TlieSHAKESPEA 
 
 COUNTRY lUustraf ed 
 
 WITH AVARS S APPENDICES 
 ILLUSTRATING 
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY 
 B THE FRANKLIN COUNTRY 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Published at fhe Office of COUNTRY LIFE 
 20.Tavistock Sfreef Covent Garden, & by 
 GEORGE NEWNES I^ Southampton Street
 
 / -
 
 The Shakespeare Country 
 
 Illustrated.
 
 Good frend for Iesvs ^ake forbearl. 
 
 TO Dice mE DVST ENCLOASED KARL^. 
 
 Blest be f man i spared tms stones, 
 
 AND CVRST BE HE ^ MOVES MY BONEs'. 
 
 The Inscrif lions on the Graves of William and Anne Shakespears, 
 Holy Tfinity Church, Stratjord-on-Avon. 
 
 MEERE- LYETH INTERRIO Trt BODY OF AnNE Wlf E 
 OF WlLUAM SHAKESHEaKE WHO DE»TEO THIS LIFE TK 
 6 DAY OFAyCV IClI BEING OF TJ€ ACE OF G>YSARES 
 
 , Vbera. tu mater, iu lac , vfemq. dedi^i 
 V* riiihi:pro tanto munere saiia (Ubo 
 
 Quam mailcm ^ipDueat lipiQem. bonus Angl' ore 
 Exeit Jchristr corpus .iin3if;o tuA *sxiVo 
 
 Sed nil vof-iC'valent venias cUnChri4lereluT2,cl 
 CUiifA licet tumuio mater et AstiA pi:eV
 
 THE "CHANDOS" PORTRAIT. 
 
 (NATIONAL PORTR.\IT GALLERY.)
 
 7^ha CozzjvtiyLiIe Lihrary 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE 
 
 COUNTRY ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 -•s? BY <:»^ 
 JOHN LEYLAND 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Published zsX tke Office of "Country Life" 
 20Tavistock S^ Covent Ga^rden, i^Ivd Ijy 
 George Newnes L^'' 7-1^ So\itha.nvptoiv S- •
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE ^ireat love thnt fills the breasts of all men for the 
 imperishable works of Siiakespeaie, the marvellous spell 
 which his wonderful insight and lofty imagination have 
 exercised over generations, and the profound interest that is felt 
 in the incidents and circumstances of his life, have invested the 
 scenes of his boyhood and later years with a fascination that is 
 found nowhere else in England. A volume upon the Shakespeare 
 Country, therefore, which should picture it in perfection, and 
 be something more than a guide, yet including the elements of 
 one, was long a necessity. 1 he unexampled success which 
 attended the first issue of this book in the " Country Life 
 Library " was a testimony to the want that existed. The 
 volume is now presented with the illustrations that were so 
 prominent among its attractions and with some that are 
 additional and new. It has been decided also to give, in the 
 form of appendices, some notes upon the Washington and 
 Franklin countries, which are so often visited from Stratford, 
 -and which, in any case, are so dear to American visitors. 
 These new sections, though not directly connected with the 
 subject of the book, will certainly, to many readers, add greatly 
 to the interest and value it possesses.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 pag: 
 Introduction ........ i 
 
 Stratfokd ........ 2 
 
 SnOTTERY AND ANNE HaTHAWAY'S COITAGE . . . '30 
 
 SlIAKE.SrEARE VILLAGES .... • 3\ 
 
 Wilmcote and the Ardens . . . . . -35 
 
 Charlecote ....... ^o 
 
 COMPTON Wyxvates . . . . -45 
 
 Warwick ........ 49 
 
 Kexilwokth ........ 79 
 
 Baddesley Clinton ....... 85 
 
 Stoneleigh .-\bbey and the Upper Avon . . . .go 
 
 Shakespekre Portraits . . ... 94 
 
 A Shakespeare Chronology . . . . . .95 
 
 The Home of the Washingioss ..... 99 
 
 The Home of the Franklins . . . . .1-4 
 
 A Table of Distances ...... 130 
 
 Inde.x ......... 131
 
 HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, 
 
 STRATFORD.
 
 ' Well, this is the Forest of Arden !" 
 
 — "As You Like It."- 
 
 THE source of the inspirations of 
 Sliakespeare's genius will ever re- 
 main a marvel to the intellectual 
 world. We follow him wondering 
 from what fount he drew his 
 knowledge, where he learned to 
 play with unapproachable grandeur upon the 
 gamut of passion, how he won his wistful 
 sympathy with the joys and sorrows of all 
 countries and all times, whence he grasped 
 his power of analysing the principles, the 
 emotions, and the affections of men. If such 
 things are impossible to us, there still remain 
 many things that illustrate the genesis of his 
 .genius. There are the surroundings amid 
 which his thoughts and imaginings had their 
 ■birthplace. His Warwickshire home, with 
 face but little changed from that which in his 
 time it bore, is there ; the woods that were 
 haunted by Titania and all the fairy crowd ; 
 recesses that might have sheltered a Caliban ; 
 ihe roads upon which Falstaff ranged his 
 ragged crew. There are still the scenes in 
 which he gleaned his subtle knowledge of the 
 sights and sounds and hidden beauties of 
 nature. Here, at the Stratford Grammar 
 School, he often saw 
 
 "The whininf; school-boy, with his satchel 
 And shining morning face, creeping like snail 
 Unwillingly to school." 
 
 Among the Warwickshire peasantry are still 
 the types of such as may first have given 
 him his keen zest for boisterous revelry. 
 There are references in the plays to local 
 scenes, as to the drinking of the "sheer ale " 
 
 of " Wincot," and Page's dog that " was out- 
 run on Cotsall." From his corner in the inn- 
 parlour he laughed loudly at Quince, the 
 carpenter, Snug, the joiner. Bottom, the 
 weaver, Snout, the tinker, and the rest. Their 
 successors are in his Warwickshire home to- 
 day. Often, we are sure, did he see 
 
 " The sun-burn'd sicklemen, of August weary, 
 Come hither from the furrow, and be merry." 
 
 He had seen them don their "rye-straw hats," 
 and meet the nymphs "in country footing," 
 even as the Tempest masque bids them do. 
 The nine men's morrice, the jovial plenty of 
 oxen roasted whole, the loud-voiced rustics 
 in their quarrels, the homely wisdom of a 
 Touchstone, the simplicity of many an Audrey 
 — these, where Shakespeare lived, the way- 
 rarer may still discover. 
 
 \n his days the country was " with shadowy 
 forests and champains rich'd " much more than 
 in these. The leafy depths of the forest of 
 Arden were tenanted, as in the minds of some 
 they still are, by strange imaginings, and the 
 kindred of the Wild Huntsman crashed their 
 stormy way with the wind through the glades 
 at night-time, as the phantom coach is still 
 believed by greybeards and ancient dames to 
 rumble weirdly along the shadowy roads. 
 There, too, and perhaps still more in the Vale 
 of the Red Horse, southward beyond the Avon, 
 it went very ill with the witches, and still the 
 belief in witchcraft, in some remote regions, 
 survives. There were some, in Shakespeare's 
 days, by civil broil made outlaws, who, like 
 the companions of the Duke, in " As you Like
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUXTRY. 
 
 It," roamed the forest of Arden, livin;^ there 
 " like the old Robin Hood of England, as they 
 did in the golden world." Shall we go wrong 
 if we say that, when the wasted abbeys no 
 longer sheltered their occupants, the youthful 
 poet met many a Friar Lawrence in the woods, 
 from whom he won a good deal of his know- 
 ledge of classics and the intellectual world ? 
 
 There is, perhaps, no English shire so filled 
 with history as that of Warwick. Its stirring 
 story could not but move the imagination of 
 Shakespeare. The famous legends of Guy 
 still linger there ; about him were the signs of 
 many episodes in the Barons' War in the days 
 of Stephen and John ; he would know how 
 Henry 111. la>- at Warwick during the great 
 
 its bounds. From Edge Hill, indeed, twelve 
 miles south-east of Stratford, there is a great, 
 panorama of the shires of Warwick, Gloucester^ 
 Hereford, Worcester, Stafford, Salop, Leicester, 
 Nottingham, Northampton, Buckingham, and 
 O.xford. It is the Feldon, or Vale of the Red 
 Horse, a region tilled with interest, that is 
 immediately before, while beyond, across the 
 Avon, tiie open land is succeeded by the still 
 well-wooded stretches of the old forest of 
 Arden. 
 
 STRATFORD. 
 
 Stratford itself has changed more than the- 
 country in which it lies. This has necessarily 
 been so, for the concourse of people which has- 
 
 An Old House in Rother Street. 
 
 siege of Kenilworth. Not far off. Piers 
 Gaveston was beheaded by the Barons on 
 Blacklow Hill. He often looked upon the 
 magnificent tomb of Richard Beauchamp, the 
 great Earl of Warwick and Regent of France, 
 who, in his " Henry VI.," plucks the " white 
 rose with Plantagenet," and who, when Joan 
 of Arc is brought to the funeral pyre, will 
 spare no faggots " that so her torture may be 
 shortened." 
 
 The Shakespeare country is a beautiful land, 
 a truly "English" region of hedges, fields, 
 and glorious woods, purling streams and broad 
 river courses, lovely lanes and rustic villages, 
 level as a whole, but with many undulations, 
 and with some considerable elevations within 
 
 thronged to the birthplace of Shakespeare- 
 demanded accommodation and led to change. 
 Yet we can picture the place as it was, for 
 old houses of timber are there such as lined 
 the streets in Shakespeare's time. There is 
 his Birthplace, to which all men resort. The- 
 Guild School is there, in which his teaching 
 began, with the Chapel in which he knelt, over 
 against his house of the New Place, which, 
 itself has been swept away ; and there is the- 
 noble Church in which his remains repose. 
 And still the ancient Clopton Bridge, over 
 which he passed when he went London-ward, 
 spans the broad stream of the Avon. 
 
 When you enter Stratford from the Great 
 Western Railway station, it is by the Alcester,.
 
 STRATFORD 
 
 ■Road, vvliich brings you soon to the American 
 Memorial Fountain, at the end of Rotlier 
 Street. This work is an elegant Early English 
 structure, with angle buttresses and many 
 turrets, rising up to a spirelet over a clock. It 
 was presented to Stratford by Mr. George W. 
 Childs, a citizen of Philadelphia, and it is 
 pleasant thus to meet at the outset a mark' of 
 the keen interest which Americans take in the 
 homeland of Shakespeare, bidding the passer- 
 by partake of " honest water which ne'er left 
 man i' the mire," albeit Shakespeare was no 
 foe to generous sack with " a toast in't." 
 Puck, Mustard Seed, Peaseblossom, and Cob- 
 web sit aloft, and the Memorial, which was 
 dedicated to public use by Sir Henry h'ving in 
 Octobei', 1887, is otherwise appropriately 
 adorned. 
 
 There are some quaint houses hereabout, 
 -and one especially in Rother Street, with 
 curious timbering and overhanging upper 
 storey. The Rother Market is the place 
 where cattle were sold of yore, and where 
 John Shakespeare, the poet's father, must 
 have made many a bargain for skins with 
 the countrymen who came with their droves 
 into the town. From this point the road leads 
 straight down through the place, by Bridge 
 Street and Bridgefoot, to the Clopton Bridge 
 and the Banbury Road. 
 
 It is but a short walk from the Rother 
 Market, by Mere Street to Henley Street, 
 where Shakespeare's birthplace stands, much 
 as he knew it when a boy. A better plan is to 
 gain the first view of the house from Guild 
 Street, at the rear; for, certainly, across the 
 
 old-world garden 
 where the plants 
 are grown that 
 h e loved, and 
 mentions in his 
 plays, it look's far 
 more picturesque 
 than from the 
 frontage in Hen- 
 ley Street. John 
 Shak'espeare, the 
 poet's father, a 
 skinner and wool 
 dealer who rose 
 to comparative 
 opulence as high- 
 bailiff of Strat- 
 ford, in is68, 
 appears to have 
 been living here 
 a dozen years be- 
 fore his famous 
 son was born. 
 
 There had 
 been S h a k e s- 
 peares, time-out- 
 
 Ainerican Memorial Fountain. 
 
 A House in Rother Street. 
 
 of-mind, in Warwickshire. One was a felon 
 at Coventry in 1359. Others appear to liave 
 been persons of credit within tlie Manor of 
 Baddesley Clinton in the same and the follow- 
 ing century. John Shakespeare was not 
 improbably the son of Richard Shal\espeare, 
 a farmer of Snitterfield. Gentility has been 
 attributed to him, but we must be content to 
 regard him as a substantial burgess of Strat- 
 ford, who carried on the trade of a glover and 
 skinner, and dealt in grain and leather. He 
 prospered in his early manhood, bought his wool- 
 shop, and married Mary Arden, the daughter 
 of Robert Arden, a farmer at Wilmcote. The 
 Ardens, like the Shakespeares, were a family 
 of many branches. Some of them, at least, 
 belonged to the old faith, and one, Edward 
 Arden, was executed at Smithfield for being 
 concerned in an alleged plot against the Queen 
 in 1583. 
 
 There was a Henry Shakespeare, too, of 
 Snitterfield, who was stubborn — " Shagspere 
 est contumax '' — in regard to tithes, and 
 otherwise incurred obloquy for not wear- 
 ing " cappes on Sonda\-s and hollydays." 
 The mystery as to John Shak'espeare's gen- 
 tility is complicated by an argument concerning 
 a grant of arms which was made to him ; 
 certain it is that he rose to a leading position 
 in Stratford, and, while his great son was an 
 infant, was alderman and high bailiff of the
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 Shakespeare's Birthplace from the Garden 
 
 Subsequently his property was mort 
 
 town 
 
 gaged, he was returned as a " recusant," and 
 felF grievously into debt. He died in 1601, 
 before the poet had reached his fortieth year. 
 
 The history of his house cannot be fully 
 told in this place. It has gone through many 
 vicissitudes, but was rescued for the nation in 
 1847, and is now jealously preserved. For 
 more than two hundred years the woolshop of 
 John Shakespeare had stood as the " Maiden- 
 head," or " Swan and Maidenhead" Inn, but 
 it was not until the end of the last century that 
 the birthplace itself was converted into a 
 butcher's shop. The work of restoration and 
 preservation was conducted with scrupulous 
 care, and not an ounce of the old material that 
 could be retained was removed. It is just 
 such a house as a substantial trader of those 
 times might have dwelt in. To the left, as you 
 look at it from the road, is the portion of the 
 house in which the Shakespeare family lived, 
 while to the right lies the part in which John 
 Shakespeare carried on his business, now used 
 as a museum of Shakesperean objects. The 
 first room you enter from the street is the small 
 family parlour of former times, where is a fire- 
 place recessed. Behind lies the kitchen with 
 a somewhat curious fireplace, a recessed seat, 
 and a hatchway opening to the buttery-cup- 
 board. Beneath is a cellar, and behind are two 
 small rooms for domestic use. A narrow stair- 
 case leads up to the " birth-room," from which 
 a mullioned window with diamond panes looks 
 
 out into the road. It was here that the greatest 
 genius of all literature first saw the light, an 
 " infant mewling and puking in the nurse's 
 arms," thence to " ripe and ripe " till the 
 world grew greater for his thinking, a little 
 room with oaken planks on which he trod. 
 Behind is a small chamber (in which an old. 
 portrait of the poet hangs), and there is an 
 attic above. In the Museum part of the house 
 are many Shakespeare documents, among them 
 the letter of Richard Quiney to the poet, 
 begging a loan of .£30, which is the only e.xisting 
 letter that remains addressed to him. Careful 
 hands have gathered here many curious and 
 interesting objects, more or less associated with 
 the bard, including several portraits and pic- 
 tures, and the desk from the Grammar School 
 at which they say he sat. 
 
 How Shakespeare lived in this humble abode 
 there is no evidence to tell. Many a picture 
 has been painted by the light of imagination, 
 based upon knowledge of the ways of life in. 
 his time, of the place as it was when he was a 
 boy. We know well the garbage thrown with- 
 out in the road, the roaring fires in the 
 chimneys, the store of housewifely things that 
 lay in presses in the rooms. These pictures 
 the visitor will best construct for himself — 
 "such tricks hath strong imagination." It was 
 certainly hence that Shakespeare wended his 
 youthful way by the High Street and Chapel 
 Street to the Grammar School. We cannot 
 fancy him as an ordinary boy. Had he "the-
 
 
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 THE SHAKESPEARE CO (W TRY. 
 
 The Birth-Room. 
 
 scnnlar's melancholy, which is emulation," 
 filled with the desire' to know ? He was learn- 
 ing already, indeed, from the book of human 
 nature, drinkinp; deeply from the well of the 
 things that Stratford held. Here was his little 
 world, and all through his youth even to early 
 manhood, he seems to have dwelt in his father's 
 simple abode. In this house he was 
 
 " The lover 
 Sishing like furnace, with a woeful ballad. 
 Made to his mistress' eyebrow." 
 
 Here it was, we remember, that he lived 
 through his father's falling fortunes. To these 
 rooms from rural walks, from school, and from 
 the work of his father's trade, he turned to 
 shape the fancies of his brain. The instinct of 
 home was strong within him, for, when he grew 
 prosperous, he forthwith came back to the 
 scene of his boyhood, and li\'ed and died at 
 New Place, the neighbouring house of his own. 
 How long he continued to dwell in his 
 father's house cannot with certainty be known, 
 but it has been surmised that, when he married 
 Anne Hathaway in November, 1582, he took 
 up his abode in Henley Street, and that his 
 children Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith were 
 born there. His father, though in circum- 
 stances of difficulty, and, probably, of sus- 
 picion — he was struck off the roll of aldermen, 
 because of inability to pay his dues, and 
 
 absence from his duties, in 1586— appears 10 
 have continued to live in the old house until 
 his death, and his widow survived until 1608, 
 seeing the ripeness of her son's genius and the 
 fulness of his prosperity. 
 
 It is but a short walk from Shakespeare's 
 birthplace to the centre of Stratford, and to the 
 site of the Market Cross. 
 
 Henley Street brings you down to Bridge 
 Street, and to the place where the rustic market 
 is held, much as in Shakespeare's time, and the 
 High Street leads thence to the right through 
 the centre of the town. At the corner is the 
 " Cage," so-called from its former use as a 
 prison for vagrants and others. Here lived that 
 Thomas Quiney who married Shakespeare's 
 daughter Judith, and the pity is that his house 
 has been modernised externally. Below are the 
 cellars where Quiney, a vintner, stored his sack, 
 and, behind, a dark chamber where the vag- 
 rants lay in tantalising proximity to his wares. 
 Lately, careful hands have uncovered some of the 
 old interior woodwork of this house to which 
 Thomas Quiney brought his bride, and in which 
 Shakespeare Quine\-, the child named after his 
 dead grandfather, lived his brief life and died. 
 
 A little further along the High Street, on 
 the opposite side, stands a ver\' quaint gabled 
 dwelling, sometimes called the "Ancient," 
 and sometimes the "Harvard" House, from
 
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 the fact that its builder's daugh- 
 ter, Katharine Rogers, married 
 John Harvard, of the parish 
 of St. Saviour's, Southwarl<, 
 whose descendant founded thr 
 American College of that name. 
 The house is richly carved with 
 vine and other patterns, and tin 
 projecting windows rest upon 
 corbels, of which some are 
 sculptured with human heads. 
 The whole timbering is ver\' 
 curious and characteristic. 
 
 Beyond the house, at the 
 junction of Ely Street and Sheep 
 Street, Chapel Street begins, 
 being a continuation of the High 
 Street; and on the left-hand side 
 of the way rise the most impres- 
 sive houses in Stratford. The\' 
 are known as the Five Gables, 
 and are now the " Shakespeare Hostelrie." 
 The vertical timbering is plain, but there is 
 great quaintness in the high gables, and 
 the narrow diamond panes between the beams 
 are unusual. 
 
 It is but a short distance from this point to 
 the end of Chapel Street ; but, as he stands 
 opposite to the Five Gables, the visitor sees 
 the places where dwelt many of Shakespeare's 
 Ivindred, the site of the house in which he lived 
 and died, the Guild Chapel where he often 
 worshipped, and some parts of the school in 
 
 The Parlour and Kitchen. 
 
 whicli he was trained. The houses externally 
 have lost wholly their olden character, but they 
 are the remains of ancient structures, and at 
 least it is interesting to know that here dwelt 
 Thomas Hathaway, Julius Shaw, who witnessed 
 Shakespeare's will, and Thomas Nash, who 
 married his grand-daughter. She survived to be- 
 come the wife of Sir John Barnard, and died in 
 1670, the last descendant of the poet. »The house 
 last named is now a Museum, and its interest- 
 ing collection includes a mullion of Shakepeare's 
 house, and a " shovel-board " of his time. 
 
 Shakespeare's Disk.
 
 lO 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 The Library, East End, 
 
 Between it and the corner of Chapel Lane 
 just beyond lies the site of New Place, of which 
 the foundations have lately been exposed. 
 This was the house to which Shakespeare 
 retired from Blackfriars, and in which he died 
 on April 23rd, 1616. But, for many years 
 after the purchase of New Place, the dramatist 
 had no thought of leaving the busy world be- 
 hind him. He was in the high tide of his 
 prosperity, and his company was constanth- 
 performing at court and in the country. It was 
 even implicated in the plotting of Essex and 
 Southampton. The Globe Theatre was built, 
 and the publication of works went on, but 
 Shak'espeare seems to have seized every op- 
 portunity of revisiting his home-land, and he 
 returned to it before he died. The house 
 was pulled down in 1759, by its owner, the 
 Rev. Francis Gastrell, who finding his trust a 
 burden, had already cut down Shakespeare's 
 mulberry tree. The weather mark of its 
 gable may be discerned on the southern end 
 ot Nash's house. What manner of dwelling it 
 was we cannot tell, but it was doubtless a 
 house of substance, and well furnished in its 
 day. Shakespeare bought it from the family 
 of Underbill in 1597, for £60, and restored it 
 from its dilapidated state to his taste, calling it 
 the New Place, for before, as a residence of Sir 
 Hugh Clopton, in the reign of Henry VII., it 
 had continued to be known as "the great 
 house." There was a " great garden " where 
 an orchard was laid out, as well as a small 
 garden nearer the house, where the poet 
 planted the famous mulberry tree, and a couple 
 of barns. 
 
 When Shakespeare thus betrayed his interest 
 in Stratford, his neighbours spoke of him as 
 "our countryman," and Richard Quiney, father 
 
 of Thomas Quiney, afterwards 
 of the "Cage," forthwith wrote 
 to him, " from the Eell in Carter 
 Lane," begging a loan of /30, 
 and assuring him, "You shall 
 nether loose creddytt nor mon- 
 ney by me, the Lord wyllinge." 
 This was in 1598, when Judith 
 Shakespeare was a girl of thir- 
 teen. She was not married to 
 Thomas Quiney until February, 
 1616. Shakespeare, as we have 
 seen, was at the time a man of 
 affairs, and in the plentitude 
 of his genius. The year 1593. 
 had seen the publication, by 
 Richard Field, the son of a 
 Stratford tanner, of "Venus and 
 Adonis," which Shakespeare, 
 in the dedication to its " noble 
 godfather," the Earl of South- 
 ampton, speaks of as "the first 
 heir of his invention." "Love's 
 Labour's Lost" had heralded his dramatic 
 triumphs, and the "Two Gentlemen of 
 Verona" and the " Comedy of Errors " were 
 almost contemporary with the emotional 
 splendour of " Romeo and Juliet," and the 
 great roll of his plays continued to be un- 
 folded. But it is not the purpose here 
 to record the progress of his fortunes or 
 his triumphs. His house of the New 
 Place marks the strong love he bore for the 
 scenes of his youth, and for his native country 
 
 The Porch of the Guild Chapel.
 
 
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 12 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 The Harvard Houce. 
 
 and town. Like his Earl (if Warwick in 
 "Henry VI." lie could say, " In Warwicksliire 
 I ha\-e true-liearted friends." His fatiier was 
 declining in _\'ears ; his mother was still in the 
 vigour of health ; there were many to whom 
 he could say, " Neighbour, God speed ! " 
 others to whom he was, or was to be, akin. 
 We fancy, when he came to his native woods 
 and fields from the gaiety of the court and the 
 turmoil of the town, that he voiced his thoughts 
 
 m the musings of the Duke in " As You Like 
 It," who retired to the same forest of Arden — 
 
 ■■ Hath not old custom made this life more sweet 
 Than that of painted pomp ? Are not these woods 
 More free from peril than the envious court ? 
 Here feel we not the penalty of Adam. 
 The seasons' difference. — as the icy fang. 
 And churlish chiding of the winter's wind ; 
 Which when it bites and blows upon my bo ly, 
 Even tdl I shrmk with cold, I smile and say, — 
 This is no flattery : these are counsellors 
 That feelingly persuade me what I am. 
 
 And this our life, exempt from public haunt. 
 
 Finds tongues iu trees, books in the running brooks. 
 
 Sermons in stones, and good in everything." — ((»'. /.) 
 
 From the windows of his house, Shakespeare 
 could look across to the low, broad, embattled 
 tower, the beautiful porch, and the very tine 
 PL'.'pendicular windows of the Guild Chapel, 
 which stands now as it did then. The Guild, 
 which was dissolved in 1536, nearly thirty 
 Years before the poet was born, was an 
 ancient charitable body dedicated to the Holy 
 Cross, the Blessed Virgin and St. John the 
 Baptist, chiefly for the relief of the sick and 
 necessitous, its Chapel is a very beautiful and 
 interesting structure, with a chancel dating 
 from the 14th century, and a Perpendicular 
 nave built by Sir Hugh Clopton in the reign of 
 Henry Vli. Remains of curious frescoes are 
 still within. From the old tower, the great 
 bell still rings out in the early morning, and 
 again at the hour of Curfew, and, by an 
 ancient custom, the day of the month is in- 
 dicated by the number of its strokes. 
 
 Beyond the Chapel, the quaint timbered 
 faqade of the Guild Hall stretches along Church 
 Street. It is a long, low room, whereof the 
 heavily-timbered ceiling is supported by beams 
 rising from the walls. Here it was that 
 companies of strolling players in Shakespeare's 
 time, under the protection of neighbouring 
 nobles, were wont to beguile the men of Strat- 
 ford. Undoubtedly in this place his imagi- 
 nation was stirred when he saw them enact 
 
 Hudsarl ^T&arfis. 
 
 The Site of New Place.
 
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 14 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 such plays as "Ralph Roister 
 Doister " and " Gordobuc," his 
 own precursors, and the rude 
 plays into the elements of which 
 he afterwards breathed undying 
 vitality Well might he ex- 
 claim, when he witnessed such 
 crude performances in like nar- 
 row space, 
 
 "Can this cock-pit hold 
 The vasty fields of France ? Or may 
 
 we cram 
 Within this wooden O the very casques 
 That did affright the air at Agincourt ? ' ' 
 
 Here still remain traces of 
 strange archaic frescoes, one 
 being a large representation of 
 the Crucifixion, with the Virgin 
 and St. John. At the further 
 end, through a doorway, a quaint 
 little place known as the Ar- 
 moury, Council Chamber, or 
 "Greeing" Room is entered. 
 Hence, a staircase leads to the 
 school-rooms above, and they 
 point out the place, in the corner 
 of the Latin School, where the 
 black-board is seen in the picture, in which tra- 
 dition says that Shakespeare sat. This is a fine 
 room with an open timber roof, supported by 
 massive tie-beams. Behind this ancient build- 
 ing lie the playing field, and what is known 
 as the Pedagogue's House, another quaint 
 timbered structure. The Guild Hall, the School 
 buildings, and the tower of the Chape! make 
 a most picturesque group when seen from 
 the rear. The Grammar School is known, as in 
 Shakespeare's time, as that of Edward VI., 
 but it was really founded in the time of Henry 
 VI. by Thomas Jolyffe, a priest of the town, 
 who belonged to the Guild. A reasonable sur- 
 mise has been made that Shakespeare, after his 
 school days, acted for a time as assistant to 
 
 A Corner of the Guild Hall. 
 
 The Latin School Room. 
 
 Walter Roche, the schoolmaster, who was also 
 a scrivener. From him the poet might have 
 gained some of the legal knowledge which is so 
 marked in some of his plays. The ancient build- 
 ings were restored by the late Mr. Charles 
 Edward Flower, whose name will always be 
 revered in the honouring of Shakespeare's town. 
 The Alms Houses, which are close by, represent 
 another charitable work of the old Guild. 
 
 At the other end of Church Street are the 
 buildings of Trinity College School, whence 
 the "Old Town" leads down, by the house 
 of Dr. John Hall, who married Shakespeare's 
 eldest daughter, Susanna, to the Church of the 
 Holy Trinity. In a county of fine churches this 
 stands pre-eminent. It is a noble Perpendicular 
 structure, by the river amid 
 elms, with Decorated transepts, 
 and an Early English tower, 
 from which rises an elegant 
 spire, of modern construction, 
 replacing an earlier wooden one. 
 A long avenue of limes leads 
 to the north porch, a beautiful 
 work, embattled, and with pin- 
 nacled buttresses, having over 
 it the rare feature of a little 
 " parvise," such as is seen in 
 but few churches. There is 
 a nine-light Perpendicular west 
 window, and, although the 
 nave itself belongs to the Deco- 
 rated period, the Perpendicular 
 character is imparted by 
 the bold and singularly large 
 windows of the clerestory, the
 
 
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 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 1 he Lime Avenue, Stratiord Church. 
 
 aisle windows being of the Geometrical Deco- 
 rated. The chancel is wholly Perpendicular, 
 and has five four-light windows, with tran- 
 soms on either side. It is singularly beautiful 
 within, and is separated from the nave by 
 a delicate screen. Tht east window is of 
 seven lights, filled with indifferent stained 
 glass, and has elegant work on either side of 
 it. The stalls and miserere seats are curious, 
 and there are carvings at the springs of the 
 doorway arch on the north side. The size and 
 importance of the Church are due, in part, to 
 the fact that it was collegiate, with a consider- 
 able staff of priests, and many altars. It may 
 be said to have grown up about an earlier and 
 smaller structure. John de Stratford, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, did much work there 
 about the year 1332, and to him we owe the 
 south aisle, at the east end of which stood the 
 Chapel of St. Thomas a Becket, whereof the 
 sedilia remain, and of which the altar stone 
 
 has lately been re-erected in the chancel. 
 The chancel itself was founded by Dr. 
 Thomas Balshall, warden of the College, 
 who died in i49i,and whose high tomb still 
 stands against its north wall. The beautiful 
 north porch was added at about the same 
 time, with the west window and the windows 
 of the clerestory. The Church thus remains 
 structurally as Shakespeare knew it, and it 
 has been well restored, so that it holds much 
 (if the aspect it bore in his youth, though 
 then doubtless it was marked by the late 
 stripping away of many adornments, fres- 
 coes, and pious memorials of a still earlier 
 time. 
 
 The Shakespeare monument is on the 
 north wall, its upper part rising in front of 
 a beautiful stained glass window, which is a 
 memorial of the late Mr. J. O. Halliwell- 
 Phillipps, the Shakespearean scholar. The 
 poet is represented as if writing, quill in 
 hand, habited in a slashed doublet with 
 collar, and the lineaments which all men 
 know. Corinthian pillars, with marble 
 shafts, support the cornice, above which 
 are cherubs and the blazon of Shakespeare, 
 surmounted by a skull. The colouring of 
 the figure, which was covered at the sugges- 
 tion of Malone, has been restored, and only 
 an epigram remains to tell of his vandalism : 
 
 " Stranger, to whom this monument is shown, 
 Invoke the poet's curse upon Malone, 
 Whose meddling zeal his barbarous taste displays, 
 And daubs his tombstone as he marred his plays." 
 
 Tile monument was sculptured by Gerard 
 Johnson, and the features are believed to 
 have been taken from a death mask. The 
 inscription opens with a Latin lament for 
 one who was a Nestor in judgment, a 
 Socrates in genius, and a Virgil in his poetic 
 art — more than any of these we, after a 
 
 lapse of nearly three hundred years, may say. 
 
 It proceeds : — 
 
 " Stay, passenger, why goest thov by so last ? 
 Read, it thov canst, whom enviovs death hath plast 
 Within this monvment ; Shakspeare. with whome 
 Qvicke naivre didi; ; whose name doth deck ys tombe 
 Far mere ihan cost, sith all yt he hath writt, 
 Leaves living art bvt page to serve his witt. 
 
 Obiit aiio. Dot. 1616, JEtatis 53, Die 23 Ap.'^ 
 
 The Shakespeare graves are below, the one 
 nearest to the wall being that of Shakespeare's 
 wife, with a well-known Latin inscription. 
 Next to it the eye talis upon the poet's own, 
 with the famous words :— 
 
 " Good frer.d for lesvs sake forbeare. 
 To digg the dvst encloased heare ; 
 Blese be ye man yt spares thes stones, 
 And cvrst be he yt moves my bones " 
 
 Close by is the stone of Thomas Nash, who 
 married Shakespeare's granddaughter, Eliza- 
 beth Hall, and next to it that of her father, Di. 
 John Hall. Elizabeth Hall, who married, for her
 
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 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
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 The Church, North Side. 
 
 second husband, John Barnard, afterwards 
 knighted, of Abington, near Northampton, was 
 the latest descendant of the poet, and died in 
 1670. The last Shakespeare grave-stone is 
 that of her mother, Susanna Hall, Shakes- 
 peare's eldest daughter. It bears the well- 
 known inscription beginning: — 
 
 " Witty above her sexe. but that's not all. 
 Wise to Salvation was good Mistris Hall : 
 Something of Shakespere was in that, but this 
 Wholy 01 him with whom she's now in blisse." 
 
