perciliousness, yet at length the Poet and his party set down to the brown stuff. Stratford had then innumerable malt-houses; it was the staple of the place and vicinity to make malt; to drink ale, fine and genuine, all the sons of the town devoutly aspired here, then libations were liberally dealt out, Though these Bidfordians were but Sippers, yet they were too strong-headed for the Stratfordians, who set out to reel homeward; having staggered part of the way, their legs began to totally fail. Avon's sweet swan, and a companion of his, were obliged to the friendly shelter of a wide-spreading crab-tree for the remainder of the night. Aurora displaying all her charms, the sons of Bacchus arose; ashamed of defeat, the Poet's friend proposed returning to renew the drunken combat; but the frolic over, reason resumed her em pire, the son of song in field-measure, instantly composed this Fairwell To Piping Petworth, dancing Marston, Dodging Exhall, Popish Wicksford, Beggerly Brome, and drunken Bidford. The crab-tree was long venerated. This was authenticated by a clergyman, a native of Warwickshire, who died in 1764. I have also seen the lines and heard the story myself, when I resided in that, my native county. This was not the last, though, perhaps, nearly the last, of his frolics whilst he resided at Stratford, when a young man. His last we all know was the liberty he took with his neighbour, Mr. Lucy's deer. This had well nigh been his ruin, He was prosecuted with unrelenting severity, we must suppose, because it obliged him to quit his native woods, where he had indulged in all the luxuriance of a rich fancy. His grief, I suppose, was extreme. It banished him from all he held most dear; it sent him to a strange place. That he loved Stratford, we are assured by his return thither, when he had acquired fame and fortune; though on his return every person almost, was as new to him then as the Londoners had been to him, when Mr. Lucy's vengeance drove him away. All Shakespeare's "milk of human kindness” was not able to make him forget this conduct of Mr. Lucy towards him. His sarcasms upon the Lucies that are borne in the arms of this highly respectable family, are too well known to require a particular notice here. This implacability of Mr. Lucy, which he and his family no doubt looked upon as ruin, became the mean of his greatness. Leaving like Hall his dissolute companions, he became as eminent a Poet as the Prince did an illustrious hero. The origin of many an inimitable scene, a contemporary might have traced to Stratford, or some of its neighbouring villages. There, probably, the fat knight was cradled. With what different sentiments and sensations would Shakespeare view his native scenes, when he returned to them loaded with deserved praise, and elevated by a fame that was proclaimed by an admiring, an enraptured nation. Shakespeare dying April 25, was buried on the 25th, 1616, in the chancel of Stratford-upon-Avon: it does not appear where his parents and other relatives were deposited; his widow long survived. She died August 6, 1623, and was buried by him, having lived 67 years. We know nothing of her character; the result is, that she was amiable and prudent; had she been otherwise, scandal would have blazoned forth her demerits. It is singular, that the day of her burial instead of her death, is, by mistake, put upon her grave-stone, unless we could suppose that she was buried the same day that she died. I must observe, that the Hathaways were a family of great respectability, at Shottery, a hamlet near Stratford; a branch of them were lately at Luddington, another hamlet belonging to that town or parisht. I remember having seen one of the Hathaway's names in some public employment, I think as an envoy, or agent, but I forget the reign. My father's great uncle, Mr. John Noble, leaves by his will, to "his niece Elizabeth, daughter of his sister, Mary Hathaway, deceased, 1001." She * I have examined all my books, to try whether I could find any thing of the Shakespeare's from the History of England, or that of the County of Warwick; but I never see the name mentioned. The family of Lucy, whom the Poet had reason to dislike,, and the Combs, one of whom he satirized as a miser, were at least submissiv subjects to the Protector Oliver, for amongst his Commissioners of Taxes in Warwick. shire, were Richard Lucy, Thomas Combs, and William Combs, Esqrs. + There were many inscriptions to the Hathaways in Stratford ehurch; but the eldest are obliterated. was imprudent, marrying a man who dissipated a good fortune. She had various valuables of the Hathaways, being an heiress. She always called Shakespeare her cousin, being nearly allied to his wife *. Ir is well remembered, that the above quotation was the exulting boast of Quin, the player, on his present majesty's graceful delivery of a speech, but we are not informed of any consequent display of royal munificence, which at all equals what has lately been exhibited