content with little more than mere conjecture. All their performances were given in the Guildhall, under the Guild Grammar School. Puritanical notions, it is true, held sway at times, proved by an entry in the Corporation accounts, 1622, "Paid to the King's players for not playinge in the hall, vjs." It is a grand theme, the early development of such a mind as Shakespeare's, narrow as the field of such a quiet town as Stratford would seem to present, yet there was ample for such a mighty intellect as knew no equal. Of natural scenery and objects, as in more advanced years, of men and manners, the bright-eyed boy must have been a sedulous and enthusiastic observer. And we must remember that the ancient towns

chivalrous displays it would be folly to doubt.

Much light is thrown on the civic affairs of Stratford through examination of the Chamberlain's accounts, which, in Shakespeare's time, seem to have been models of correctness as to fact, and kept with the greatest precision. The poet's father at one time acted as auditor of the accounts: his having served in this capacity of examiner and checker of figures afford distinct disproof of the statement as to his inability to write. The following is a specimen transcript from these accounts. The heading given shows the date of the Hall or Council Meeting at which the two Chamberlains handed in their statement of account for one

the

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2

bmy

Item for the

of Warwick and Coventry with their historical associations, Evesham with its grand monastic remains, and the noble castle of Kenilworth, were all within accessible distance. The celebrated visit of Queen Elizabeth to the Earl of Leicester there took place in the summer of 1575, when Shakespeare was eleven years old. That he witnessed those magnificent festivities and

mis

year, viz., from the Feast of St. Michael, 1578, to the Feast of St. Michael, 1579.

The body of the transcript is a portion of a record of their receipts, and refers to the charges for ringing the bell at a funeral (which was fourpence) and for the use of the pall (which was fourpence), a total of eightpence, when the bell was tolled and the pall used also. Close examination of

Item, at the buriall of Barthrope, of Luddington

Payd to John Knight for a bauldricke

viijd.

iiijd.

Edward Hunt, his accompt., made the 9th

iiijd.

viijd. iiijd.

viijd.

iiijd. iiijd.

was caste on

viijd.

viijd.

xijd

Item, for the bell at the burial of John
Fisher's child

Item, for the bell and paull at the buriall of
old Winmys

Item, for the bell for Spere-pointe's wif
Item, for the bell and pall for Mr. Shaxper's
daughter

Item, for the bell for Mr. Trusselle's child
Item, for the bell for Yeate, of Luddington
Item, for the bell and paull for Georg Bar-
delle's wife

Item, Thomas Robins' wife, the bell and
paull

On comparing these civic charges for bell and pall use, we find each of the burials recorded in Stratford on register :

Item, for drinke and victualls upon Daukes and his people that did helpe him that day that the bell

Item, to Richard Greene and Harrington, for watchinge the night after the bell was caste Item, to Spenser and others, for helpinge us out of the pit with the bell, and for getting her into the chappell, in money and drinke Item, for hempe that he did use about the bemould

Item, for wax and rosen and tallow,

when he did caste the bell Item, to Richard Daukes, for mettall,

and his charges goinge to Warwicke about the bell

Item, to goodwife Tomlins for mettall Item, for five loades of clay that he did use about the mound and the furnace

Item, for two loades of stoun Item, to Mr. Waterman for ston Item, for four score and seven poundes of morter mettall Item, for three hundred of mettall and the cariage of hit from London Item, to Daukes, for castinge of the bell

xviijd.

XXS.

ijs.

Item, to Thomas Hornebee, for iron worke for the bell

Item, for iron that we bought Item, to Watton, the smithe, for iron woorke about the hanginge of the bell Item, for nailes about the bell Item, to Spenser, for timber for the bell frame, and for plankes for the steple floore, and his woorke, and the bell stocke

XS.

ixs

vs. vjd.

XS.

vjď.

iijli. xvjs. vjd.

