old cottages which have about them the look of former times. The Paces, to whom it once belonged, were descendants of a family of that name, who lived in Shottery in Shakespeare's time. Not far from the cottage of the Hathaways, a little brook crosses the road, over which there used to be an antique bridge of logs with transverse planking and a single low rail. This, too, has been superseded. Proceeding to Anne Hathaway's cottage, the traveller sees a long tenement, with thatched roof, and timber-framing filled in with brick and plaster-work. The foundation of the walls consists of slabs of the lias shale obtained in the neighbourhood. The edifice had been a single dwelling, though apparently composed of two distinct houses. It is now divided into three tenements. A stone in the central chimney with the inscription I H 1697, indicates the time when the house was last repaired by a John Hathaway. Since that time the external appearance has been little altered. Going into the interior, we observe an old kitchen with stone floor, roof of strong beams, and spacious fire-place, with cozy chimney corners for the privileged. The everyday sitting-place of the family is a tolerably large apartment, with timbered roof and some portions of the wainscot panelling still existing. The bacon cupboard to the left of the fire-place has the letters IH EH IB and date 1697 marked on the cross-bar of its latticed door. These are the initials of John and Elizabeth Hathaway, and some third person unknown, perhaps the joiner who made it. Above the parlour is a bed-room containing an old bedstead of carved oak, which may possibly be as old

as Anne Hathaway's time, and which is said to have been handed down as an heir-loom. There is also a specimen of heavy home-spun linen preserved in an old chest, which is marked with the initials E H.

Looking at the house as a whole, we would infer that this, in Queen Elizabeth's time, was the dwelling of a substantial farmer. It must at that time have possessed the appearance of taste and comfort, when its occupants were surrounded with abundance. The garden and orchard which formerly belonged to the house have now been detached from it. As we have already spoken of Shakespeare's marriage, we do not here. return to the subject.

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CHAPTER X.

CHARLECOTE.

Passages in Shakespeare's life are made immortal-The deer-poaching story-Discredited by Malone and Knight-Sir T. Lucy identified with Justice Shallow-John Foxe-Tomb of Sir Thomas Lucy-Charlecote -The Great Hall-Scenery around the mansion-True theory of large trees-Associations with Shakespeare.

"Under the greenwood tree

Who loves to lie with me,

And tune his merry note

Unto the sweet bird's throat;

Come hither, come hither, come hither:

Here shall he see

No enemy

But winter and rough weather."

THERE are probably few passages in Shakespeare's life which he has not immortalized in some form or other, and it is perhaps as well we know so little about him, for it would detract much from his mysterious power, were we familiar with the vulgar realities which he has sublimed by the magic touch of genius. The tradition regarding a youthful adventure of this sort, which connects him with Charlecote, is to the following effect :—

He had been engaged in deer-poaching with some young fellows in the preserves of Squire Lucy, and was unfortunately caught and detained all night in the lodge. Next morning he was summoned into the presence of the pompous justice, Squire Lucy, in the hall at Charlecote, by whom he was subjected to a humili

ating examination, and probably dismissed with an admonition. Stung by the affront, the incensed poet took his revenge by composing a satirical ballad on the Squire, and affixing it to his park gate; which led the latter to commence a legal prosecution against him for deerstealing. To avoid this, Shakespeare found it necessary to abscond from Stratford and betake himself to London.

We accept the tradition as true in its main features, although there were other reasons why he should set out for London besides this. Malone has attempted to discredit the story by showing that Lucy had no deer-park at Charlecote, from which he infers that he had no deer. Mr. Knight, too, rejects the tradition, and certainly refutes Ireland's statement, that the affair took place at Fulbrooke Park, by showing that Fulbrooke did not come into the possession of the Lucy family till the grandson of Sir Thomas purchased it in the time of James I. It is conclusively proved by Mr. Collier, however, that Sir Thomas Lucy had deer; which shelves Malone's refutation. According to Mr. Knight, the man who incurred the poet's enmity was the second Sir Thomas Lucy, who succeeded to his father's estates in 1600, and who, he supposes, may have attempted to lower in the eyes of his neighbours this upstart actor who had the presumption to style himself Gentleman. The concurrent evidence, however, points decisively to the elder Lucy as the original of Justice Shallow, who is not termed in the dramas a knight, but only a squire and a justice of the peace, which Lucy was at the time of the deer-stealing affair, though he was subsequently knighted. He was sprung from an old family,