and comfortable aspiectas shown in the excellent wood-engraving which

, accompanies these pages . "THE IMMOKTAL SIIAKSPEHE WAS BOJOT ix THIS HOUSE " was an inscription which arrested the attention of many a traveller , even when one portion of "this house" ' was "a public , " and the other a butcher ' s shop ! ( To he continued ?)

The Grave S Of Bros. Jackson And Polk.

THE GRAVES OF BROS . JACKSON AND POLK .

( From , the American Mirror and Keystone . ) It is among the first sources of honest pride in whicli our ancient and honourable Fraternity have right to indulge , that nearly all the most distinguished statesmen of the Republic , in tho past as well as the present , have been , and are , patrons of Froomasonry . On tho long roll of patriots whoso names arc so intimately connected with our country ' s glory , none , perhaps , stand pre-eminent to those of tho illustrious Brothers , the subject of the present memorial .

Closely associated in relations of personal ancl political friendship while living , it was eminently proper that their ashes should mingle in kindred dust now that they are dead . Under the watchful custody ' of the noble State for whose fame and fortune they so long laboured , they now sleep in quiet repose by the banks of the noble Cumberland , and with patriotic devotion to their memory , many are the

pilgrims who visit the calm shades of their final rest . It was a beautiful evening * Ty *; ay that we leffc the City of Nashville to visit tho Hermitage . The road reaches over a romantic succession of hill and dale , through farm and woodland , until , at a distance of thirteen miles , we turned aside from the main thoroughfare into a by-road , following which for a quarter of a mile further , we came to the gate through which had so often passed the Hero of New Orleans .

Nothing could be move quiet and secluded than the spot which the impetuous spirit of the chieftain and statesman had selected for its place of repose , when free from weighty cares which confiding countrymen had imposed upon it . it glance , however , at the surroundings was sufficient to impress the mind that it was the home of no ordinary man that we were visiting . Tho approach to the house is

completely over-arched by the mooting branches of cedars planted on either side of the carriage way , while chains , suspended from cedar posts and reaching from one to the other , formed tho only barrier between the path and tho lawn . The house is entirely unpretentious in its character , built much after the style of planters' mansions generally , having more an air of solid comfort than cold magnificence

. A lofty portico extends across the front end , and here it was that the Sage of the Hermitage would pace forward and back for many an hour when oppressed with the thoughts of state . Here , too , it was , when the ' * cold hand of sickness came over him , and the sun of his existence , beaming in mildest mellow splendour on the verge of the horizon , near now to its long farewell , " that he loved best to sit ancl

converse with his friends upon the acts of his eventful life . Since the death of their owner , the premises have been permitted to relapse to . decay ; bufc having been recently purchased by the State of Tennessee , ifc is ' presumed that they will soon bo restored to a condition worthy of the great man who gave thorn their fame . We were met at the houso by an old servant who for

over fort ] ' j'ears was a domestic in Jackson ' s family . Unlocking the garden gate , he conducted us to the family burial place . Shaded by tho overhanging branches of fragrant magnolias , a mausoleum , severe in its simplicity , protects the remains of the groat man , who rejected the proffered sarcophagus of Alexander Scvcrus , that he might repose in death , as ho had lived in life—a plain , unpretending republican .

A gray limestone slab , bearing the simple inscription , MAJ . GI-XL . AXDHEW JACKSOX , BOKX MARCH 15 , 1767 , DIED JUNE 8 , 1815 , covers the vault . By his side arc resting the remains of his beloved wife , who preceded him to tbe tomb , the inscription the slab abovedictated b

upon — y her devoted pastor—tenderly reciting her many virtues . Around the grave of the Jacksons are buried several relations , and an artist friend , who for several years was an inmate of the family . As we stood beside the silent vault , what a crowd of historical events passed in rapid succession through our mind . The glory of Now Orleans , the hand-to-hand fights amid the ambuscades of the

Everglades , the triumph in a political contest over partisan , animosity such as the country has seldom known , the stern rebuke to nullification , the removal of the desposites , and the final retirement to private life , amid such " unpurchasable homage " of his fellow countrymen as clearly bespoke how deep a hold he had upon their affections . And then againin after when clouds

, years , . seemed gathering about us , how like the kindly voice of a father to his children came fche admonitions of tho dying statesman ! All these remembrances , and more , crowded upon us ; and as we turned away , wo could but mentally exclaim , in the language of another , " God blessed him with length of days , and he ' filled them with deeds of fiery . " Though loss brilliant , not less patriotic or useful was the