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[Picture: Cover]
[Picture: The Guild Chapel and Nash’s House]
SUMMER DAYS IN
SHAKESPEARE LAND
SOME DELIGHTS OF THE ANCIENT TOWN OF
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON AND THE COUNTRY ROUND
ABOUT; TOGETHER WITH A SKETCH OF THE LIFE
OF MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
IN WHICH MANY THINGS BOTH NEW AND ENTER-
TAINING ARE TO BE FOUND, PRETTILY SET FORTH
FOR THE PLEASURE OF THE GENTLE READER; AND
WHEREIN CERTAIN FANATICS ARE HANDSOMELY
CONFUTED.
WRITTEN BY CHARLES G. HARPER, AND
FOR THE MOST PART ALSO ILLUSTRATED BY HIM
WITH A PEN
OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS ARE FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
[Picture: Logo]
NEW YORK
JAMES POTT & COMPANY
LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LTD.
1913
* * * * *
RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E.,
AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
PREFACE
BY “Shakespeare Land,” as used in these pages, Stratford-on-Avon and the
country within a radius of from twelve to twenty miles are meant;
comprising parts of Warwickshire and Gloucestershire, and some portions
of Worcestershire which are mentioned by Shakespeare, or must have been
familiar to him. So many thousands annually visit Stratford-on-Avon that
the town, and in some lesser degree the surrounding country, are thought
to be hackneyed and spoilt for the more intellectual and leisured
visitor; but that is very far from being the case. Apart from such
acknowledged centres of Shakespearean interest as the Birthplace at
Stratford-on-Avon, the parish church, and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage at
Shottery; and excepting such great show-places as Kenilworth and Warwick
castles, Shakespeare Land is by no means overrun, and is in every way
charming and satisfying. Stratford town itself, the very centre of
interest, is unspoiled; and the enterprise of the majority of
Shakespearean pilgrims is of such a poor quality, and their intellectual
requirements as a rule so soon satisfied, that the real beauties of the
Warwickshire villages and the towns and villages of the Cotswolds are to
them a sealed hook. Except these byways be explored, such an essential
side of Shakespeare as that I have touched upon in the chapter
“Shakespeare the Countryman” will be little understood.
It is thus entirely a mistaken idea to think the Shakespeare Country
overdone. On the contrary, it is much less known than it ought to be,
and would be, were it in any other land than our own. And Stratford
itself has not done so much as might have been expected in exploiting
possible Shakespearean interest. Ancient house-fronts that the poet must
have known still await the removal of the plaster which for two centuries
or more has covered them; and the Corporation archives have not yet been
thoroughly explored.
Incidentally these pages may serve to expose some of the Baconian
heresies. If there be many whose judgment is overborne by the
tub-thumping of the Baconians, let them turn to some of the extravagances
of Donnelly and others mentioned here, and then note the many local
allusions which Shakespeare and none other could have written.
The Bacon controversy, which since 1857 has offered considerable
employment for speculative minds, and is still in progress, is now
responsible for some six hundred books and pamphlets, monuments of
perverted ingenuity and industrious research misapplied; of evidence
misunderstood, and of judgment biased by a clearly proclaimed intention
to place Bacon where Shakespeare stands. These exceedingly well-read
gentlemen, profited in strange concealments, have produced a deal of
skimble-skamble stuff that galls our good humours. The veriest antics,
they at first amuse us, but in a longer acquaintance they are, as Hotspur
says of Glendower, “as tedious as a tired horse, a railing wife; Worse
than a smoky house.”
This is no place to fully enter the discussion, but we may here note the
opinion of Harvey, the great contemporary man of science, on Bacon, the
amateur of science. “My Lord Chancellor,” he said, “writes about Science
like a Lord Chancellor.” Any one who reads Bacon’s poetry will notice
that the poets might have applied the same taunt to his lines.
Yet they tell us now, these strange folk, eager for a little cheap
notoriety, not only that “Bacon wrote the Greene, Marlowe, and
Shakespeare plays,” but that his is the pen that gives the Authorised
Version of the Bible its literary grace. Well, well. They say the owl
was a baker’s daughter; a document in madness.
CHARLES G. HARPER.
_Ealing_, _August_ 24, 1912.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I 1
The Beginnings of
Stratford-on-Avon.
