the preservation of the house from decay, the expenses connected therewith being defrayed by means of donations made by visitors.

The London Shakespeare Club was broken up in 1853, having published forty-seven volumes connected with Shakespeare, and materially contributed to the fund for the purchase of the "Birthplace;" the future disposal of which was now vested entirely in the hands of the gentlemen at Stratford. They were unable, for want of funds, to do more than repair dilapidations, till 1856. In that year, a gentleman, who claimed to be a collateral descendant of the dramatist, John Shakespeare, Esq., of Ashby-de-laZouch, and of Langley Priory, Leicestershire, presented the munificent sum of £2,500 to certain gentlemen, named by him as trustees, for the purpose of enabling them to restore the building, as nearly as possible, to its original state; and for providing for its proper custody. The trustees were: Thomas Thomson, Esq., M.D., Chairman; Charles Holt Bracebridge, Esq.; the Rev. Granville Granville, Vicar of Stratford; David Rice, Esq., Mayor of Stratford; William Oakes Hunt, Esq., Town-Clerk; Henry Kingsley, Esq., M.D., President of the Stratford Shakespearian Club; Robert Bell Wheler, Esq., Solicitor; and Edward Fordham Flower, Esq. The first act of these gentlemen as trustees, was, to pass the following vote of thanks to Mr. Shakespeare, for his really splendid gift.

"The trustees assembled at their first meeting, in acknowledging the receipt of £2,500, paid into the Stratford-upon-Avon old bank, in their names, by John Shakespeare, Esq., of Langley Priory, in the county of Leicester, for the purposes mentioned in a deed dated July 18th, 1856, beg to convey to Mr. Shakespeare the grateful sense they entertain of his most liberal donation to do honour to the birthplace of the Immortal Poet, Shakespeare, and to assure him, that they will endeavour to comply with his wishes by expending the money he has been pleased to entrust with them, with a due regard to economy, in carrying out, under judicious advice, the interesting object which he has so very generously contributed to promote."

The trustees next directed their attention to secure some houses, &c., which bounded the "Birthplace" on the east and west, and were understood to have originally been part of the Shakespeare property. In September, 1856, they became the purchasers of the "Banks' property," on one side, for £1,000; and of the "Warren property," on the other, for £450. Possession was taken of these portions of the old estate on the 25th of the following March. Three weeks previously, on the 5th, the trustees held a meeting, at which the Earl of Carlisle and Mr. Payne Collier, two of the trustees of the original fund, were present; and it was then resolved to engage Mr. Edward M. Barry, son of Sir Charles Barry, as architect, and to request him to visit Stratford, for the purpose of surveying the property, and suggesting the alterations required, to invest the "Birthplace" with as much of its original character as possible; and also the best means of putting it in a state of substantial repair.

The Stratford Royal Shakespearian Club has, since its commencement, held "high festival" on the 23rd of April, the birthday of the poet. At its meeting in 1857, a report was read from the "Birthplace Committee," of which body Dr. Kingsley, in the absence of Dr. Thomson, acts as chairman. In this document it was stated, that "ever since the purchase of the Shakespearian property, year after year, the Birthplace Committee had had reason to regret their inability to take any efficient steps for the protection and preservation of the birthplace. A heavy responsibility had been incurred in order to complete the purchase of the property; and it was not until last year that the committee were able to report its entire liquidation." Mr. Shakespeare's donation was

then mentioned, and his payment of the money into the Avon bank to the account of the trustees. Soon after, he visited the birthplace, accompanied by the trustees; and, continues the report, "he at once agreed to the importance of isolating the building from all other buildings, with the view of protecting it from the risk of fire." The purchases before mentioned were therefore made, and such of the buildings pulled down as were likely to endanger the security of the principal house. That edifice was thus rendered isolated, and, so far, safe from the danger of contagious decay, and that destruction which one building may bring upon another.

