Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/209

 STRATFORD UPON AVON.

��MANY circumstances conspired to make our visit to Stratford upon Avon one of peculiar interest. We had the finest autumnal weather, and so perfect a full moon, that our researches could be continued in the evening, almost as well as during the day.

Among the buildings which we noticed in our excur sions, were some in the cottage style, tastefully adorned, and of graceful proportions. Near the church where Shakspeare s dust reposes, we observed a pleasant, commodious mansion, devoted to the instruction of young ladies, and met several classes of them returning from their walk, a bright-browed and apparently happy throng. Methought the pursuit of knowledge might be sweet, amid such localities and associations.

But among the most interesting features of our visit to Stratford upon Avon, were the services of the Sab bath in this same old church. The approach to it is through a long green vista, the trees having been trained while young to bend and interlace their branches. The Avon flows by its walls, and as we wandered on its green margin, a chime, softened by distance, was borne

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