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as his resting-place. New Place, we are informed by Dugdale was originally erected by Sir Hugh Clopton, temp. Henry VII. It was, he says, a fair house, built of brick and timber." It was sold to the Underhill family, and was purchased from them by Shakspere in 1597, who having repaired and modelled it to his own mind, changed the name to New Place, which it retained until its demolition. Shakspere, by his will, gave it to his daughter, Mrs. Hall, for her life, and then to her daughter Elizabeth, afterwards Lady Barnard. On her death it was sold to Sir Edward Walker, whose only daughter marrying Sir John Clopton, it again came into the hands of its ancient possessors. Sir John gave it to his younger son, Sir Hugh, who resided in it during the latter part of his life, and died there in Dec. 1751. By him the mansion was repaired, and a modern front built to it; and here, in 1742, he entertained Macklin, Garrick, and Dr. Delany, beneath the mulberry-tree which Shakspere had planted in the garden. By Sir Hugh's son-in-law the mansion was sold, in 1753, to the Rev. F. Gastrell, a man of unhappy temper, who being annoyed by visitors requesting to see the mulberry-tree, ruthlessly cut it down in 1756, to save himself the trouble of shewing it. This rendered him exceedingly unpopular in the town, and he resided there but seldom; but the house being rated as if he had constantly lived there, in a fit of ill humour he declared that that house should never be assessed again, he pulled it down, sold the materials, and left the town universally execrated.

There are no views of the house as it was in Shakspere's time. The view engraved so frequently is an imposition. Malone first published it, "from an ancient survey," in which it is not stated to represent New Place, or any other place in particular. He ordered the discoverer of this survey, Mr. Jordan of Stratford, to add the arms of Shakspere over the door, because "they were likely to have been there!" and to add "neat

wooden pales" in front. To which liberal direction Jordan added the porch! and so originated this authentic picture. A view of New Place, as altered by Sir Hugh Clopton, and as it appeared previous to its demolition, may be seen in Mr. R. B. Wheler's "History of Stratford-on-Avon." Not a feature of the ancient Shaksperian residence had then been suffered to remain.

In the garden of Mr. Hunt, to whose family Mrs. Gastrell sold the site of New Place in 1775, are two fragments of the house. One is a stone lintel; the other, a portion of sculpture, in stone also, which may have been placed over a door. It is ornamented with a shield, but the bearings cannot now be distinguished, owing to decay. On each side are groups of flowers, also much injured by time.

It is traditionally reported that the White Lion Inn was built from the materials of New Place. The panelling of an entire room was fitted up in the parlour of the Falcon Inn opposite, where it still remains. It exhibits a series of square sunk panels, covering the entire walls, the upper row being elongated, with a plain cornice and dentels above. From the similarity of the panel and cornice upon which the portrait of Shakspere is painted, already spoken of as standing in his birth-room, and the tradition that it was brought from the White Lion Inn, it may have been also a part of the decoration of New Place when it was last "repaired and beautified."

There is another and an apparently genuine relic of New Place at present in the possession of the Court family, who own Shakspere's house. It is a square of glass, measuring 9 inches by 7, in which a circular piece is leaded, having the letters

"W. A. S.," for William and Ann Shakspere, tied in " a true lover's knot," and the date, 1615, the year before the Poet's death, beneath. A relative of the late Mrs. Court, whose ancestor had been employed to pull down New Place, had saved this square of glass, but attached little value to it. He gave it to her, but she had an honest dislike to the many pretenders to relics, and never shewed this glass unless it was expressly requested by the few who had heard of it. She told her story simply, made no comments, and urged no belief. The letters and figures are certainly characteristic: they are painted in dark brown outline, tinted with yellow; the border is also yellow. The lead is decayed, and the glass loose. It altogether appears to be as genuine a relic as any that have been offered. It has not been engraved before.