 The inscription was erased about the year 1707, 
 gi\'ing place to the memorial of one Watts, but, 
 Uugdi'.le ha\-ing preser\-t-d it, the lines were re- 
 stored in 1836 The choir is otherwise full of 
 interest, for it contains, as I shall show, other 
 memorials of Shakespeare's friends, as well 
 as the altar tomb already alluded to, now much 
 disfigured, of Dr. Thomas Balshall, its founder, 
 Warden of the College, which formerly stood on 
 the west side of College Lane in the town.
 
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 20 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNlRy. 
 
 The Clopton 
 
 The supreme interest of the splendid Church 
 of Stratford lies in the fact that it marks the 
 beginning and the close of Shakespeare's 
 career. At the west end of the south aisle is 
 preserved the bowl of the old font in which he 
 was baptized, and the record remains in the 
 parish register: "1564, April 26. Gulielmus 
 tilius Johannes Shakspere." His tomb and 
 monument, as we have seen, are in the choir. 
 Between that babbling hour, therefore, and 
 the day in April, 1616, on which he was buried, 
 not as a " lean and slippered pantaloon," but 
 in the pride of his manhood, lie the occupations 
 of his life and the achievements of his genius, 
 far transcending the " arithmetic of memory." 
 Long before he returned to Stratford he was 
 
 The Old Font. 
 
 Chapel. 
 
 well known as a successful dramatist, and his 
 literary activity was continued, while he was 
 acquiring property in Warwickshire, and busy, 
 with the Burbages and others, in the building 
 of the Globe Theatre in Southwark, and the 
 management of his company of players. 
 These thoughts are naturally suggested by the 
 memorials of his life in Stratford Church. 
 
 But its personal interest does not end with 
 these. The effigies of the Combes — Richard, 
 with Judith his intended wife, and John — 
 friends of Shakespeare, in the choir, are most 
 remarkable. Again, at the east end of the north 
 aisle, where the Lady Chapel was, the Clopton 
 monuments now are, certainly all very curious 
 and interesting. The first of these is tlie ceno- 
 taph of Sir Hugh Clopton, Lord Mayor of 
 London, who died in that city and was buried 
 in St. Margaret's, Lothbury. It was he who 
 built the New Place, rebuilt the nave of the 
 Guild Chapel, and erected the stone bridge. 
 The monument of William Clopton and his 
 wife, he in plate armour with a lion at his 
 feet, and she in a dark robe with a white 
 undcrbodice trimmed with gold, and a ruff, is 
 remarkable through their children being sculp- 
 tured above, three of them in swaddling clothes 
 to intimate that they died in infancy. More 
 imposing is the splendid monument of George
 
 STRATFORD. 
 
 21 
 
 Carew, Earl of Totnes, and Baron of Clopton, 
 with his Countess, Joyce, the daughter of thib 
 William Clopton. The effigies are of alabaster, 
 and repose beneath a semi-circular arch, 
 elaborately adorned with angels, cherubim, and 
 devices. The Earl was Master of the Ordnance 
 under James 1. He is sculptured in armour 
 and wearing his robes, and there are imple- 
 ments of war to indicate his relation to the 
 military service, as well as the shields of Carew 
 and Griffiths, with the motto, "Tvtvs svb vmbra 
 leonis." A lion is at his feet, and his countess is 
 represented in a white fur robe, with tippet, a 
 ruff round her neck, and a coronet upon her head. 
 The colouring of the effigies is peculiar. They 
 were restored by Sir Arthur Hodgson in 1892. 
 To this family of Clopton, which was, of 
 course, well known to Shakespeare, belonged 
 MargaretCiopton, who is surmised to have been 
 the original of Ophelia. Many other monu- 
 ments in the Chapel are interesting. 
 
 One of the quaintest inscriptions in Stratford 
 Church is that of Alderman Richard Hill, on 
 the east wall of the south transept. He was a 
 tradesman of the town in Shakespeare's time, 
 a woollen draper, whose virtues survived him, 
 and whose fame flourished still, as was testi- 
 fied by his servant, " S.I.," who had " beheld 
 it with mi eie." He was a pattern, we read, 
 to such as succeeded him in his trade. 
 
 " He did not use to sweare, to gloase, eather faigne, 
 His brother to defraude in bargaininge ; 
 Hee woold not strive to get excessive gaine 
 In ani cloathe or other kinde of thinge." 
 
 Shakespeare's Monument. 
 
 The American Window. 
 
 LikeWolsey,in 
 the mouth of 
 Griffith, good 
 Master Richard 
 Hill, had found 
 a friend who 
 would not that 
 evil deeds 
 should be writ- 
 ten in brass, 
 nor would com- 
 mit his virtues 
 to aught less 
 durable. 
 
 Many other 
 beautiful 
 things in this 
 remarkable 
 Church detain 
 the visitor, and 
 he turns with 
 special interest 
 to the memo- 
 rials which 
 American tra- 
 vellers have 
 added. The 
 most important of these is the beautiful window 
 placed by subscription on the north side of the 
 choir. It is the middle window of the five on 
 that side, and depicts, in admirable colour and 
 design, the Seven Ages of Man, not as the 
 melancholy Jaques describes them in his 
 picture of that wordly stage on which men and 
 women are as players, but as they were per- 
 sonified by Moses, Samuel, Jacob, Joshua, 
 Soloman, Abraham, and Isaac. Another win- 
 dow, "the gift of America to Shakespeare's 
 Church," has been erected in the south tran- 
 sept, and, as completed, is an excellent 
 testimony to the strong and enduring interest 
 which Americans take in the homeland of the 
 immortal "Swan of Avon." In the middle 
 light is the Madonna with the Infant Christ, 
 and in the flanking lights are St. Egwyn, 
 Bishop of Worcester, King Charles the First, 
 and Archbishop Laud on one hand, and 
 Amerigo Vespucci, Christopher Columbus, and 
 William Penn on the other, while the Pilgrim 
 Fathers are below. Mr. Bayard, the late 
 United States Minister, unveiled the window 
 on Shakespeare's birthday in 1896, though 
 two lights depicting St. Eric, first bishop of 
 Greenland, and a bishop of Connecticut had 
 then to be added. 
 
 The illustrations show very clearly the 
 beautiful character of the detail of Stratford 
 Church. The carved stalls and other of the 
 old features are e.xcellent, and the edifice has 
 been conscientiously, even if too thoroughly, 
 restored, to the delight of pilgrims to Shakes- 
 peare's shrine.
 
 22 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 The Nave, looking West, 
 
 This beautiful Churcii of the Holy Trinity at 
 Stratford, which saw the beginning and end of 
 Shakespeare's career, exercised some influence 
 upon thecourse of it, we may be sure. How wide 
 or deep that influence was we cannot tell. His 
 mighty genius, which swept, with masterful 
 power, through every note of human life and 
 passion, passed from the fantastic gaiety of 
 Titania and the fairy ring, or the ribald humour 
 of Falstaff, to sound the sombre bitterness of 
 Hamlet and the grim conscience of Macbeth. He 
 turned from the boorish drunkeness of a Sly, or 
 the rustic humour of a Touchstone or a Launce to 
 
 " A purpose 
 More grave and wrinkled than the aims and ends 
 Of burning youth." 
 
 Like Vincentio, in "Measure for Measure," he 
 loved"the liferemoved," andoften "heldinidle 
 price to haunt assemblies," with youth, cost and 
 witless bravery. In such moods we find him 
 turning to churchesor seeking the counsel of rev- 
 erend men. Perhaps it is here that the Church 
 at Stratford plays its part. At all events, in 
 churches he always treads with reverence, as he 
 
 speaks of true religious men ; witness the 
 counsel of Jaques to Touchstone and 
 Audrey. 
 
 We know that Shakespeare was not 
 married in the Church we have visited ; 
 but churches and friars' cells are generally 
 associated in his plays either with wed- 
 dings or funerals. There are sombre 
 scenes, such as Westminster Abbey, 
 where the corpse of Henry V. is discovered 
 lying in state, and Bedford e.xclaims 
 "Hung be the heavens with black, yield 
 day to night ! " and the churchyard, with 
 the tragic terror of the Capulets' monu- 
 ment. But earlier, in the same play, we 
 have Romeo coming, hot-blooded, that 
 tlie Friar may "close our hands with holy 
 words." Remembering Shakespeare's 
 youthful love for the Shottery maid, of 
 which something may be said hereafter, 
 it may be well, here in Stratford church- 
 yard, to recall the milder counsels of the 
 Friar. 
 
 " These violent delights have violent ends. 
 And in their triumph die; like fire and powder, 
 Which, as they kiss, consume ; The sweetest 
 
 honey 
 l.s loathsome in his own deliciousness, 
 .•\nd in the taste confounds the appetite : 
 Therefore, love moderately ; long love doth so; 
 Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow." 
 
 There is, too, the church scene in 
 "Much Ado About Nothing," with the 
 disturbed wedding of Claudio and Hero, 
 which may be thought, read with know- 
 ledge, to throw some light on Shakes- 
 peare's own marriage. 
 j So we may link Shakespeare's plays 
 with scenes he witnessed, perhaps, in the 
 Church at Stratford. The sexton must 
 have been his familiar. He had heard the clown 
 singas he threw up sculls in the digging of graves. 
 "Custom hath made it in him a property of 
 easiness," says Horatio. "That scull had a 
 tongue in it, and could sing once. How the 
 knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain's 
 jaw-bone, that did the first murther ! . . . 
 There's another ! Why might not that be the 
 scull of a lawyer ? . . . Why does he suffer 
 this rude knave now to knock him about the 
 sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him 
 of his action of battery .' " Such musings may 
 well have passed through the mind of Shakes- 
 peare in Stratford churchyard. The bones which 
 were thus thrown up — making his eyes " ache 
 to think on't" — were shovelled together, as if 
 they " cost no more the breeding but to play at 
 loggats with them," and carried to the charnel, 
 house, which stood on the north side of the 
 chancel. This had apparently been an aisle in 
 earlier times, but, in Shakespeare's day, had 
 become a place of horror, reflected in the lines 
 upon his grave which beg rest for his bones. 
 The charnel-house was some thirty feet long,.
 
 
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 24 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 fifteen feet wide and very liigh. It was taken 
 down in the year 1800, but traces of it were 
 discovered in 1882, wlien huge piles of sculls 
 were found upon its site. Visitors to Stratford 
 Church will not regret the demolition of it. 
 
 But now, leaving behind us the church, and the 
 churchyard, with its yews and upstandiniz grave- 
 stones, let us furtheV, as Sebastian might have 
 said, "go see the reliques of this town," ere we 
 " bespeak our diet " in the very hostel, if so we 
 will, where Washington Irving abode. Very 
 pleasant it is, at the outset, returning Stratford- 
 ward by the river, to see the house of a true 
 and generous lover of our national bard. For 
 eastward of the Church is Avon Bank, once 
 the residence of Mr. Charles E. Flower, and 
 afterwards of his widow, who contmued his 
 munificence. It was he who restored the Guild- 
 hall and presented the site for _ 
 the Shakespeare Memorial build- 
 ings, which stand adjacent and 
 very prominent by the river. 
 
 The erection of these arose out 
 of the ter-centenary festival of 
 1864, when the idea of erecting 
 a national memorial to Shake- 
 speare was discussed. To honour 
 Shakespeare in some such way 
 had entered into the mind of 
 others. Garrick indulged a dream 
 that Stratford might become a 
 centreof Shakespeare study, and 
 a school of acting and elocution. 
 
 On the occasion of the festival 
 
 of 1769, a wooden amphitheatre 
 
 was erected where the Bancroft 
 
 Gardens now are, in which many 
 
 performances took place. Gar- 
 rick, who was much interested 
 
 in the proceedings, had a statue 
 
 of the dramatist made at his own 
 
 cost, which he afterwards pre- 
 sented to the Stratford Town 
 
 Hall,a Tuscan building.in Chapel 
 
 Street, where it now stands in a 
 
 niche. The idea took further 
 
 shape, but without practical fruit, 
 
 in 1820, when Charles Mathews 
 
 the comedian, presented to tne 
 
 people of Stratford, in their town 
 
 hall, his last new entertainment, 
 
 entitled " Country Cousins and 
 
 the Sights of London," at the 
 
 conclusion of which, as the play- 
 bill preserved in the Memorial 
 
 Library records, he had "the 
 
 honour of submitting to the 
 
 audience the nature of some pro- 
 posals that have been suggested 
 
 forthe purpose of erecting, in the 
 
 form of a Theatre in Stratford, a 
 
 national monument and mauso- 
 
 leum to the immortal memory of Shakespeare." 
 The existing structure is of a very striking 
 character, but has a somewhat Continental ap- 
 pearance. Itcomprisesasplendid library, embra- 
 cing every class of literature which throws light 
 upon Shakespeareorhistimes, atheatrein which 
 his plays are periodically enacted, and a picture 
 gallery in which are some most interesting 
 works, including representations of many scenes 
 in the plays from the easels of weU-known 
 artists, andalargecollectionofengravings. Once 
 a vear, in the Festival week, in April, Shakes- 
 peare students and lovers throng to Stratford to 
 honour his memory, and several of his plays are 
 then represented in the theatre. To this work 
 Mr. Flower was a most generous giver, and it 
 ma\- be hoped that many will follow in his 
 footsteps. Close by the theatre stands the 
 
 Holy Trinity Church from the Lock on the Avoni
 
 STRATFORD. 
 
 25 
 
 The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. 
 
 monument which Lord Ronald Gower presented 
 to the town. Tlie figure of Shakespeare is good, 
 and those of Lady Macbeth, Falstaff, Prince 
 Henry, and Hamlet are really admirable. 
 
 Beyond the Sliakespeare Memorial are the 
 Bancroft Gardens, and then we reach the 
 Clopton Bridge, a very remarkable structure of 
 fourteen principal arches, with a causeway at 
 either end lifting the roadway above the 
 meadows, which were often flooded in former 
 times. It was erected by Sir Hugli Clopton. 
 Lord Mayor of London, in the days of Henry 
 VIL, and has since been widened. This was the 
 same Sir Hugh who built tlie house which after- 
 wards became tlie New Place of Shakespeare, 
 and rebuilt the nave of the Guild Chapel. 
 Across the bridge is the Banbury Road, and 
 from the bridge foot the visitor returns to town. 
 
 The rustic life of neighbouring Warwickshire 
 may be studied in the picturesque scenes of 
 the Market Place, on market-days, when the 
 farmers bring in their produce to sell. It was 
 just so in Shakespeare's time, tliough then a 
 row of houses with stalls stood in the middle of 
 the broad space, and there were hostels there, 
 as now, for the refreshment of the market- 
 men. But in Shakespeare's days Stratford was 
 a far more picturesque place than in these — 
 a rural market town, almost wholly built of 
 
 timber, with structures such as the " Birth- 
 place "and the" Five Gables" lining tb.e streets 
 and overhanging the roadway. Sanitation had 
 not yet destroyed its unsavoury rusticity, nor 
 fire swept away many of its buildings. 
 
 The " Red Horse " is one of the inns in the 
 Market Place, where still the arm-chair, poker 
 and clock of Washington Irving may be seen ; 
 and we can picture him making his " empire " 
 there, as Shakespeare perhaps had done, and 
 as Falstaff does in the play, with a chair for 
 his state, a dagger for his sceptre, and a 
 cushion for his crown. " To a homeless man," 
 said the famous Knick'erbocker, '■ who has no 
 spot on this wide world which he can truly call 
 his own, there is a feeling of something like 
 independence and territorial consequence, when, 
 after a weary day's travel, he kicks off his 
 boots, thrusts his feet into his slippers, and 
 stretches himself before an inn fire.' Let the 
 world witliout go as it may ; let kingdoms rise 
 or fall, so long as he has the wherewitlial to 
 pay his bill, he is, for the time being, the very 
 monarch of all he surveys. The arm-chair is 
 his tlirone, tlie poker is his sceptre, and the 
 little parlour, some twelve feet square, his un- 
 disputed empire." The parlour thus immor- 
 talized is the front room on the left on entering 
 the gateway of the inn.
 
 THE MARKET PLACE, 
 
 STRATFORD-ON-AVON. 
 
 WASHINGTON IKVING'S ROOM, 
 THE RED HORSE INN. 
 
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 28 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 The Clopton Bridge. 
 
 There are two places within a short walk of 
 Stratford closely associated with Shakespeare. 
 A mile and a half north-west of the tou'n stands 
 the Clopton House, a gabled mansion that he 
 knew, now much changed, indeed, from its early 
 state. This was the Manor house of the Cloptons 
 in his day, and they say he resorted to it often 
 for reading and study. It has been surmised 
 that the second scene of the "induction" of 
 " The Taming of the Shrew " was cast there. 
 The story of Charlotte Clopton, who is fabled 
 to have been buried ali\'e in the Clopton 
 Chapel, and is known as the "ghost lady," 
 may probably have suggested to him an 
 incident in " Romeo and Juliet." The romance 
 of Margaret Clopton (daughter of William 
 Clopton, who died in 1592), said to have 
 drowned herself, out of hopeless love behind 
 Clopton House, where still her spirit " walks," 
 may have been in his mind when he wrote the 
 end of distraught Ophelia. Clopton House was 
 the seat of Sir Arthur Hodgson, and remains a 
 place of very tine character, with many historical 
 associations. The deluded plotters, devising 
 their schemes in 1604-5, while Cecil gave them 
 rope enough to hang themselves, resorted to it, 
 invited by Ambrose Rookwood, a recusant. The 
 " priest's room" is in the roof, where they are 
 said to have assembled. When the plot was 
 discovered, the Bailiff of Stratford searched the 
 place, and found there a number of copes, 
 vestments, crosses, crucifixes, chalices, "and 
 other massing reliques." The house has a 
 very fine panelled dining-room, with a deep 
 bay, which has much storied glass in its panes, 
 and the walls are lined with old portraits, in- 
 cluding the mother of Cromwell, General Ireton, 
 and the Queen of Bohemia. A Shakespeare 
 
 by Wright, 1688, has been lent to the Memorial 
 Gallery. The staircase, too, and other parts of 
 this interesting mansion are noteworthy. 
 
 We leave Stratford now to visit some neigh- 
 bouring places more or less associated with the 
 bard, but Shottery must be linked with the 
 town itself — Shottery, at a short distance across 
 the fields, the village where Shakespeare won 
 his bride. It is a quiet rural spot, with many 
 a delightful " bit" for the artist. They still 
 show a quaint, thatched, half-timber, cottage, 
 with its gable facing the road, a true old English 
 farmstead, with a rustic garden before, as that 
 in which she lived. Upon this matter there is, 
 indeed, no certainty, for three families bearing 
 the name of Hathaway were then located in 
 the vicinity. Richard Hathaway, husbandman, 
 whose will was proved in July, 1582, left a 
 small sum by way of dowry to his daughter 
 Agnes, a name sometimes interchanged with 
 that of Anne — Shakespeare's marriage took 
 place in December of the same year — and 
 Hathaway's shepherd, in a will made in 1601, 
 refers to " Anne Shaxpere, wyfe unto Mr. 
 
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 The Clopton House, Stratford.
 
 
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 30 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 The Interior of Anne 
 
 Wyllyam Shaxpere." Two neighbours, who 
 supervised and witnessed the will of Richard 
 Hathaway, were also sureties in the bond, 
 sealed with the initials " R.H.," for the 
 marriage of Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway. 
 Thus many points relating to this matter seem 
 clear, though the place where the ceremony 
 actually took place is not known. 
 
 But into the interesting questions that sur- 
 round the marriage of Shakespeare 1 will not 
 enter. Some have surmised tint the " hand- 
 
 "Anne Hathaway's Bed.' 
 
 Hathaway's Cottage. 
 fasting" preceded the ceremony; others, 
 with great plausibility, that the marriage 
 was performed by a priest of the " old 
 learning." in Shottery Manor, there is a 
 quaint room in the roof, with huge beams, 
 which was, perhaps, the scene of a ceremony 
 that would necessarily have been performed 
 in secret. That there was something remark- 
 able about the marriage seems probable, and it 
 is certainly worth noticing that, in " As You 
 Like It," when Touchstone is about to be 
 married by Sir Oliver Mar-text, the vicar of 
 the next village, Jaques asks him if he will be 
 married thus, " under a bush, like a beggar." 
 "Get you to church," he says, "and have a 
 good priest that can tell you what marriage is : 
 this fellow will but join you together as they 
 join wainscot ; then one of you will prove a 
 shrunk- panel, and, like green timber, warp, 
 warp." 
 
 But we may dismiss from our minds any 
 strictures that have been offered in regard 
 to Shakespeare's early relations with Anne. 
 It is more pleasant, and, perhaps, more profit- 
 able, to regard the rustic cottage at Shottery as, 
 the scene of his wooing when he held " good 
 name in man or woman " to be " the immediate 
 jewel of their souls," and to think of Anne as 
 a maiden free from reproach as Hero, and 
 the one who inspired him with the pure and 
 noble passion Ihat irradicates with emotional 
 splendour all that is best in his plays. The 
 house, like the Birthplace and the New Place
 
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 32 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 Museum, is cared for by the Birthplace Trust. 
 It is a humble dwelling, such as a husbandman 
 of Shakespaare's days miyht well have lived in, 
 though it is changed somewhat in these. There 
 is, upstairs, an old carved four-post bedstead, 
 which is ascribed, somewhat doubtfully, to 
 Anne Hathaway. IVlrs. Baker, a descendant 
 of the Hathaways, who took a simple pride in 
 the house, lived in it, sitting sometimes, as she 
 is seen in the picture, by the ingle-nook, with 
 the bible by her side, wherein the generations 
 of the Hathaways are recorded, or coming anon 
 to the door to welcome the stranger. She died 
 in 1899, and has been succeeded by her son. 
 
 Ragley Hall beyond the Arrow, we reach 
 Bidford, with a curious church, and the Falcon 
 Inn, to which Shakespeare is said to have 
 resorted. But, before reaching the village, the 
 successor may be seen of " Shakespeare'.s 
 crab-tree," under which he is said to have 
 slept off the effects of a carouse. " Drunken 
 Bidford " appears in that epigram which charac- 
 terises other neighbouring villages, but, without 
 reciting its lines, it may be useful to say that 
 "Piping Pebworth," "Dancing Marston," 
 " Haunted Hillborough," and " Hungry Graf- 
 ton " are all hereabout. At Bidford we may 
 cross the river, and return to Stratford on the 
 
 Vicarage, Clifford Cnai 
 
 SHAKESPEARE VILLAGES. 
 
 Surrounding Stratford are many rustic vil- 
 lages associated with Shakespeare or his 
 family, and imagination will weave the thread 
 of his fancy with the sights and sounds of that 
 beautiful land. Picturesque Luddington still 
 remains, where it is possible he was married. 
 Tradition has long averred the story, though 
 there is no witness to the fact. 
 
 The village lies by the Avon on its right bank, 
 about three miles from Stratford. Beyond it, 
 the Binton Bridges span the river, there with 
 an island in the middle, in most picturesque 
 fashion. The manor house of " Haunted 
 Hillborough," a Tudor dwelling, lies a little 
 further along the stream, and then, proceeding 
 through lovely country, with a fine view of 
 
 left bank. There is delightfully rural and 
 picturesque Welford on the way. 
 
 Clifford Chambers, its neighbour, possesses 
 still a venerable house with upright and horizon- 
 tal beam-work, which is rare in its quaintness, 
 with a gable at either end, the " house-body " 
 in the middle, and an external staircase. Here 
 dwelt, in Shakespeare's time, a certain John 
 Shakespeare, but that he was the poet's father 
 none can say. The \'illage lies a little apart, 
 upon the tri'butary Stour ; but, returning to 
 Stratford by the Avon, we may pass through 
 the tangled shades of the Weir Brake, by a 
 pathway overhung by many a tree — 
 
 " Wf;ose antique root peeps out. 
 Upon the brook tfiat brawls along tfiis wood." 
 
 Here it is fabled that Shakespeare weaved the 
 fancies of his " Midsummer Night's Dream."
 
 r ^^ : 
 
 VIEWS AT LUUDINUTON. 
 
 ■»i 
 
 ( a:i )
 
 34 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 Billesley HaU. 
 
 The places named lie to the south and west of 
 Stratford, but on every side of the town there 
 are villages of picturesque interest filled with 
 Shakespearean associations. At Billesley, which 
 lies north-west of the town, about two miles 
 beyond Shottery, they claim also to ha\-e had 
 the honour of marrying Shakespeare. There, 
 at any rate, his granddaughter, Elizabeth Hall, 
 Shakespeare's last descendant, as we have 
 seen, married Sir John Barnard. It has been 
 surmised that Shakespeare visited Billesley 
 Hall, which is a venerable and interesting 
 mansion, approached between two urn-capped 
 pillars, where, as at the Clopton House, a 
 " priest's hiding-place," and beautiful panelled 
 rooms and carvings remain from those stirring 
 Tudor times. 
 
 Temple Grafton, between Billesley and Bid- 
 ford, is another pleasant village, standing upon 
 a height, with a great view southwards towards 
 the Cotswolds. The Church was taken down 
 in 1875 and rebuilt. There is some documen- 
 tary evidence tending to show that Shakespeare 
 may actually have been married therein, for, in 
 the Episcopal Register at Worcester, under the 
 date of No\-ember 27th, 1582, the day before 
 that of the marriage bond referred to, there is 
 record of license for a marriage between " Wil- 
 lielmum Sha.xpere et Annam Whateley de 
 Temple Grafton." The incorrect descriptions 
 of name and place have been variously ex- 
 plained by commentators. The poet had, 
 perhaps, in his mind's eye, the magnificent 
 view here, when he bethought him of the local 
 allusion in the " Merry Wives of Windsor," 
 where Slender speaks of Page's fallow dog, 
 which, he said, had been ■' out-run on Cotsall." 
 
 More certainly associated with Shakespeare 
 is Wilmcote, where the house of Mary Arden, 
 his mother, still stands. It has been a good 
 
 deal modernised, but is a halt- 
 timber structure, which forms, 
 with the neighbour ingf arm build- 
 ings, a most picturesque group. 
 The Ardens were a family of 
 consideration in John Shakes- 
 peare's time, tracing their des- 
 cent to a Saxon Ailwin, and even 
 to Guy of Warwick and King 
 Athelstan. Robert Arden, of 
 Park Hall, appears to have 
 fought much and suffered a good 
 deal in the Wars of the Roses, 
 losing his head on the block for 
 his share therein, in 1452. His 
 son Walter, who married a 
 Hampden, of Great Hampden, 
 though restored by Edward IV., 
 seems to have been a poorer 
 man. Sir John Arden, Walter's 
 eldest son, was an Esquire of 
 the body to Henry \'ll., while 
 the second son Thomas Arden, was of 
 Wilmcote, in the parish of Aston Cantlow, 
 and was the poet's great-grandfather. This 
 Thomas Arden, in 1501, became possessed 
 of land at Snittertield, which was afterwards 
 tenanted by the Shakespeares. Robert Arden, 
 his son, had seven daughters, of whom Mary, 
 wife of John Shakespeare, and the poet's 
 mother, was the youngest. Her family was 
 one of many branches in Warwickshire. Edward 
 Arden, who fell under displeasure, partly 
 because of his religion and partly because, with 
 
 
 mm \ ; ' , ! 
 
 Tlie Drawing Room, BiHesley Hall.
 
 STRATFORD AND SURROUNDING VILLAGES. 
 
 35 
 
 The Arden House, Wilmcote. 
 
 Sir Thomas Lucy and others, he refused to 
 wear Leicester's livery, was implicated with 
 his son-in-law and another in a plot against 
 Elizabeth, and was executed at Smithtleld. It 
 cannot be shown that the Shakespeares were 
 of equal gentility to the Ardens, and a reason- 
 able surmise is that John Shakespeare, before 
 he fell upon evil times, aimed to raise his 
 family to a worthy level, and to mark its posi- 
 tion by the arms for which he applied, when 
 Bailiff of Stratford, in 1569-70. His claim was 
 based upon his honourable office, upon a grant 
 by Henry Vll. to his antecessors — afterwards 
 changed, in the draft, into " grandfather " — 
 for service done, and upon his marriage to the 
 daughter of a gentleman of worship in the 
 person of Robert Arden. 
 
 The house of Wilmcote — often, in old times, 
 called Wincot — stands a little back from the 
 road, with an old garden before it, and is very 
 picturesque from the rear — a building of two 
 stories, with dormers and good gables. Wilm- 
 cote village is a rustic place, famed aforetime 
 for the potency of its ale. It was the scene of 
 the carouse of Christopher Sly, who appeals 
 to its evidence when the servants of the Lord, 
 in the "induction" to the "Taming of the 
 Shrew," would persuade him, on his awaken- 
 ing, into unfamiliar gentility. " Am not I 
 Christopher Sly, old Sly's son of Burton-heath ; 
 by birth a pedlar, by education a cardmak'er, by 
 transmutation a bear-herd, and now by present 
 profession a tinker } Ask Marian Hacket, the 
 fat ale-wife of Wincot, if she know me not ; 
 
 if she say 1 am not fourteen pence on the score 
 for sheer ale, score me up for the lyingest 
 knave in Christendom." 
 
 Aston Cantlow (originally Cantelupe) is some 
 two miles away. It is another very pretty 
 village of the charming Warwickshire type, 
 with old timber houses overlooking its green. 
 The Church, too, is an interesting structure, 
 much of it dating from the 13th century, con- 
 sisting of a nave with an aisle on the north 
 side, a chapel, a chancel, and an embattled 
 tower at the west end. The village lies by 
 the little river Alne, on the road from Alcester 
 to Warwick, and there is delightful journeying 
 to either. Warwick-ward the way is by 
 Bearley to Snitterfield, whence the Shakes- 
 peares came to Stratford. Charles II., flying 
 from the field of Worcester, had more than one 
 hairbreadth escape hereabout. At Bearley 
 Cross, travelling in disguise as servant to the 
 daughter of Colonel Lane, of Bentley, towar.'s 
 Bristol, with his supposed mistress behind him 
 upon the pillion, he narrowly eluded a troop of 
 Cromwell's horse, who were eagerly on the 
 alert, for it was known he had escaped from 
 Whiteladies. Beyond the scene of this historic 
 episode the road 'to Warwick passes through 
 Bearley and Snitterfield Bushes, most lovely 
 relics of the old woodland of Arden, abounding 
 with picturesque beauties, melodious with birds, 
 and redolent of wildtlowers in the spring. 
 
 Beyond Snitterfield we shall not trace it. 
 Richard Shakespeare, who was almost cer- 
 tainly the poet's grandfather, lived in the
 
 3'^ 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY 
 
 Aston 
 
 village, and there we reasonably surmise his 
 father was born. John Shakespeare, after 
 settling in Stratford, continued to hold property 
 in Snitterfield, until, in the time of his falling 
 fortunes, when some persecution was evidently 
 directed against him, he was compelled to 
 dispose of it. The Church is a good structure 
 of the Decorated and Perpendicular periods, 
 with a broad, low, embattled tower, and 
 octagonal and clustered shafts. Within, the 
 carved woodwork is particularly rich and inter- 
 esting and well deserving of study. Richard 
 Jago, the poet, was long Vicar of the place, 
 and the house in which he lived still stands, a 
 very quaint old gabled building. A magnifi- 
 cent yew and several splendid limes are in the 
 churchyard. Snitterfield Hall 
 has long been destroyed. 
 
 This account of "Shakespeare 
 Villages" might have been ex- 
 tended further. The history of 
 the country neighbouring Strat- 
 ford might also have been dwelt 
 upon. Some allusion has already 
 been made to the deluded plot- 
 ters of 1604-5, ^^'ho lived in this 
 vicinity. VVhether Shakespeare 
 had any sympathy with the con- 
 spiracy we cannot tell. If so, 
 he never betrayed it. Probably 
 he knew, better than his 
 Warwickshire neighbours, how 
 far-reaching were the ramifi- 
 cations of the scheme, and 
 what desperate purposes were 
 entertained. Some of his 
 company of players had been 
 
 Cantlow. 
 
 concerned in the rebellion of Esse.x and South- 
 ampton, and he must have known many who 
 came to the call of Sir Everard Digby at Dun- 
 church. Ambrose Rookwood, the friend of 
 Catesby, lived, as we have seen, at the Clopton 
 House, to which Catesby, Wright, Winter, 
 Keyes, the Grants, and others resorted. John 
 Grant resided at Northbrook, near Snitterfield, 
 where was the plotters' storehouse of arms. 
 There they rested in their flight to Huddington 
 on the morning of December 6th, 1605, and 
 thence it was that Sir Everard Digby despatched 
 Catesby's servant with a message to Coughton 
 Court, the Throckmorton's place, near Alcester, 
 giving to his friends, anxiously awaiting news, 
 the terrible story of failure. 
 
 The Church, Aston Cantlow.
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 mm 
 
 
 Charlecote Hall, 
 
 CHARLECOTE. 
 
