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THE TOMB OF SHAKSPERE

in the chancel of the beautiful church of Stratford. It is placed against a blank window, on the left of the spectator, as he faces the altar. How soon it was erected after the Poet's death, we cannot confidently say; but that it was before 1623 we can ascertain from Leonard Digges's verses prefixed to the first edition of the Poet's works. A half-length figure of him is placed in a niche, above is his arms; on each side of which are seated cherubs, one holding an inverted torch, with a skull beside him, the other a spade; on the apex above is another skull. Beneath the cushion upon which the Poet is writing is inscribed:

JVDICIO PYLIVM, GENIO SOCRATEM, ARTE MARONEM,
TERRA TEGIT, POPVLVS MÆRET, OLYMPVS HABET.

STAY, PASSENGER; WHY GOEST THOV BY SO FAST?

READ, IF THOV CANST, WHOM ENVIOVS DEATH HATH PLAST
WITHIN THIS MONVMENT: SHAKSPEARE, WITH WHOME
QVICKE NATVRE DIDE; WHOSE NAME DOTH DECK YS. TOMBE
FAR MORE THEN COST; SITH ALL YT. HE HATH WRITT
LEAVES LIVING ART BVT PAGE TO SERVE HIS WITT.

Obiit. Ano. Doi. 1616.
Ætatis 53. Die 23. Ap.

The half-length effigy of Shakspere was originally painted after nature. The eyes were a light hazel; the hair and beard auburn. The dress was a scarlet doublet slashed on the breast, over which was a loose black gown without sleeves. The upper part of the cushion was crimson, the lower green; the cord which bound it and the tassels were gilt. John Ward, grandfather of the Kembles, caused the tomb to be repaired and the original colours restored in 1748, from the profits of the performance of

Othello. In 1793, Malone, in an evil hour, gained permission to paint it white; and also the effigy of Shakspere's friend, John Combe, who lies beside the altar. Mr. Knight has most justly stigmatised this act as one of "unscrupulous insolence." Certainly Malone was at much pains to write himself down an

ass.

We learn from Dugdale's correspondence, that the sculptor of this monument was Gerard Johnson. His work has been subjected to much criticism, particularly by such as are anxious to have Shakspere not only a great poet, but a handsome man. This bust does not please them. Mr. Skottowe declares that it "is not only at variance with the tradition of Shakspere's appearance having been prepossessing, but irreconcilable with the belief of its ever having borne a striking resemblance to any human being." A most sweeping conclusion, against which most modern authors and artists have arrayed themselves. It is a curious fact that Martin Droeshout's portrait prefixed to the folio of 1623, and beneath which Ben Jonson has affixed verses attesting its accuracy, and which all his "fellows" who aided in this edition as well as others who knew and loved the man could also confirm, bears a decided similarity to this bust. Marshall seems to have depended on the same authority for the portrait he engraved for the edition of Shakspere's poems in 1640. All agree in one striking feature; the noble forehead and quiet unostentatious kindly expression of feature which must have belonged to "the gentle Shakspere." These early artists appear to have been literal copyists, and the bust at Stratford is the best, and I incline to think the only authority to be depended on. It was probably cut from a cast taken after death; and it is remarkable that it stands as good test phrenologically as if it had been adapted to the Poet-a singular instance of its truth. Another corroborative proof exists in what has been objected to as inaccurate, the length of the upper lip; but Sir Walter Scott, whose

intellect most nearly approached the Poet, had the same feature and the same commanding head. The ghastly white paint upon the bust, the high position it occupies in the church, and the bad light that there falls on it, hinders the due appreciation of its merits. The features are regular, nay, handsome and intelligent; but it is evident that such a head depended on its living expression, and that then it must have been eminently gentle and prepossessing. The lower part of the face, though inclined to be fleshy, does not injure the features, which are all delicately formed, and the side-view of the head is very fine; a careful copy adorns our title-page. An intent study of this bust enforces the belief, that all the manifold peculiarities of feature so characteristic of the Poet, and which no chance could have originated, and no theory account for, must have resulted from its being a transcript of the Man; one that has received the confirmation of his own living relatives and friends, the best and only portrait to be now relied on.

The gravestones of the Shakspere family lie in a row in front of the altar-rails, upon the second step leading to it.. His wife's is immediately beneath his tomb. It is a flat stone, the surface injured by time, having a small brass plate let in it with this inscription: here given literally, as are all the other inscriptions. They have been incorrectly printed in most instances.

HEERE LYETH INTERRED THE BODY OF ANNE WIFE

OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. WHO DEPTED THIS LIFE THE 6 DAY OF AVG: 1623. BEING OF THE AGE OF 67 YEARES:

Vbera tu mater, tu lac vitamq; dedisti,

Væ mihi pro tanto munere Saxa dabo,

Quam mallem amoveat lapidem bonus Angel' ore'
Exeat Christi corpus imago tua;

Sed nil vota valent, venias cito Christe, resurget,
Clausa licet tumulo mater, et astra petet.

Next comes that placed over the body of the Poet. It is

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TER OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, GENT:

SHEE DECEASED YE 11th OF JVLY, A 1649, AGED 66.

HEERE LYETH Y BODY OF JOHN HALL,
GENT: HE MARR: SVSANNA, Y DAVGH-
& co-heire

TER OF WILL SHAKESPEARE, GENT. HEE
DECEASED NOVER 25. A 1635. AGED 60.

Hallius hic situs est medica celeberimus.arte,
Expectans regni gaudia læta Dei.
Dignus erat meritis qui Nestora vinceret annis,
In terris omnes, sed rapit æqua dies;

Witty above her sexe, but that's not all,
Wise to Salvation was good Mistris Hall,
Something of Shakespeare was in that, but this
Wholy of him with whom she's now in blisse. Ne tumulo, quid desit adest fidissima conjux,
Et vitæ Comitem nunc quoq; mortis habet.

Then, Passenger, ha'st ne're a teare,
To weepe with her that wept with all?
That wept, yet set herself to chere
Them up with comforts cordiall.
Her love shall live, her mercy spread,
When thou ha'st ne'te a teare to shed.

HEERE RESTETH Y BODY OF THOMAS
NASHE, ESQ. HE. MAR. ELIZABETH, THE
DAVG: & HEIRE OF JOHN. HALLE, GENT.
HE DIED APRILL.4.A.1647. AGED. 53.

Fara manent omnes, hunc non virtnte carentem
vt neq divitiis abstulit atra dies.

Abstulit, et referet lux ultima, siste viator, si peritura paras, per male parta peris.

GOOD FREND FOR IESVS SAKE FORBEARE,
TO DIGG THE DVST ENCLOASED HFARE:
BLESTE BEMAN SPARES THES STONES,
AND CVRST BE HE MOVES MY BONES.

GRAVESTONES OF THE SHAKSPERE FAMILY.

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