Paid for beare when the bell wase draud up

viijd.

vjd.

ijs. vjd ijs. xd.

iijs.

ages, compassing the brightest periods of British story-and through the greater part of the life of the prince of literature daily sounding in his ear has made it a very diadem of its crown of literature,

There are no items of the Chamberlain's accounts that place us closer, as it were, to the daily round of Shakespeare's life than the perusal of the quaint entries connected with the bauldricke, claper, buckelle, stocke gaball, trussinges, floores, and other belongings of this more than venerable freeholder of the Guild Tower. Century after century it has proclaimed each day's wane, and, although the solemn tones were primarily intended as a caution against the danger incidental to wooden houses with fire-inviting straw roofs, yet its every evening "goodnight" is an integral part of the day's reckoning. Woe to him who should dare to propose to the peaceful citizens of Stratford any silencing the heavenly voice!

The ailments and through mendings, begotten for restoration to health, the intrudings of high bailiffs and aldermen, covetous

Paid for mending Mr. Combes' gabell
Paid for trussing the bell last -

One of the many charms of a visit to Stratford-on-Avon is the well-nigh sublime sound of the Curfew Bell of the Holy Guild, which Shakespeare, from his early infancy until the day of his spirit winging its flight to join the "heavenly throng," of which he sung so gloriously, heard

"toll the knell of parting day."

It has been erroneously stated as a revival, whereas the line of curfew observance from the Guild tower is unbroken from the time of William the Conqueror. The custom was well-nigh universal in his time, and there is joy in realizing that many hundreds of England's villages and towns tenaciously cling to a practice which draws their folk away at the prayerful hour of its solemn utterance in these our busy, bustling days to the very infancy of the sleeping world. The modern world may boast of its "Big Ben," whose bellowings announce to Parliament men his mushroom growth of to-day; but Stratford's curfew bell holds exalted lineage of long past

of immortalization by process of getting their names inscribed on his patiently-enduring chest and stomach, as the other items of his history, have been unearthed for us by that Argus-eyed ferret of old parish registers, Richard Savage, secretary and librarian to the Trustees of the Shakespeare possessions.

We know of no churchyard more beautifully kept than is Stratford. All around is indeed in holy repose, waiting till the morning of the great awakening. Blessings on all who have helped this consummation. A love of floral mementoes seems part and parcel of the good people's nature, and to have become synonymous with the great name they rightly boast of. Flowers are scattered hither and thither in profusion; and no matter what the season, Trinity's God's Acre is sure to find plenty of choice blooms to keep alive, if needed, memories of the departed.

The heart must be divested of all feelings of things at once sacred and beautiful that can approach this Church of the Holy Trinity, unmoved by thoughts too deep and too high for expression. Verily, it is "A place for the Lord," a habitation for the mighty "God of Jacob." Here, indeed, is a rare combination of objects and associations to charm, elevate, and solemnize the soul. The eye is first delighted by the picturesque. The north entrance is approached through an avenue under whose proud flagway lie that which no following spring revives, "the ashes of the urn"; whilst overhead interlace, in the Gothic arch of beauty, the entwining branches and lovely green leaves of the graceful lime-trees. On either side "the forefathers of the hamlet sleep." Towards the river the sable-suited rooks and crows build in the tall old trees, and sweep, croaking about on heavy wing, fit tenants of the scene; the nightingale's delightful note at eve is heard; small birds formerly made in the "jutty, frieze," coign of vantage, their pendant bed and procreant cradle. Trees sooth and comfort by their sympathy. We may stand in our sorrows, our yearnings or sadness, but they come to us with ten thousand airy voices or melodious whisperings; and mingling better thoughts and faith with our fretful experience, they sweeten the heart without washing away its thoughts with forgetfulness. But not the music of the grove, the beauty of the flowers, all the features of the landscape, or the solemn temple that stands in grey majesty before the visitor, can impress him with that sentiment of awe and reverence which must arise as he contemplates the fact that here verily lies the "awful dust" of the man whose genius outstripped time and "exhausted worlds."

In the lovely churchyard of Stratford the visitor will find flowers decorating the graves at all seasons. Here indeed one feels it matter