 Let us now turn to Charlecote, which lies 
 to the east of Stratford, close by the Avon, 
 and at a distance of some three miles from 
 the town. This is one of the finest Eliza- 
 bethan houses in the county, and, indeed, in 
 all England, always to be associated with 
 Shakespeare, not so much because of his tra- 
 ditionary poaching of game there, but because 
 the quarrel between the poet and Sir Thomas 
 Lucy, of Charlecote, was, in all probability, the 
 cause of his leaving Stratford and joining the 
 players in London. The house has all the 
 venerable charm of mellow old brickwork, 
 many-windowed walls, picturesque chimney 
 stacks and turrets, quaint gardens, and a far- 
 spreading park diversified by noble trees, 
 beloved of the rooks, and with the classic Avon 
 flowing through the midst. Sir Thomas Lucy 
 was a very important man hereabout, stand- 
 ing high in the favour of Elizabeth, who visited 
 him when his house was scarcely out of the 
 hands of the builders. He was one of the 
 Commissioners appointed to draw up lists of 
 recusants in the county, and in some of the 
 lists so prepared the name of Sliakespeare's 
 father appears. It seems quite certain that the 
 Shakespeares fell under the knight's dis- 
 pleasure, for it must not be forgotten that one 
 of the Ardens, who was akin to them, a gentle- 
 man of the old religion, was implicated in a 
 plot against the Queen, and laid down his life, 
 as we have seen. Whether, then, we are to 
 hold to the traditionary story of the poaching, 
 or believe that deeper causes lay at the root of 
 the antipathy between Lucy and Shakespeare, 
 we cannot but see that the poet intended to 
 
 from the River. 
 
 satirise him, and did so to all time, in the 
 pedantic coxcomb who struts through the 
 " Merry Wives of Windsor " and the second 
 part of " Henr\' IV." as Robert Shallow, 
 Esquire, the country Justice, who was " cust- 
 alorum," " ratolorum," as well as "armigero." 
 It is keen satire, indeed ; so scathing that we 
 cannot but see that Shakespeare was here 
 wreaking vengeance upon one who had done 
 him a real or supposed wrong. Sir Thomas 
 Lucy's family were of high antiquity in War- 
 wickshire, but Falstaff pictures Shallow as one 
 who "came ever in the rear- ward of the 
 fashion." " I do remember him at Clement's 
 Inn, like a man made after supper of a cheese- 
 paring, when he was, for all the world, like a 
 forked radish, with a head fantastically carved 
 upon it with a knife. . . And now is this Vice's 
 dagger become a squire, and talk's as familiarly 
 of John of Gaunt as if he had been sworn 
 brother to him." We see how, as if it had 
 been William Shakespeare himself, the Justice 
 receives his servant's plea for that "arrant 
 knave," William Visor, " of Wincot"; and 
 Shallow has just told us that arrant knaves 
 " will backbite." We remember, too, Hamlet's 
 advice to stand well with the players. The luce 
 was a device in the shield of the Lucys, and 
 Slender says of Shallow, 
 
 •■ AH his successors, gone before him. have 
 don't ; and all his ancestors, that come after him. 
 may : they may give the dozen white luces in 
 their coat." 
 
 Yet there is something pleasant about the 
 " cavaliero-justice," and we can yet, as it 
 were, enter his orchard with him, and " eat a 
 last year's pippin of my own grafting, with a 
 dish of carraways." Sir Thomas Lucy was a
 
 CHARLECOTE. 
 
 ^9 
 
 Thj Great Hall, Charlecote. 
 
 proud man, and we can picture him, tire long- 
 lineaged squire, rising a knight when Elizabeth 
 enters his hall, never to forget the hour. To 
 this day, his keen eye looks down upon the 
 visitor from the wall of Charlecote Hall. There 
 is evidence that the story of the deer-poaching 
 was believed in Warwickshire in the latter part 
 of the seventeenth century, and there were 
 grave reasons, doubtless — perhaps graver than 
 deer-poaching — for Shakespeare's flight to 
 London. But, if, indeed, as Shallow says, the 
 \'enison was " ill-killed," we may believe, with 
 Washington Irving, tliat to Shakespeare this 
 " poaching in Sir Thomas Lucy's park was, 
 doubtless, like a foray to a Scottish knigl:t, and 
 struck his eager and as yet untamed imagi- 
 nation as something delightfully adventurous." 
 In some respects Charlecote Hall is unique 
 in character. It lies in a noble park of more 
 than two hundred acres, now well stocked with 
 red and fallow deer — though it is contended 
 that in Shakespeare's time it was not formally 
 imparked for the purpose of deer-keeping — 
 and you approach it through a splendid gate- 
 house, undir a round arch, with a beautiful 
 oriel window over it, the whole surmounted by 
 a long perforated cresting, and there are 
 octagonal turrets at the corners crowned with 
 
 cupolas. Like the house itself, the gate-house 
 is of brick, with stone dressings. Between it 
 and the hall lies the enclosed garden, with 
 twisted beds and box edgings, flanked by a 
 very beautiful balustrade, which is perforated 
 in a singular fashion, characteristically in keep- 
 ing with the house, with flower I'ases at every 
 bend and angle. 
 
 The centre block of the mansion has three 
 gables and a tuie projecting porch, and great 
 wings run out on either hand, so that the 
 ground plan is roughly that of the letter E. 
 The porch has some peculiarities. At each 
 side of its round-headed doorway are Ionic 
 pilasters, and above, flanking the coat-of-arms 
 and the two-light mullioned window, .. are 
 detached composite shafts resting upon brac- 
 kets. Above runs the same perforated cresting 
 which is found in many parts of the building. 
 The projecting wings are many gabled, too ; 
 octagonal turrets, like those of the gate, are 
 at the corners ; and the various chimney stacks 
 are a bold and characteristic feature. All is as 
 Sir Thomas Lucy left it, save that, on one 
 side, a library and dining-room were built in 
 1833, in exact keeping with the architectural 
 character of the house, the imposing aspect of 
 which they enhance.
 
 40 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 The great hall, which is entered through the 
 porch, is a splendid apartment, hung with 
 fine pictures, including a remarkable painting of 
 Sir Thomas Lucy in sober black, with Joyce, 
 his lady, and his children, all quaintly depicted 
 by Cornelius Janssen. The apartment is 
 richly panelled, and lighted by several great 
 windows, of which one is a splendid bay with 
 much armorial glass in its upper lights, includ- 
 ing the luces, at which Sir Hugh Evans makes 
 ribald merriment in the play. The roof is 
 slightly pitched, the beams are well moulded, 
 and the bosses richly carved. Space is want- 
 ing to give here a list of the pictures which 
 hang in the hall. They include many portraits 
 of the Lucy family, going back to the 17th 
 century, some of them by Kneller and Lely. 
 Other Charlecote portraits are of Lord Herbert 
 of Cherbury (on copper), and of William 
 Bromley, Speaker of the House of Commons, 
 1710-14. 
 
 The dining-room and library, which are 
 modern, as 1 have said, are fine rooms in the 
 south wing. The dining-room, especially, has 
 a splendid plaster ceiling and much excellent 
 carving. It is hung with many game-pieces, 
 including one of Snyder's, which has a figure by 
 Van Dyck, and its windows command a wide 
 
 view of the country. Among the pictures in the 
 library are portraits of Henry VIU. by Holbein, 
 Elizabeth by Sir Antonio More, Lord Strafford 
 by Stone, Queen Henrietta Maria by Van 
 Dyck, and the Duchess of Ferrara by Titian. 
 Other pictures in this room are by Velasquez, 
 Guido Reni, Valentina, and Gainsborough. 
 Here, too, is a splendid suite of furniture — two 
 cabinets, a couch, an armchair, and eight 
 chairs of ebony and ivory — given by Eliza- 
 beth to her " sweet Robin " at Kenilworth, 
 and brought thence to Charlecote. The 
 drawing-room is another magnificent apart- 
 ment, and upon its walls hang many fine 
 pictures of the Italian and Dutch schools, in- 
 cluding a superb Madonna by Fra Bartolommeo, 
 and St. Cecilia by Domenichino, works of 
 Titian, Giorgione, Carlo Dolci, and many 
 others, as well as portraits of Queen Mary by 
 Sir Antonio More, and Robert Rich, first Earl 
 of Warwick of that family, by Zucchero. 
 
 From every point of view Charlecote Hall 
 groups most picturesquely. The placid Avon 
 flows close by its gardens, and reflects the 
 turrets and walls upon which Shakespeare 
 must sometimes have gazed. The park is 
 richly wooded, and dense belts of trees en- 
 frame broad stretches of beautiful meadow. A 
 
 The Library, Charlecote.
 
 ;^-J_
 
 42 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 splendid avenue of elms leads to 
 the Church, a modern structure 
 in the Decorated style, dating 
 from 1853. In many respects it 
 is very beautiful, but has no- 
 thing so remarkable as the three 
 monuments of the Lucys, which 
 are in a mortuary chapel, separa- 
 ted by a richly carved oaken 
 screen from the chancel. Be- 
 neath a rose window is the altar 
 tomb of the Sir Thomas Lucy, 
 of Shakespeare's day, and his 
 wife Joyce. The tomb is classic 
 in its character, and the knight 
 is represented in plate-armour, 
 with hands uplifted and bare 
 head, while his wife is habited 
 in a close-fitting gown with a 
 coif upon her head. In front the 
 tomb has two panels, with sculp- 
 tured kneeling figures repre- 
 senting Thomas and Anne, the children of 
 the deceased. Sir Thomas wrote an eulogy 
 of his wife, which is inscribed upon a black 
 marble slab above, extolling her Christian 
 virtues, and pronouncing her to have been 
 singular as a housewife and mother, a 
 maintainer of hospitality, esteemed by "her 
 betters," and " misliked of none but the 
 envious." Opposite to this monument is 
 another altar tomb to the memory of the 
 knight's son, another Sir Thomas, who is 
 also represented in plate-armour, in a similar 
 
 The Elizafcethan Suite, Charlecote. 
 
 attitude. A curious feature is the figure 
 of his second wife at the side of the tomb, 
 kneeling upon a cushion in the attitude of 
 prayer, and wearing a black gown with a 
 tippet, and a ruff round her neck. This figure 
 is of painted stone. The third tomb is of the 
 third Sir Thomas Lucy, also with his wife, 
 who was the daughter and heiress of Thomas 
 Spencer, of Claverdon. This knight was killed 
 by a fall from his horse, and, in the manner of 
 his time, is represented in a recumbent attitude, 
 resting upon his elbow, while the head of his 
 
 
 <HI 
 
 ^i!!>-^yifcl .-''T^^'-j 
 
 -I^. 
 
 The Garden Gate, Charlecote.
 
 COMPTUN IVY N YATES. 
 
 43 
 
 wife reposes upon a cushion. The tomb is 
 surmounted by a canopy resting upon beautiful 
 columns. The effigies are the work of the 
 famous Bernini, who played so great a part 
 during the decadence of Italian sculpture, and 
 were executed in Italy from portraits sent out 
 by Sir Thomas's widow. Of their kind there 
 are few more remarkable monuments in Eng- 
 land. Some other interesting features are in 
 the church, and a very ancient font. The 
 visitor to this neighbourhood will fmd a 
 modern church of excellent character, by 
 the late Sir Gilbert Scott, at Hampton Lucy, 
 not far away, the old church at that ancient 
 place having been destroyed ; and, at Sherborne, 
 
 battle of 1642. Essex planted his Torces in 
 front of the little town of Kineton, while the 
 Royal troops held the position of advantage upon 
 the hill, and the furious fight was waged between. 
 There is a magnificent outlook from the hills. 
 From Edge Hill House, indeed, where the Earl 
 of Lindsey, who commanded the royal forces 
 was carried mortally wounded, and where there 
 are abundant relics of the fight, you may look 
 on a clear day even to the Wrekin in distant 
 Shropshire. It is a region of witchcraft, too. 
 Even so late as 1875 it is known that some 
 people of Brailes "drew blood" on a poor 
 creature of Tysoe, even as Talbot, in the first 
 part of " Henry VI." says to the Maid, " blood 
 
 Compton Wynyates, from the West. 
 
 between that place and Warwick, is one of the 
 finest rural churches in the county. 
 
 COMPTON WYNYATES. 
 
 Before we turn our faces towards famous 
 Warwick, we shall go out south-eastward from 
 Stratford a little, in order to glance at a few 
 places which lie along the hilly borderland of 
 the Feldon or " Vale of the Red Horse." Our 
 chief object is to survey that most picturesque 
 of houses, Compton Wynyates, the seat of the 
 Marquisof Northampton, which lies ata distance 
 of about twelve miles from Stratford, in a region 
 full of historic interest. The famous field of 
 Edge Hill is its neighbour, but there is neither 
 space nor necessity to deal here with the great 
 
 will 1 dravv on thee ; thou art a witch." A few 
 miles further south again, near where the road 
 from Stratford to London, along which Shakes- 
 peare often journeyed, passes through Long 
 Compton, are the famous Rollwright or Rollrich 
 Stones, about which most curious legends 
 linger. These mark, perhaps, the burial place 
 of prehistoric chiefs, but they say that the 
 " King's Stone " is but the petrified form of a 
 monarch who would have ruled over England 
 if he could but have set eyes upon Long 
 Compton, which is visible but a few yards from 
 where he stands. About him is the circle of 
 his petrified soldiers, and, at a little distance, 
 stand the " Whispering Knights," who were his 
 personal attendants, but played the traitor to 
 his forgotten majesty.
 
 44 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 But to come now to Compton Wynyates, 
 which lies midway between Edge Hill and Long 
 Compton, below the crest of this long range of 
 hills. Warwickshire, though rich in castles and 
 houses of a former time, has nothing to surpass 
 the quadrangular mansion we have before us, 
 witli its charmingly picturesque grouping of 
 towers, turrets, gabies, and chimneys. The 
 house belongs to that period of history in which 
 it was safer for the country gentleman to place 
 a moat between himself and the stranger, and a 
 good drawbridge which would forbid access to 
 his abode. The moat has gone, but the spyhole 
 is there through which the warder lool<ed out, 
 with the turret above, to which, upon the need 
 
 the Battle of the Spurs, where he was knigiitecJ 
 for his bravery, entertained King Henry the 
 Eighth, with whom he had been at the Field of 
 the Cloth of Gold. Sir William was the builder of 
 Compton Wynyates, and the crest which Henry 
 gave him remains in the Hall. The room has a 
 fme open timber roof and the gable-end is filled 
 with timber work in a manner quite uncommon. 
 Below are the minstrels' gallery, and the richly 
 carved screen, which has the linen pattern in 
 its panels, and representations of knights tilting 
 with other subjects. The great slab of elm 
 resting upon trestles, and the quaint furniture, 
 are original, and of the time. The screen, as is 
 usual in all houses of the period — as at Haddon- 
 
 Compton Wynyates : The Moat. 
 
 of a wider survey, he could ascend from his 
 lodge by the twisting stairs. Some who came 
 were, doubtless, turbulent folk, for, by one 
 means or another, they have left the evidence 
 of their defeated purpose with pike or hagbut 
 upon the oaken door. 
 
 There is the appearance of strength about 
 that broad porch, which has stone seats within, 
 and doors which gave access to the moat when 
 the bridge was up. It is flanked by two most 
 picturesque gables. Pass, then, through the 
 archway, and you are in the quadrangle. 
 Opposite stands the great hall, with its beautiful 
 and elaborate bay, and the kitchen and domestic 
 ofifices. The parlour, or private dining room, and 
 the chapel are on the right hand as we enter 
 the court.'' Here, in his hail. Sir William 
 Compton, who greatly distinguished himself at 
 
 Hall, for example — separates the hall from the 
 lobby and the kitchens, which, at Compton 
 Wynyates, have deeply recessed fireplaces. 
 
 The parlour, or private dining room, which 
 adjoins, and looks out through two mullioned 
 windows over the gardens on the south, is 
 wainscoted with oak, and has a ceiling, bearing 
 the arms of Compton and Spencer, which was 
 placed there by William Compton, first Earl of 
 Northampton. The Earl had married, in 
 Elizabeth's days, when he was yet Lord 
 Compton, the daughter of rich Alderman 
 Spencer of London, who was Lord Mayor in 1 594. 
 The worthy alderman, as the story goes, did not 
 approve the attention paid by the Court gallant 
 to his daughter ; but, as love laughs loud at 
 locks, so did Lord Compton laugh at the alder- 
 man. By stratagem he procured admission to
 
 LU 
 
 X 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 > 9 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 u
 
 46 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 the civic house in the 
 guise of a bai<er carry- 
 ing loaves, and, when 
 he returned, he met the 
 alderman, who commen- 
 ded his energy, and gave 
 him sixpence, saying 
 that he was on the way 
 to fortune. Great, there- 
 fore, was the civic anger 
 when it was afterwards 
 discovered that the 
 alderman's daughter 
 was concealed in the 
 very basket her father 
 had presumed to be 
 empty ; and it required 
 the artifice of Elizabeth 
 to induce him, who was 
 very willing to dispos- 
 sess his daughter, to 
 stand as godfather to 
 an infant, who proved to be his grandchild. 
 The chapel is entered from the dining room. 
 It has a very beautiful window of many lights, 
 which is seen in the picture of the south front, 
 and is divided by an oak screen. Some of the 
 carvings in the chapel are very curious, 
 especially those of the Seven Deadly Sins, 
 which are depicted as mounted knights, each 
 with an imp behind urging him forward. In the 
 great tower adjoining is a splendid oak-panelled 
 council chamber, with enriched doorways, as 
 well as three staircases, leading up at the angles 
 to what is known as the priest's room, where 
 is the very unusual feature of a wooden altar 
 slab. A long chamber, described as the barracks, 
 e.xtends along the roof, and yet bears evidences 
 of the soldiers who occupied in the Civil Wars. 
 The house was captured for the Parliament after 
 
 Compt 
 
 The Hall, Compton Wynyatcs 
 
 on Wynyates ; The South Front. 
 a three days' siege in June, 1644, when the 
 Earl of Northampton's brother, and about a 
 dozen officers, and 120 men were captured, 
 with eighty horses and great quantities of 
 ammunition. Sir Charles and Sir William 
 Compton endeavoured to retake the place in the 
 following January, and gained a footing in the 
 stables by night, but were repulsed with loss. 
 The third Earl of Northampton retained his 
 estates by paying a heavy composition. 
 
 These notes will serve to show what an 
 interesting house is this. Its staircase and 
 drawing rooms, and the rooms ascribed to Henry 
 VIII.,andCharles I., as those in which they slept, 
 are all beautiful and interesting, with the other 
 apartments of the house. There are many 
 secret chambers within its walls, bespeaking 
 the troubles and dangers of former times. 
 Henry the Eighth's bedchamber 
 bears still his badges and the arms 
 of Katharine of Aragon, for it 
 was in the early years of his 
 reign that Compton Wynyates was 
 built. As some illustration of the 
 extent of this remarkable struc- 
 ture, it may be interesting to note 
 that it contains altogether about 
 eighty rooms and fifteen distinct 
 staircases. Monuments of its old 
 possessors remain in the neighbour- 
 ing church. We ascend the hill to 
 the "pike" above, which indicates 
 the path to the wayfarer, and, as we 
 see the blue smoke rising from the 
 fretted chimneys of Compton Wyn- 
 yates, we feel indeed, that we have 
 left an excellent type of the dwelling 
 places of country gentlemen and 
 noblemen of Shakespeare's early 
 times.
 
 WARWICK CASTLE. 
 
 47 
 
 WARWICK. 
 
 The city of Warwick is the capital, not only 
 •of the county, but of the Slialcespeare country. 
 Few county towns, and probably none of 
 equal importance, maintain so quaint and old- 
 world an aspect as this. The city reflects the 
 character of its surroundings. You cannot enter 
 it without seeing that it is at once tilled with 
 history and invested with a wonderful pictur- 
 esque charm. Tramcars from Leamington 
 ■run, indeed, along the Jury Street, where, 
 perhaps, the money-lenders were sheltered by 
 the Baron, and the High Street where his 
 retainers marched. But these streets are 
 lined with houses of ancient features, and 
 some indicative of Georgean gentility, and, 
 •turn where you will, down the side lanes you 
 meet the relics of a former time. The road 
 from Stratford to Warwick brings you between 
 Snitterfield and Hampton Lucy, through a 
 beautiful country of wood and meadow, such 
 as is characteristic of Warwickshire, to the 
 west gate of the city. The distance is about 
 seven miles. There is a long and gentle 
 approach to the gateway, and pedestrians 
 ■enter beneath the arch upon which rises 
 the Chapel of the Earl of Leicester's Hospital. 
 What a picturesque grouping we have here of 
 "timber gables and archways, of towers, chim- 
 neys, and battlements, awaking not only the 
 memories of former times, but almost the 
 visible presence of them, for all is here scarcely 
 changed since Robert Dudley raised anew the 
 old charitable foundation. 
 
 
 
 Interior of the Barbican. 
 
 The Barbican, Warwick Castle. 
 
 It is a fitting entrance to the ancient town, 
 through which the High Street and Jury Street 
 lead you to the East Gate, which, like the 
 other, has a Chapel over it, of striking aspect, 
 though not an old one, nor one wholly 
 satisfactory. These two gates mark the ex- 
 tent of the city, which was encompassed by 
 walls upon a roughly circular plan. From 
 gate to gate a semi-circle of work's stretched to 
 the north, having the great Church of St. 
 Mary in its midst, while, on the other side, 
 the wall went down by the Castle lodge and 
 quaint Mill Lane to a spot where the ivy-grown 
 piers of a Norman bridge still stand in the 
 placid waters of the Avon, and where the 
 lofty height of Cesar's tower, and the long 
 curtain wall of the Castle, " the fairest monu- 
 ment of ancient and chivalrous splendour 
 which remains uninjured by time." overlook 
 the stream. 
 
 We shall not follow here the rise of Warwick 
 from the dim region of its fabulous history, 
 nor dwell upon its Saxon fame as the seat of 
 a bishopric, established as early as the year 
 544, at the Church of All Saints, then within 
 the Castle walls, but now united with that of 
 St. Mary in the city ; tradition avers that 
 Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great, raised 
 a castle here, and the mound still stands which 
 her works are said to have crowned. The 
 Castle was undoubtedl\- strengthened at a time 
 shortly after the Norman Conquest. It was the 
 scene of stirring episodes in the struggles among 
 the Conqueror's immediate successors, and in 
 ihe Ions wars which were waged between
 
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 50 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 the King and the Barons. Sir John Giffard, 
 Governor of Kemhvorth, carried off the Earl 
 of War\vici\, who had tal<en part against the 
 Barons, from his own Castle in '1264. At that 
 time the Castle of Warwick suffered severely, 
 but Henry III. made it his headquarters when 
 he was conducting operations against the 
 Barons at Kenilworth two years later. The 
 importance of the position, however, caused it 
 to be speedily restored, and it was a place of 
 strength when Piers Gaveston was brought 
 thither a prisoner by Guy Beauchamp, the 
 " black dog of Arden," in 1312. By a curious 
 change of fortune the walls which had held 
 the taunting Gascon as a prisoner received 
 Hugh le Despenser as their master and Edward 
 II. as their guest. The great Richard Beau- 
 champ, who built the Beauchamp Chapel in 
 St. Mary's Church, welcomed Henry V. at 
 the Castle in 1417, and the King-maker here 
 imprisoned Edward IV. The Castle after- 
 wards came to the Crown, and it was not 
 until the time of Edward VI. that it was 
 granted to the Dudleys. Elizabeth was enter- 
 tained more than once at Warwick by Ambrose 
 Dudley, who, though implicated in Northumber- 
 land's plot, is spoken of as the " Good 
 Earl," and whose monument is also in the 
 Beauchamp Chapel. In 1605 the Crown once 
 again granted it, to Sir Fulkt- Gre\'ille, who 
 
 spent great sums in restoring it, and several 
 times entertained James I. The Royalists 
 besieged the place in 1642, and here the Earl 
 of Lindsey died after the neighbouring battle 
 of Edge Hill, being brought, mortally wounded, 
 from Edge Hill House. Beneath Cesar's 
 Tower, in the dungeon, there may still be seen 
 among rudely-cut inscriptions, one of a Royal- 
 ist soldier, master-gunner to the King, who was 
 there confined. In the family of Greville the 
 Castle has remained ever since. 
 
 Originally, the road led straight down from 
 the Church to the Castle, but the present 
 entrance is by the gatehouse, constructed in 
 1800, on the site of an older building opposite 
 to St. Nicholas' Church, which, though an 
 ancient ecclesiastic foundation, is mainly a 
 modern structure. The approach to the Castle 
 from the lodge is through a very picturesque 
 cutting in the rock, overgrown with ivy and 
 trailing plants, which brings the visitor round 
 by a great cur\'e to the barbican and gate- 
 house. 
 
 Issuing from the rock-cut way into the outer 
 ward of the Castle, the whole northern face of 
 the buildings bursts upon the visitor, the great 
 ivy-grown barbican and gatehouse in the midst, 
 and Ciesar's and Guy's Towers on either hand. 
 The barbican gateway is a colossal structure, 
 projecting some sixty feet from the embattled 
 
 Guy's Tower and the Barbican Gatehouse, Warwick Castle.
 
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 WARWICK CASTLE. 
 
 53 
 
 jii.jj]i.uLi.44yi^ 
 
 The Ramparts and sile of the Bear Tower> 
 
 wall, and admitting a narrow passage, nearly one 
 hundred feet in length, with a portcullis at 
 either end, through to the inner ward of the 
 Castle. A stone arch replaces the old draw- 
 bridge which closed the gate against the un- 
 welcome, whom the embrasured walls and 
 towers threatened with destruction. Two octa- 
 gonal loop-holed towers flank the defence both 
 within and without, and lofty round towers 
 stand between, united by a flying arch. The 
 inner ward is irregularly quadrangular in shape, 
 with a green space of grass in the middle, and 
 •the effect of the many-windowed Castle, the 
 ivy-grown towers, and deep embrasured walls, 
 whereon many peacocks strut, shadowed by 
 
 "Guy's Porridge Pot." 
 
 the gaunt branches of gnarled old pines, is 
 most striking and impressive. 
 
 Let us survey the buildings that surround 
 this inner ward. On the left, as we issue 
 from the gatehouse, rises the great height of 
 Caesar's Tower, which dates from about 1360, 
 and was erected by Thomas, the tlrst Beau- 
 champ, Earl of Warwick. It is, perhaps, the 
 most remarkable example of medi:Bval military 
 architecture in England, but presents its most 
 formidable aspect when seen from the foot of 
 its great sloping base without, by the river, 
 where it lifts its bold loopholed form to a great 
 machicolated gallery, above whose embrasures 
 rises a still higher embattled turret. All the 
 loopholes and embrasures are cut at the exact 
 angle to admit of advantageous firing, and 
 missiles dropped from above would rebound 
 from the sloping base into the midst of troops 
 assembled below. The residential parts of the 
 Castle extend from this tower parallel to the 
 Avon, above which they rear their grey 
 old walls and rugged buttresses, shadowed 
 by the spreading gloom of huge cedars which 
 cling to the bank between, while, to the inner 
 ward, they present many mullioned and tran- 
 somed windows, with cusped heads, the walls 
 surmounted by an embattled cresting, and over- 
 looked by picturesque turrets. Much of the 
 stonework here on the inner side is new, for a 
 disastrous fire in 1871 wrought sad havoc in 
 some of the domestic parts of the Castle, in- 
 cluding the great hall, which was the scene of
 
 54 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 \.t^^- 
 
 1 he Courtyard. 
 
 the torchlight trial of G;ueston by the Barons; 
 but now ivy mantles the walls with its soften- 
 ing green, and the place looks much as of old. 
 Opposite to the gatehouse, by which we entered 
 the inner ward, an ivy-clad enclosing wall 
 extends, by the broad, low Hill Tower, and 
 Etheltleda's shrub-grown mount, to the Northern 
 Tower, where it turns at right angles, and stret- 
 ches in an irregular curve, with a great stepped 
 wall, to Guy's Tower. The Bear and Clarence 
 Towers, both incomplete, stand in the midst of 
 the curve opposite to the Castle 
 buildings, and date from the 
 time of Richard ill., flanking 
 the entrance to the gardens and 
 the way which once led out to 
 the town. Guy's Tower is a 
 broad, multangular structure, 
 also loopholed and machicola- 
 ted, which was built by the 
 second Thomas de Beauchamp 
 at the end of the 14th century, 
 and takes its name from the 
 redoutable hero whose legend- 
 ary fame adds a touch of poetry 
 to the history of Warwick. 
 
 Famous memories cling to 
 this old courtyard. Hither 
 came the mail-clad men to 
 their stronghold — bold and 
 downright were they, exercis- 
 ing the right of the strongest, as 
 when they dragged Gaveston 
 
 trembling to the door. But, if injustice was 
 sometimes done here, it was a place whence 
 plentuous hospitality flowed to the poor. To this 
 courtyard, in times of civil brawl, men might 
 look for shelter. Then we may conjure up, from 
 a later time, the spectacle this green space pre- 
 sented when Elizabeth rode in with her great 
 cavalcade, and when Ambrose Dudley crooked 
 his knee. We can almost hear the hissing of 
 his "fireballs and squibbes " that flew over 
 into the town, and there set houses in a blaze. 
 
 
 The Mill.
 
 THE ARMOURY, 
 
 WARWICK CASTLE. 
 
 (55 )
 
 55 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 The Great Hall, Warwick Castlf, 
 
 The .iireat hall of the Castle is more than 
 sixty feet long by thirty-fi\-e feet in width, its 
 panelling and ceiling of oak, and its floor of red 
 and white marble. Here are some of the 
 redoubtable hero's fabulous relics, including his 
 "porridge pot," which is capable of holding 
 about one hundred and twenty gallons, with a 
 great deal of curious and interesting armour. 
 The "porridge pot" is really a huge \'essel 
 for cooking the flesh rations of soldiers. Guy's 
 armour and sword date from the period of 
 Edward 111. to that of Henrv VIll. The rib 
 
 The Cedar U,.i.. ;:ij; Room. 
 
 of the famous dun cow he slew pro\'es to be 
 that of a whale. " Fair Phyllis's slippers " are 
 a pair of slipper-stirrups of the time of Henry VI. 
 The Red Drawing Room, which opens from the 
 Great Hall, takes its name from the deep 
 colour of its wainscot, and has a ceilmg of white 
 and gold, and the Cedar and the Gilt or Green 
 Drawing Rooms to which it leads are very 
 noble apartments, all commanding lovely views 
 across the divided course of the Avon, pouring 
 over the weir by the mill, and the wooded 
 glories of the park. The Cedar Drawing 
 Room has its panels richly 
 carved, and its walls hung with 
 famous Van Dycks. In the 
 State Bedroom, entered from 
 the Gilt Drawing Room, is a 
 bed draped with salmon-colou- 
 red damask and with richly 
 embroidered counterpanes, 
 which at one time belonged 
 to Queen Anne. It was pre- 
 sented to a former Earl of 
 Warwick by George 111. The 
 tapestry here is very fine. 
 The Boudoir is the last of the 
 main series of State apart- 
 ments, and commands an un- 
 ri\alled view from its windows. 
 Sliadov\'ed by a cedar, the 
 Avon flows below, in whose 
 waters, strange to say, a 
 William Shakespeare was- 
 drowned in June, 1579
 
 WARiriCK CASTLE. 
 
 57 
 
 Other apartments are the Chapel, which is a 
 beautiful modern work; the great Dining Room ; 
 tiie Compass Room ; the Library ; and tlie 
 billiard Room. The Armoury, which is cut in the 
 thicknes-of the wall, is arrayed with crossbows, 
 muskets, breast-plates, morions, yataghans, 
 swords, and a whole world of ancient or strange 
 implements of war. 
 
 The Castle is famous for its great collection 
 of pictures, ranged in the State and private 
 apartments. It is rich in works of Rubens and 
 Van Dyck'. There is also an " Assumption," 
 by Raphael. Among the Rubens pictures are 
 portraits of 
 Thomas Howard, 
 Earl of Arundel ; 
 Ignatius Loyola, 
 and the Marquis 
 de Spinola. Rem- 
 brandt's " Dutch 
 Burgomaster" is 
 a celebrated 
 picture. Of Van 
 Dyck there is 
 a splendid 
 equestrian portra t 
 of Charles 1., with 
 other portraits of 
 Queen Henrietta 
 Maria, Prince 
 Rupert, Strafford, 
 and James 
 Graham, Marquis 
 of Montrose. The 
 collection includes 
 very remarkable 
 portraits of Henry 
 Vjll. and Anne 
 B 1 e y n , by 
 Holbein. One 
 famous picture, by 
 Moroni; is a 
 " Warrior," clad 
 in a black velvet 
 doublet, Not less 
 famous isMurillo's 
 "Laughing Boy." 
 Among other 
 artists represented 
 in this great collectioir are Paul Veronese, 
 Salvator Rosa, Andrea del >arto, Lorenzo de 
 Credi, Gerhard Dow, Cranach, Van der Velde, 
 and Jan Breugirel ; and of the English school, 
 Lely, Kneller, Reynolds, Romney, and many 
 more. 
 
