Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/210

 GRAVE OF SHAKSPEARE. 185

over its peaceful waters, with thrilling melody. A grove of young willows is planted here, and all that is picturesque in the village seems to be concentrated in this vicinity. The inroads of time upon the church have been carefully repaired, and its interior is agreea ble. It has some stately monuments, and the archi tecture of the chancel is symmetrical. The celebrated bust of Shakspeare is near it, in a niche upon the northern wall. A cushion is before it, the right hand holds a pen, and the left a scroll. The forehead is high and noble, and as the likeness was executed soon after his death, it may be supposed to convey some cor rect resemblance of his countenance. It was formerly in bright colors, but is now covered with a coat of white paint. Not far from it is the spot where his ashes rest, with the quaint adjuration ;

&quot; Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here ; Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.&quot;

Near him his wife reposes, with a Latin inscription on a small metalic tablet. On the tomb of their daugh ter Susannah, the wife of John Hall, who died in 1649, at the age of sixty-six, the following epitaph was for merly legible:

&quot; Witty above her sex, but that s not all, Wi-e to salvation, was good Mistress Hall; Something of Shakspeare was in that, but this Was of that Lord, with whom she s now in bliss ;

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