leaving London, which event probably took place in the summer of that year. That he was greatly honored and respected at Stratford, we are induced to credit, not only from tradition, but from the tone and disposition of heart and intellect which his works everywhere evince; and, accordingly, Rowe has told us, that his pleasurable wit and good nature engaged him in the acquaintance, and intitled him to the friendship, of the gentlemen of the neighborhood.' Shortly after the retirement of Shakspeare from public life, his residence narrowly escaped a dreadful conflagration, which, on July 9th, 1614, destroyed 54 houses at Stratford, and consumed much valuable property. It is not known what particular malady terminated the life and labors of this incomparable genius, He died on the 23d of April, 1616, his birth-day, when he had exactly completed his 52d year. It is remarkable, that on the same day expired, in Spain, his great and amiable contemporary, Cervantes; the world being thus deprived, at nearly the same moment, of the two most original writers which modern Europe has produced. On the second day after his decease the remains of Shakspeare were committed to the grave, within the chancel of the parish church; where a flat stone nd monument were afterwards placed to point out the spot, and commemorate his likeness, name, and memory. In what year the monument was erected is not known, but certainly before 1623, as it is mentioned in the verses of Leonard Digges in that year. He is represented under an arch, in a sitting posture, a cushion spread before him, with a pen in his right hand, and his left rested on a scroll of paper. The following distich is engraved under the cushion : Judicio Pylivm, genio Socratem, arte Maronem, In addition to this Latin inscription, the following lines are found on a tablet immediately underneath the cushion on his monument : Stay, passenger, why goest thov by so fast? Read, if thov canst, whom enviovs death hath plast Obiit Ano. Doi. 1616. ætatis 53. die 23 Ap. On his grave-stone underneath is the following inscription, expressed, as Mr. Steevens observes, in an uncouth mixture of small and capital letters :— Good Frend for Iesus SAKE forbeare It is uncertain whether this epitaph was writt by Shakspeare himself, or by one of his friends after his death. The imprecation contained in the last line was probably suggested,' as Mr. Malone has remarked, by an apprehension that his remains might share the same fate with those of the rest of his countrymen, and be added to the immense pile of human bones deposited in the charnel-house at Stratford.' In the year 1741, another very noble and beautiful monument was raised to his memory, at the public expense, in Westminster Abbey, under the direction of the Earl of Burlington, Dr. Mead, Mr. Pope, and Mr. Martyn. It stands near the south door of the Abbey, and was the work of Scheemaker, after a design of Kent. The performers of each of the London theatres gave a benefit to defray the expenses, and the dean and chapter took nothing for the ground. We have now recorded the substance of the scanty notices respecting the life of Shakspeare, which we are enabled to collect from Rowe and from various commentators on his works. To these we shall add the following anecdotes from John Aubrey, in his manuscript collections in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. It is worthy of note, that Aubrey resided at Oxford for several years after 1642; that he was intimate with Sir W. Davenant, |