 Among the other treasures of Warwick 
 Castle is a valuable collection of Shake- 
 spearean relics and memorials. These include 
 a manuscript copy of the " History of King 
 Henry IV.," written in i6io, as is believed 
 by Sir Edward Dering of Surrenden, and 
 a volume of MSS. containing a copy of 
 
 A Carnef of the Great Hall, Warwick Castle, 
 
 "Julius CiTsar " belonging to Stuart times. 
 The collection also includes the fine folio 
 edition of 1623, and many early copies of 
 single plays. The Shakespeare Room— a 
 modern title — is near Ccesar's Tower. Upon 
 its walls hang the "Shakespeare" attributed 
 to Corneiis janssens, a " Queen Elizabeth," 
 an "Earl of Leicester," and a "Sir Philip 
 Sydney," Sir Joshua Reynolds's" Mrs.Siddons 
 with the Mask of Tragedy," and others. 
 
 The gardens are large and transcendentl^ 
 beautiful, and it is difficult to imagine anything 
 more lovely than the view down the course of 
 
 the river when the 
 evening sunlight 
 floods the sylvan 
 landscape, in a 
 greenhouse in the 
 garden stands the 
 famous Warwick 
 or Tivoli Vase, a 
 very notable re- 
 main of Greek art 
 — the most splen- 
 did, indeed, of its 
 kind — sent to this 
 country by Sir 
 William Hamilton, 
 from the place 
 where it was dis- 
 covered in 1770 
 near Tivoli. This 
 surprising work is 
 nearly si.x feet 
 high and five feet 
 in diameter at the 
 top. its handles 
 are intertwined 
 vine stems, of 
 which the tendrils 
 are sculptured 
 round the lip, and 
 tiger skins are re- 
 presented hanging 
 below, with masks 
 and other devices. 
 The C a s t i e 
 itself looks no- 
 where more splen- 
 did than from places wnere we see its grey 
 walls reared above the tranquil Avon to a 
 h.eight of about a hundred feet, the h ge bulk 
 of Cfesar's Tower dominating the scene, and 
 the quaint building of the old mill, with its 
 water wheel, running out into the stream, while 
 a great vista up the river, by the ivy-grown 
 piers of the Norman Bridge, discloses a lovely 
 stretch of country beneath the great segmental 
 arch which carries Banbury Road. The rooks 
 are cawing in the elm-tops, and the squirrels 
 frisking in the oaks, while the gaunt arms of 
 Scotch firs stretch down towards the amber
 
 5S 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 St. Mary's Church, Warwick. 
 
 water, which pours masicall\' o\er the weir by 
 the mill. 
 
 The Church of St. Mary is intimately bound 
 up with the memory of the old possessors 
 of the Castle. It is one of the finest, but 
 most unfortunate, churches in England. A 
 disastrous fire destroyed the tower, nave, and 
 transepts in 1694, and these were rebuilt in a 
 style that is a travesty of English architecture, 
 and in which classic details and Gothic features 
 are most strangely jumbled. At the same 
 time, the tower, it must be admitted, is a well- 
 proportioned composition, and, where its details 
 cannot be discerned, is certainlv impressive. 
 The Choir, the Beauchamp Chapel and the 
 Chapter House, save that the roof of the 
 former has been sadly spoiled e.xternally, are 
 very fine, and few better examples of Perpen- 
 dicular work can be found in England. 
 Internally, the chancel is very beautiful. The 
 east window, though not large, is a rich 
 example of the time, and the same may be 
 said of the side windows, the panelled walls, 
 the rare and curious groining, with the flying 
 ribs which support it, the now vacant niches, 
 and the remarkable tomb of the fotmder. This 
 was the second Thomas de Beauchamp, who 
 built Guy's Tower in the Castle, though it is 
 probable that li's greater son completed his 
 
 work here. The high tomb of the founder, and 
 his wife, who was Catherine, daughter of Roger 
 Mortimer, Earl of March, stands in the midst of 
 the choir. The Earl is represented in plate 
 and chain armour, with an angel at his head, 
 and his feet resting upon a bear, and he grasps 
 the hand of his Countess, who is clad in a 
 close-fitting robe with a reticulated coif upon 
 her head, and a lamb at her feet. Round the 
 tomb are sculptured, as "weepers," thirty- 
 si.x members of the House of Beauchamp and 
 its kindred, each with a shield below. There 
 is no space here to describe other various monu- 
 ments in this interesting Church, but, in the 
 Chapter House, there will be found the tomb of 
 Fulke Greville, first Lord Brooke — " servant to 
 Qvene Elizabeth, counceller to King lames, 
 and trend to Sir Philip Sidney" — who was 
 foully done to death in London in 1628. 
 
 The gem of the Church is the Lady, or 
 Beauchamp Chapel, which stands on the south 
 side of the choir, and at a lower level, for there 
 is no crypt beneath it, with a most lo\-ely 
 little Chantry Chapel between. The Chapel 
 was built by Richard Beauchamp, the great 
 Earl of Warwick, whose high tomb stands in 
 the midst, and the adjoining exquisite Chantry 
 Chapel w-as intended forthe sayingof Low Mass. 
 The roof of the latter is a most remarkable
 
 THE CHOIR, (59) 
 
 ST. MARY'S CHURCH, WARWICK.
 
 
 THE CHANTRY CHAPEL, 
 ST. MARY'S CHURCH, WARWICK. 
 
 (60)
 
 WARWICK. 
 
 6i 
 
 The Eeauchamp Chapel, West end. 
 
 example of fan tracery, with exquisite details, 
 and the canopied niches on each side of 
 its east window are very elaborately wrought. 
 Here several interesting monumental casques 
 are stored. The Chantry is separated from 
 the Beauchamp Chapel itself by traceried 
 screen work, and the Chapel is reached by a 
 descent of several steps. Richard Beauchamp, 
 Earl of Warwick, its founder, who died in the 
 Castle of Rouen in 1439, being at that time, as 
 the inscription on his tomb says, "Lieutenant- 
 General and Governor of the Realm of France 
 and of the Duchy of Normandy," is the same 
 who appears in Shakespeare's Henry VI. and 
 other plays. His body was brought to War- 
 wick, and lay in a stone chest before the west 
 door of the Chapel until the vault beneath his 
 glorious altar tomb should be completed. The 
 detail of the Chapel is not anywhere surpassed. 
 The walls are most richly panelled ; the ribs, 
 groinings, and the bosses are admirably 
 wrought ; and the whole framework' of the 
 splendid east window is adorned with statuettes 
 in niches in a most elaborate style. The 
 spoiler, however, undoubtedly laid unholy 
 hands upon many statuettes of precious metals 
 here. Some of the old glass remains. 
 
 The tomb of Richard Beauchamp is a \'ery 
 remarkable work. It is of Purbeclc marble, 
 and his eftlgy of gilt brass, with uplifted hands, 
 lies upon the top, beneath a brazen framework 
 or hearse, over which formerly hung a pall. 
 The Earl is represented, with a face that is an 
 unmistakable portrait, in full plate armour, 
 wearing the garter below his left knee, with 
 bare head resting upon a tilting helm, and a 
 muzzled bear and a griffin sitting at his feet. 
 The ends of the bars which form the hearse 
 are richly enamelled with shields. Round the 
 tomb in niches are fourteen large and eighteen 
 smaller figures of gilded brass, the former re- 
 presenting the kindred of the deceased — among 
 them the " King-maker,"— praying for the 
 repose of his soul. The others are angels, in 
 whose hands are scrolls, inscribed " Sit Deo 
 lauset gloria; defunctis misericordia." Against 
 the north wall of the Chapel is the monument 
 of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester — Elizabeth's 
 Dudley ■ — and his third wife. This is of 
 composite classic character, with a semi- 
 circular arch over the figures, and four pillars 
 supporting a carved entablature, above which 
 rises a curiously enriched triple cresting, with 
 figures, and a large shield of arms ; but the
 
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 64 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 The Quadrangle, Leicester's Hospital. 
 
 monument, though finel)' wrought, is far 
 from being so impressive as the noble tomb 
 it adjoins. In some ways more remarl<able 
 is the high tomb of Earl Ambrose Dudley, 
 who is represented in armour, wearing his 
 coronet, with a chained and muzzled bear at 
 his feet. The tomb itself is classic in character, 
 but its features are good. Much attention is 
 always attracted by the monument of Robert 
 Dudley's infant son against the south wall of 
 the Chapel. It is a high tomb with the effigy 
 of a child, evidently deformed, but richly 
 habited, about three feet six inches in length. 
 He is described in his inscription as the "Noble 
 Impe," and much of his ancestry is there 
 recorded. It deserves to be noted that the 
 reredos of the Chapel is a basso-relievo of the 
 Annunciation, taken from a classic source, and 
 executed by a local sculptor. Though wholly 
 out of keeping with the Chapel it is a very 
 beautiful work. Other monuments and other 
 beauties, the visitor to St. Mary's Church and 
 the Bc-auc'iamp Chapel will easily discover. 
 
 If Warwick possessed its Castle and its 
 Chuich only, we should go away content, 
 but tnere stands also the Leicester Hos- 
 pital, already alluded to, by its west gate, a 
 remain comparable in interest to the places 
 
 that have been described. No more curious, 
 quaint, picturesque e.xample of timber archi- 
 tecture remains in this country. When you 
 pass by its many gables and gablets, its steep 
 tiled roofs, and overhanging upper stories, 
 between the projecting porch and the row of lime 
 trees, and enter at the gateway, you seem to 
 leave the 19th century behind. No wonder, 
 you will say, that its Brethren, veterans of the 
 military service, from long inhabiting so old- 
 world a dwelling, have acquired the dignity of 
 archdeacons or deans. The Chapel is upon 
 the left as you approach, surmounting the 
 1 2th century arch, originally a gateway to 
 the town, while the domestic parts of the 
 structure lie on the right. 
 
 Originally, this was the hall of the Guilds of 
 the Holy Trinity and St. George, and dates 
 from the 15th century. Lilce most charit- 
 able institutions, the united Guilds suffered 
 under the rapacious hand of Henry VIII., and 
 it was Robert Dudley who restored and re- 
 founded the charity for the accommodation of 
 twelve men, to be selected as old soldiers 
 maimed in the wars, w^ho should have followed 
 the Earl or his heirs in the field, or otherwise 
 for the merit of their services to the Sovereign 
 and country, or on grounds of honest poverty.
 
 THE GATEWAY, 
 
 LEICESTER'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 ( 05 )
 
 66 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY 
 
 The Guild hns now a Master and twelve 
 Bretliren, who are appointed by Lord de 
 Lisle and Dudley, of Penshurst, as heir- 
 general of the founder. Each Brother 
 has ;^'8o a year, with a bed-room, sitting- 
 room, and pantry, and the use of the 
 common rooms of the Hospital. They 
 wear long livery cloaks of blue cloth, 
 whereof the silver badges have the Bear 
 and the Ragged Staff, and, with a single 
 e.xception, are those used in the time of 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 The courtyard of the Hospital is 
 entered beneath an archway, with 
 curious spandrels, and the inscriptions, 
 "Peace be unto all who enter this 
 house," and "Praise ye the Lord" upon 
 the gateposts. Above, upon the par- 
 geting, the initials "R.L.," carved 
 devices of the Bear and the Ragged Staff, 
 the motto "Droit et Loyal," an Earl's 
 coronet, the date 1 571, and many shields 
 of arms attract the eye by their quaint- 
 ness. The courtyard has a most pic- 
 turesque effect within. Opposite, as 
 you enter, three gables of fine character 
 with scLilptured barge boards, resting 
 upon corbels carved with grotesque 
 bears, rise above the elaborately tim- 
 bered fa(;ade of the Master's Lodge. An 
 oriel window, devices of the Bear and 
 Ragged Staff and the Porcupine, and shields of 
 arms, with the inscriptions, " Honour all men ; 
 Love the Brotherhood ; Fear God ; Honour the 
 King," are here. On the right is a cloister, 
 with overhanging upper story, and a latticed 
 walk, approached by an external staircase 
 near the gateway, which leads also to where 
 the Guild Chamber was. The Banqueting 
 
 t \ii 
 
 Mill Lanr, Warwick. 
 
 The Entrance Gate, Leicester's Hospital, 
 
 Hall, where James 1. was entertained, now 
 devoted to another purpose, is on the opposite 
 side of the court. The old kitchen, on the 
 north, contains much ancient furniture, and 
 utensils that shine like the sun. Taken in all 
 its features, this ancient quadrangle is unique 
 in character and richness. 
 
 Behind the Hospital is an old English garden, 
 shared by theMaster and the Brethren, 
 where a Norman arch has been set up, 
 which was discovered during the res- 
 toration of the Chapel. There is a 
 terrace e.xternally, which command ■; 
 a splendid view towards Stratford and 
 the Cotswold Hills, and brings the 
 \isitor to the Chapel over the archway. 
 This is dedicated to St. James, and its 
 tower seems to have been built by 
 Thomas Beauchamp about the end of 
 the 14th century. The Chapel has 
 been well restored, and now bears 
 much of its original character, and the 
 modern flying buttresses, added as a 
 support on the side of the road, are an 
 excellent feature. A parting glance 
 over the Shakespeare country from the 
 terrace is a pleasing conclusion to a 
 \isit to Leicester's Hospital. For the 
 fields and woods that Shakespeare 
 knew are before us and little is changed 
 in the land.
 
 THE N'lLOMETER AND NORMAN ARCH, 
 LEICESTER'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 THE CRYPT AND DUCKING STOOL. 
 ST. MARY'S CHURCH. 
 
 ( 67 )
 
 68 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 The Chapel ToTver, Leicester's Hospital. 
 
 The many interests of ancient Warwick 
 cannot he exhausted here. On the north side 
 of the town, outside the ancient wails, is the 
 Priory, formerly a monastery for Canons 
 Regular, dissolved at the Restoration, and now 
 represented by a noble Elizabethan house of 
 many windows and gables, with fine oak- 
 panelled rooms within. What was once 
 St. John's Hospital stands on the right 
 of the road from Warwick to Leamington, 
 
 after passing through the east 
 gate, towards the end of the 
 Coventry road. It was founded 
 as long ago as thetime of Henrv 
 11. by William de Newburgh, 
 Earl of Warwick, for the recep- 
 tion of pilgrims and travellers, 
 and the relief of the poor and 
 infirm. Its funds were diver- 
 ted to other purposes, and on 
 the site of the charity stands 
 a very fine 17th century house, 
 with large transomed bay 
 windows, quite a notable ex- 
 ample of its period, and, like 
 the Priory, having oak-wains- 
 coted chambers within, and a 
 fine oaken staircase. 
 
 Of Leamington it is not the 
 purpose to write here. An 
 account of the Shakespeare 
 country may pass over a modern town and 
 health resort which Shakespeare never knew. 
 Yet Leamington is a place abounding in attrac- 
 tions, and occupying a central position for the 
 exploration of the country, it is not without 
 historic interest, for the well remains which 
 Camden described in his "Britannia" in 1586, 
 and the Pump Room, the Jephson Gardens, 
 and the many other resorts of the town make 
 it popular with a multitude of visitors. 
 
 St. John's Hospital.
 
 
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 IVARIVJCK. 
 
 71 
 
 This descriptive 
 wandering tiirougli tlie 
 Shakespeare land will 
 take us a few miles 
 north from \ Warwick 
 by the winding course 
 of the Avon. The 
 whole country here- 
 about is rich in natural 
 beauties and rural 
 attractiveness, and 
 every village has rus- 
 tic quaintness rarely 
 attractive to the stran- 
 ger. The Forest of 
 Arden, which forms 
 the woodland scene of 
 "As You Like it," 
 extended far on the 
 west, and in Shake- 
 speare's days was 
 dense and solitary. 
 Henley-in-Arden is a 
 delightful old - world - 
 place, with a Perpen- 
 dicular church, a mar- 
 ket cross, and many timbered buildings. 
 Touchstone may well have wandered. 
 
 " Ay, now I am in Arden, the more fool 
 I ; " he says, " When I was at home I was 
 in a better place, but travellers must be 
 content." 
 
 Beaudesert, which they pronounce Belser, is 
 close by, and has exquisite Norman details 
 in its church. At Rowington Hall, not far 
 away, tradition asserts that Shakespeare 
 wrote his "As You Like It." Three 
 successive Richard Shakespeares lived at 
 
 Here 
 
 The East Gate. 
 
 The Priory. 
 
 Rowington, each of whom had a son named 
 William, and a William of this place, not 
 the poet, was a trained man with Sir Fulke 
 Greville, at Alcester, in November, 1605. 
 The house is a picturesque farmstead of 
 the true Warwickshire character, with many 
 quaintly timbered gables, and a passage 
 from the porch leading right through. It is 
 not difficult to believe that, if Shakespeare 
 visited his kinsmen here on the very borders 
 of the forest, he may well have conceived, if 
 he did not write, his forest play at Rowington. 
 A village a little further north 
 is Temple Balsall, whose name 
 bespeaks its former ownership 
 by the Templars. It subse- 
 quently came to the Knights 
 Hospitallers, and, after going 
 through many hands, was es- 
 tablished as a hospital for poor 
 persons. This is now a quaint 
 building covering three sides 
 of a quadrangle, with the 
 Master's house completing the 
 whole. The village is dis- 
 tinguished by the possession 
 of a very lovely church. From 
 this country the Alne flows 
 towards Alcester, and, on the 
 other side of it lie Aston Cant- 
 low and other •' Shakespeare 
 Villages, "to which allusion has 
 beenmade. Of BaddesleyClin- 
 ton, between Rowington and 
 Temple Balsall, we shall pre- 
 sently find occasion to speak.
 
 72 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 The Avenue, Guy's Cliff. 
 
 But it would be impossible to describe in 
 this sketch the more remote interests of the 
 Shakespeare region, its old villages, beautiful 
 scenery and historical places. Turn we there- 
 fore once more to Warwick, and to the road 
 thence towards Kenilwcrth and Coventry, 
 which keeps generally the direction of the far 
 winding Avon. It is often overhung deeply 
 by trees, but is ever opening out to the way- 
 farer lovely views and rustic prospects. \ 
 little more than a mile from Warwick, Blacklow 
 Hill rises in front — the place where (Javeston 
 was executed. The story is told that the rest- 
 less spirit of the scoffing Gascon rides, at drear 
 midnight, along the road from Warwick Castle — 
 the home of Guy Beauchamp, the " Black Dog 
 of Arden," who was largely instrumental in his 
 death — to Blacklow Hill, from v\-hose top the 
 peasants say dismal bells are heard, as they 
 hasten over Ganerslie Heath. 
 
 Before Blacklow Hill is reached, Guy's Cliff, 
 the noble mansion of Lord Algernon Percy, 
 is seen standing in a superb situation by the 
 stream — " a house of pleasure," said Leland, of 
 its predecessor ; "a place meet for the Muses." 
 Here the redoubtable Guy, "his battles 
 o'er," is tabled to have spent the last years 
 of his life, hidden even from "Fair Phj'llis," 
 his wife, who rejoined him only on his death 
 bed. He had slain the famous dun cow — kindred 
 monster of the " worm " of Lambton, and of 
 other "worms" of English legend, nay, even 
 of the beast slain by Perseus, if not of Pvthon 
 
 himself — and it was his custom, in the guise 
 of a strange palmer, to beg food at his lady's 
 bounteous hand. They still show an ancient 
 excavation in the rock, one of many in this 
 place, as his retreat, and his well is not far 
 away. The story of Guy's retirement from 
 the world is doubtless based upon legends of 
 hermits who appear to have chosen this lonely 
 spot as the place of their meditations. 
 
 The first view of the house from the road is 
 most striking, for it stands at the end of a long 
 avenue of rugged old firs, which cast their 
 shadows far across the sward. But it is difficult 
 to imagine anything more romantic than the 
 beauty of the view from the mill. You turn 
 down a lane from the high road to where that 
 old structure, with its picturesque gallery, stands 
 upon the site of a mill that existed in Saxon 
 times — a footpath further will bring you by a 
 delightful way to Leamington — and you look 
 over a broad stretch of the Avon, in whose 
 waters overhanging trees dip their branches, 
 and across an expanse of the greenest sward, 
 to where the house rises in stately beauty, 
 against a dark background of magnificent trees. 
 In the still evenings of summer, when the sun- 
 light falls athwart the scene, nothing more 
 beautiful can be conceived. The house itself 
 has no remarkable architectural features. The 
 charm lies in the situation, and in the massive 
 grouping of the structure. You do not look at 
 Guy's Cliff as the work of an architect. That 
 rippling, lake-like expanse of the Avon seems to-
 
 
 THE SUNDIAL AT 
 
 GUY'S CLIFF
 
 
 THE RlVEk WALK, 
 
 GUY'S CLIFF. 
 
 ( 74)
 
 GUTS CLIFF. 
 
 75 
 
 The Ford, Kenilworth. 
 
 reflect a creation of romance, rising like a 
 castle of Otranto upon its rocky base, out of 
 which it appears to grow. We can picture 
 Evelyn, who visited "Sir Guy's grot" from 
 Warwick, finding it but a squalid den made 
 in the rock, turning to that rock, "crowned 
 yet with venerable oaks, and looking on a 
 goodly stream, so as it were improved as it 
 might be, it were capable of being made a most 
 romantic and pleasant place." Whatever 
 Evelyn would have done appears to have been 
 done, and Guy's Cliff is certainly a most charm- 
 ing abode. Looking from its windows across 
 the river to the mill, the scene is equally 
 attractive. Close by the house is the Chapel 
 of St. Mary Magdalene, 
 which was built in the 
 time of Henry VI., and 
 has been restored, it 
 contains a much muti- 
 lated figure of the 
 famous Guy, and is 
 altogether very inter- 
 esting and curious. 
 Guy's cave and well 
 are near the stream, 
 and, as you visit them 
 you may hear, as a re- 
 miniscence of Guy, the 
 musical notes of bells, 
 hanging from the necks 
 of beautiful dun kine 
 which the noble owner 
 keeps in his park. 
 The house possesses 
 
 a fine collection of pictures, including examples 
 of Van Eyck, Wouwerman, Janssens, Van der 
 Velde, Ruvsdael, Cuyp, Lely, and many more. 
 Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, had 
 caused the old chapel at Guy's Cliff to be re- 
 stored as a chantry. At the dissolution the 
 place came to Sir Andrew Flammock, and 
 passed through heiresses and by purchase to 
 Mr. Samuel Greatheed, who represented 
 Coventry in Parliament. In the time of Lady 
 .Mary Greatheed, Sarah Kemble, afterwards 
 the famous Mrs. Siddons, was at Guy's Cliff 
 as a companion. From the Greatheeds the 
 place passed through heiresses to Lord Algernon 
 Percy in i8qi. 
 
 Kenilworth Churcli.
 
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 KENILIVORTII CASTLE. 
 
 77 
 
 The Entrance to the Banqueting Hall, Kenilworth, 
 
 KENILWORTH. 
 
 It is about three miles frum Guy's Cliff to 
 Kenilworth, which is reached by passing pictur- 
 esque Blakedown Mill, Chesford Bridge, and 
 Thickthorn House, a fine modern Gothic 
 mansion. The thriving village of Kenilworth 
 has somewhat outgrown its old picturesqueness. 
 Yet not altogether. There remains an old 
 house by the wayside, with the bear and the 
 ragged staff, and Leicester's initials over the 
 door. Then a pleasant way, by knoll and hollow, 
 brings us to the world-famed Castle. It is a 
 pretty wooded lane, crossed at one point by a 
 stream, through which the waggoner passes by 
 a ford beneath the trees. Kenilworth fves in 
 
 history as a Royal 
 palace, and Scott has 
 enthroned it in the 
 realm of romance. A 
 \-olume would scarcely 
 do justice to its inter- 
 ests, and scanty space 
 can be allowed to it 
 here. When its grey 
 walls are first dis- 
 cerned through the 
 trees, historic memo- 
 ries crowd upon us, 
 and we think of the 
 half-legendary splen- 
 dour of its later days. 
 The Castle came to 
 Henry 11. from Geoff- 
 rey de Clinton, and 
 longcontinued in Royal 
 hands. John visited 
 It many times, and is 
 lu-lie\'ed to have done 
 much at the works. 
 Henry ill., too, was 
 often at Kenilworth, 
 and it was he that 
 made Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, 
 Governor of the place. He appears to have 
 constructed the dam of the great lake which 
 protected the Castle on the southern and 
 western sides, as well as several of the towers 
 and outworks. 
 
 When the Barons had been disastrously 
 defeated at E\esham, the refugees fled to 
 Kenilworth, and there the King conducted a 
 great siege of the Castle, making Warwick his 
 headquarters. The operations lasted many 
 months, but the place was at last reduced by 
 famine. Kenilworth afterwards passed through 
 the hands of Thomas of Lancaster, and it was 
 in its hall that Edward 11. renounced the 
 Crown. Some who witnessed the dragging of 
 the trembling monarch into tlie hall to signlhe 
 
 11 ii8. 
 
 Kenilworth Castle, from the South-West.
 
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 8o 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 Leicester's Buildings and Caesar's Tower. 
 
 deed of his abdiL'ation, v\hile the Steward nf 
 the Household broke his white wand of office, 
 must have cast back their minds to the revelry 
 which Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, had held 
 in the self-same hall. John of Gaunt after- 
 wards had the place, and greatly enlarged it, 
 and it passed through the hands of the 
 Henries, Henry VIll., in particular, extended 
 the buildings, and Elizabeth granted the Castle 
 to Robert Dudley, who further added to the 
 structure. 
 
 The Fireplace in the Gatehouse. 
 
 Leicester was visited by the Queen at 
 Kenilworth on several occasions, notably when 
 "the lordly pleasures of Kenilworth" were 
 devised, anticipating even the glories of the 
 " Grand Monarque." It is surmised that 
 Sbiakespeare ma\- have witnessed the gaiety, 
 and at Kenilworth may have conceived the 
 idea of the " Midsummer Night's Dream." 
 Greeted by the blare of trumpets, welcomed 
 by the Lady of the Lake and her nymphs, 
 upon a floating island — a triumph of Leicester's 
 fantastic imagination — receiving the homage 
 of the gods, and witnessing extraordinary 
 revellings, Elizabeth saw gaiety such as Eng- 
 land had never seen before. Old writers 
 describe the rejoicings, and Scott has exhausted 
 upon them his descriptive powers ; yet Amy 
 Robsart was not there to behold. But evil 
 days awaited Kenilworth. The Castle was 
 dismantled during the Commonwealth, and the 
 great lake which had been one of its chief 
 defences was drained. 
 
 The outer ward enclosed a large garden and 
 a space of many acres, and on two sides the 
 great lake almost washed the base of the walls. 
 The main parts of the structure which now 
 stand are those enclosing the inner ward — 
 Ca?sar's Tower, v\hich is really the Keep, at 
 the north-east an"le, and the domestic buildings
 
 KENIUVORTH CASTLE. 
 
 8i 
 
 extending on three sides. Henry Vlii.'s 
 lodgings, which completed the quadrangle, 
 have disappeared. The Keep is a most for- 
 midable monument of Norman military archi- 
 tecture, of great size, with wails of enormous 
 thickness, and the characteristic angle towers. 
 Beyond e.xtend Lancaster's Buildings, which 
 date from the 14th century, including the 
 k'itchen, with the remains of a huge fireplace, 
 and the buttery. What is known as the 
 Strong Tower comes next, adjacent to the 
 Great Hall, these two completing one side of 
 the quadrangle. Scott, without authority, 
 calls the last-named tower Mervyn's Bower. 
 
 The Hall must have been a truly magnifi- 
 cent structure, for it is 90 feet in length by 
 some 45 feet in breadth, and proportionately 
 lofty. It was finely vaulted and liglited by 
 great windows in deep recesses, with beautiful 
 tracery, and a large oriel window remains on 
 the inner side, comprising part of an octagon. 
 Even in its ruins the place bears traces of its 
 splendour. Next to it stood the White Hall, 
 now destroyed, after which comes the curiously 
 shaped Presence Chamber, with an oriel 
 window overlooking the courtyard. Next to 
 the Presence Chamber is the Privy Chamber, 
 with a bay window and fireplace. Then 
 we reach what are known as Leicester's 
 •Buildings, standing upon the site of older 
 
 works. It was here that Elizabeth resided 
 during her famous visit to the Castle, but the 
 remains are much mutilated. As we have 
 seen, Henry VlM.'s lodgings, which completed 
 the quadrangle, have disappeared. 
 
 Strengthening the outer line of fortifications 
 were Mortimer's Tower and the Swan Tower, 
 at the south-eastern and north-western angles, 
 overlooking the lake, and Lunn's Tower, and 
 the Water Tower on the eastern side. It was 
 Robert Dudley who built the great gatehouse, 
 which is a very fine structure of three stories, 
 with projecting octagonal turrets and manv 
 windows. The Bear'and the Ragged Staff, the 
 motto " Droit et Loyal," and the initials "R.L." 
 with the date 1571, appear, as at Leicester's 
 Hospital in Warwick, but as adornments of a 
 beautiful alabaster Renaissance chimney-piece 
 in an inner room. This, with the oaken over- 
 mantel, appears to have come from one of the 
 State Rooms Outside the wall of the Castle 
 there extended, from Mortimer's Tower to the 
 Floodgate, a long tilt-yard upon the dam of the 
 lake, which Elizabeth passed over when she 
 visited Kenilworth in 1575. The great chase 
 beyond the lake was doubtless, in those days, 
 well stocked with game. With these brief 
 notes upon a great subject we must leave a 
 Castle which has made a great mark upon 
 history. 
 
 Castle End, Kenilworth.
 
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 BADDESLEY CLINTON. 
 
 8^ 
 
 Badiesley Cfinton : The North-East Front. 
 
 BADDESLEY CLINTON. 
 
 We now turn aside a little to visit a delight- 
 fully quaint place, which has not been wasted 
 like forlorn old Kenilworth. It is like the fable 
 of the oak and the reed, for the contrast 
 between Kenilworth Castle and Baddesley 
 Clinton, which lies about five miles to the west 
 of it, is very great. One is a strong military 
 fortress, as we have seen ; the other is one 
 of those quaint old mansions in which long- 
 lineaged gentlemen have dwelt, and that are 
 dotted yet throughout the length and breadth 
 of the land, while sturdy fortresses have 
 crumbled beneath the shock. Such houses go 
 back to Shakespeare's time, and were familiar 
 to him. Warwickshire has many of them. 
 They stand generally amid great elms, in 
 which ancestral rooks have their homes, and 
 they lift their picturesque walls and battle- 
 ments over old-world gardens, ending in gables 
 and twisted chimneys, about which doves 
 rlutter in the sunshine. Staunch knights have 
 dwelt in them, fugitives have tak'en refuge in 
 their chambers, cavaliers have entered at 
 their open doors, and it requires no great 
 exercise of imagination to people their alleys 
 and bowers with the gentlemen with clouded 
 canes, and the ladies in powder and patches, 
 who were there a century and a-half ago. 
 Baddesley Clinton is just such a place, and we 
 fancy that many an archer may have winged 
 his shafts from the top of its entrance tower. 
 This, indeed, is one of the most characteristic 
 moated and half-fortified manor houses in the 
 county. 
 
 Once the seat of the Clintons, it was bought 
 in the days of Henry VI. by John Brome, a 
 lawyer, belonging to a worthy family of 
 ■tanners, who were located by the bridge at 
 
 Warwick. His immediate predecessor at the 
 place was one Catesby, who sold it willingly, 
 for he seems to have wearied of disputes which 
 had arisen through the action of the " King- 
 Maker " in thrusting his steward into the 
 estate. John Brome wore the Red Rose, and, 
 so long as Henry Vi. was in power, his days 
 were prosperous ; but, with the accession of 
 Edward IV., he soon fell into disputes with the 
 " Last of the Barons." So hot did the quarrel 
 grow with Earl Richard's steward — one John 
 Harthill — that the two men came to blows in 
 the porch of Whitefriars Church in London, 
 and Brome was killed in the scuffle. The 
 lawyer had a son Nichdlas, who determined to 
 avenge his father's death, and so, lying one 
 day in wait in Longbridge Fields near Barford 
 Bridge, south of Warwick, he fell upon the 
 steward, who was riding to hold the Earl's 
 court at Barford, and, after a fierce struggle, 
 slew him where he stood. 
 
 This Nicholas Brome was a man of an angry 
 spirit, for later on he foully murdered a priest, 
 who, to do him justice — if gossiping Dugdale 
 speak truth — had been found in his parlour at 
 Baddesley " choking his wife under the chin." 
 Brome made amends for his act by building 
 the tower and raising the body of Baddesley 
 Church, with some other charitable deeds. 
 Upon his death, the Manor House passed to 
 Sir Edward Ferrers, grandson of William, Lord 
 Ferrers of Groby, who had married Constantia, 
 one of his co-heiresses and in the Ferrers 
 family it has remained ever since. To that 
 family belonged Henry Ferrers, the specialfriend 
 of Camden, who became a well-known antiqu- 
 ary, and who received from a contemporary 
 the supreme praise that he was "a well-bred 
 gentleman, a good neighbour, and an honest 
 man." The late Mr. Marmion Edward Ferrers 
 was also well known as an antiquary. Upon
 
 BADDESLEY CLINTON: (84) 
 
 THE MOAT AND ENTRANCE TOWER.
 
 BADDESLEY CLINTON. 
 
 85 
 
 his death the Manor House passed to his 
 widow, wlio afterwards married Mr. Edward 
 Heneage Dering. 
 
