STRATFORD-ON-AVON, September 22, 1856.
DEAR SIR—I have just
visited the birth-place and the tomb of Shakespeare, and knowing somewhat of
your appreciation of his genius, I avail myself of a little leisure to enclose
you a leaf from the old churchyard, and a plate or two, I procured in the room
of his birth. The engravings may give you too favorable an idea of the
appearance of the house, it being very much dilapidated. The mud walls within
are literally carved with autographs-among which I noticed Sir Walter Scott's
upon a pane of glass. Lucien Bonaparte left the following record of his visit
in 1810:
"The eye of genius glistens to admire
How memory hails the sound of Shakespeare's lyre;
One tear I'll shed, to form a crystal shrine,
For all that's grand, immortal, and divine."
The effigy of
Shakespeare in the chancel of the church, which is said to have been made from
a cast of his features taken after death, is very different from the usual
pictures of him. The tendency has been by artists to represent the physical as
perfect as the intellectual man, whereas his face was not regularly formed,
according to this bust. The right cheek is much fuller than the left, with a
very prominent upper lip, and a double chin, and, on the whole, fleshy and more
English in its appearance; as if he were not a stranger to the virtues of good
ale. The old church with its rural surroundings, the Avon laving its southern
extremity, and its associations, formed a most delightful retreat.
I have thus far had
a very prosperous journey, and hope to reach London in a few days. Be pleased
to remember me kindly to Mrs. Dickinson, Mrs. Courtney, and Miss Mary.
SOURCE: John R.
Dickinson, Editor, Speeches, Correspondence, Etc., of the Late Daniel
S. Dickinson of New York, Vol. 2, p. 495-6