CHAPTER II 6
The Shakespeares—John
Shakespeare, Glover,
Woolmerchant—Birth of
William
Shakespeare—Rise and
Decline of John
Shakespeare—Early
Marriage of William.
CHAPTER III 12
Anne Hathaway,
Shakespeare’s
bride—The hasty
marriage—Shakespeare’s
wild young days—He
leaves for
London—Grendon
Underwood.
CHAPTER IV 22
Continued decline in
the affairs of John
Shakespeare—William
Shakespeare’s success
in London—Death of
Hamnet, William
Shakespeare’s only
son—Shakespeare buys
New Place—He retires
to Stratford—Writes
his last play, _The
Tempest_—His death.
CHAPTER V 34
Stratford-on-Avon—It
has its own life,
quite apart from
Shakespearean
associations—Its
people and its
streets—Shakespeare
Memorials.
CHAPTER VI 49
Shakespeare’s
Birthplace—
Restoration, of
sorts—The business of
the Showman—The
Birthplace Museum—The
Shakespearean Garden.
CHAPTER VII 60
Church Street—The
“Castle” Inn—The Guild
Chapel, Guild Hall and
Grammar School—New
Place.
CHAPTER VIII 75
The Church of the Holy
Trinity,
Stratford-on-Avon.
CHAPTER IX 85
The Church of the Holy
Trinity,
Stratford-on-Avon
(_continued_)—The
Shakespeare grave and
monument.
CHAPTER X 92
The Church of the Holy
Trinity,
Stratford-on-Avon
(_concluded_)—The
Shakespeare grave and
monument—The Miserere
Seats.
CHAPTER XI 101
Shottery and Anne
Hathaway’s Cottage.
CHAPTER XII 114
Charlecote.
CHAPTER XIII 127
Shakespeare the
countryman.
CHAPTER XIV 136
The ‘Eight
Villages’—‘Piping’
Pebworth and ‘Dancing’
Marston.
CHAPTER XV 147
The ‘Eight Villages’
(_concluded_).
CHAPTER XVI 164
The ‘Swan’s
Nest’—Haunted?—
Clifford
Chambers—Wincot—
Quinton, and its club
day.
CHAPTER XVII 174
Chipping Campden.
CHAPTER XVIII 186
A Deserted
Railway—Villages of
the Stour
Valley—Ettington and
Squire
Shirley—Shipston-on-
Stour—Brailes—Compton
Wynyates.
CHAPTER XIX 195
Luddington—Welford—
Weston-on-Avon—Cleeve
Priors—Salford Priors.
CHAPTER XX 201
Evesham.
CHAPTER XXI 211
Broadway—Winchcombe—
Shakespearean
Associations—Bishop’s
Cleeve.
CHAPTER XXII 219
Tewkesbury.
CHAPTER XXIII 230
Clopton
House—Billesley—The
Home of Shakespeare’s
Mother, Wilmcote—Aston
Cantlow—Wootton
Wawen—Shakespeare
Hall, Rowington.
CHAPTER XXIV 238
Welcombe—Snitterfield—
Warwick—Leicester’s
Hospital—St. Mary’s
Church and the
Beauchamp Chapel.
CHAPTER XXV 254
Warwick Castle.
CHAPTER XXVI 266
Guy’s Cliff—The Legend
of Guy—Kenilworth and
its
Watersplash—Kenilworth
Castle.
CHAPTER XXVII 283
Coventry.