 Tliis ancient house of Baddesley Clinton 
 iiad a moat for its defence, whicli still remains, 
 and is a somewhat uncommon feature in these 
 days. Originally the moat was spanned by a 
 drawbridge, which has been replaced by a brick 
 bridge of the days of Queen Anne. The 
 strong entrance tower or porch has some very 
 curious and picturesque features, and is em- 
 battled, and a low range of buildings llanks it 
 on either hand. These form one side of the 
 
 the rooms have much good furniture. The 
 drawing room, on the north-east side of the 
 house, has also a tine fireplace and rich panel- 
 ling ; and the dining room, and other chambers 
 all form parts of what is a truly fine English 
 manor house of early times. From the corner 
 of the hall, a staircase, lighted by old armorial 
 glass, leads to the long gallery, the state bed- 
 room, which has a fine fireplace rising to its 
 ceiling, the richly decorated domestic chapel, 
 and the sacristy, whence a staircase once led 
 to a passage beneath the moat, and to the 
 "ghost-room," next to the banqueting-hall. 
 
 The Moat, Baddesley Clinton. 
 
 courtyard, which is surrounded by buildings on 
 three of its sides, presenting a low wall to the 
 moat on the other. Pargeted gables and ivy- 
 grown walls give the quadrangle a very quaint 
 and beautiful character, and the chimneys are 
 remarkably good. In the entrance tower is a 
 fine oak-panelled chamber, lighted by a mul- 
 lioned and transomed window externally, and 
 by another facing into the courtyard, surmoun- 
 ted by a timber gable. The great hall is panel- 
 led with oak, and has a remarkable early 
 Renaissance fireplace adorned with shields. 
 The windows are rich in stained glass, and 
 
 Thus, we see in Baddesley Clinton a true 
 type of the gentleman's house of early Tudor 
 times. Round the walls of its old chambers 
 hang many portraits, each with a history ; and 
 imagination will shadow forth shapes in the 
 moonlight, and hear the rustle of kirtles and 
 farthingales when the wind whispers through 
 the galleries, and the rain patters on the panes. 
 It is just such a place as you may breathe 
 romances about, and it offers many a subject 
 for the artist and lover of the picturesque. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the suggestion 
 that Richard Shakespeare, of Snitterfield^
 
 88 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 The Garden Gate, Stoneleigh Abbey. 
 
 believed to have been the poet's grandfather, 
 mav have been identical with, or related to, 
 Richard Shakespeare, bailiff, of Wroxall Priory. 
 Tliere is no certainty about the fact, but it is 
 of interest to note that the site of the priory 
 neighbours Baddesley Clinton, where in 1389, 
 lived Adam Shakespeare, holding land by 
 militar\' service, who perhaps, was Richard's 
 ancestor. 
 
 Wroxall Abbey, a great modern house, built in 
 1864, is near at hand. A curious story is told of 
 the foundation of the priory. Sir Hugh deHatton, 
 a Warwickshire knight, was taken prisoner in 
 the Holy Land, liad lain long in durance, when 
 one night St. Leonard appeared to him in a 
 vision, who commanded him to establish a 
 Benedictine convent. He took a vow in com- 
 pliance, and was forthv\'ith transported, still 
 in his chams, to Wro.xall, where his wife failed 
 to recognise him, so changed was he by his 
 sufferings, until he showed her part of the ring 
 with which they had plighted their troth. The 
 
 garden at Wroxall is curious anJ 
 interesting, and its walls are ascri- 
 bed to Sir Christopher Wren, who 
 purchased the place from the des- 
 cendants of the original grantee 
 in 171 3. The modern mansion is 
 of Tudor or Jacobean type, and does 
 not stand quite on the site of its 
 predecessor. The roofless chapter 
 house of the priory, and some re- 
 mains of the refectory, are its 
 neighbours. The mansion contains 
 a very fine collection of pictures, 
 including works of T. Creswick, 
 Sir Charles Eastlake, P.R.A., 
 P. F.Poole,R.A.,F.Goodall, R.A., 
 J. R. Herbert, R.A., W. P. Frith, 
 R.A., T. Faed, R.A. ("Highland 
 Mary"), John Linnell, P. Nasmyth, 
 David Cox, T. S. Cooper, R.A., 
 J. M. W. Turner, R.A., and \'ery 
 many more. 
 
 STONELEIGH AND THE UPPER 
 AVON. 
 
 Now must this survey of our Shakespeare 
 Countrv shortly end. A limit must be set 
 even to pleasant journeying such as ours, and 
 we have reached almost our northernmost 
 bound. There remains famous Stoneleigh 
 Abbey, the seat of Lord Leigh, a visit to which 
 we cannot forego, and there, from an eminence 
 in the park, we may view the three spires 
 of ancient Co\-entr\-, seeming to tempt us 
 further, thinking of Lady Godiva and the 
 miracle plays, or we may linger musing beneath 
 Shakespeare's oak, in a district which has 
 many memories of the Shakespeares. 
 
 We are now on the eastern side of Kenil worth, 
 but still in the Forest of Arden, where the 
 classic Avon flows through the glorious expanse 
 of Stoneleigh Park. It is recorded that 2,000 
 hogs had feeding in the King's Wood, at Stone- 
 leigh, in early times, wlien the Cistercians 
 
 Stoneleigh Church.
 
 90 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY. 
 
 established their house by the river. The 
 ancient features of the Abbey, the Norman 
 doorways, and the glorious gate-house carry 
 us back to very earlv times. The gate-house, 
 the most considerable remain, is a vener- 
 able structure of the 14th Cenlury, built by 
 Robert de Hocklele, Abbot of Stoneleigh, who 
 died in ii4Q. The building on its eastern side 
 
 The Water Terrace, Stoneleigh Abbey. 
 
 appears to have been the guest-house of the 
 monks, and the place where alms were distri- 
 buted to the poor. The whole building is 
 singularly picturesque, and the open gallery 
 on the south side is a quaint and unusual 
 feature. The plan of the Abbey has been 
 made out with an approach to certainty, and 
 many remains are embodied in the present 
 classic pile. 
 
 The site was granted in 15 31 to Charles 
 Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and passed through 
 many hands to those of Sir Rowland Hill and 
 Sir Thomas Leigh, Aldermen of London, the 
 last-named of whom was Lord Mayor, and 
 rode before Queen Elizabeth when she entered 
 the City to be crowned at St. Paul's. Sir 
 Thomas Leigh, great-grandson of the Lord 
 Mayor, who lived at Stoneleigh, in a house 
 in which the remains of the Abbey were 
 embodied, a building of Tudor and Stuart 
 times, received Charles \. when that unfor- 
 tunate monarch, marching to Nottingham with 
 
 6,O03 horse, found the gates of Coventry 
 closed against him. 
 
 Since that time Stoneleigh has developed, in 
 the hands of successive owners of the same 
 family, and has assumed the classic aspect 
 which it bears to-day — the great and formal 
 pile forming a strontj contrast to .the old 
 monastic building. The tall Ionic pilasters, 
 
 support- 
 i n g the 
 deep cor- 
 nice and 
 balus- 
 trade, 
 possess 
 the cha- 
 racter of 
 m u c h 
 Stat e I i- 
 ness, and 
 the great 
 house 
 looks out 
 over fair 
 gar d ens 
 and a 
 g 1 r i u s 
 p a r k , 
 through 
 the midst 
 of which 
 the Avon 
 flows 
 n w a r d 
 towards 
 G u y ' s 
 Cliff and 
 W a r - 
 
 w i C k' . 
 
 Tlie im- 
 posing mansion was built by Edward, Lord 
 Leigh, about the year 1720, and is richly 
 stored with many works of art of rare 
 and singular interest, which at times may 
 be seen by the public. The interior is 
 \-ery splendid, and the surroundings of 
 Stoneleigh are remarkably attractive and 
 beautiful. 
 
 On tile way between tlie Abbey and Stone- 
 leigh village, an ancient bridge is passed, built 
 by the monks in the 14th Centui'y — a pic- 
 ttn-esque structure near a lovely avenue 
 of ancient trees, some of them still in their 
 perfection, and others twisted and gnarled 
 with age. it is worth noting that the trees 
 here are very lofty, and that there is a huge 
 oak near the rifle butts m the deer park, con- 
 cerning which legend asserts that Sliakespeare 
 wove his fancies beneath its boughs. Close 
 by the bridge is Motstow Hill, an eminence 
 commanding a fine view, deriving its name 
 from the fact that here in ancient times the-
 
 STONELEIGH. 
 
 91 
 
 tenants did their suit and service at the King's 
 Court on the summit. 
 
 Stoneleigli Churcli is interesting, and well 
 deserves a visit, for it has a late Norman 
 transept, a Norman doorway on the south 
 side, and a tower of Norman date, with a 
 superstructure of the 14th Century. The 
 nave is principally of Decorated character ; 
 but the chancel arch is a notable example of 
 Norman work, with round, zigzag, double 
 cone, and billet mouldings, whilst tlie jambs 
 are very richly carved. The church contains 
 many monuments of the Lords Leigh. An 
 attractive place, therefore, is Stoneleigh, with 
 its picturesque village and rural church, its 
 great house embodying many features of the 
 ancient Abbey, and its fine and diversified 
 park and embellished gardens, and a delightful 
 point at which to conclude a Shakespeare 
 wayfaring. 
 
 This survey of the Shakespeare Country has 
 traversed a rich district uf middle En^iland that 
 
 was familiar to the great poet in his boyhood, 
 and wherein he gained his familiarity with men 
 and women, and with the sights and sounds of 
 Nature, in a region rich in the memorials of 
 the history wliich figures in his pages ; a 
 region, moreover, to which he returned in his 
 later years, after gradually building up a pro- 
 perty at Stratford to which he might retire. 
 Our survey might have extended further, and, 
 indeed, it is difficult to know where to stop, for 
 Warwickshire is peculiarly rich in domestic, 
 castellated, and ecclesiastical architecture. We 
 might have surveyed many other delightful 
 villages, but we have gone, perhaps, far 
 enough ; and what has been said will suggest 
 to the reader, with the help of the pictures, 
 what is the character of the Shakespeare land, 
 what are the features that attract, and what 
 are the interests that should be sought by those 
 who would enjoy and appreciate the delights 
 of that country, which will for ever be asso- 
 ciated with our national poet. 
 
 A Viiw Over the Avon at Stoneleigh.
 
 [92] 
 
 SnATiBSPBJlTiB POTiTTiAJTS. 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY interest attaches 
 to the personality of Shakespeare — 
 that man whose character, to use 
 the words of "As Yoa Like It," 
 was "composed of many simples 
 extracted from many objects." It 
 is this vital interest of personality, indeed, 
 that gives its supreme attraction to the beau- 
 tiful Shakespeare Country. The portraiture 
 of the poet, again, is a subject that fascinates 
 all lovers of his works. Numberless writers 
 and critics have discussed the likenesses of 
 Shakespeare, and the interest that surrounds 
 the question of their authenticity is very 
 great. This is a matter, however, concerning 
 which the utmost doubt exists. The most 
 important of all portraits should be the monu- 
 ment in Stratford Church, which is, neverthe- 
 
 i 
 
 K i ' i, rt¥ ^ 
 
 The D.-oeshout Ofiginil. 
 
 less, disappointing. It is a somewhat clumsy 
 e.xample of the mortuary sculpture of the 
 time, and the heavy features and the roundi 
 face do not call up the Poet's "eye in a fine 
 phrensy rolling." The bust was the work of 
 one Gerald Johnson or Janssen, a Dutch 
 sculptor and tomb maker, who lived in Soath- 
 vvark in the time of James I. Originally it 
 was coloured, according to the custom of the 
 times, but Malone caused it to be whitewashed 
 in 1793, and it was not restored until 1861, 
 when, from the traces of colouring that 
 remained, the eyes were made light hazel,, 
 and the hair and beard auburn. At the best,, 
 the monumental bust belongs to a class turned 
 out by men who never saw the subjects of 
 their work, and were rather accustomed to. 
 carve from stock models. Yet there is this tO' 
 be said for it, that all 
 other portraits conorm. 
 more or less to the type, 
 and that such authenticity 
 as they may possess goes 
 to support the general 
 resemblance of the bust to 
 the living original. It is 
 believed by many authori- 
 ties that the bust was 
 sculptured from a death 
 mask, and the circum- 
 stance is probable, for the 
 practice was common. A 
 theory has been put for- 
 ward that the " Becker 
 Death Mask" was the 
 original used by the sculp- 
 tor of the Stratford bust. 
 It was discovered in 1849 
 in an obscure shop at 
 Mayence by Dr. Ludwig 
 Becker, the librarian of 
 the ducal palace at Darm- 
 stadt, and was long in the 
 possession of Count 
 Francis von Kesselstadt, 
 but afterwards passed to 
 the daughter-in-law of the 
 discoverer, Frau Oberst 
 Becker. 
 
 More certainly asso- 
 ciated with Shakespeare s 
 timeis^-l:e famous engrav- 
 ing of Shakespeare -made 
 by Martin Droeshout, 
 which appeared as the 
 frontispiece of the folio 
 of 1623, with the 
 ingenious epigrammatic 
 lines of Ben Jonsoii 
 
 ^
 
 SHAKESPEARE PORTR.lIfS. 
 
 93 
 
 beneath, beginning with 
 the words : — 
 
 "This Figure, that thou here 
 
 seest put. 
 It was for gentle Shakespeare 
 
 cut ; 
 Wherein the Graver had a 
 
 strife 
 With Nature, to out-doo the 
 
 life." 
 
 Notwithstanding this 
 testimony to autiienticity 
 as a likeness, it must be 
 confessed that the figure is 
 crude, and that we do not 
 recognise in it the "hand- 
 some, well-shap't man" 
 of Aubrey. It has the 
 common characteristic of 
 baldness at the top of the 
 head, and liair curhng 
 about the ears, wliicii, 
 with a slight moustache 
 and beard, have given us 
 so many portraits of 
 Shakespeare. Droeshout 
 was a Dutch artist, born 
 in London in 1601, and 
 was thus only fifteen when 
 Shakespeare died, it 
 seems, therefore, impos- 
 sible that the portrait can 
 be in any sense from life, 
 and it was probably 
 executed just before the 
 production of the First 
 Folio in 1623. 
 
 It is extremely likely, 
 I'.owever, that Droeshout 
 worked from a painting, 
 and it is singular that a 
 portrait very credibly 
 attributed to the period, 
 closely resembling the 
 engraving, has beenfound, 
 and now hangs in the 
 Memorial Picture Gallery 
 at Stratford, where it is 
 known as the " Droeshout 
 Original." It was in the 
 possession of Mr. H. C. 
 Clements of Peckham 
 Rye, who purchased it 
 obscurely in 1840, and 
 placed upon the box in 
 which he kept it this 
 memorandum: ''The 
 original portrait of Shake- 
 speare, from which the now famous Droeshout 
 engraving v/as taken." The portrait is painted 
 on a panel, which is in two portions, and has 
 in the upper left-hand corner the inscription. 
 
 To the Reader. 
 
 This Figure, that thou here feeft put, 
 
 Irvvas for gentle Shakefpearecut; 
 Wherein the Grauer had a flrifc 
 
 with Nature, to out-doo the h'fe : 
 0,could hebuthauedrawne his wit 
 
 As well in brafle, asheh<ith hit 
 Hisface ; the Print would then furpalTe 
 
 Alijlhat waseuerwritinbraile. 
 But.fmce he cannot, Reader, looke 
 
 Noton his Picfture, but hisBooke. 
 
 B.I. 
 
 The Droeshout Engraving. 
 
 "Wiilm. Shakespeaie, 1639." There have 
 been differences of opinion as to the authen- 
 ticity of the picture, and it has been suggested 
 that in some past time it has been painted-up
 
 THE SHAKESPhARH MONUMENT, ( 94 > 
 
 ■ HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, STRATFORD-ON-AVON.
 
 SHA KESPEA RE POR TR. 1 1 TS. 
 
 95 
 
 upon an old likeness to resemble the poet. 
 On the other hand, Mr, Lionel Cust, Director 
 of the National Portrait Gallery, Sir Edward 
 Poynter, Mr. Sidney Colvin, and ether com- 
 petent authorities, strongly inclined to the 
 opinion that the painting was anterior to the 
 •engraving, and it is not to be denied that it 
 possesses qualities superior to those attained 
 by Droeshout with his graver. When Mr. 
 Clements died in 1895, Mrs. Charles Flower 
 purchased it and presented it to the Stratford 
 Memorial Picture Gallery. 
 
 Among many other alleged or assumed 
 likenesses of 
 Shakespeare, 
 the " Chandos 
 portrait" in the 
 National Por- 
 trait Gallery is 
 ■certainly the 
 most interest- 
 ing, though it 
 cannot be 
 regarded as of 
 contemporary 
 ■date. Burbage, 
 who was 
 Shak'espeare's 
 fellow-actor, 
 and a man with 
 some artistic 
 talent — as may 
 be seen by a 
 portrait of 
 a woman " by 
 Mr. Burbidge, 
 ye actor," in 
 the Dulwich 
 Picture Cal- 
 ler y — is be- 
 lieved to have 
 painted it. 
 Whatever may 
 have been its 
 origin, it be- 
 longed to 
 Davenant, and 
 afterwards to 
 Mr. Betterton 
 
 and to Mrs. Barry, the actress. When she died 
 in 171 3, it was purchased by Mr. Robert Keck, 
 a barrister, and afterwards passed to the hands 
 of Mr. John Nichols, whose daughter married 
 the third Duke of Chandos. The portrait 
 thus came into the Duke's gallery and gained 
 its present name. Afterwards it passed, 
 through his daughter's marriage, to the second 
 Duke of Buckingham, and was purchased in 
 1848 by the Earl of Ellesmere, who presented 
 it to the nation. Another interesting portrait 
 which possesses considerable artistic merit, is 
 known as "The Ely Palace Portrait," and is 
 
 The "Stratford" Portrait. 
 
 now the property of the Birthplace Trustees 
 at Stratford. There are obscurities in its 
 history, but it appears to have been painted 
 early in the 17th Century, and to have been 
 in the possession of some friends of Shake- 
 speare's residing in Little Britain. The painting 
 remained with the family of the original owners 
 until early in the igth Century, and was sold 
 by a broker to Thomas Turton, Bishop of Ely. 
 Another portrait of interest is the " Davenant 
 Bust," which was discovered built up in the 
 wall of a warehouse in Lincoln's Inn Fields, 
 erected on the site of the Duke's Theatre, built 
 
 by Davenant 
 in 1660. It is 
 of black terra- 
 cotta, and has 
 much merit. It 
 passed througn 
 the hands of Sir 
 Richard Owen, 
 who sold it to 
 the Duke of 
 Ij e V o n s h i r e . 
 The Duke pre- 
 sented it, in 
 1851, to the 
 Garrick Club, 
 and a cast 
 is in the 
 Shakespeare 
 Memorial Gal- 
 I e r y . The 
 "Stratford por- 
 trait," which 
 hangs in the 
 Birthplace, ;•> 
 interesting, 
 though mani- 
 festly a copy 
 with imagina- 
 tive additions. 
 
 Other well- 
 Is- n own 1 i k e - 
 ne>ses are the 
 " L u m 1 e y 
 portrait," pur- 
 chased by 
 the Baroness 
 Burdett-Coutts in 1875, and probably an early 
 copy of the " Chandos portrait " ; the " Jansen 
 (or Janssens) portrait," of doubtful authen- 
 ticity ; and the " Felton portrait," purchased 
 by Mr. S. Felton in 1792 from Mr. J. Wilson 
 of the Shakespeare Museum, Pall Mall, and 
 bearing the inscription, " Gul. Shakespear, 
 1597, R.B." {i.e., Richard Burbage). In the 
 Memorial Gallery also are the " Charlecote 
 portrait," bought in 1853, and exhibited at the 
 Tudor Exhibition, 1890 ; and the " Welcombe 
 portrait," of the Chandos type, painted on an 
 old panel, but of which little is known.
 
 A SHAKESPEARE CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 IN this account of tlie Shakespeare Countr_\- many references have been made to the poet's life_ 
 It seems desirable, however, to add a brief chronology, so that the reader will be belter 
 able to understand the relationship of events with the places and circumstances alluded to. 
 The following table of dates and occurrences is not complete, but it includes the principal events 
 of Shakespeare's life, with some references to his parentage, and gives the dates, real or assumed,, 
 of his immortal works. 
 
 1328 
 
 1551 ■ 
 1356 
 
 1557 
 1561 
 1364 
 
 Richard Shakespeare, conjectured to have been 
 the Poet's grandfather, was living at Snitterfield; 
 he died in 1560, and was probably akin to 
 Richard Shakespeare, of Wroxall, whose great- 
 grandfather appears to have been Adam 
 Shakebpeare, of Baddesley Clinton, vix-. 13S9. 
 John Shakespeare, the Poet's father, settled in 
 Henley Street, Stratford. 
 
 He purchased a tenement in Henley Street, ad- 
 joining the " Birthplace." and another in Greenhill 
 Street. 
 
 John Shakespeare married Mary, daughter of 
 Arden, of Wilmcote. 
 
 He was elected a Chamberlain of the Borough of 
 Stratford. 
 
 William Shakespeare, the Poet, born, April 22nd or 
 23rd. The Plague visited Stratford. 
 John Shakespeare an Alderman of Stratford ; 
 Bailiff of the borough, 156S ; his other children who 
 survived, baptised as follows: Gilbert, Oct. 13, 
 1566; Joan. April 15. 1569; Richard. March 11, 
 1574; Edmund, May 3. 1580. 
 
 The Queens Company and the Earl of Worcester's 
 Company of Players visited Stratford- 
 William Shakespeare probably began to attend 
 the Stratford Grammar School. 
 The Earl of Leicester's Company of Players at 
 Stratford. 
 
 John Shakespeare purchased the " Birthplace." in 
 w^hich he had been living, for £40, from Edmund 
 Hall. Queen Elizabeths progress through War- 
 wickshire to Kenilworth 
 
 At about this time Shakespeare seems to have 
 entered his father's business. Leicester's players 
 (aiterwards the Lord Chamberlain's Company) 
 again at Stratford. 
 1578-S6 John Shakespeare in increasing financial 
 
 difliculties. 
 1582 The Poet married Anne Hathaway, of Shottery, 
 
 probably early in December. 
 15S3 His daughter Susanna born. 
 15S5 Hamnet and Judith (twins) were born. 
 1585? The Charlecote poaching incident; Shakespeare 
 left Stratford. 
 
 Shakespeare reached London, and secured theatri- 
 cal employment, joining the Lord Chamberlains 
 Company^ aiterwards known as the King's Players. 
 The Players at Stratford. 
 
 " Love's Labour's Lost," and " Two Gentlemen of 
 Verona," probably written. 
 The "Comedy of Errors" 
 '■Romeo and Juliet" and 
 
 Shakespeare returned as a recusant, September 
 5th. 
 
 "Richard IT," "Richard HL," and "Titus 
 Andronicus." "Venus and Adonis " published. 
 The " Merchant of Venice," and " King John." 
 " Lucrece " published, and many of the Sonnets 
 composed. 
 
 1568 
 
 15 
 
 1573 
 
 1575 
 
 1577 
 
 15SG 
 
 15S7 
 1591 
 
 1592 
 
 1593 
 
 1594 
 
 (published in 1623), 
 " Henry VI." John 
 
 1505 
 
 1595 
 
 1597 
 159S 
 
 1599 
 
 1600 
 i5oi 
 
 1602 
 
 1603 
 
 1604 
 1605 
 
 1606 
 1607 
 
 1608 
 
 1609 
 1610 
 iCii 
 
 1613 
 
 1616 
 
 "M-dsummer Night's Dream," "All's Well that 
 End's Well." and the "Taming of the Shrew,"' 
 the latter with its references to Barton-on-the- 
 Heath and to Wilmcote, or to Wilnecoie, near 
 Tamwonh. 
 
 John Shakespeare, the Poet's father, applied for a. 
 grant of arms claiming that his (John's) grand- 
 father rendered service to Henry VIL, and received 
 a grant of land in Warwickshire 
 " Henry IV." and the" Merry Wives of Windsor." 
 William Shakespeare purchased the New Place in. 
 Stratford, May 4th. 
 
 Shakespeare's townsmen, Abraham Sturley and 
 liichard Quiney (whose son aiterwards married 
 Judith Shakespeare), applied to the Poet for 
 pecuniary aid. " Henry V." written, and produced 
 in the next year. 
 
 The "Passionate Pilgrim," printed by Willijira 
 Jaggard. " Much .^do About Nothing," and^' As- 
 You Like It," probably the work of this yjear. 
 " Twelfth Night." 
 
 "Julius Caesar." Shakespeare's jather died Sep- 
 tember Sth, and the Poet inherited the houses in, 
 Henley Street, where his mother lived until her 
 death in 1608. 
 
 " Hamlet " produced. Shakespeare purchased 107- 
 acres of arable land near Stratford, and a cottage 
 and garden >n Chapel Lane, Stratford, opposite 
 the lower grounds of New Place. 
 " Tj^ilus and Cressida," probably James I. 
 granted a special license to the Lord Chamberlain's- 
 Company of which Shakespeare was a member. 
 The " First Quarto " published. 
 "Othello" and "Measure for Measure. " The 
 " Second Quarto " published. 
 
 Shakespeare bought a moiety of the Stratford 
 Tithes 
 
 " Macbeth " completed. "King Lear" written. 
 Shakespeare's daughter Susanna married Dr. Joha 
 Hall, June 5th. She lived at the New Placi, Strat- 
 ford, until her death in 1649. 
 
 " Timon of Athens," "Pericles," and " .Antony- 
 and Cleopatra." Shakespeare's only grand- 
 daughter, Elizab2th Hall, baptized February 21st. 
 The Poet's motner died, and was buried at 
 Str.itford, Sept. gth. 
 " Coriolanus " 
 " Cymbeline " 
 
 .\ " Winter's Tale," the " Tempest," and probably 
 " Henry VIII." Shakespeare finally settled at 
 the New Place in Straiford. The Town Council 
 there passed a resolution that stage plays were 
 unlawful. 
 
 Shakespeare bought a house in Blackfriars. The 
 Globe Theatre burned. Judith Shakespeare 
 married Thom.as Quiney, of Siratford, Feb. loth. 
 Shake.'-peare said to have entertained Michael 
 Drayton and Ben Jonson at the New Place. 
 The Poet died, April 23rd. at the age of 52, and 
 was buried in Stratford Church, April 25th.
 
 4 
 
 THE 
 ENGLISH HOMELAND 
 
 OF 
 GEORGE ^VCASHINGTON 
 
 AND 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 
 
 NOTES, 
 
 GENEALOGICAL & TOT^OGRAPHICAL 
 
 %
 
 [99] 
 
 TUB BOMBS OF TUB WASmiNGTOMS. 
 
 THIS midJle England, wherein lies tiie 
 country of Sliakespeare, is famous 
 fur many personal and historic 
 memories besides, and not least 
 because here also was the homeland 
 of the ancestors of George Washi:igton, first 
 President of the United States of America, 
 and of Benjamin Franklin, the great American 
 natural philosopher and diplomatist. Pilgrim- 
 ages made to the hallowed scenes of the 
 English poet's cradle-land are extended by 
 many, and more especially by American 
 visitors, to those places in Northamptonshire 
 where dwelt the forefathers of Washington 
 and Franklin. There is thus an excellent 
 reason for including some account of the 
 localities and their personal interests in this 
 book. Sulgrave, the ancient home of the 
 
 Washingtons, is within something more thart 
 six miles of Banbury, and lies about twenty- 
 four miles south-east of Stratford, being nearly 
 midway between Banbury and Towcester,. 
 while Brington, to which the family removed, 
 is close to Althorp, and within some six miles 
 of Northampton ; and another place associated 
 with a branch of the Washingtons is 
 Wormleighton, just within the Warwickshire 
 border. To the home of the Franklins at 
 Ecton, also in the neighbourhood of North- 
 ampton, we shall turn later on. 
 
 Many controversies have raged round the 
 descent of George Washington. "Let no- 
 man fancy he knows sport," said Mr. Mon- 
 cure Conway, " unless he has family-treed an 
 ancestor of George Washington's." Washing- 
 ton himself knew very little about his Englisla 
 
 -'-=^^^ASft 
 
 Sulgrave Manor Houie from the South.
 
 lOO 
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 ancestry, and told the Gaiter King of Arms, 
 who sent him a pedigree of the gt-iierations of 
 his forefathers, that he had heard the first of 
 his family in Virginia were from one of the 
 northern counties, but whetiier Yorkshire or 
 Lancashire, or one more northerly, he could 
 not tell. There had evidently come down 
 to him a tradition of a still earlier time. 
 Though descended from an ancient English 
 family proud of its armorial honours, he thought 
 it expedient, in 1788, not to accept the dedica- 
 tion of William Barton's " Essa\- on Heraldry," 
 because a portion of the community were 
 " clamorously endeavouring to propagate an 
 idea that those whom they wished invidiously 
 to designate by the name of the ' well-born ' 
 were meditating, in the first instance, to dis- 
 tinguish themselves from their compatriots, 
 and to wrest the dearest privileges from the 
 bulk of the people." That was a spirit of 
 revolt against the distinctions of birth which 
 lasted long, but now exists no more. There 
 are, in fact, few keener genealogists than 
 Americans, who have learned to look back to 
 the rock whence they were hewn, and the 
 hole of the pit whence they were digged, and 
 would like to trace the origin of the stars and 
 stripes in the ^argent shield, the two bars 
 gules, and the three mullets of the same 
 which the English Washingtons bore. in 
 1879, one Albert Welles, an enthusiastic 
 
 The Entrance to the Mancr House. 
 
 An Old Doorway. 
 
 American genealogist, published a " Pedigree 
 and History of the Washington Family derived 
 from Odin, King of Scandinavia." He was 
 one among many enthusiasts led far in 
 their quest. The late Colonel Joseph 
 L. Chester, without making such ambitious 
 flights, devoted man)- years of his life to the 
 investigation of the descent, but appears never 
 to have discovered the truth ; and much credit 
 for our knowledge of the facts must be given to 
 Mr. Henry F. Waters, who came to England to 
 prosecute his enquiries about the year 1885. 
 
 Amid the discussions concerning this 
 famous ancestr\', though we are brought into 
 touch bv later discoveries with Tring in Hert- 
 fordshire, Luton in Bedfordshire, and Purleigh 
 in Essex, nothing has diminished the interest 
 and importance that attach to the Norihamp- 
 tonshire villages, churches, and houses iden- 
 tified with the earlier Washingtons. The 
 Washingtons of Sulgrave and Brington, after- 
 u-ards of Virginia, were sprung from the old 
 stock of the Washingtons of Warton in Lanca- 
 shire, a place on the Westmorland border, 
 and came originally, as there is every reason 
 to believe, from an ancient family of Durham. 
 To John Washington of Warton succeeded 
 another John Washington of Warton, whose 
 son, probably born at that place, was 
 Laurence Washington, Mayor of Northampton 
 in 1532 and 1545, the first man of real note on 
 the VVashington tree, and the first to associate 
 his family with the village and manor of
 
 nn nil ^h-m me ,- 
 
 •0.l(ir Mil iiU.i IMfl i 
 
 . crii MM H.nv ant 
 <,\ii mi '•'.'• • ■1MI • 
 
 THE PORCH AND ARMS 
 
 AT SULGRAVE MANOR. 
 
 ( TOT )
 
 I02 
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 Sulgrave. Members of the Washinj^ton 
 family continued to live at Warton, and the 
 last of them seems to ha\-e been the Rev. 
 Thomas Washington, instituted vicar of the 
 parish in 17Q9, who died in 1823. 
 
 The mother of Laurence Washington, 
 Mayor of Northampton, was the daughter 
 of Robert Kytson of Warton, and the 
 sister of Sir Thomas Kytson of H engrave in 
 Suffolk. This alliance was destined to have a 
 great influence upon the later fortunes of the 
 Washingtons. It brought them into relation- 
 ship with the Spencers of Althorp and Worm- 
 leighton, through the marriage of Sir Thomas 
 
 mined the settlement of the Washingtons at 
 Bringtonand Wormleigliton. The relationship 
 will be made clear b\- the following links in 
 tiie Kytson pedigree : 
 
 Robert Kytson of Warton, Lanes. 
 
 Sir Thomas 
 Kytson of 
 Hengrave. 
 
 Margaret = John 
 
 Washington 
 of Warton. 
 
 Catherine = Sir John Lamence 
 
 Spencer. Washington. 
 
 But the Kvtson marriage, and the fact that 
 
 The Home of the Washnigtons from the Rear. 
 