by the head of the house of Percy, for infe rior merits of a similar nature. Mr. Kemble taught Earl Percy to speak, and very badly he certainly does speak, as it respects the public ear, but as it regards the private pocket of Mr. Kemble, to a pretty tune! In consideration of the apparent effects of the late fire, and these deserts of Mr. Kemble, his grace the Duke of Northumberland has presented him with ten thousand pounds; a loan to be paid ad Græcas calendas. I am amongst those, who knowing something about the concern and its prospects, believe that the loss by the fire will ultimately assume the shape of a gain; but I am nevertheless well pleased with the noble bounty of his grace, and think the object of it thoroughly deserving of such support. It is not, however, for the benefit derived by the Earl from his lessons, that I hold him worthy, but because he has manifested an inclination to maintain, in the utmost respect, the character of the profession, and with this meritorious feeling, he undoubtedly deserves the means of gratifying it. * Mr. Noble, my grandfather, as a very near relation, was Miss Hathaway rated guardian. My grandmother, Mrs. Noble, told me, she remembered one of her rings, it had J. H. for Jane Hathaway, upon it, probably the name of her father's mother. My great grandmother left this Miss Hathaway, then become the wife of Mr. Harry Nichols, a diamond ring, When I say, in a tone of approbation, that he has kept up the character of the profession, I must add, that I think he, and more especially his little helpmate Pop, (with her mouth perpetually crammed full of the names of her noble friends, and Lord at the end of her tongue, oftener than if she was reading the Litany all day,) do overact it, and strenuously endeavour to exalt the character above its real value. This superabundance, however, finds a potent corrective in the other branches of the profession, which reduces the character at least to its level, if not below it. I here talk of actors, and of course exclude from my consideration those blots on the escutcheon of even the stage, that rot amongst the flock, the guinea-men, Messrs. Dignum, Taylor, and Gibbon, who, with the waiters, form an item at the bottom of Tavern Bills. MR. EDITOR; "WE FAIL." I PERFECTLY approve of what is said in your Mem. Dram, for Suppose an invalid was recommended to bathe in the sea, a prescription with which he reluctantly complied. Approaching the sands, he says, "If I should be drowned now ?" Is his friend to say, by way of encouragement, “Well, then you are drowned, and there's an end of it;" or is it better to exclaim, You be drowned!" as if it were utterly impossible. JACQUES WESTO N. MR. EDITOR, I BEG leave to correct a mistake in your number for August, p. 106. The anecdote, related of Wilson, belongs to Weston, 4 A THE TIMES, J SAGE correspondent in the "TIMES," has thought proper to impeach either Mr. Kemble's judgment or his patriotism, or, indeed, both, for bringing forward Pizarro at the present situation of affairs between England and Spain. Perhaps he thinks the late dreadful catastrophe is a judgment on the managers of Covent-garden Theatre, for their conduct in this respect. I beg leave to remind the zealous patriot, that Pizarro, independent of its intrinsic attractions, owed much of its popularity to the sentiments and incidents which (though covered with a Spanish name,) bore a direct and palpable allusion to the French revolution, and the doctrines and conduct of its republican philosophers and depredators, called Commanders. Don Pizarro is the worthy representative of General Bonaparte; and, though all through the play we hear constant allusions to Spain and Spaniards, yet no one of the audience could suppose the execrations against the renovators of the world, to be actually directed against the Spaniards, or believe that the consequent sensations of those around him, sprung from any thing but the adaptation of these sentiments to the principles and conduct of the French republicans-I say, no one could suppose this, who would not think that Gay meant that we should be as amply persuaded that his Foxes and Geese actually philosophized and moralized in rhyme. -Surely, now, more than ever, will the right interpretation be given to the glowing passages of Rolla's declamation, when the insolent Napoleon has attempted to throw a chain round the necks of an unoffending friendly people, under a pretence that their government was bad, and that he would alter it, and afford them the covering of his wing from their enemies." They offer us their protection! yes, such protection as ravening wolves afford to lambs, covering and devouring them. Tell them this, and tell them too we want no change, and least of all such change as they would bring us." But I would refer this stickler to the whole of that celebrated speech, and if he then thought that poor Kemble should have any 66 compunctious visitings," I'll never argue with him again. O. C. T. |