On

Mr. E. M. Barry visited Stratford in July, 1857, and, in company with Mr. E. Gibbs, architect, carefully and minutely inspected the whole of the building. his return to London, he prepared and forwarded to the committee a report, accompanied by a plan and drawings, setting forth what he considered necessary to be effected. His principal recommendations were, in the words of the report, "to remove, with a careful hand, all those excrescences which are decidedly the result of modern innovation; to uphold, with jealous care, all that now remains of undoubted antiquity; not to destroy any portion about whose character the slightest doubt may exist, but to restore any parts needed, in similar manner, that the restorations can never be mistaken for the old work, though harmonising with it; and, lastly, to adopt such measures as modern science enables us to bring to our aid, for the perfect preservation of the building." The committee resolved immediately to act upon these recommendations; and in the report made to the club, at the Shakespearian Festival of April 23, 1858-after stating that a temporary residence, near, but apart from the birthplace, had been fitted up for the custodian-they describe the alterations and improvements already made, in progress, and in contemplation. "On each side of the birthplace, fronting Henley-street, a rustic wooden fence has been erected, as a protection to a yew hedge, intended to be planted within it, which, it is considered, will be in character with a habitation of the time of Shakespeare's house. A broad flagging pavement has been laid down in front of this fence; but the committee haye considered it desirable to retain the present pavement in front of the birthplace, to mark the distinction." At that time Mr. Shakespeare's donation was exhausted; and some members of the committee were responsible for £135, required to complete the necessary purchases. Soon after, the club had to mourn the death of their generous benefactor; but he had not forgotten, even in death, that object in which he took so great an interest. At a meeting of the trustees to the Shakespeare Fund, held on the 5th of July, 1858, Mr. W. O. Hunt announced Mr. Shakespeare's demise; but, at the same time, informed them, that he had bequeathed the sum of £2,500 to the trustees appointed under his former deed of giftfor the purpose of keeping up the premises, forming a museum, &c.; and that he had also left an annuity, in perpetuity, of £60 per annum for the custodian. All pecuniary difficulties are, therefore, for the present removed, as a very small yearly subscription from the members of the cluh, added to the donations from the visitors to the birthplace, will be sufficient to keep the house in repair; and, with the £60 per annum left by Mr. Shakespeare, to ensure a competent income for the custodian, who should be a literary man; or, better still, one who has, upon the stage, embodied those characters which the dramatist has so vividly pourtrayed in his pages.

The members of the Birthplace Committee now act with the trustees in carrying

out the alterations required in the building, and will do so, in future, in its preservation; and as that building is now the property of the nation, and the committee are trustees for the people, we shall place their names on record. Those of the trustees are given in a former page. The following are the members of the Birthplace Committee, who, with those trustees, now make up the acting body :-The Rev. Julian C. Young, the Rev. W. Barrett, the Rev. T. R. Medwin, Chandos Wren Hoskyns, John Payne Collier, Charles Lucy, and Robert W. Hobbes, Esqrs.; Messrs. Adams, Atkinson, E. Gibbs, and F. Kendall. J. S. Leaver, Esq., is the honorary secretary.

From what has been said, the present state of the building may be conceived by those who have not the opportunity of visiting it. The house will be warmed and ventilated, but no one will reside in it; the custodian continuing to live in the immediate vicinity. The grounds adjoining the house are laid out as a garden, in the style of English gardens in the Elizabethan period. The interior of the house is arranged for a museum, of MSS., and relics connected with Shakespeare and his period, the nucleus of which is formed by the presentation, by Mr. Payne Collier, of one of the copies of the early edition of the tragedy of Hamlet, printed at the expense of the late Duke of Devonshire; by the Hon. F. Byng, of Ireland's Shakespeare, containing many valuable documents, letters, prints, and autographs; and by Mr. Wm. O. Hunt, of an architrave, and part of the foundation-stone, of "New Place," the last residence of the poet. The latter relics are authenticated by a letter from the Rev. Richard Jago, who was vicar of Stratford when New Place was demolished, and who presented the architrave and stone to Mr. Hunt's father. In time, it is expected a valuable collection of books and MSS. will be made; but relics immediately connected with the poet are rare indeed.

The Birthplace is open, gratuitously, from 10 A.M. till dusk; and on Sundays between the hours of divine service. The custodian has strict orders not to admit visitors at any other time.

And here we close this brief account of Stratford and its vicinity, as connected with Shakespeare. Many of the olden features of the locality, as well as the manners of the times, are altered; yet the associations which the scenes we have described are calculated to raise in the mind, can never be effaced. And-the church renovated, where the ashes of the great bard repose-and the birthplace, now quite unincumbered, and secured to the NATION FOR EVER-Stratford will always be a place of pilgrimage, the road to which will ever be trodden by enthusiastic admirers of "The sweet Swan of Avon;" who will always eagerly press to the place of his birth-to the scenes where "he did moralise his spectacle;" and to that sacred edifice in which the remains of the bard, his wife and children, are interred.*

* We beg to acknowledge our obligations to Dr. Kingsley, of Stratford-upon-Avon, and to F. W. Fairholt, Esq., F.S.A., of Brompton, for furnishing information which enabled us to render the foregoing account of the purchase of Shakespeare's birthplace, more complete than we could otherwise have made it.

THE END