 Kytson's daughter, Catherine, to Sir John 
 Spencer of Wormleighton, whose grandson. Sir 
 Robert Spencer, was created Baron Spencer of 
 Wormleighton in 1603. This relationship was 
 further strengthened by the marriage of 
 Laurence Washington of Northampton and 
 Sulgrave with Amee or Amy, daughter of 
 Robert Pargiter of Gret worth, whose near 
 kinsman, William Pargiter, married the sister 
 of the first Lord Spencer's wife. I his noble- 
 man and his son William, Lord Spencer, were 
 the firm friends of the son and grandsons of 
 Laurence Washington, and their friendship 
 was almost certainlv the infl'.;ence that djter- 
 
 Sir Thomas Kytson was Laurence Washing- 
 ton's uncle, may be supposed very reasonably 
 to have had a further influence upon tlie latter. 
 Laurence Washington, who appears to have 
 come to Northampton, perhaps with his father, 
 as a youth, was brought up to the law, and 
 studied at Gray's Inn ; but, at an early period 
 of his career, he turned his attention to com- 
 merce, and made a large fortune in the woollen 
 trade, becoming a prosperous merchant at 
 Northampton, of which place, as we have 
 seen, he was twice Mayor. Now his uncle. 
 Sir Thomas Kytson, was one of the greatest 
 merchants of the time, and one of the :
 
 
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 z 
 
 ai 
 
 
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 UJ 
 
 
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 S 
 
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 ai 
 
 Oi 
 
 Ll, 
 
 O 
 
 
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 (/5 

 
 THE CHURCH AND AVENUE 
 AT SULGRXVE. 
 
 (104)
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 lo; 
 
 first princely traders to win his way into the 
 ranl<s of tiie aristocracy, and iiis example, 
 or more likely his advice and intluence, pro- 
 bably had to do with Laurence Washington's 
 devoting himself to business. Kytson, twice 
 warden of the Mercers' Company, and its 
 master in 1535, sheriff of the City of London 
 in 1533, in which year he was knighted, was 
 chief among tlie merchant adventurers, and, 
 in tile Act of Parliament which seciu'ed 
 Hengrave to 
 him after the /r^- 
 attainder of * - ■>. . 
 Buckingham, 
 from whom he 
 had purchased 
 it, is expressly 
 referred to as 
 "citizen and 
 mercer of 
 London, other- 
 w i s e called 
 Kytson the 
 merchant." It 
 is therefore 
 reasonable to 
 suppose that 
 his nephew, 
 Laurence 
 Washington , 
 was attracted 
 to commerce 
 by his uncle's 
 success. 
 
 There may 
 have been a 
 reason also for 
 his entering 
 into the wool 
 trade in the 
 fact that the 
 Spencers were 
 the foremost 
 patrons of it 
 in the Mid- 
 lands. They 
 had vast flocks 
 of sheep in 
 this part of 
 Northampton- 
 shire, and the 
 first Lord 
 Spencer is said to have aspired to possess 
 20,000 of the fleece-hiaring animals, but 
 never could count more than 19,999 at 
 one time. Wilson, in hi; "Life of 
 James I.," sa)-s "his fi-lds and flocks 
 brought him more calm and happy con- 
 tentment than the various and mutable 
 dispensations of a court." The same writer's 
 account of a difference between Lord Spencer 
 and Lord Arundel is curious. "My Lord," 
 
 said the latter, " when these things you 
 speak of were doing, your ancestors were 
 keeping sheep," to which Lord Spencer gave 
 the angry retort, "When my ancestors, as 
 you say, were keeping sheep, 'y9ur ancestors 
 were plotting treason." These are matters 
 of interest as illustrating the circumstances in 
 which the Washingtons settled in this part of 
 Northamptonshire. 
 
 Laurence seem; to have 
 
 "m 
 
 The North Door, Sulgrave Church. 
 
 amassed wealth 
 rapidly, and, 
 w hen the 
 religious con- 
 vulsion came 
 which brought 
 about the dis- 
 solution of the 
 monasteries, 
 he saw that 
 the opportunity 
 had arisen to 
 acquire terri- 
 torial posse ^- 
 s i n s , and 
 establish him- 
 self among the 
 g e n t r y f 
 Northampton. 
 witli whom 
 his lineage, 
 marriage, and 
 wealth entitled 
 him to tak'e 
 his place. As 
 a merchant of 
 N orthampton 
 he was well 
 a c q u a i n t e d 
 w i t h the 
 Priory of St. 
 Andrew there, 
 and tixed his 
 mind upoii its 
 possessions at 
 S u 1 g r a \' e , 
 when they 
 s h (I u Id be 
 seized b\- the 
 King's nefari- 
 ous hand. At 
 Sulgrave he 
 would build 
 dwelling-place, tlTAigh 
 aspired to equal h.s 
 uncle Kytson's magnificence at Hengrave. 
 "Kytson the merchant" was building 
 from about 1525 to 1538, and Lr 
 Washington acquired Sulgrave 
 following year. 
 
 The fragments of Sulgrave Manor Hous? 
 show it to have been a place of some distinc- 
 tion, even in a time when manv fine houses 
 
 himself a 
 probably 
 
 substantial 
 he never 
 
 ;urence 
 in the
 
 io6 
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 were being raised. Here Robert de Pinkeney 
 had endowed with possessions the Priory of 
 St, Andrew at Northampton, and in 1539, fur 
 the sum of ^321 14s. lod., the manor of 
 Sulgrave, as well as Woodford, and certain 
 lands in Stotesbury and Cotton, near North 
 ampton, which had belonged to the Priory, 
 with other lands in Sulgrave recently pos- 
 sessed by the dissolved Priories of Canons 
 Ashby and Catesby, were granted to this 
 Laurence Washington, Mayor of Northampton. 
 Washington continued to extend his posses- 
 sions, and in 1543 Sir John Williams and 
 one Anthony Stringer sold to him a great 
 barn at Stotesbury and the rectory there. 
 
 The prosperous wool mercliant had a 
 large family, and though our purpose is with 
 his eldest son Robert, the ancestor of the 
 American President, it is not without interest 
 to know that his second son, Laurence, was a 
 man of importance in his time. He went to 
 O.\ford, was demy of Magdalen, 1560-7 ; 
 B.A. in October, 1567; barrister-at-law of 
 Gray's Inn, 15S2; bencher, 1599; registrar 
 
 of the Court of Chancery, 1593; and M.P. 
 for Maidstone, 1604-11. He died in 161 1 at 
 the age of seventy-three, being buried at 
 Maidstone, and left a son of his own name, 
 who was of Westbury and Garsdon, Bucks, 
 and who, having studied at Gray's Inn, suc- 
 ceeded his father as registrar of the Court of 
 Chancery in 1619, and was knighted in 1627. 
 As Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge says, in his 
 "Life of Washington," the members of the 
 younger line of the Washingtons seem to have 
 been a successful, thrifty race, owning lands 
 and estates, wise magistrates and good 
 soldiers, marrying well, and increasing their 
 wealth and strength from generation to 
 generation. 
 
 This N'ounger branch of the Washingtons 
 attached itself to the Royal side, and there 
 is good reason to suppose that the North- 
 amptonshire Washingtons, descended from 
 Robert, the eldest son of the Northampton 
 merchant, were in sympathy with the King 
 also, although they may not have embroiled 
 themselves deeply in politics. At least it is 
 
 A PEDIGREE OF THE WASHINGTONS. 
 
 John Washington of W.irton, Lancashire. 
 
 1 
 John Washington of \\ arton = .Margaret, d. of Robert Kytson of Warton. 
 
 Laurence Washington, grantee of Sulgrave = Amy, d. of Robert Pargiter. 
 
 Ob. 1585. Buried at Sulgrave. I Ob. 1564. Buried at Sulgrave. 
 
 Robert Washington = Elizabeth, d. of Robert Light 
 
 Ob. 1619. Buried 
 at Sulgrave. 
 
 of Radway. 
 
 Laurence Washington, 
 
 Registrar of the High Court 
 
 of Chancery. 
 
 Laurence Washington = Margaret, d. of 
 Ob. 1616. Buried I William Butler 
 at Brington. of Tees, Sussex. 
 
 Robert Washington 
 = Eliz. ChishuU. 
 Ob. 1622. 
 
 Sir Laurence Washington. 
 Knighted 1627. 
 
 Sir William Washington 
 of Packington. 
 
 Sir John Washington 
 of Thrapston. 
 
 Rev. Laurence Washington = Amphilli.;, d. of John Roades. 
 Fourth son. Rector of 
 Purleigh, Essex. 
 
 John Washington 
 B. at Tring, 1634. 
 Went to V'irginia 
 about 1658. 
 
 Ann, d. of Nathaniel Pope. 
 Second wife. 
 
 Laurence Washington. 
 Went to Virginia about 1666. 
 
 Laurence Washington = Mildred Warner. 
 Ob. 1697. I 
 
 .\ugustine Washington. 
 
 GiiORGE Washington. 
 Born 1732. Died 1799.
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 IC7 
 
 clear that their friends and kins- 
 men the Spencers were ardent 
 supporters of the Royal cause, 
 and the third Lord Spencer, 
 created Earl of Sunderland, was 
 killed on the King's side in the 
 first battle of Mewbury. The 
 descent of the Washingtons, and 
 the relationship of the many 
 Laurences in the line to one 
 another, will be made clear by 
 the pedigree set forth on p. no, 
 which shows the descent of 
 George Washington from Laurence 
 Washington of Sulgrave, twice 
 Mayor of Northampton. 
 
 To the original grantee of 
 Sulgrave, who died February 19th, 
 1585, succeeded his eldest son, 
 Robert, then of the age of forty. 
 This Robert is supposed to have 
 suffered from some pecuniary 
 embarrassments, butthere appears 
 to be no real knowledge of his 
 circumstances, and he was cer- 
 tainly able to educate his sons 
 well and to maintain his position 
 in the county. His sons Chris- 
 topher and William both matricu- 
 lated at Oriel College, Oxford, 
 in December, 1588 — the sounding 
 year of the Armada — and the 
 former of tliem graduated B.A. in 
 1594-5. Robert's eldest son was 
 Laurence, whom we will call the 
 second Laurence to distinguish 
 him from his grandfather, the 
 Mayor of Northampton, in 1610, 
 Robert Washington, jointly with 
 this son, the second Laurence, 
 agreed to sell the manor house 
 at Sulgrave to their cousm Laurence Mal<e- 
 peace, for reasons which are not knov\'n, 
 thougli probably they were not dissociated from 
 pecuniary considerations. One of tlie first 
 Laurence Washington's daughters had married 
 Abel Makepeace, and with the Makepeaces 
 the manor house remained until 1659, so that 
 it is probable the Washingtons were often 
 within its walls. Perhaps, indeed, John 
 Washington, the emigrant, ancestor of George 
 Washington, paid a visit to it bc-fore leaving 
 for Virginia about 165S. 
 
 Having sold Sulgrave, the second Laurence 
 Washington removed to Brington, near North- 
 ampton, his father, perhaps, going with him, 
 though the latter was buried in the family 
 vault at Sulgrave. Laurence Washington, the 
 son, now of Brington, had, as we have seen. 
 an uncle of his own name who was registrar 
 of the High Court of Chancery, and a cousin 
 who was to be knighted in part for his services 
 
 The Interior from the Forch. 
 
 in the same office, but it is scarcely possible not 
 to feel that in going with him from Sulgrave to 
 Brington we follow the family passing under 
 something of a cloud. The second Laurence 
 had seventeen children, a family burden which 
 was doubtless a heavy charge upon his 
 resources. Two of them, however, rose to 
 positions of importance, and were knighted — 
 Sir William Washington of Packington in 1622, 
 and Sir John Washington of Thrapston in 1623. 
 But there are evidences of rather straitened 
 circumstances in the cases of others. Thus it 
 is known that while the brothers were on 
 friendly terms with the family at Althorp, 
 their youngest sister, Lucy, was acting as 
 housekeeper there. 
 
 The fourth son of the second Laurence, 
 and the brother of Sir William and Sir John, 
 to whom attention must be directed, was 
 the Reveiead Laurence Washington, who 
 appears to have been a boy of si.x or seven
 
 I05 
 
 THE UWSHINGTON COUXTRY. 
 
 when tlie family 
 removed to Br ng- 
 1 en . It w a s 
 almost certainlv 
 the friendship of 
 the Spencers of 
 Althorp, which is 
 close to Brington, 
 and the ready- 
 help received 
 from them, that 
 took the Wash- 
 ingtons to that 
 place. The 
 Spencers appear 
 to have be- 
 friended them — ■ 
 their names often 
 appear in tie 
 household books 
 — and it is pro- 
 bable that young 
 Laurence (the 
 third Laurence, 
 we may call him), 
 often pored over 
 the books in 
 Althorp library. 
 He matriculated 
 November 2nd, 
 
 ■^i^i^' 
 
 Tl.e Ancient Tr,:asure Chest, Sulgrave Church. 
 
 Lit 
 
 162I, 
 
 Brasenose, 
 being then 
 
 Oxford, 
 nineteen 
 
 years of age, described as "generosi filius " — 
 the son of a gentleman — obtained his 
 B A. 1623, M. A. 1626, was fellow of the college 
 1624 to 1633, lecturer in 1627, and proctor 
 in 163 1, receiving the latter_ appointment 
 apparently on the orders of Charles \. Being 
 ordained, Laurence Washington was pre- 
 sented to the rich rectory of Purleigh in Essex, 
 and married Ainphi'lis, the daughter of John 
 Roades, farm bailiff to Sir Hdmund Verney. 
 
 He lived in a time when it was no easy 
 thing for a clergyman, whether by sympathy 
 Roundhead or Cavalier, to hold his place. 
 Heated partisans on either side denounced the 
 others as guilty of shameless offences. Fuller 
 saysthatsome misdeedsoftheclergy cried aloud 
 to justice for punishment, and Baxter declares 
 that in all the countries he was acquainted 
 with, six to one at least, if not many more, 
 sequestrated b_v the committees, were, by the 
 
 oaths of witnesses, proved insufficient or 
 scandalous, or especially guilty of drunken- 
 ness or swearing. Drunkenness was the 
 charge preferred against the ancestor of 
 George Washington, but we cannot hold it to 
 be proved. Fuller tells us that the complainers 
 were in many cases factious people, and 
 Clarendon says that, if a few of the meanest 
 and mostvicious parishioners could be brought 
 to prefer a petition against their parson to the 
 House of Commons, how falsely soever, and 
 contrary to the judgment of the parish, he was 
 sure to be prosecuted for a scandalous minister. 
 There is, besides, direct evidence in favour of 
 the Rev. Laurence Washington in Walker's 
 " Sufferings of the Clergy," where it is said 
 that the rector of Purieigh was reputed to be 
 a very worth\-, pious man, and very moderate 
 and sober. Rightly or wrongly, however, the 
 decision was against him, and he was deprived, 
 in all probabilitv because his sympathies 
 were not with the Parliamentar\' malcontents. 
 
 
 The Memorial Brass of Laurence Washin»ton ithe Elder) and his Wife Amee at Sulgrave.
 
 a. 
 
 
 
 :d 
 
 
 a. 
 
 
 ^ z 
 
 
 is 
 
 
 z 5 
 
 
 m Qi 
 
 
 LU CQ 
 
 
 Qi 
 
 
 O uu 
 
 
 -J 
 
 iS^' 
 
 LU (- 
 
 JKr. 
 
 o t 
 
 ^K ' 
 
 < _J 
 
 I^B'V 
 
 _J 
 
 Hr' 
 
 d H 
 
 K 
 
 > < 
 
 ^ 
 
 LU 
 
 ^•^^f 
 
 X 
 r— '
 
 no 
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 r^ -*■ 3.--*^ 
 
 In the Village of Litlle Brington. 
 
 The rector was ejected from liis benefice in 
 1643, and appears to have suffered a good 
 deal, but was afterwards presented to a- 
 small living in the same district, and his widow 
 received partial compensation for his depriva- 
 tion. There is thus good ground for believing 
 that suDstantial injustice had been done to him, 
 and the Committee on Plundered Ministers in 
 1649 made partial reparation. His small living 
 was perhaps in the neighbourhood of Tring, 
 for tiiree of his children were born there, but 
 it is not unlikely that he found sympathy and 
 shelter with his friends, the Spencers of 
 Althorp. The third Lord Spencer, created 
 Earl of Sunderland, who was killed at 
 Newbury, had married Dorothy Sidney — 
 Waller's Sacharissa — daughter of the second 
 Earl of Leicester, and this lady, who survived 
 him many years, made Althorp, where she 
 lived retired, "a sanctuary to the loyal 
 sufferers and learned clergymen." 
 
 John Washington, the Rev. Laurence 
 Washington's eldest son, great-grandfather 
 of the famous President, went to America 
 some time between 1655, when he was 
 made administrator of his mother's property, 
 and 1659, when he is found in Virginia, fol- 
 lowed by his younger brother Laurence, who 
 was married at Luton, June 26th, 1660, liad a 
 daughter baptised there December 22nd, 1663, 
 was livingat Tring in 1665, and was in Virginia 
 in 1667. 
 
 These notes upon the Washingtons and 
 their association with Sulgrave and Brington 
 ma_\' serve as a prelude to some account 
 ot the interests of those places Sulgrave 
 derives nearly all its importance for the 
 \'isitor from the fact that it was the home 
 of the Washingtons, and is the place in 
 England with which they are most closely 
 as>ociated. it may be reached with ease from 
 Banbury by the Northampton road known 
 from ancient times as " Banbury Lane," the 
 visitor diverging by a by-road from Thorpe 
 Mandeville. The whole distance is about six 
 and a-lialf miles. I he place also lies witliin 
 easy distances of Helmdon, Culworth, and 
 Moreton Pinkney Stations. 
 
 The manor house whicii the first Laurence 
 Washington, Mayor of Northampton, built, is 
 an edifice of stone, greatly changed since his 
 t me, and now much fallen from its high estate. 
 After passing from the hands of the Make- 
 peaces, to whom it was conveyed by Robert 
 Washington and his son, it was converted into 
 a farmhouse. Changes passed over it and 
 disfigurements grew upon it ; internally it was 
 divided, some parts disappeared, and out- 
 buildings were added ; so that now it is but 
 a poor representative of its former self. The 
 house is usually approached from the north, 
 from the village street, but the only original 
 portion remaining is on the further side, facing 
 south, and running east and west. The
 
 TflE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 Ill 
 
 building is still a farmhouse, and a field, in 
 which there are some old elms, lies between it 
 and the road. 
 
 The most interesting feature is the gabled 
 porch or projecting bay on the south, which 
 has an excellent doorway, v\'ith a low 
 Tudor arch under a square head and label, 
 with the Washington arms in the spandrels. 
 Above is a shield in plaster, much defaced, 
 and over that a window. Above that again, 
 also in plaster, are the Royal arms, with a lion 
 and a gritfin, or dragon, as supporters, and 
 the letters " E.R." Within, the lion and dragon 
 are seen again, embossed in plaster on either 
 side. The adornments are a good deal 
 defaced and are not easy to make out, and the 
 same is the case witli some other features of 
 the place. The hall of the house is entered 
 from this porch, and, as was customary in such 
 buildings, runs at right angles to it, being now 
 divided into two rooms. When the house 
 was thus altered, the screen which separated 
 the hall from the lobby was removed, and 
 thus the original character was destroyed. 
 The fireplace is arched. The great window- 
 is muUioned, and originally had much stained 
 glass, now removed, but two pieces are 
 at Weston House, three miles north-east, 
 and six shields, believed to have come from 
 
 the same window are in the windows of 
 Fawsley Church, eight miles and a-half to the 
 north. The hall window at Sulgrave can 
 never have possessed those features of archi- 
 tectural distinction which were commonly 
 found in the better examples of the architecture 
 of its time. It is evident that the east wall of 
 the hall was not an outside wall, and it has 
 been stated that the mansion extended about 
 seventy feet to the east of the present building. 
 The part running north, at right angles to the 
 hall, is a later addition, the original house 
 having been built upon a different and more 
 elaborate plan. Possibly Laurence Washington 
 was never able to complete the structure. 
 The manor house, as it stands, is a satis- 
 factory, though not in any way remarkable, 
 example of the work of the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries, with oak beams, 
 panelling and tlooring of the same, and the 
 gables high-pitched and good. The English 
 representatives of the Washingtons once 
 thought of purchasing the house, but it was 
 found to be too dilapidated to be converted into 
 a residence. 
 
 We may now proceed to the church, 
 which stands at the west end of the village, 
 and is very closely associated with the Wash- 
 ingtons. It is partly in the Decorated style. 
 
 ■Kl^iii^J 
 
 i 
 
 The Washington House, Little Brington.
 
 1 12 
 
 THE WASHINGTON COLWTRY. 
 
 and consists of a cliancel, with Perpendicular 
 windows, nave, aisles, north and south porches, 
 and square embattled tower, with angle but- 
 tresses, and a west door of plain but unusual 
 character. The porch on the noith side is of 
 the same period as the earlier parts of the 
 church, while the south porch is dated 1564. 
 The character of the edifice is not imposing, 
 and it cannot be said that Sulgrave Church 
 ranks high among the splendid ecclesiastical 
 edifices of the shire. The nave arcade is of 
 the Decorated period, with four bays separatin:^ 
 the na\-e from the aisles. One very remark- 
 able feature of the church is the liagioscope, 
 enabling worshippers in the south aisle to 
 witness the elevation of the host. On the 
 south side of the chancel, beneath a large 
 Perpendicular window, is a small window with 
 an oaken shutter, apparently intended to 
 enable lepers to attend the services without 
 actually entering the church. Mucii of the 
 window tracery belongs to a modern restora- 
 tion. The north doorway is very quaint, and 
 
 there is a 
 
 beautiful \'ista 
 across the 
 church, with 
 the old octa- 
 gonal font in 
 the foreground. 
 On each side 
 of the chancel 
 roof are carved 
 heads, said to 
 be those of 
 Edward 111. 
 and Queen 
 Philippa. One 
 very interest- 
 ing object IS 
 the ancient 
 church chest, 
 very curiously 
 banded with 
 iron — a stout 
 and excellent 
 e.vample of the 
 old treasure 
 chest, wherein 
 records, church 
 plate, and 
 priceless vest- 
 ments were 
 stored. There 
 are kindred 
 examples at 
 Hus borne 
 C r a w 1 e y, 
 Stoke Albany, 
 Ste v i ngton, 
 Te m psf r d, 
 and man v other 
 
 Inscription on the Wjsh'nglon House. Lit.le Bnngton. 
 
 places. The chest at Sulgrave, as shall be 
 explained, has been used for the storage of 
 mucli less holy objects than it was originally 
 intended to preserve. 
 
 Many other interesting objects are in 
 the church, hut none so interesting as the 
 Washington memorials, which, however, have 
 suffered grievously from sacrilegious hands. 
 Under the east window of tlie south aisle is a 
 slab in which originally were the complete 
 memorial brasses of the first Laurence 
 Washington and his family. They were six 
 in number. He desired to be buried " in the 
 south aisle before my seat," and was repre- 
 sented in close-fitting doublet, and long fur- 
 bordered robe, with large broad-toed shoes. 
 The brass representing .Amy Washington ha-; 
 long since disappeared, and the head of 
 Laurence himself is no longer there. The 
 lady appears to have been in a plain costume 
 of the time. There were brasses also of 
 four son^ and seven daughters, in two groups, 
 as ' ' weepers," represented in a manner that was 
 
 customary at 
 the time. The 
 sons had coats 
 and breeches 
 of the period, 
 w i t h hose 
 and broad-toed 
 shoes, and the 
 dau2hters were 
 habited in long 
 gowns, with 
 close caps. The 
 slab was muti- 
 lated in August, 
 1889, by two 
 i n d i \- i d u a 1 s, 
 said to have 
 been dressed 
 as gentlemen, 
 and the brass 
 "weepers" 
 were carried 
 away. Time 
 has told also 
 upon the plate 
 re p 1 e s e n t i n g 
 the Washing- 
 ton arms. The 
 plate recording 
 the interment 
 is inscribed as 
 follows: " Here 
 h'eth buried 
 \e bodys of 
 Laurence 
 Wasshingto, 
 Gent, and 
 Amee his wyf, 
 by whome he
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 113 
 
 had issue iiij sons & vij daughts, w^ Laurence 
 dyed ye . . day of . . an. 15 . . , & 
 Amee deceassed the vj day of October 
 ano Dni, 1564." EvidentK- this inscription vva? 
 placed in posi- 
 tion after the 
 death of 
 Lauren ce 
 Washington's 
 wife, and when 
 he followed 
 her to the 
 grave many 
 years later, in 
 1585, the 
 b 1 a n k s for 
 recording the 
 date of his own 
 death were 
 never filled in. 
 The affixing of 
 brasses in this 
 way was not 
 uncommon, but 
 in the case of 
 the Washing- 
 ton memorial 
 there was a 
 singular failure 
 on the part of 
 someone to 
 render the last 
 offices to the 
 late Mayor of 
 Nortliampton. 
 
 We cannot but experience 
 indignation and shame at the 
 
 Oli Sundial at Little Brington, Showing the Washington Arms, 
 
 a sense of 
 perpetration 
 of the barbarous defacement of this historic 
 memorial. The monument has not been 
 uncared for, however, careful hands having 
 preserved it from further decay, and having 
 placed upon the wall above it a reproduction 
 of the original inscription. This tablet was 
 erected by members of tlie family in 1893. 
 
 Beyond the church and manor house the 
 visitor to Sulgrave will not find much to 
 interest him. Barrow Hill in the parish is an 
 ancient tumulus, and, though it is not lofty, it 
 has been asserted that nine counties may be seen 
 from its crest — Northamptonshire, Warvvick-- 
 shire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Gloucester- 
 shire, Berivshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedford- 
 shire, and Hertfordshire. An ancient ash tree 
 on the top was looked upon as unholy in this 
 land where men were prone to believe much 
 in the marvellous. The witches were believed 
 to hold Satanic revelries around it, and the 
 men of Sulgrave resolved therefore to cut it 
 down. Proceeding then to the tumulus axe 
 in hand, they looked back to find their village 
 apparently in ilames. Hastening back to 
 extinguish the fire, they found it had existed 
 
 in imagination only, and when they returned 
 to the tree they saw that their axe-marks had 
 disappeared. Thenceforward no villager was 
 found valiant enough to undertake the destruc- 
 tion of the 
 mysterious ash 
 tree. 
 
 Some inter- 
 esting places 
 are in the 
 n e i gh b u r- 
 hood of S ul- 
 grave. Cul- 
 vvorth has an 
 ancient and 
 inte resting 
 church, re- 
 stored, the 
 base of a fine 
 cross, upon 
 many steps, 
 and a manor 
 house in which 
 Charles L slept 
 on June 27th, 
 1644, when he 
 entered Cul- 
 worth with an 
 army of 5,500 
 foot and 4,000 
 horse on his 
 way to Ban- 
 bury. A stone 
 near the en- 
 trance is still 
 called "King Charles's Stone," This is 
 a region of England which witnessed many 
 events of the Civil War, and had been the 
 scene of fighting in earlier times. In the year 
 914 the Saxons and Danes waged sanguinary 
 battle on Dunsmoor or Danesmoor, between 
 Culworth and Edgecote, and on the same 
 ground in Jul\', 1469. a strong body of insur- 
 gents inflicted a severe defeat upon the 
 partisans of Edward IV., and, capturing the 
 Earl of Pembroke, his two brothers, and eight 
 other gentlemen, carried them to Banbur_\', 
 where they were beheaded. 
 
 It is recorded that the village of Culworth 
 was from 1770 to 1787 the headquarters 
 of a band of housebreakers and highwaymen, 
 known as the Culworth gang, who were 
 the terror of Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, 
 and the adjoining counties, and most of 
 whom were hanged, as may be read in the 
 local registers. The old oaken chest in Sulgrave 
 Church was one of the stores for their ill- 
 gotten gains, for the parish clerk was impli- 
 cated in their proceedings, and having been con- 
 demned to death in July, 1787, was reprieved 
 to transportation for life. This rascally clerk, 
 William Abbot by name, a shoemaker by
 
 114 
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 trade, was a desperate marauder, and is said to 
 have been accustomed to carry a loaded pistol 
 under iiis cioal\ during tiie services in Sui- 
 grave Ciuirch, being apprehensive the agents 
 of the law might endea\'our to lay hands on 
 him in the sacred edifice, and being resoK-ed, 
 it would appear, to sell his life dearly. 
 
 Not far from Culworth is Edgecote Park, 
 where Queen Elizabeth stayed in August, 
 1572, and where Charles 1., with his sons 
 Charles and James, was the guest of Sir 
 William Chauncy on the night before the 
 battle of Edgehill, which itself was the most 
 sounding ev^^nt in the annals of this part 
 of England. The existing house is more 
 recent, having been built in 1752. The King 
 and his sons arrived on October 22nd, 1642, 
 and very early on the morning of the next 
 day, being a Sunday, a messenger arrived 
 from Prince Rupert with intelligence that the 
 Parliamentary forces were at hand. Charles 
 was aroused, and orders were given for the 
 march to EJgehill. 
 
 The famous house of Canons Asliby is 
 about four miles north-east of Culworth, 
 and the whole district is worth exploring. 
 
 At Wormleighton, over the Warwicksliire 
 border, still stands the ancient manor hjuse of 
 the Spencers, Barons Spencer of Wormleighton, 
 an extremely interesting edifice, as well as a 
 church of note, and in the village lived for a 
 brief period a branch of the Washingtons of 
 Sulgra\-e. The registers record the marriage 
 of Robert Washington, second son 0' Robert 
 Washington of that place, and Elizabeth Chis- 
 hull, February 19th, 1595, and the baptism of 
 George Washington, son of Laurence Wash- 
 ington, gentleman, August 3rd, i5oS. Robert 
 and Elizabeth lived until i522, and are both 
 buried at Great Brington. 
 
 Let us now follow the migration, about the 
 year i5io, of Robert Washington of Sulgrave, 
 son of the builder of that house, and father 
 of the last-named Robert Washin4ton, to 
 Brington, where he went, probably in his 
 falling fortunes, with his son Laurence, and 
 perhaps at the same time his younger son 
 Robert. Robert the father returned to Sulgrave 
 later on and died there. It is said that 
 Sir Robert Spencer, Baron Spencer of Worm- 
 leighton, then lord of Althorp, being attached 
 to the Washingtons by friendship and kindred, 
 
 The Fox and Hounds Inn, G.-eat B.-inglor..
 
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 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 welcomed this Robert and his sons, and afforded 
 them shelter and a iiome at Little Brington. 
 He had wide possessions in the region, and 
 was " reported to have by him the most money 
 of any person in England." He married Mar- 
 garet, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Francis 
 WilloLighby of Wollaton, and their daughter 
 was wedded to William Pargiter of Gret- 
 worth, a cousin of the Washingtons. When 
 his wife died the first Baron Spencer remained 
 a widower, in relation to which Ben Jonson 
 has a quaint quatrain : 
 
 ** Who since Thamyra did die 
 Hath not brook'd a lativ's eye, 
 Nor allow'd about his place 
 Any of the female race.'' 
 
 The parish of Brington, which lies some six- 
 miles north-west of Northampton, contains 
 the two villages of Great and Little Brington — 
 the former being the seat of the parish 
 church, and tlie latter having the house 
 ascribed to the Washingtons. The house 
 is a modest structure, with a high-pitched 
 gable, small mullioned windows, and lesser 
 lights above close to the eaves. It seems 
 to have been built originally for a family 
 having some pretensions to gentility, and 
 has architectural details such as the other 
 
 
 houses in the village cannot boast. Over the 
 doorway is a tablet, which speaks of sorrow 
 and vicissitude : " The Lord geveth ; the Lord 
 taketh away ; blessed be the name of the Lord. 
 Constructa i6o5." There has been speculation 
 as to whether this inscription has reference 
 to loss of worldly goods and the compulsory 
 departure from Sulgrave Manor, or whether 
 it refers to the death of Gregory Washington, 
 son of Laurence and his wife Margaret, the 
 daughter of William Butler of Tees in Sussex, 
 or some other bereavement. Since Sulgrave 
 was not sold until 1610, we ma\' perhaps safely 
 refer it to a date before the Washingtons were 
 in possession, unless, indeed, we suppose 
 that Robert was living there at an earlier 
 date. 
 
 The house is partly modernised, but there 
 are quaint staircases, with massive oaken 
 supports, and the rooms are low and old- 
 fashioned. The rear part still retains much 
 of its old picturesqueness. That no absolute 
 proof exists showing this to ha\'e been 
 the house of the Washingtons is true, 
 but all the probabilities point that 
 way. It is, in the first place, the only 
 house in the village that can reasonably 
 be ascribed to them, and it certainly existed 
 
 
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 The Burial Register of Gregory, Son of Liurence and Margaret Waihington, January 17ih, IbOfa-?— Brington Church.
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 117 
 
 
 
 
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 C. 
 
 The Burial Register of Laurence Washington, December 15th, 16Ib, Brington Church. 
 
 when they came there. In the neighbourhood, 
 within recent years, an interesting discovery, 
 associating the place further with the family, 
 has been made. An old sundial was unearthed, 
 which appears to have belonged at one time 
 to the house. The gnomon has gone, but the 
 details of the dial remain, and on the lower 
 part, with the date 1617, are unmistakably the 
 arms of the Washingtons. 
 
 As to the village of Little Brington, it has 
 great picturesqueness, arising from the quaint- 
 ness of its well-kept cottages and houses, its 
 tali elms, its picturesque village green, with 
 the quaint well, covered by a conical thatched 
 roof, and overshadowed by the boughs of 
 cedars. The village has changed compara- 
 tively little since tlie Washingtons knew it. 
 Laurence Washington died in 1616, and was 
 buried at Brington, while his father, Robert, 
 lies at Sulgrave. The house at Brington 
 then appears to have been occupied by 
 Robert's younger son, Robert, and his wife 
 Elizabeth, the daughter of John Chishull. 
 Both these died in March, 1622, and we shall 
 find their memorial stone in Brington Church. 
 The Laurence who died in 1616 was the 
 father of Sir William Washington of Pack- 
 ington and Sir John Washington of Thrapston, 
 who have been referred to, and also of the 
 Reverend Laurence Washington, from whom 
 the first President of the United States was 
 descended. The Reverend Laurence, after 
 vacating his living at Purleigh in the circum- 
 stances which have been recorded, probably 
 lived for a time at Little Brington. 
 
