cifed it in refpect of the Rev. Mr. Gaftrell-(what a profanation of the word reverend !)—and placed his name the first upon the calendar of obloquy. The foundations, however, which show the ground-plan of the building, have been lately brought to light, and in a well within this area, which probably supplied the family with water for culinary purposes, was found an extraordinary looking old candlestick, at prefent in the Museum in Henley Street, and which may, perhaps, have been a portion of the poet's household furniture. The gardens in which the poet breathed the incense of nature are at present disfigured and intruded upon by an ugly-looking building, which is one day a theatre, another a concert-room, again a county court, and is to be during the commemoration, as already mentioned, a police-barrack. Here, too, on Wednesday, the 27th, will be given a Shakespearian reading; and here, on the following day, will be a concert of inftrumental mufic and glees from Shakespeare's plays. However, notwithstanding the present unattractive appearance of these gardens, they still muft be regarded with interest by every person poffeffed of the smallest portion of that feeling—be it enthusiasm, or be it some species of idolatry—which leads men to contemplate with reverence all that is locally connected with men of illustrious and transcendent genius. The man who could look upon the ruins of the Parthenon and not feel himself in the fociety of its illuftrious founder-who could not, when standing in the Cow Market at Rome, diffociate it from everything connected with degradation, and dilapidation, and, in fancy, re-people it with togaed citizens, and feel with them the influence of the oratory of Cicero ; or who could with indifference pass among the scenes affociated with the name of Shakespeare-that man is worse, and far more dangerous, than "The man who hath no music in himself." THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. Leaving New Place, and paffing by the ancient Chapel of the Guild of the Holy Cross, the visitor will observe, on the same fide of the way, a row of venerable-looking houses. One of these is the Free Grammar School in which Shakespeare was educated, and the others are the Almfhouses founded by that fraternity. The school itfelt was founded in the reign of Henry VI. by a worthy priest of the name of Jolepe, so that it enjoys as old a foundation as that of Eton. At the general diffolution of religious establishments in the reign of Henry VIII., the fcanty revenues of this school were, with everything else which appertained to the Guild, confiscated to the Crown, but were restored by his fon, Edward VI., in July, 1553, a few days before his death. The new foundation of the school was, therefore, about eleven years old at the birth of the poet. The schoolroom is over the entrance hall, which, be it remembered, was the hall of the ancient guild already mentioned, and used to be, in the youthful days of Shakespeare, the theatre in which the players of the time were wont to perform their "Mysteries "-dramas founded upon fcriptural fubjects; fo that it may reasonably be conjectured, that if in the school-room he got acquainted with Greek and Latin literature-a fact which has been queftioned, but of which there is fufficient internal evidence in his works-it was in this hall he first imbibed a taste for the stage. The defk of the glorious alumnus has been, as already mentioned, carried to the Museum, to fave it from mutilation at the hands of those devotees who wished to embalm fragments of a relic fo interesting. It is the intention of the Committee of the commemora tion to appropriate a portion of the profits of the fete to the enlargement of the scope of this fchool, and to the foundation, at the Universities, of scholarships connected with it. THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY. The collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, where repofe all that is mortal of Shakespeare, is the next object which claims our attention, and furely there is fomething about it which irresistibly leads the spectator to think that the architect and founders of the ftru&ture must have had in contemplation the glory which was in store for it. The beauty of the building itself, and, above all, the magnificence of the fite, laved by the foft-flowing Avonthere is poetry in the very landscape-mark it out as a fane worthy the baptism, worthy the fepulture, of a bard. It is generally believed that a heathen temple, in the days of Paganism, ftood upon the fame fite, and, if that be true, it must have been one dedicated to the Naid of the ftream. The date of the building of the prefent church is not exactly known, but it is probably an inheritance left to his townfmen by John De Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, and feveral times, during the reign of Edward III., Lord High Chancellor of England. The tower and tranfept may have been conftructed at an earlier period, as these portions of the building are in the tranfition ftyle, whereas the perpendicular Gothic prevails elsewhere throughout the building, which is a cruciform ftructure. The fpire is completely modern. The organ is now placed in the north transept, and the fouth tranfept is ufed as a veftry. Here, in the muniment cheft, is the parish registry, bound in vellum, wherein, under the date of April 26th, 1564, is entered the record of the baptifm of William, fon of John Shakespeare, and close by is the identical font at which he was, by the mystery of that sacrament, admitted a member of the Christian Church. The Rev. John Bracegirdle was then Warden of the college, and it is probable that he was the officiating prieft at the rite: thus early did the names of Bracegirdle and Shakespeare became affociated. The fame book, under the date of April 25th, 1616, records his interment during the wardenfhip of the Rev. John Rogers. The place of his fepulture is on the north fide of the chancel, which is separated from the choir by a rood screen. This portion of the building owes its existence to the piety and munificence of the Very Rev. Dean Balshall, who was instituted Warden in 1465. On the fouth fide of it formerly stood a charnel house, which served as the common receptacle of all the bones dug out of the churchyard on the making of each new grave. This Golgotha must have been a fight shocking to humanity, and no doubt fo affected the mind of Shakespeare when he wrote, for infcription on his tombstone— "Good frend, for Jesus' sake forbeare an anathema which has deterred those who might otherwise have had his remains removed to Westminster Abbey, there to be huddled amongst those of kings, from carrying out their contemplated facrilege. His monument is fitted into the wall at the height of about five feet from the ground, and was put up about seven years after his death. He is represented in the attitude of inspiration. His right hand holds a pen, and his left refts upon a fcroll which lies upon a cushion. It was the opinion of Sir Francis Chantrey, when he examined this bust, that it had been fculptured from a posthumous caft of his countenance, as one side of the face is larger than the other. It is placed under an archway, between two black marble pillars of the Corinthian order, having gilded bafes and capitals. They fupport the entablature on which are carved the arms of the Shakespeare family. Or, on a bend fable, a tilting-Spear of the first, point upwards, headed argent. Crest: A Falcon difplayed, argent, fupporting a Spear |