time of the birth of his eldest son. Tradition says that William Shakspere was born in one of these houses; tradition points out the very room in which he was born. Let us not disturb the belief." A wise conclusion! Antiquarian credulity has given place to an extreme degree of scepticism; and from believing too much, we are now too much given to believe too little add to this the anxiety which many evince to write about Shakspere, although little else but conjecture in its vaguest form be the result; and the value of the modern conjecture as opposed to the ancient tradition may very readily be estimated. Let Stratford ever sacredly preserve the venerable structure with which she is entrusted; pilgrims from all climes have felt a glow of enthusiasm beneath the humble roof in Henley Street. Let no rude pen destroy such heart-homage, or seek to deprive us of the little we possess connected with our immortal countryman!

tenances.

When John Shakspere purchased this house from Edmund Hall for forty pounds, it was described in the legal documents as two messuages, two gardens, and two orchards, with their appurIt passed at his death to his son William, and from him to his sister Joan Hart, who was residing there in 1639, and probably until her death in 1646. Throughout the Poet's life the house is thus intimately connected with him. Its original features may be seen in our first view, which was taken in 1769. It was a large building, the timbers of substantial oak, the walls filled in with plaster. The dormer windows and gable, the deep porch, the projecting parlour, and bay window, all contribute to render it exceedingly picturesque. The division of the house into two tenements is here very visible. The changes it has undergone since this view was taken, and which has reduced the original building to a mere fragment, will be best understood by a glance at our next two views. In 1792, when Ireland visited the house, it exhibited the appearance given in the upper portion

of our third plate. The dormer windows and gable had been removed; the bay window beneath the gable had given place to an ordinary flat lattice-window of four lights; the porch in front of that portion of the building in which Shakspere was born was removed, and a butcher's shop-front constructed. At this time there lived here a descendant of Joan Hart, sister to the Poet, who pursued the humble occupation of a butcher. The other half of the house was at this time converted into an inn, and ultimately sunk into a low public-house. It had been known as the Maidenhead Inn in 1642; and when, in 1806, the house was disposed of to Mr. Thomas Court, who became “mine host" thereof, he combined that name with the one it then held of the Swan. About 1820, excited by a desire for "improvement," he destroyed the original appearance of this portion of the building by constructing a new red-brick front, exactly of the approved fashion in which rows of houses are built in small towns, and which consists generally of an alternate door and window, repeated at regular intervals below, while a monotonous range of windows above effectually repulses attention. This brings us to its present aspect, delineated in the lower cut of Plate 3. The house is now divided into three tenements; the central one is the portion set apart for exhibition, in the back rooms of which live the proprietors; the shop, the room above, and the kitchen, are sacred to visitors. When the lower part of the central tenement was made to serve for a butcher's shop, its window was removed, and has not been replaced; and when the butcher's trade ceased, a few years since, no attempt at restoration was made, and the shop still retains the signs of its late occupation. The old window in the upper story, originally a lattice of three lights, had been altered into one of four; and modern squares of glass usurped the place of the old leaded diamond-panes. A board for flower-pots was erected in front of the window; but more recently a large, obtrusive, rudely-painted sign-board pro

"The most favourite object of curiosity, however, is Shakspere's chair. It stands in the chimney-nook of a small gloomy chamber, just behind what was his father's shop. Here he may many a time have sat when a boy, watching the slowly-revolving spit with all the longing of an urchin; or of an evening, listening to the crones and gossips of Stratford, dealing forth churchyard tales and legendary anecdotes of the troublesome times of England. In this chair it is the custom for every one that visits the house to sit: whether this is done with the hope of imbibing any of the inspiration of the bard I am at a loss to say; I merely mention the fact; and mine hostess privately assured me, that though built of solid oak, such was the present zeal of devotees, that the chair had to be new-bottomed at least once in three years. It is worthy of notice also, in the history of this extraordinary chair, that it partakes something of the volatile nature of the Santa Casa of Loretto, or the flying chair of the Arabian enchanter; for though sold some years since to a northern princess, yet, strange to tell, it has found its way back again to the old chimney-corner."

Of the sort of Shaksperian relics exhibited in the house at this time he gives an amusing list. "There was the shattered stock of the very matchlock with which Shakspere shot the deer, on his poaching exploit; there, too, was his tobacco-box, which proves that he was a rival smoker of Sir Walter Raleigh; the sword also with which he played Hamlet; and the identical lanthorn with which Friar Laurence discovered Romeo and Juliet. There was an ample supply also of Shakspere's mulberry-tree, which seems to have as extraordinary powers of self-multiplication as the wood of the true cross, of which there is enough extant to build a ship of the line."

Opposite the fireplace in the kitchen is a window, and beside this is the stair which leads into the room in which the Poet was born. It is a low-roofed apartment, receiving its only

light from the large window in front. The same huge beams project from the plastered walls, one of considerable solidity crossing the ceiling. The fireplace projects close to the door which leads into the room; an immense beam of oak forms the mantel-tree; a large piece is cut out of one corner, the work of an enthusiastic young lady — -so said the late proprietress, who declares that she was kept in conversation below by the lady's female friend while the act was done. She told many similar stories of Shaksperian enthusiasm, and never left the room or lost sight of any one after this daring trick. To be permitted to sleep a night in the room, she stated, was a very ordinary request made to her, which she occasionally gratified; while such fits of enthusiasm as bursting into tears, or falling down and kissing the floor, were ordinary matters, scarcely worth her noticing.

Of the old furniture in this room, and that throughout the house, it may be hardly necessary to remark, that it has no absolute connexion with Shakspere. A portrait of Shakspere, on panel, a poor performance, was brought from the White Lion Inn, a few doors from this house.

In this room the visitor, if he pleases, may sign his name in the book kept for that purpose. About 1815, the conductors of the public library at Stratford gave to Mrs. Hornby, the then proprietress of the house, a book for that purpose, the walls and windows having been covered before. Among many hundreds of names of persons of all grades and countries, occur those of Byron, Scott, and Washington Irving, the latter three times. Many are accompanied by expressions of feeling, others by stanzas and attempts at poetry, which have been thus commented upon by one among the number:

"Ah Shakspeare, when we read the votive scrawls

With which well-meaning folks deface these walls;