 Great Brington, the capital of the parish 
 which the Washingtons had made their liome, 
 lies about half a -mile trom Little Brington, 
 and there is a pleasant walk or drive along a 
 
 pretty country lane. We know very well 
 that Laurence Washington and his brother 
 Robert often traversed this way. Here lay 
 their business and occupations, and, like their 
 neighbours at Little Brington, they resorted to 
 the church, to which, when Death called 
 them, they were carried. Great Brington is 
 more often approached from Northampton, 
 and a charming route is by Althorp Park. 
 The country is undulating, richly wooded, 
 dotted with farmsteads and with old houses, 
 embowered in climbing plants and roses, and 
 often overhung by noble trees. The drive 
 through the park is glorious, for there are 
 woods on either hand, lovely in the spring- 
 time, gorgeous in the autumn, magnificent 
 cattle grazing in the glades of the park, and 
 herds of deer tro.iptng tovvards the woodland 
 retreats as the visitor approaches. 
 
 Althorp House, where the Washingtons 
 found ready sympathy in their distresses, and 
 to which some of them often resorted as the 
 friends of the noble owner of the time, 
 Robert, Lord Spencer, is seen on the right. 
 It is a plain and stately building, with 
 a deep frontage on one side, where is the 
 approach to the classic portico between great 
 projecting wings, while on the other side its 
 long facade looks across a radiant garden to 
 the uplands and trees of the park. Althorp 
 House shall not be described here. It has 
 grown out of the original mansion built by 
 Sir John Spencer, the great sheep-owner, 
 and successive owners have altered and added 
 to it within and without. The staircase and 
 perhaps the gallery were planned by " Sacha- 
 rissa," Countess' of Sunde'-land. during her 
 widowhood, when she made the iiuiise a refuge 
 for distressed clergyman. A splendid collection
 
 iiS 
 
 THE IVASHIXGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 of pictures is in tlie house, but the great 
 library that made it famous is no longer there, 
 having been sold to Mrs. Rylands of Man- 
 chester, who presented it to that city as a 
 memorial of her late husband. Many biblio- 
 graphical treasures, indeed, remain at Althorp, 
 and there are numerous family memorials, 
 including the old household books in \vhi:h 
 are many references to the Washingtons. 
 
 It may be noticed that, though far from 
 having a level character, much of the country 
 hereabouts is something of a tableland, and 
 on issuing from the park, along a lane 
 shadowed by trees, into the village of Great 
 Brington, it is seen that the elevated tract 
 comes to an abrupt termination with a sudden 
 descent to the north. Standing, indeed, on 
 the village green by the old cross, a mag- 
 nificent prospect is surveyed. It is a garden - 
 land that is seen, rich in its pasturage, 
 and in its acres of wheat and oats, with 
 many orchards, and copses here and there. 
 Drayton, speaking of this very region, said : 
 " The worst foot of her earth is equal to the 
 best." It is therefore pleasant, from the 
 village green, the churchyard, or the last 
 houses of the village, to survey the land. As 
 to the village itself," like that of Little Brington, 
 it seems to possess an air of comfort and pros- 
 perity, such as we find in places in the neigh- 
 bourhood of great estates like Althorp. Lord 
 Spencei, with the spirit of his ancestors, is 
 deeply interested in the welfare of his estates, 
 as the pleasant aspect of the village of Great 
 Brington reveals. 
 
 The church, standing high on the hill in 
 
 the grand position described, holds a notable 
 rank even among the famous churches of 
 Northamptonshire. Externally the effect is 
 very fine, for the church and its broad square 
 tower are well proportioned, and the sur- 
 roundings are very beautiful. The tower, 
 aisles, arcade of the nave, and the curious 
 and remarkable font are Early English, and 
 of very good character. The piers of the 
 nave arcade on the south side are somewhat 
 unusual, being octagonal, with hollows in each 
 face. Many of the windows are Perpendicular, 
 and the clerestory of the nave, as well as the 
 chancel and north porch, belong to that period 
 and are rather late in their st\-le. Much was 
 done for the church by Sir John Spencer, the 
 first possessor of his family, who died in 1522, 
 and the details are extremely good, tradition 
 saying that the design was by the architect of 
 Henr_\' Vil.'s Chapel at Westminster. A bay 
 of five sides, with a large window in each, was 
 added in 1846 by the fourth Earl ispencer, in 
 memory of his father, mother, and brother, 
 and in this case a direct copy was made of 
 the Westminster chapel. The nave is still 
 furnished with the old oaken benches dating 
 from about 1450. This seating and the bench 
 ends are well worthy of attention. 
 
 The Spencer monuments are in the family 
 chape! on the north side of the chancel, and 
 fill the three arches which separate it from 
 the church itself. The earliest is that of Sir 
 John Spencer, who is represented in plate 
 armour, with his wife, under a very rich 
 Perpendicular canopy, on an altar tomb, with 
 much heraldic carving. The monument dates 
 
 ' ///v ///:TH-i K B^^ 
 
 The Arms of Laurence Washington and his Wife, Mirgaret Bailer, Great Brington, I61b.
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 119 
 
 Here lies h^terred y bodies of Euzab:VV\shincton 
 widdowe who changed this life forimortaixttie 
 Y i^'oF March 1622- As also y body of Robert 
 Washington gent her late hvsband second ^ 
 SONNE OF Robert Washington of Solgbave in y 
 CovNTV OF North: Es4 who dented this life y 
 10 OF March 1G22 AFTERTftY livedlovinglytocetver 
 
 \H THIS PARISH 
 
 Inscription of Robert and Elizabeth Washington, Great Brington, J622. 
 
 from 1522. The monument under the central 
 arch, which is very elaborate, is that of Sir 
 John Spencer, who is represented in effij;/ 
 with his wife, Catherine, the daughter of 
 Sir Thomas Kytson of Hengrave. It was 
 through this marriage, as has been explained, 
 that the Spencers were connected with the 
 Washingtons. The design is of classic 
 character in its Elizabethan rendering, and there 
 are great obelisk-like columns at the angles. 
 The knight is in plate armour with a ruff, and 
 his lady has a curious hood raised over her 
 head. This imposing tomb, like others in the 
 chapel, is rich in its heraldic display. Under 
 the western arch is the monument of Robert, 
 first Baron Spencer, and his lady, very rich 
 and elaborate. The other memorials are very 
 numerous. Without, however, describing the 
 Spencer monuments further, it may be said 
 that all are interesting, and that there is some 
 very fine modern work. 
 
 To many visitors to the church the Wash- 
 ington memorials are its most interesting 
 features The original Laurence Washington, 
 Mayor ot Northampton, and his son Robert, 
 who lived some time at Brington, were both, 
 as has been said, buried in Sulgrave Churcn. 
 The memorials at Great Brington are those 
 of Robert Washington's sons, Laurence and 
 Robert, the former of these being the direct 
 ancestor of George Washington. Laurence 
 Washington's epitaph is on a stone in the 
 pavement of the chancel, the inscription very 
 distinct, and the Washington arms, impaled 
 with those of Laurence Washington's wife, 
 are deeply sculptured at the head. The 
 inscription is as follows : 
 
 "Here lieth the bodi of Laurence Washington, Sonne 
 & heire of Robert Washington of Soulgrave in 
 the countie of Northampton, Esquire, who married 
 Margaret, the eldest daughter of William Butler 
 
 of Tees in the countie of .Sussexe, Esquire, who 
 had issue by her 8 sonns & 9 daughters, which 
 Laurence decessed the 13 of December A. Dni. 
 1616. 
 
 "Thou that by chance or choyce of this hast sight. 
 Know life to death resigns as day to night ; 
 But as the sunns retorne revives the day. 
 So Christ shall us, though turned to dust & clay." 
 
 The memorial of Laurence Washington's 
 brother Robert, who died in the same year as 
 his wife — Elizabeth Chishull — 1622, is in the 
 nave, and also bears the Washington arms, 
 with the addition of a crescent as the mark of 
 cadency for the younger son. The inscription, 
 which is as follows, presents some pecu- 
 liarities : 
 
 " Here lies interred ye bodies of Elizab: Washington, 
 Widdowe, who changed this life for imortallitie ve 
 igth of March 1 622. .-Vs also ye body of Robert 
 Washington, Gent, her late husband, second sonne 
 of Robert VV^ashington of Solgrave in ye county 
 of North. Esqr., who depted this life ye lo'h of 
 March 1622, after they lived lovingly together 
 many yeares in this parish." 
 
 It would appear that this Robert Wash- 
 ington carried on the business of a farmer and 
 miller — at least, it is known that he rented 
 a windmill from Lord Spencer. Some Wash- 
 ington inscriptions in the church registers may 
 be given here. One is of Laurence, whose 
 grave has been described : " 1616. Mr. 
 Lawrance Washington was buried the .xvth 
 day of December." His brother's entry is as 
 follows: " 1622. Mr. Robert Washington was 
 buried March ye nth." There is also the 
 entry of Robert Washington's wife: "Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Washington, widow, buried March 
 ye 20'h." Another entry is that of a Wash- 
 ington marriage : " 1620. Mr. Philip Curtis 
 and M>3 Amy Washington were married 
 August 8." the visitor to Great Brington
 
 THE SPENCER TOMBS, ( i^o ) 
 
 GREAT BRINGTON CHURCH.
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 121 
 
 Church will 
 find many 
 other things to 
 interest him. 
 Thus, exter- 
 nully, on the 
 south side, 
 beneath a 
 richly- moulded 
 canopy sur- 
 mounted by 
 gabled stone- 
 work, is the 
 effigy of an 
 ecclesiastic, 
 possibly of 
 William 
 Grendon, 
 tor, who 
 in 1275. 
 ancient 
 
 de 
 
 rec- 
 
 dieJ 
 
 '1 hf 
 
 cross 
 
 just outside the 
 churchyard, 
 from which the 
 superb view is 
 commanded, 
 also adds ver\' 
 greatly to the 
 picturesque- 
 n e s s of 
 the place, 
 shadowed as 
 it is by the 
 arms of a 
 mighty elm. 
 
 I here are 
 other interests 
 of this place 
 relating to 
 Charles 1. 
 which may be 
 mentioned here. As is well known, the King, 
 after surrendering himself to the Scotch army, 
 was sent in 1647, by order of the Parliament, 
 to Holdenby or Holmby House, to remain 
 there till he had assented to the proposals 
 for peace, where he divided his time as a 
 virtual captive between his studies and his 
 amusements. The place was selected because 
 it was "capacious and in the heart of the 
 kingdom," and when Charles approached, 
 nundreds of the gentry met him and escorted 
 him to Holdenby. He frequently went to 
 Lord Vaux's at Harrowden to enjoy a game 
 with the bowls, and also visited Althorp, 
 from which place Holdenby House, as Evelyn 
 records, was plainly visible, for the sake of 
 the well-kept lawn there, on the site of the 
 present flower garden, and was entertained 
 in a manner befitting his Koyal rank. Evelyn's 
 note is interesting, where he speaks of "a 
 prospect from the park (Althorpj to Holmby 
 
 Details of O.ie of th: Spencer Tombs, Great Brington. 
 
 House, which, 
 being demo- 
 lished in the 
 late Civil 
 Wars, shows 
 1 ke a Roman 
 ruin, shaded by 
 the trees about 
 it, a stately, 
 solemn, 
 and pleasing 
 view." It was 
 a view shut 
 out by later 
 planters, who, 
 like some 
 predecessors, 
 placed tablets 
 to indicate the 
 date of their 
 work — " the 
 only in- 
 stance,'' 
 Evelyn says, 
 " 1 know of 
 the like in our 
 country." Sir 
 William Spen- 
 cer planted a 
 very beautiful 
 wood in 1624, 
 through which 
 there is now a 
 very pleasant 
 walk towards 
 Great Bring- 
 ton Church. 
 'Ihere is a 
 tradition that 
 when Charles 
 was at Hul- 
 denby he received communion at Brington 
 Church, kneeling on the north side. 
 
 Holdenby House is still an extremely 
 interesting'place, half a ruin and half restored, 
 and two of its gateways remain. It came 
 through Elizabeth Holdenby to the Hattons, 
 and Sir Christopher Hatton was born there 
 in 1540. It was a mansion famous for archi- 
 tectural splendour, and was said to have been 
 built from the designs of the mysterious John 
 of Padua, and had two vast quadrangles. 
 Sir Christopher Hatton, the Lord Chancellor, 
 spoke of Holdenby as "the last and greatest 
 monument of his youth," and he wrote to Sir 
 Thomas Heneaee in 1580 that he intended 
 "to view my house of Kirby, which 1 yet 
 never surveyed, leaving my other shrine, 1 
 mean Holdenbye, still unseen, until that holy 
 saint may sit in it, to whom it is dedicated." 
 By the "holy saint" he meant Queen 
 Elizabeth, who, however, never visited the
 
 122 
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 place. The present house consists of the 
 north side of the inner quadrangle of the 
 old structuie, and has many excellent features. 
 The mansion was sold bv the celebrated Sir 
 Christopher Hatton to James 1., and during 
 the Civil War was much ra\'aged ; but the 
 chief devastation came later, when one Adam 
 Baynes pulled much of it down. 
 
 Here it was that Charles was seized by 
 Cornet Joyce at the behest of the Army. 
 The King was playing at bowls at Althorp — 
 where he is said to'have found the " bias " not 
 quite true — when Jo\-ce was observed among 
 the spectators, and shortly afterwards Charles 
 was obliged to surrender himself to the some- 
 what rough demand. The Army had assem- 
 bled on Triplow Heath, and intelligence 
 reached the Parliament too late to give hope 
 of securing the King. The house was sur- 
 rounded during the night, and the governor, 
 Colonel Graves, having escaped, the troops 
 guarding Charles opened the gates and wel- 
 comed the soldiery. The cornet demanded to 
 seethe King with a cocked pistol, it is said, 
 in his hand, but Charles was unwilling to be 
 disturbed, and Joyce retired until the morning. 
 The King demanded of him by what autho- 
 rity he came to seize the Royal person, 
 and the cornet replied that it was by the 
 authority of the Army, whereupon the King 
 asked if he had the written permission of 
 Sir Thomas Fairla.x. Jo\-ce reiterated that he 
 
 The Ancient Font, Greit Brington. 
 
 :^4 1. ---' 
 The Tomb of an Ecclesiastic, Great Brington. 
 
 came from the Army, and, being further ques- 
 tioned, pointed to his commission in the persons 
 of the troopers standing behind him. To which 
 the King replied, " I never before read such a 
 commission, but it is written in characters fair 
 and legible enough — a company of as hand- 
 some, proper gentlemen as I have seen for a 
 long while." That same evening the King, 
 in a coach, accompanied by the Earls of 
 Pembroke and Denbigh, and escorted by the 
 soldiery, set out for Hinchinbrook. 
 
 Those members of the Washington family 
 whose sympathies were with the King in the 
 war, were doubtless greatly interested in the 
 Royal sojourn at Holdenhy House, and the 
 conjecture may be hazarded that some of them 
 may have made personal acquaintance with 
 the monarch. 
 
 More might have been said of the natural 
 beauties of this attractive region, for the 
 district round Northampton is full of good 
 architecture and landscape charm. It may 
 be interesting to quote a passage from Whyte 
 Melville's romance of " Holmby House " 
 descriptive of the wide prospects in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of Brington. He 
 was speaking actually of Holdenby. " The 
 slope of the ground, which declines from it 
 on all sides, offers a succession of the richest 
 and most pastoral views. Like the rolling 
 prairie of the Far West, valley after valley 
 of sunny meadows, dotted with oak and elm.
 
 THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY. 
 
 123 
 
 undulates in ceaseless variety as far as the 
 eye can reach ; but, unlike the boundless 
 prairie, deep dark copses and thick luxuriant 
 hedgerows diversify the foreground and blend 
 the distance into a mass of woodland 
 beauty." 
 
 It is a region, also, as may well be supposed, 
 full of history. Lying in the midst of a great 
 forest district, Northampton was a resort 
 favoured by Norman and Angevin kings for 
 the pleasures of the chase, and the horn of 
 the Royal 
 huntsmen was 
 often heard 
 in the places 
 where the 
 Washingtons 
 afterwards 
 made their 
 home. Many 
 Parllam ents 
 and important 
 councils were 
 held in the 
 town, and the 
 barons of the 
 country often 
 gathered at 
 this great 
 centre of the 
 Midlands. Of 
 St. Andrew's 
 Priory, estab- 
 1 i s h e d for 
 Cluniac monks 
 shortly after 
 the Conquest, 
 which owned 
 most of the 
 churches in 
 Northampton- 
 shire, and out 
 of whose 
 poss e s s ions 
 L a u r e n c e 
 Was h i n gton 
 carved his 
 estate, not a 
 vestige re- 
 mains. There 
 are, however, 
 churches enough to gratifv the architectural 
 enquirer in Nort ampton and its neighbour- 
 hood. No object claims a visit more than 
 Queen Eleanor's Cross, the most perfect of 
 the memorials raised by Edward I. at the places 
 where the body rested of his beloved consort, 
 Eleanor of Castile, on its last journey from 
 Harby in Nottinghamshire to Westminster. 
 " Living, I loved her dearly," he wrote, "and 
 dead, I shall never cease to love her." The 
 exquisite remain, which stands on high ground 
 
 Ancient Benches in Greit Brington Church. 
 
 to the south of Northampton, a mile from the 
 town, commanding a view of the place, is 
 raised upon eight steps, and has been freed 
 from the tasteless excrescences with which 
 the age of Anne disfigured it. It is octagonal, 
 the lower portions being adorned with sculp- 
 tured tracery and shields; above are four 
 most graceful statues of the Queen, under 
 enriched canopies, while the upper portion 
 has panelling, canopies, and finials. The 
 details are fall of grace, and executed with 
 
 the utmost 
 delicacy. 
 Indeed, the 
 whole range of 
 English archi- 
 tecture has few 
 examples more 
 beautiful. Un- 
 fortunately the 
 s p i r e - 1 i k e 
 crown of the 
 whole has dis- 
 appeared, and 
 its exact cha- 
 racter is uncer- 
 tain; butQueen 
 Eleanor's 
 Cross, though 
 shorn of its 
 final charm, is 
 still beautiful 
 in its design, 
 pathetic in its 
 memories, and 
 sanctified in its 
 significance. It 
 differs in some 
 respects from 
 the lovely 
 Eleanor Cross 
 at Geddington 
 in the same 
 county. The 
 Cross certainly 
 cannot be 
 overlooked by 
 visitors to this 
 part ot Eng- 
 land. 
 
 And now, 
 leaving the Washington country, let us recall, 
 what IS our chief interest in its attractive 
 scenes, that the great-grandson of the original 
 Laurence Washington of Sulgrave, being the 
 son of the Laurence Washington who is buried 
 at Great Brington, was that Reverend Laurence 
 Washington whose sons were the two emigrants 
 to Virginia, and that, through John, the elder of 
 them, this Reverend Laurence Washington 
 was great -great- grandfather of the first 
 President of the United States.
 
 [ 134] 
 
 TUB BOMB OB TTiB BTiAJSJiUlSS. 
 
 THE \illar;e of Ecton, to which we 
 now direct our steps, derives 
 nearly all its interest from the 
 fact that there flourished the stem 
 from which Benjamin Franklin 
 sprang. The place is some five 
 miles from Northampton, to the north-east of 
 that ancient town, and is appro.iched through 
 the roads by Weston Favell and Great Billing. 
 Its position is upon the higher land tlanking 
 the vale of the Nene on the north, where 
 are the villages of Earls Barton and Great 
 Doddington, and the road from Northamptun. 
 through Ecton 
 to Welling- 
 borough. At 
 this place the 
 Franklins had 
 probably lived 
 for a long 
 period before 
 they rose into 
 the light of 
 actual know- 
 ledge. Ben- 
 jamin Franklin 
 says that, from 
 the notes of 
 his uncle, he 
 learned they 
 had been there 
 300 years, and 
 " how much 
 longer he knew 
 not." The 
 great philoso- 
 pher adds that 
 the sturd y 
 family from 
 which he 
 sprang, thus 
 settled for a 
 long course of 
 years in the 
 village, had 
 augmented its 
 income, arising 
 from a small 
 patrimony of 
 thirty acres, by 
 adding t) it the 
 profits of a 
 blacksmith's 
 business, the 
 
 The Ma 
 
 eldest son always being bred to the trade. 
 The blacksmith was a man of importance in 
 every village in those times, and there was 
 great scope for his craftsmanship, both in 
 practical and decorative matters, and it has 
 been suggested that the Franklins of Ecton 
 were bell-founders also. 
 
 The first of the family of whom there 
 appears to be any actual record was one 
 Henry Franklin, whose son Thomas was bap- 
 tised at Ecton Church on October Sth, 1598. 
 Of this Thomas Franklin little is known, but 
 he was a man of importance in the village, 
 
 and was acting 
 as church- 
 warden in 
 i6s3, when a 
 collection was 
 made at Ecton 
 tor the relief of 
 the distressed 
 town of Marl- 
 bor ou g h in 
 Wilts, and he 
 signed the 
 register in 
 attestatiijn of 
 the fact on 
 September 6th 
 of that year. 
 His son Josias 
 said that " he 
 was imprisoned 
 for a year and 
 a day on 
 suspicion of 
 being the 
 author of some 
 poetry that 
 t o u c h ed the 
 character of 
 some great 
 man." By his 
 wife Jane he 
 had four sons, 
 of whom all 
 ha\'e come into 
 some note — 
 T h o m a s , 
 baptised at 
 Ect(in in 1637, 
 who lived and 
 died there; 
 John, who was 
 
 Farm, Ecton.
 
 THE VILLAGE POST OFFICE. 
 
 THE PARISH CHURCH, 
 ECTON. 
 
 (120)
 
 126 
 
 THE FRAXKLIX COUNTRY. 
 
 a dyer at Banbury ; 
 Benjamin, who went 
 to America and died 
 there at a great ajje, 
 after whom tiie piiiio- 
 sopher was named ; and 
 Josias, the youngest, 
 who left England in 
 1682, and was Benjamin 
 Fr a n klin's father. 
 Thomas Franl<lin, the 
 son, brought up as a 
 smith, but encouraged 
 in learning, lil<e his 
 brothers, by " an 
 Esquire Palmer," the 
 principal gentleman of 
 the parish, qualified as 
 a scrivener, and became 
 a considerable man in 
 the county. He acted 
 as clerk to the Com- 
 missioners of Taxes, 
 and was undoubtedly a 
 person of intelligence 
 who took part in many 
 public-spirited move- 
 m e n t s . Thomas 
 Franklin died at Ecton 
 1702-3, and it is worthy of 
 the unsafe condition of 
 time remembering also 
 
 
 R.. 
 
 Th; Ancient Font, Ecton. 
 
 on Januar)' 7th, 
 note, as illustrating 
 the country in his 
 the fact that his 
 
 sister married a mar» 
 of the name — that the 
 entry next preceding 
 his in the register is 
 that of a husbandman, 
 one Thomas Morris, 
 who had been 
 barbarously robbed and 
 murdered by tliree 
 highwaymen upon the 
 Wellingborough road. 
 T homas Franklin's 
 gravestone still stands 
 in Ecton churchyard, 
 and bears the following 
 inscription: "Here 
 lyeth the bod\' of 
 Tliomas Franklin, who 
 departed this 1 ife 
 January 6*, Anno Dni. 
 1702, in the sixty-fifth 
 yeare of his age." The 
 memorial stone to his 
 wife is near hy , and is 
 thus inscribed : " Here 
 lyeth the body of 
 Eleanor Franklin, the 
 wife of Thomas 
 Franklin, who departed this life the I4»h of 
 March, 171 1, in the 77th yeare of her age." 
 
 Benjamin, brother of this Thomas Frank- 
 lin, was an ingenious man, and among the 
 
 ^ 
 
 Tomb ot Thomas Franklin. Ecton. 
 
 Tomb of Eleanor Franklm, Ecton.
 
 THE FRANKLIN COUNTRY. 
 
 127 
 
 
 manuscripts and books which came from him 
 to his illustrious nepiievv, were some consisting 
 of poems and sermons, partly written in a 
 shorthand of his own. 
 
 To the third of the brothers, John, the 
 dyer of Banbury, the youngest brother, Josias, 
 Benjamin Franklin's father, was apprenticed. 
 Josias Franklin is recorded to have been 
 "converted" by certain Nonconformist minis- 
 ters, but many circumstances regarding him 
 are unknown. He Ictt Itn^Liiid f(jr America 
 about 1682 with 
 his wife and 
 three children, 
 and settled at 
 Boston as a 
 soap-boiler and 
 tallow - chandler 
 in 1706, and 
 there Benjamin 
 Franklin, his 
 youngest son, 
 was born. The 
 philosopher has 
 placed it upon 
 record that his 
 researches 
 showed him to 
 be the youngest 
 son of the 
 youngest son for 
 about five 
 generations 
 back. It was 
 intended that he 
 should follow his 
 father's trade, 
 but his active 
 and, as he says, 
 his "bookish" 
 tastes, caused 
 him to rebel ; 
 and though he 
 would have liked 
 to go to sea, he 
 was at last 
 apprenticed to 
 his brother 
 James as a 
 printer, through 
 which trade 
 he rose to the heights of his philosopln-, 
 and gained the esteem and the trust 
 of his countrymen in many important 
 affairs. 
 
 There is no certainty as to the place in 
 which the Franklins dwelt at Ecton. Some, 
 without authority, have pointed to the 
 Manor Farm, but the tradition is uncertain 
 and doubtful. Others say that the 
 Franklins' house was destroyed by fire 
 many years ago. There is, in a garden 
 
 
 np 
 
 fcynifi^^^ 
 
 <K,a^ 
 
 rtBriiiiri|iiiir<iinw 
 
 
 
 Title-page of the Register Book, Ecton. 
 
 adjoining the rectory, a well spoken of as 
 the Franklin Well, and it is possible that 
 the village forge was at this place, for it 
 is in close proximity to the main thorough- 
 fiire of the village. 
 
 The church of St. Mary Magdalene at 
 Ecton is interesting, but not distinguished, in 
 character. It has a massive square tower, 
 with angle buttresses, upon the top of which 
 a more modern and rather incongruous portion 
 has been placed. There is much that is 
 
 worthy of note 
 externally and 
 internally in 
 the details of 
 the architecture 
 — the fine 
 arcading of the 
 aisles, sup- 
 ported by 
 octagonal piers, 
 the chancel 
 arch, and the 
 windows. The 
 present state of 
 the interior, 
 however, leaves 
 much to 
 desire. There 
 are some 
 interests in 
 the village, and 
 the place h.is 
 a certain 
 picturesqueness. 
 Its quamtness 
 has appealed 
 to artists, 
 and there is 
 something very 
 attractive 
 in the lines 
 of \' e n e r a b 1 e 
 elms which 
 f I a n k the 
 a p p r a c h by 
 the road. The 
 World's End 
 inn has lost 
 its principal 
 feature of 
 interest, for the sign which Hogarth is said 
 to have painted and presented to mine host, 
 as a " recognition of his skill as a brewer of 
 wholesome toddy," has been removed. The 
 manor house was for many years famous 
 for its Hogaiths, e.\ecuted at various 
 times by the master dari,ig his \'isits to the 
 rectory. 
 
 An interesting country is that in which 
 Ecton stands, and much more might have been 
 said about this land in which the Franklins 
 
 IV ■aXcim.uX. m mortem, ^^-fcimu-r kiWc mcninu.T 
 
 h^ l^ciH. lii^Mij «»-(*.? /J. y*^**',-''P«^^^/»y<^ 
 
 Tie 7nffTinii»T
 
 
 =^<-nir^<- fi^V /itTn<^ c/^ 'i^'-f^ ']^"*<^ ^^'»^' l^J2^'fl*-r*<^ 
 
 £2$t-rmt^ /yV)«<* tf'/J'xnA /<-»cV /"^<~ ^Vi/ J ('/^ V^^lj^fMrr/^ C^ ^mt. ^5 
 
 I 
 
 BAPTISMAL REGISTER OF THOMAS, 
 
 SON OF HENRY FRANKLIN, OCTOBER STH, 1598. 
 
 *«**»i. 
 
 « 
 
 
 r^|3-^^f^^ ;^-/ ' 
 
 
 BAPTISMAL RLUISTER OF THOMAS, 
 
 SON OF THOMAS FRANKLIN, MARCH iiTH, 1657. 
 
 ( 128)
 
 THE FRANKLIN COUNTRY. 129 
 
 ' ^/ ^//^' </^>^--^ ^^^^ O^f^rn^^ m^Wnf 
 
 
 
 Signature of Thomas Franklin, Ecton, September, 1653. 
 
 spent their lives. The interesting church of features do certainly give the impression 
 
 Great Billing may be alluded to, while the still of very high antiquity. Castle Ashby, the 
 
 more famous church of Earls Barton should famous house of the Marquis of Northampton, 
 
 be visited for the great and singular tower, is another attraction of the same neighbour- 
 
 which, by common consent, is referred to hood, and the sylvan delights of Yardley Chase, 
 
 Saxon times, and its massive and sombre and the scenes in which Cowper passed his 
 
 character, its round arches, and many unusual days, are a few miles beyond to the south. 
 
 Burial Register of Thomas Franklin, Ecton, January, 1702-3.
 
 A TABLE OF DISTANCES. Distances by 
 
 
 MILLS 
 
 
 Alcester 
 
 • SI 
 
 Evesham 
 
 Alderminster 
 
 5* 
 
 
 Alveston 
 
 . 2* 
 
 Hampton Lucy 
 
 Aston Cantlow 
 
 6i 
 
 Haselor 
 
 Atherstone 
 
 ■ 3 
 
 Harvington 
 
 honington 
 
 BiDFORD 
 
 6S 
 
 
 Billesley 
 
 • 5 
 
 Kineton 
 
 BiNTON 
 
 4 
 
 Leamington 
 
 Charlecote 
 
 • 4i 
 
 LUDDINGTON 
 
 Clifford Chambers 
 
 2i 
 
 
 COMPTON WyNYATES . 
 
 ■ 15 
 
 Preston-on-St( 
 
 Road 
 
 from Stratford -on -A 
 
 ^on. 
 
 MILES 
 
 
 MILLS 
 
 14* 
 
 Shipton-on-Stour 
 
 . II 
 
 
 Shotteky 
 
 I 
 
 5i 
 
 Snitterfield . 
 
 • 4* 
 
 7 
 
 loj 
 
 Temple Grafton . 
 
 6 
 
 lO 
 
 Tredington 
 
 ■ 8J 
 
 
 Tysoe, Lower 
 
 I2j 
 
 10 
 
 Tysoe, Upper . 
 
 ■ I3i 
 
 II 
 
 Warwick 
 
 Si 
 
 2j 
 
 Welcombe 
 
 2 
 
 
 Wellesbourne Hastings 
 
 5i 
 
 4 
 
 Wellesbourne Mountford 
 
 ■ 5 
 
 
 Wilmcote . 
 
 4 
 
 Edgehill 
 
 Ashow 
 
 Baddeslev Clinton 
 Barford (by Warwick) 
 Bishop's Itchington (by 
 
 Harbury) 
 Bishop's Tachbrook 
 Blakedown Mill 
 Bourton (by Princethorpe) 
 Brandon 
 
 Charlecote (by Warwick) 
 Chesford Bridge 
 Claverdon (by Warwick) 
 
 COMPTON WYNYATES . 
 
 Coventry . 
 Edgehill Tower 
 Guy's Cliff Mill 
 
 Salford Priors 
 
 8* 
 
 Distances by Road from Leamington. 
 
 MILES 
 
 
 MILLS 
 
 6S 
 
 Hampton Lucy 
 Hampton-on-the-Hill (by 
 
 • 9i 
 
 9i 
 
 Warwick) 
 
 • 45 
 
 5 
 
 Haseley' 
 
 6 
 
 
 Hatton 
 
 • 6J 
 
 8 
 
 Henley-in-Arden . 
 
 12* 
 
 2} 
 
 HuNNiNGHAM (by Offchuixli) 
 
 . 4* 
 
 2i 
 
 
 
 loi 
 
 Kenilworth 
 
 53 
 
 9i 
 
 Kineton (by Warwick) 
 
 13 
 
 8f 
 
 3i 
 
 (by Gaydon Inn) 
 
 Hi 
 
 Ladbroke 
 
 • 9 
 
 Si 
 
 
 
 19* 
 
 Marton 
 
 8* 
 
 9i 
 
 MiLVERTON 
 
 . 2J 
 
 155 
 
 Norton Lindsey 
 Offchurch 
 
 6* 
 
 S 
 
 Radford Semele . 
 rowington 
 
 Snitterfield (by Warwick) 
 
 SOOTHAM 
 
 Stivichall 
 Stoneleigh Abbey 
 Stoneleigh Lodge 
 Stratford-on-Avon 
 
 Temple Balsall 
 
 Ufton . 
 