INDEX 291
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
The Guild Chapel and Nash’s House _Frontispiece_
“Shakespeare’s Farm,” formerly the “Ship” Inn, 19
Grendon Underwood
Chapel Street, Stratford-on-Avon 37
The Harvard House _To face_ 42
The Harvard House: Panel Room 44
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon 46
The Memorial Theatre _To face_ 48
Shakespeare’s Birthplace 50
The Kitchen, Shakespeare’s Birthplace 54
The Room in which Shakespeare was born 56
Shakespeare’s Signet-ring 58
The “Windmill” Inn 61
The Guild Chapel, Guild Hall, Grammar School and 65
Almshouses
The Schoolmaster’s House and Guild Chapel 69
The Head Master’s Desk, Stratford-on-Avon Grammar 70
School _To face_
Ancient Knocker, Stratford-on-Avon Church 80
Shakespeare’s Monument _To face_ 86
Inscription on Shakespeare’s Grave 89
The Chancel, Holy Trinity Church, with Shakespeare’s 92
Monument _To face_
A Stratford Miserere: The Legend of the Unicorn 100
Shottery 103
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage 106
The Living-room, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage 109
Anne Hathaway’s Bedroom 112
Lucy Shield of Arms 120
The “Tumbledown Stile,” Charlecote _To face_ 120
The Gatehouse, Charlecote 123
Charlecote 125
“Piping Pebworth” 140
“Dancing Marston” 142
Dining-Room, formerly the Kitchen, King’s Lodge 145
“Drunken Bidford” 149
The “Falcon,” Bidford 150
“Haunted Hillborough” (1) 151
“Haunted Hillborough” (2) 153
“Hungry Grafton” 154
The Hollow Road, Exhall 156
“Papist Wixford” 157
Brass to Thomas de Cruwe and wife, Wixford 159
“Beggarly Broom” 162
Clopton Bridge, and the “Swan’s Nest” 166
Clifford Chambers 168
Old Houses, Chipping Campden _To face_ 174
The Market House, Chipping Campden ,, 174
Grevel’s House 177
Interior of the Market House, Chipping Campden _To 178
face_
Chipping Campden Church 182
Brass to William Grevel and wife, Chipping Campden 184
Compton Wynyates 192
Boat Lane, Welford 198
Bell Tower, Evesham 204
The Almonry, Evesham 206
Abbey Gateway, Evesham 209
High Street, Tewkesbury 223
The “Bear” Inn and Bridge, Tewkesbury 227
The Arden House, Home of Shakespeare’s mother, 233
Wilmcote
Wootton Wawen Church _To face_ 234
Shakespeare Hall, Rowington 236
Leicester’s Hospital, Warwick 239
Leicester’s Hospital: the Courtyard _To face_ 240
Leicester’s Hospital: one of the Brethren ,, 244
The Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick 246
The Crypt of St. Mary’s, Warwick 248
Cæsar’s Tower, Warwick Castle 263
Kenilworth Castle: Ruins of the Banquetting Hall 278
Stained Glass Window Inscription 289
CHAPTER I
The Beginnings of Stratford-on-Avon.
NINETY-FIVE miles from the City of London, in the southern part of
Warwickshire, and on the left, or northern bank of the Avon, stands a
famous town. Not a town famed in ancient history, nor remarkable in
warlike story, nor great in affairs of commerce. It was never a strong
place, with menacing castle or defensive town walls with gates closed at
night. It stood upon a branch road, in a thinly-peopled forest-district,
and in every age the wars and tumults and great social and political
movements which constitute what is called “history” have passed it by.
Such is, and has been from the beginning, the town of Stratford-on-Avon,
whose very name, although now charged with a special significance as the
birthplace of Shakespeare, takes little hold upon the imagination when we
omit the distinguishing “on Avon.” For there are other Stratfords to be
found upon the map of England, as necessarily there must be when we
consider the origin of the name, which means merely the ford where the
“street”—generally a paved Roman road—crossed a river. And as fords of
this kind must have been very numerous along the ancient roads of this
country before bridges were built, we can only be astonished that there
are not more Stratfords than the five or six that are found in the
gazetteers.
The Roman road that came this way was a vicinal route from the Watling
Street where Birmingham now stands, through Henley-in-Arden and Alcester,
the Roman station of _Alauna_. Passing over the ford of the Avon, it
went to London by way of Ettington, Sunrising Hill, and Banbury. Other
Roman roads, the Fosse Way and Ryknield Street, remodelled on the lines
of ancient British track-ways, passed east and west of Stratford at an
equal distance of six miles.
All the surrounding district north of the Avon was woodland, the great
Forest of Arden; and to the south of the river stretched a more low-lying
country as far as the foot of the Cotswold Hills, much less thickly
wooded. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the Forest of Arden was
greatly diminished, these districts owned two distinctive names: the
forest being called “the Wooland,” and the southward pasture-lands “the
Feldon.”
The travellers who came this way in early Saxon times, and perhaps even
later, came to close grips with the true inwardness of things. They
looked death often in the face as they went the lonely road. The wild
things in the forest menaced them, floods obscured the fords, lawless men
no less fierce than the animals which roamed the tangled brakes lurked
and slew. “Now am I in Arden,” the wayfarer might have said,
anticipating Touchstone, “the more fool I; when I was at home I was in a
better place; but travellers must be content.”