 Warwick Castle . 
 Welcombe (by Warwick) 
 Wellesbourne 
 
 WOLSTON 
 
 WooDCOTE House 
 Wroxall Abbey 
 
 MILES 
 
 If 
 
 ■ Si 
 
 Si 
 
 ■ 7 
 8* 
 
 • si 
 
 35 
 
 I2j 
 
 4j 
 
 95 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 5i 
 
 Distances from Local Railway Stations. 
 
 
 STATION 
 
 m:i 1 s 
 
 
 STATION 
 
 
 MILES 
 
 Arrow 
 
 . Alcester 
 
 I 
 
 Norton Lindsey 
 
 . Claverdon 
 
 
 • li 
 
 Ashow 
 
 Kenilworth 
 
 -4 
 
 
 
 
 
 Aston Cantlow . 
 
 . Bearley 
 
 2* 
 
 Packington, Great 
 
 Hampton-in 
 
 Arden 
 
 2i 
 
 
 Great Alne 
 
 !i 
 
 Packwood 
 Pinley 
 
 . Knowle 
 Claverdon 
 
 
 . I* 
 
 Baddesley Clinton 
 
 KiNGSWOOD 
 
 '* 
 
 
 
 
 
 Billesley 
 
 Wilmcote 
 
 2 
 
 Radway 
 
 . Kineton 
 
 • 
 
 3i 
 
 Brington, Great 
 
 . Althorp Parx 
 
 >i 
 
 ROWINGTON . 
 
 KiNGSWOOD 
 
 • 
 
 li 
 
 Little . 
 
 II II 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 Butler's Marston 
 
 . Kineton 
 
 li 
 
 Snitterfield 
 Southam 
 
 . Bearley 
 Marton 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Compton Verney 
 
 Kineton 
 
 2 
 
 Stoneleigh 
 
 . Kenilworth 
 
 
 3 
 
 CoMPTON Wynvates 
 
 II 
 
 7 
 
 SULGRAVE 
 
 Banbury 
 
 
 6i 
 
 COUGHTON 
 
 Alcester 
 
 2 
 
 II 
 
 . Culworth 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 II 
 
 Helmdon(GC-) . 
 
 I 
 
 Earls Barton 
 
 Castle Ashby 
 
 li 
 
 .. 
 
 . Helmdon (L 
 
 & N.W 
 
 ) 2* 
 
 ECTON 
 
 . Billing 
 
 ■ ^i 
 
 ,1 
 
 MORETON PiNKNEY 
 
 ■ 3i 
 
 Haseley 
 
 Hatton 
 
 o 
 
 Temple Balsall 
 
 . Knowle 
 
 
 3 
 
 Haselor . 
 
 . Alcester 
 
 • k 
 
 Temple Grafton 
 
 Alcester 
 
 
 3 
 
 Hatton 
 
 Hatton 
 
 1 
 
 .1 
 
 . BlNTON 
 
 
 2 
 
 Henley-in-Arden 
 
 . Bearley 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hillborough 
 
 Bidford 
 
 ■i 
 
 Wappenbury . 
 Welford . 
 
 Marton 
 
 . BiNTON 
 
 
 • 3 
 
 I 
 
 Kenilworth Castle 
 
 Kenilworth . 
 
 I 
 
 Wilmcote 
 
 Wilmcote , 
 
 
 i 
 
 Knowle 
 
 Knowle 
 
 'i 
 
 Wixford . 
 wolverton . 
 
 . Alcester 
 Claverdon 
 
 
 2 
 ij 
 
 Lapworth 
 
 . KiNGSWOOD 
 
 2 
 
 Wootton . 
 
 KeNILW'ORTH 
 
 
 ij 
 
 
 
 
 WORMLEIGHTON 
 
 Fenny Compton 
 
 I* 
 
 Merioen 
 
 Hampton-in Arden 
 
 3 
 
 Wroxall . 
 
 Hatton 
 
 
 3
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Althorp House 
 
 Akden, Forest of 
 
 Arden Family .... 
 
 Aston Cantlow .... 
 
 Baddesley Clinton . . . • 
 
 Bearley ..... 
 Beaudesert .... 
 
 BiDFORD . . . • ■ 
 
 Billesley . . . . ■ 
 
 Billing, Great .... 
 BiNTON Bridges . . . • 
 
 Birthplace of Shakespeare 
 Blacklow Hill .... 
 Brington, Little, and Washington House . 
 Brington, Great, AND Washington Memorial 
 
 Canons Ashby .... 
 Charlecote House and Chukcii . 
 Charles I. at Holdenby 
 Clifford Chambers .... 
 Clopton Bridge . . . • 
 
 Clopton House .... 
 
 Compton Wynyates ... 
 Culvvorth . . . . • 
 
 Distances, A Table of. 
 
 Earls Barton Church . 
 Ecton and the Franklins . 
 Edgecote House 
 
 Five Gables, The, Stratford. 
 Franklin, Benjamin, his Ancestors . 
 
 Gaveston, Piers, Beheaded 
 
 Grammar School, Stratford 
 
 Guild Hall and Chapel, Stratford 
 
 Guy, Earl of Warwick 
 
 Guy's Cliff .... 
 
 Hampton Lucy .... 
 
 Harvard House, Stratford 
 
 Hathaway, Anne . . . . 
 
 Henley-in-Akden .... 
 
 Holdenby (Holmey) House 
 
 Holy Trinity Church, Stratford 
 
 Hospital, Leicester's, Warwick 
 
 Irving, Washington, at Stratford 
 
 Kenilworth Castle . . . . 
 
 Kytson, Sir Thomas 
 
 Leamington ..... 
 
 Leicester's Hospital, Warwick 
 
 Leigh, Sir Thomas .... 
 
 Lucy, Sir Thomas 
 
 Luddington ■ . . . . 
 
 Memorial Buildings, Stratford 
 Motstow Hill .... 
 
 Museum, The Shakespeare, Stratford 
 
 PAGE 
 
 117 
 
 • 71 
 
 ■ 34. 35 
 
 ■ . 35 
 
 3. 83-S5 
 
 35 
 
 ■ 71 
 
 32 
 
 • 34 
 
 129 
 
 ■ 32 
 
 3-6 
 
 72 
 
 116, 117 
 
 s 11S-120 
 
 114 
 
 ■38-43 
 
 122 
 
 • 32 
 
 25 
 
 . 28 
 
 43-46 
 
 113, 114 
 
 130 
 
 
 129 
 
 124- 
 
 127 
 
 
 114 
 
 
 9 
 
 124- 
 
 127 
 
 
 72 
 
 
 14 
 
 12 
 
 -14 
 
 
 72 
 
 72 
 
 -75 
 
 
 43 
 6 
 
 6, 28 
 
 29 
 
 
 71 
 
 121, 
 
 122 
 
 14 
 64 
 
 -24 
 -66 
 
 • 77 
 
 -Si 
 
 102, 
 
 105 
 
 
 68 
 
 . 64 
 
 -66 
 
 
 90 
 
 3S, 39 
 
 42 
 
 
 32 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 go 
 
 . 
 
 4 
 
 New Place, Stratford 
 
 Northampton and Queen Eleanor's Cross 
 
 Portraits, Shakespeare 
 
 ROLLWRIGHT StONES 
 
 Rowington ..... 
 
 PAGE 
 
 10 
 
 123 
 
 92-95 
 
 43 
 
 Shakespeare Chronology, A . . . 96 
 
 Shakespeare, Henry ... 3 
 
 Shakespeare, John . ■ 3. 4. 36 
 
 Shakespeare, William — 
 
 Birthplace: .... . 3-6 
 
 His House of the New Place . . .10 
 
 His Kindred at Stratford 9, 10, 12, 14 
 
 Marriage with Anne Hathaway . 28, 30, 34 
 
 Monument ... .16 
 
 Stratford the original source of his inspiration i 
 
 Shakespeare Portraits 
 
 Shottery .... 
 
 Snitterfield .... 
 
 Spencers of Wormleighton and Althorp 
 
 102, 105, loS. 114 
 Warwick 
 
 92-95 
 28-32 
 
 35. 36 
 
 St. Mary's Church. 
 
 Stoneleigh Abbey 
 
 Stoneleigh Church . . . . 
 
 Stratford — 
 
 Ancient Houses 
 
 Clopton Bridge 
 
 Clopton House . . . . 
 
 Guild Chapel, Hall and School 
 
 Holy Trinity Church and Shakespeare 
 Memorials 
 
 New Place .... 
 
 Shakespeare's Birthplace 
 
 Shakespeare Memorial Buildings 
 
 Town Hall . . . . 
 
 Trinity College School 
 Sulgrave . . . . 
 
 Church and Washington Memorials 
 
 Manor House 
 
 Temple Balsall . . . . 
 
 Temple Grafton 
 
 Warwick ...... 
 
 Castle . . . -47 
 
 Leicester's Hospital ... 64 
 
 Priory ..... 
 
 St. John's Hospital .... 
 
 St. Mary's Church . . .58 
 
 Washington, George, His Ancestors . gg et 
 Washington, Laurence, Mayor of Northampton 
 
 I co- 
 Memorial Inscription, &c., Sulgrave 
 Washington, Rev. Laurence . . . 107- 
 
 Washington Family . . loo-iio, 114- 
 
 Wilmcote . . 34 
 
 Wormleighton .... 
 
 Wro.xall ..... 
 
 17, 118 
 5S-64 
 88-go 
 
 ■ 91 
 
 3.6,9 
 
 25 
 
 . 28 
 
 12, 14 
 
 14-24 
 
 10 
 
 3-6 
 
 24 
 
 • 24 
 14 
 
 99. 105 
 
 111-113 
 
 105, no, HI 
 
 34 
 
 47 
 -57 
 -66 
 
 68 
 
 68 
 
 -64 
 
 seq. 
 
 -105 
 112 
 109 
 "7 
 . 35 
 114 
 88
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 American Window, Holy Trinity Church 
 Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Shotteky — 
 
 Interiors , . . . . 
 
 Photo.. D. McNieUe. Slratford. 
 
 View from the Garden 
 
 Photo.. Fritr £- Co.. Reis.ite. 
 
 View from the Road . 
 Arden House. Wilmcote 
 Aston Cantlow .... 
 
 Baddesley Clinton .... 
 BiLLESLEY Hall .... 
 Birthplace of Shakespeare — 
 
 Exterior \'iews .... 
 
 Parlour and Kitchen . 
 
 Photo.. Frith S- Co.. Reigate. 
 
 The Birth Room .... 
 
 Photo.. D. McNieUe. Stratford. 
 
 The Debk .... 
 The Librarv .... 
 
 Photo..' Poiiltoil &■ Son. 
 
 The Library, East End 
 
 The Museum .... 
 Brington, Little .... 
 Bkington. Great . .114 
 
 Church and Cross 
 
 Spencer Monuments . 
 
 Charlecote Hall, The Terrace 
 
 Ehzabethan Suite. Great Hall and Librar 
 
 P)...to,. D. McNielle. Stratford. 
 
 The Gate-house 
 
 The Garden Gate 
 
 View from the River 
 Clifford Cha.mbers, The Vicarage 
 Clopton Bridge. Stratford 
 Clopton House .... 
 
 Compton Wynyates 
 
 The Hall, various Views . 
 
 Photos,. \'a!sntine i5- Sons. Dundee. 
 
 The Quadrangle 
 
 Photo.. D. McNielle. Stratford. 
 ECTON AND THE FraNKLIN LOCALITIES 
 
 PAGE 
 21 
 
 30 
 
 • 27 
 29 
 
 31. 35 
 36 
 
 S3-86 
 34 
 
 • 4. 5 
 
 9 
 
 log, 113 
 122, 123 
 
 "5 
 120, 121 
 
 37 
 39.40,42 
 
 41 
 
 42 
 
 38 
 
 ■ 32 
 
 2S 
 . 28 
 43. 46 
 
 45, 46, 47, 48 
 
 48 
 . 124-126 
 
 Fountain, .American Memorial, Stratford . 3 
 
 Franklin Gr.avestones, Ecton . 126 
 
 Franklin Registers . . 127, 128, 129 
 
 Grammar School, Stratford . -13, 14 
 
 Guild Chapel and Five Gables, Stratford 10, ii 
 Guy's Cliff .... 69, 70, 72-74, 76 
 
 Harvard House, Stratford 
 Holy Trinity Church, Stratford 
 
 Pht>to.. D. McNielle. Str.itford. 
 
 .\merican Window 
 Exterior Views 
 Interior Views 
 Shakespeare Memorials 
 The Lime Avenue 
 
 Photo.. D. McNieUe. Stratford. 
 
 The Monument 
 
 Plioto.. Poulton 5- Son. 
 
 The Old Font 
 
 View from the Island 
 
 Photo., u. McNielle. Stratford. 
 
 Kenilworth — 
 
 Castle .... 
 Castle End 
 The Church . 
 The Ford . 
 
 To 
 
 face 
 
 M 
 
 12 
 
 e I 
 
 15 
 
 16, 
 17. 
 
 18, 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 24 
 22 
 
 
 19. 
 
 21 
 
 94 
 16 
 
 21 
 
 20 
 16 
 
 
 77- 
 
 -80, 
 
 82 
 
 81 
 75 
 75 
 
 Leicester's Hospital, Warwick 
 The Nilometer and Norman Arch 
 
 Photo.. Bedford. 
 
 Luddington .... 
 
 63-68 
 69 
 
 33 
 
 Map of the Shakespeare Country. 
 
 Map of the Washington and Franklin Countries. 
 
 Memorial Fountain, American 
 
 Memorial Theatre ..... 
 
 Photo.. D. McNieUe. Stratford. 
 
 New Place, Site of . 
 
 Red Horse Inn. Washington Irving's Room 
 
 Photo.. Bedford. 
 
 26 
 
 94 
 
 Shakespeare Monument, Holy Trinity Church 
 
 Photo., Bedford. 
 
 Shakespeare, Portraits of . Frontispiece, 92-95 
 
 Shottery — 
 
 Anne Hathaway's Cottage . . 27 
 
 Stoneleigh Abbey .... 
 
 The Church ..... 
 Stratford — 
 
 American Memorial Fountain . 
 
 Ancient Bridge .... 
 
 Photo.. Frith G- Co.. Reigale. 
 
 Ancient Houses . . 2, 3, 5, 11, 12 
 
 Clopton Bridge .... 28 
 
 Clopton House . . . . .28 
 
 Grammar School . . . . 13, 14 
 
 Guild Chapel . . . .10, 11, 
 
 Holy Trinity Church . . -15 
 
 Memorial Theatre .... 
 
 Photo,, D. McNielle. Stratford. 
 
 New Place, Site ot . . . 
 
 Red Horse Inn, Washington Irving's Room 
 
 Photo., BedlV'td. 
 
 Skakespeare's Birthplace. 
 Shakespeare Memorials 
 The Market Place 
 
 Photo.. Frith iS- Co., Reieate. 
 
 St, John's Hospital, Warwick. 
 St. Mary's Church, Warwick 
 The Crypt and Ducking Stonl 
 
 photo.. Bedford. 
 
 SuLGRAVE Manor House 
 Solgrave Church 
 Treasure Chest . 
 
 29. 30 
 
 87-91 
 
 88 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 12 
 
 -22 
 
 25 
 
 12 
 
 26 
 
 19. 21, 94 
 . 26 
 
 68 
 
 58-62 
 
 67 
 
 99-102 
 
 103. 104, 105, 
 
 107 
 108 
 
 Warwick — 
 
 Castle ... 47. 49. 50, 51, 53-57 
 
 Guy's Porridge Pot ... 53 
 
 Photo.. Poulton tS- Son. 
 
 Leicester's Hospital . 63-67 
 
 Priory 7' 
 
 Remains of Ancient Bridge . 52 
 
 St. John's Hospital . . 68 
 
 St. Mary's Church . . . 58-62 
 
 The Cedar Drawing Room ... 58 
 
 Photo., Poulton &■ Son. 
 
 The Mill ..... 54 
 
 Washington, Laurence, Memorial Brass . 108 
 
 Washington House, Little Brington hi, 112 
 
 Washington Sundial, Little Brington . 113 
 
 Washington Registers . iifi, 117 
 
 Washington Inscriptions iiS, 119 
 
 Wilmcote, Home of Shakespeare's Mother . 31 
 
 Photo . Bedford. 
 
 Wilmcote, Arden House . . -35
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY.— Advertisements. 
 
 SHaliespeare's Country. 
 
 & 
 
 BRITISH AND AMERICAN VISITORS 
 
 Will find that the Largest Store for 
 
 PbotograpbSt Guides, and maps 
 
 IS AT 
 
 9, HIGH STREET, WARWICK. 
 
 THE ONLY AUTHORISED GUIDES TO . . . 
 
 Warwick Castle, Guys Cliff, Kenilworth, 
 
 Stratford-on-Al^on, and Charlecote 
 
 ARE TO BE OBTAINED AT THE 
 ABOVE ADDRESS, FROM .... 
 
 Henry T. Cooke & 
 
 where tiie largest Collection of . . . 
 
 Photographs 
 
 of this highly historical locality may be seen. 
 
 OURISTS ARE INVITED TO CALL AND 
 OBTAIN FREE INFORMATION AS TO 
 WHAT IS TO BE SEEN, AND HOW 
 BEST TO SEE IT. 
 
 T 
 
 The Entrance Gate, Leicester's Hosi'ital
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY.— Advertisements. 
 
 WARWICK 
 
 (Si Shakespeare's Country. 
 
 WHERE TO STAY- 
 
 THE WOOLPACR HOTEL 
 
 OLD ESTABLISHED nRST-CLASS HOUSE FOR 
 
 Families, Gentlemen, American Tourists, etc. 
 
 M' 
 
 UCH enlarged, and heated throughout 
 in winter. Within a few minutes' 
 walk of St. Mary's Church, the 
 Castle, and Earl of Leycester's Hospital, and 
 centrally situated for visiting Guy's Cliffe, 
 Kenilworth, Stoneleigh Abbey, Charlecote 
 Park, and Stratford-on-A\'on. 
 
 The Coff£e Rcos[. 
 
 LADIES' COFFEE ROOM, 
 BATHROOMS, 
 
 SMOKING LOUNGE, 
 
 EXCELLENT STABLING. 
 CHARGES MODERATE. 
 
 CARRIAGES OF EVERY DESCRIPTION. 
 
 The Woolpack Hotel. 
 
 Mrs. HALBEARD, Proprietress.
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY.— Advertisements. 
 
 111. 
 
 Royal Leamington Spa. 
 
 A Convenient Centre for 
 Kenilworth, Warwick, . 
 Quy's Cliffe 
 
 WHERE TO STAY. 
 
 LA PLAISANCE. 
 
 Stoneleigh Abbey, . . 
 Ciiarlecote Parl<, . . . 
 Stratford-on-Avon, etc. 
 
 High-Class Private Hotel & hoarding Establishment 
 
 FOR . . 
 
 FAMILIES, 
 GENTLEMEN 
 
 Well appointed, every home comfort, 
 excellent cuisine; south aspect; most 
 pleasantly, conveniently, and cen- 
 trally situated in the highest and 
 most fashionable part of Leamington. 
 
 Near Parade, Pump Room, Public 
 Gardens, and Trams, and within five 
 minutes' walk of the Campion Hills. 
 
 
 
 
 ^WL 
 
 
 
 ■■ ^'jMli^jL 
 
 Wm^m 
 
 m 
 
 w^ 
 
 MTOiiii'.ii'i«i iMm'- 
 
 
 wm 
 
 La Plaisance. 
 
 Telephone No.: "0655 Leamington," 
 Telegraphic Address : " La Plaisance, Leamington.' 
 
 AND . . 
 
 AMERICAN 
 VISITORS. 
 
 SMOKING ROOM. 
 
 BATHROOM. 
 
 FOOTMAN. 
 
 Private Silling Rooms, if required. 
 Good Accommodation for Cycles. 
 
 Garage for Motors and Livery 
 Stables close by. 
 
 Lady Resident : 
 MISS PROFFITT-WHITE. 
 
 ^^ Leamington Spa Courier 
 
 and Warwickshire Standard." 
 
 PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY. 
 
 Proprietor, FRANK GLOVER. 
 
 Price, 1d. 
 
 THE BEST LOCAL 
 NEWSPAPER . . 
 
 ROYAL LtAMINGTON SPA. 
 
 {B\- permission 0/ the Propriclorof the "Leamington 
 
 {By peimission of the Proprietor of the 
 " Leamington Spa Courier.") 
 
 ALSO 
 
 Publisher ana Propricior . 
 of the Excellent and . . 
 Well-kno%>n Handbook , 
 
 SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHPLACE, STRATFORD-ON-A\'ON. 
 
 {By permission oj the Pr.^prietor o the " Leamington Spa Courier.' 
 
 Spa Courier.") 
 
 "SHAKESPEARE'S LAND/' 
 
 By C. J. RIBTON-TURNER. 
 
 Containire some of the latest Maps and PLANsof the whole of South Warwickshire, and beautifully 
 
 illustrated. 
 
 Indispensable to Motorists, Cyclists. Pedestrians, and Tourists generally. 
 
 Bound in cloth Price 33. 6d. nett.
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY.— Advevtisements. 
 
 Royal Leamington Spa. 
 
 LADIES^ TAILOR and COSTUA4IER 
 
 32, The Parade, Leamington Spa, 
 and 4, Spring Street, London, W. 
 
 jS^ 
 
 London Telephone No.: "723. Western. 
 
 Mr. BLUCK 
 
 at;ends Ihe Leamington Eitablishment personally. 
 
 All Garments are made in his London Workrooms (uhich are 
 perfect in equipment and sanitation), by an efficient stafT. 
 
 A Large Stock of Cloths always on View 
 at 32, The Parade. 
 
 A Selection of 
 
 SILKS, DRESS MATERIALS, TRIMMINGS, etc., 
 
 specially brought from his London House for individual 
 requirements. 
 
 ^•«2S_ 
 
 COSTUMES, 
 DRIVING COATS, 
 RIDING HABITS, 
 
 FURS, FUR-LINED and 
 
 FUR-TRIMMED 
 
 GARMENTS 
 
 OF EVERY DESCRIPTION. 
 
 FURS RENOVATED 
 AhD REWORKED. 
 
 RECEPTION and 
 DINNER GOWNS, 
 BLOUSES, SHIRTS, etc. 
 
 32, THE PARADE, LEAMINGTON SPA, and at 4, SPRING STREET, LONDON, W.
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY.— Advcrlisaimits. 
 
 ROYAL LEAMINGTON SPA. 
 
 CLEVEDON HOU5E, 
 
 44, CLARENDON SQUARE. 
 
 High-Class l^esioential 'Boarding House for Families, 
 Gentlemen, English and (American Tourists, etc. . . 
 
 PLEASANT SUMMER AND WINTER RESORT. 
 
 HUNTING CENTRE. 
 
 Cle\edon HorSE. 
 
 ■* I ^HE House is most handsomely decorated and appointed, and pleasantly situated in 
 ■*■ the hijihest and most fashionable part of the town, within a few minutes' walk 
 of the Pump Room, Jephson Gardens, and principal places of interest. Every convenience 
 and comfort. Excellent Cuisine, SMOKE ROOM, etc. Use of Private Gardens 
 (Clarendon Square). 
 
 For full particulars address the Lady Resident. 
 
 Stevenson & Sons, 
 
 CARRIAGE MANUFACTURERS, 
 
 2, PARADE, ANoCLARENDON AVENUE, royal LEAMINGTON spa. 
 
 EST. 
 
 1846. 
 
 C. W. BROMWICH 
 
 Plating, Enamelling, and Repairing of 
 Motors and Cycles are Specialities. . . . 
 
 GARAGE FOR MOTORS. 
 
 STORAGE FOR CYCLES. 
 
 FOR 
 
 MOTORS. 
 
 PETROL. 
 
 }) Motors for Hire by Day, Week, or Season. 
 
 Motors Run from Warqvick to Stratfora-on-A'von. 
 
 Motor Works : 
 
 MORTON STREET, KENILWORTH ROAD. 
 
 (Close to Ui-i-er Parade and Clarendon Hotel.) 
 
 By [permission oj the Protirietors of the '^Leamington Spa 
 Courier."
 
 VI. 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY.— Advertisements. 
 
 ROYAL LEAMINGTON SPA, WARWICK, 
 AND SHAKESPEARE'S COUNTRY. 
 
 ROYAL LEAMINGTON SPA. 
 
 The "Shakespeare" Coach, 
 
 FARES: 
 Box Seats, 7/6; 
 u Otl^er Seats, 6 - 
 
 LEAMINGTON TO STRATFORD-ON-AVON, 
 
 will run daily, Sundays excepted, starting from the REGENT 
 HOTEL, LEAMINGTON, at 10 a.m., and returning from the 
 Shakespeare Hotel, Stratford, at 3.30 p.m. 
 
 WARWICK. 
 
 Warwick Arms 
 Hotel. 
 
 First-class Hotel for Families 
 and Gentlemen. Ladies' Coffee 
 and Drawing Room. Near the 
 Castle, and most central for 
 visiting Ken; Iworth and Stratford. 
 
 JOHN PERKIN, 
 
 Job Master and Dealer in Horses, 
 LILLINCTON MEWS, LEAMINGTON SPA. 
 
 BRAKES, CARRIAGES, Etc. 
 
 Branch Booking and Order Offices : The 
 Regent Hotel and Be/ant's Music Stores. 
 
 Telephone No. 541. 
 
 ROYAL 
 LEAMINGTON SPA. 
 
 WHERE TO STAY. 
 
 The I'VRAI'E, I.fcAM'.NGTON Sl'A. 
 
 (By permission of the Proprietors of the Leamington Spa Courier. 
 
 Crown Hotel. 
 
 (FAMILY HOTEL.) 
 
 ■piNEST Coffee Room in the Midlands ; Reading and Drawing 
 
 Rooms; Private Sitting Rooms ; Billiard Room (two tables); 
 
 Electric Light. First-Class Livery and Biit Stables. Motor Accom- 
 
 modati n. Close to Pump Room, Jephson Gardens, and both Railway 
 
 Stations 
 
 ARTHUR PHILLIPS, Proprietor. 
 
 Clement Scolt mentions in Free Lame of a visit to the "Crown." He 
 says : " Ic is difficult to get me to my room, for I have cist envious eyes on great 
 Grandfather's Clocks (green and gold Japanese pattern), Old English Sideboards 
 (beautifally carved), andon all the old-world treasures of an Inn, such as one seldom 
 meets with in these flashy, luxurious days." 
 
 Telephone No. 0654- Telegrams: "CROWN. LEAMI NQTON. ' 
 
 Patronised by Ainerican Visitors- 
 Posting House. 
 
 Proprietor, E. SHERREY. 
 
 NEWNES' 
 
 Thin Paper 
 Classics. 
 
 1 'rioted in large clear type, on extremely thin but thoroughly 
 opaque paper, narrow foolscap 8vo, 6} by 3 J, with Photogravure 
 Frontispiece and Title-page to each volume printed on Japanese 
 Vellum, from drawings by Edmund J. Si'Llivan and A. Garth 
 
 J ONES. 
 
 " Beautiful little books bound in leather, well printed and nobly illustrated." 
 — The Sphere. 
 
 I. SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS & POEMS. 
 
 In j Volumes, wnh glossary. Lambskin, in slip case, 
 
 los. 5d. net. Parchment, in box, 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 Or separately, in lambskin, 3s. 6d. net per Volume. 
 
 Vol. I. The Comedies, with General Glossary. 
 ,, 2. The Histories and Poems. 
 „ 3. The Tragedies. 
 
 " Fills most conveniently a gap we have oft(.n wondered at in these days of 
 publishing enterprise. " — . I Uunuiim . 
 
 CEO. NEWNES, LTD., 7-12, Southampton St., Strand, W.C.
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY.— Advertisements. 
 
 Royal Leamington Spa. 
 
 Leamington Collegiate School. 
 
 Head Master; ARNOLD THORNTON, B.Sc. 
 
 LEADING FEATURES 
 
 COMMERCIAL CURRICULUM. 
 MODERN METHODS. 
 FAIR FEES. 
 
 Trial Scene from "Merchant of 
 Venice," March 1900. 
 
 GENERAL AIM— 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT 
 OF MEN, not Bookworms. 
 
 LABORATORY, 
 MUSEUM, 
 
 GYMNASIUM, 
 
 MILITARY DRILL. 
 
 THE CORPORATE LIFE 
 OF THE SCHOOL 
 
 IS STIMULATED BY 
 
 Annual Speech Day and Prize Distribution 
 Literary and Debating Society. 
 Dramatic and Musical Recitals. 
 Annual Athletic Sports. 
 Games Club, Cycle Club, etc. 
 
 SCHOLARSHIPS 
 
 For passing London Matriculation, ^lo 
 Senior Cambridge . . . j£io 
 Junior Cambridge (Honours) . £y los. 
 Junior Cambridge(Pass) ^^5 
 Preliminary Cambridge 
 (Honours) . . ;^5 
 
 (See Prospectus.) 
 
 FEES PER TERM: 
 
 BOARDERS 
 
 
 Entering under 13 
 
 M ?s 
 
 Entering over 13 
 
 lO gs. 
 
 DAY BOYS 
 
 
 Preparatory . - = 
 
 3 gs- 
 
 Lipper School 
 
 £3 17s 

 
 THE SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY.— Advertisements. 
 
 THE "COUNTRY LIFE" LIBRARY. 
 
 RE-ISSUE OF 
 
 The Century Book 
 OF Gardening. 
 
 In Twenty=six 6d, Nett Parts, 
 
 Edited by E. T. COOK 
 
 (Editor of "The Garden," Author of "Trees and Shrubs for EngHsh Gardens," 
 
 " Gardening for Beginners," etc.) 
 
 WITH A COLOURED PLATE OF TEA ROSE "LADY ROBERTS," 
 AND AN APPENDIX, BRINGING THIS REMARKABLY SUCCESSFUL WORK UP TO THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 No modern work upon 
 gardening has excited 
 more admiration or 
 gained warmer praise 
 from those with a 
 knowledge of horticulture than 
 "The Century Book of Clardening," 
 which was first issued in 1900 in 
 weekly parts, and since then has 
 commanded a large sale in this 
 country and abroad in volume form. 
 Although there have been many 
 imitations, the demand for the book 
 has increased to such an extent that 
 
 a re-issue in weekly parts, 
 
 with an Appendix, has become 
 necessary. The illustrations in this 
 new edition will be considerably 
 strengthened ; some of those that 
 appeared in the first issue having 
 been replaced by others still more 
 beautiful and instructive. Thus the 
 forthcoming parts will be even more 
 valuable and pictorial, and with the 
 Appendix will make the most fasci- 
 nating and helpful guide to horti- 
 culture that exists at the present day. 
 
 ^■^^'*^^^^^^'^ ^ 
 
 J NETT 
 
 THE CENTURY 
 
 BOOK OF 
 GARDENING 
 
 GEORGE NEWNES LTD. 
 7-lQ SOUTHAMPTON ST. STRAND W.C. 
 
 (^T* 
 
 lUU'liHJUWH!» 
 
 SOME PRESS NOTICES. 
 
 Times.— " No department of gardening is 
 neglected, and the illustrations of famous and 
 beautiful gardens and of the many winsome 
 achievements of the gardener's art are so 
 numerous and attractive as to make the veriest 
 cockney yearn to turn gardener. If 'The 
 Century Book of Gardening" does not make all 
 who see it covet their neighbours' gardens 
 through sheer despair of ever making for them- 
 selves such gardens as are there illustrated, it 
 should, at any rate, inspire everyone who desires 
 to have a garden with an ambition to make it as 
 beautiful as he can." 
 
 Standard. — " It covers everything from 
 tlie windo\% box to the extensive parterres and 
 shrubberies around one of the siately Halls of 
 l.ngland, and touches on every aspect of the 
 subject. The abundance and beauty of its 
 illustrations are characteristic of 'The Cenlury 
 Hook of Gardening.' The book, in fact, is a 
 ' florilegium" of the most charming garden 
 scenery in England." 
 
 Daily News.— " We cannot imagine a 
 more deliglitful book than this really luxurious 
 volume. Though its avowed purpose is to serve 
 as a guide to the world of tlowers, fruits and 
 homely vegetables, and to supi'ly the home 
 gardener with a reliable text book, you cannot 
 dip into any corner of it without forgetting the 
 din and dust of the great city, and flying in >our 
 iiund's eye to the quiet country-side. What a 
 lovely land is Old England, and how little we 
 know of itl The only adverse criticism which 
 we have to ofier concerning this work is that we 
 close it with a profound feeling of envy of those 
 whom a kind Providence permits to dwell in such 
 exquisite nooks as are shown to us in so many of 
 these places. What we like about this book, too, 
 is the pleasant intermingling of gossip from, say, 
 Mrs. Earle, the writer of the charming ' Pot- 
 Pourri from a Surrey Garden,' with the sternly 
 practical advice as to the rearing of such agree- 
 able edibles as say, the tasty tomato. We repeat 
 that in this book the necessary powder is 
 judiciously concealed beneath the overlaying 
 jam. And without powder how should we grow 
 even a tomato ? " 
 
 Published at the Offices of COUNTRY LIFE, 20, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, W.C. ; and by 
 GEORGE: NEWNES, Ltd., 7-12, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C.
 
 D 000 092 81
 
 V'V '&W'^''\