No town or village then existed upon the banks of Avon, and the first
mention of Stratford occurs in A.D. 691, when a monastery situated here
is named. It was an obscure house, but with extensive and valuable lands
which Bishops of Worcester hungered for and finally obtained. The site
of this monastery was scarcely that of the existing town of Stratford,
but was where the present parish church stands, in what is known as “Old
Stratford,” which is on the extreme southerly limit of the town. It was
thus situated at some little distance from the ford, which was of course
exactly where the Clopton Bridge now crosses the river. At that ford
there would probably even then have been a hermit, as there was later,
charged with the due guidance of travellers, and in receipt of offerings,
but of him we know nothing, and next to nothing of the monastery.
The Bishops of Worcester, having thus early obtained a grant of the
monastery and its lands, became lords of the manor and so remained for
centuries, wielding in their spiritual and manorial functions a very
complete authority over the town which gradually arose here. To resist
in any way the Church’s anointed in matters spiritual or temporal would
have been to kick most foolishly against the pricks, for in his one
autocratic capacity he could blast your worldly prospects, and in the
other he could (or it was confidently believed he could) damn you to all
eternity. Thus it may well be supposed that those Right Reverend were
more feared than loved.
It was an agricultural and cattle-raising community that first arose
here. “Rother Street” still by its name alludes to the olden passage of
the cattle, for “rother” is the good Anglo-Saxon word “hroether,” for
cattle. The word was known to Shakespeare, who wrote, “The pasture lards
the rother’s sides.”
In 1216 the then Bishop of Worcester obtained a charter for a fair, the
first of four obtained between that date and 1271. The fairs attracted
business, and about 1290 the first market was founded. The town had
begun to grow, slowly, it is true, but substantially. At this period
also that Guild arose which was originally a religious and charitable
fraternity, but eventually developed into surprising issues, founding a
grammar-school and becoming a tradesmen’s society, whence the
incorporation of the town in 1553, and the establishment of a town
council derived. Camden, writing about this time, was able to describe
it as “proper little mercat towne.”
In that era which witnessed the incorporation of the town of
Stratford-on-Avon and the birth of Shakespeare the population was some
2000. It is now about 8300; a very moderate increase in three hundred
and fifty years, and much below the average rate for towns, by which
Stratford might now have had a population of about 16,000.
The incorporation of this little town in the reign of Edward the Sixth
was a great event locally. It included the restitution to the people of
the place of the buildings and the property of the Guild of Holy Cross
which had been confiscated in 1547, when also the inhabitants had been
relieved from the yoke of the Bishops of Worcester, whose manor had been
taken away from them. It is true that the manorial rights had not been
abolished and that the property and its various ancient privileges had
only been transferred to other owners, but it was something to the good
that the Church no longer possessed these things. These were not
arbitrary changes, the whim of this monarch or that, Henry the Eighth and
Edward the Sixth did only what others in their place would and must have
done. They were certainly sovereigns with convictions of their own, but
their attitude of mind was but the _Zeitgeist_, the spirit of the age,
and they did not so much originate it as be swayed by it. Those
statesmen who have been held meanly subservient to them were, after all,
men of like convictions. They saw the old order to be outworn and
existing institutions ripe for change. It was the age of the Renascence.
Everywhere was the new spirit, which was remodelling thought as well as
material things. It was the age, above all things, of the new learning.
These feelings led the advisers of the young king, Edward the Sixth, to
counsel the restitution to the town of the property of the Guild
dissolved only six years earlier, with the important provision that the
grammar-school was to be re-established and maintained out of its
revenues. To this provision we distinctly owe the dramatist, William
Shakespeare, who was born at the very time when the educational
advantages thus secured to the children of the townsfolk had settled down
into smoothly working order. Education cannot produce a Shakespeare, it
cannot create genius, but it can give genius that chance in early
elementary training without which even the most adaptive minds lose their
direction.
The ancient buildings of the Guild, which after its long career as a kind
of lay brotherhood for what modern people would style “social service,”
had attained an unlooked-for development as the town authority, thus
provided Stratford with its Grammar School and its first town-hall. In
those timbered rooms the scholars received their education, and for
eighty years, until 1633, when the first hall built especially for the
corporation was opened, the aldermen and councillors met there. Among
them was John Shakespeare.