smiles ;

Why should not all be glad where all is fair!
If beauty to the beautiful be joy,

Thou shoulds't be joyous-and the sunny clime

That old tradition peopled from the sky
Should ring with music to the march of time;-
Scenes where the soul of loveliness so long
Hath made a temple of each vine-clad hill-
Beautiful valleys where the breath of song
Floats, like a spirit, o'er each haunted rill-
Shores, where the thoughts-that have not died
-had birth,

And made the land a worship to the earth!

His battle-cry!-yet ah! the voice that spake
Of old was louder,-and his cheek is pale,-
And years have done him wrong!—The while
he slept,

His father's sword hath rusted and his own,-
The tears have scorched him that his mother

wept,

And half the beauty of his youth is gone!

And thou, sweet lady of the mourning isles!
A true-born daughter of the land thou art,
That smiles not till she sees her mother's
smiles ;-

The country's chains lie heavy on thy heart!--
Perchance, like her, thou art a widow too,
A widow and an orphan,—and the fate
That kept her thus, hath, haply, made thee so,
And left thee lone-alone and desolate !-
Now, in thy dreams, amid the ruined halls
Of thy wronged land, perchance there mingles

one,

Whose chambers,-echoing back the water

falls,-

For thee-for thee had voices of their own!
Amid thy visions of thy lofty sires,—
Whose tombs are altars,-haply there may be
An infant's grave-whose quiet pomp aspires
To be a shrine to thee-and only thee!
-But, who shall read the sign upon thy brow,
Save that its tale is sorrow?—Even now,
Thine and thy country's portion is to mourn!-
Oh! much is lost that never can return,
And fancy paints not Greece-without her fu-
neral Urn!

T. K. HERVEY.

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON is on the south-western border of Warwickshire, on a gentle ascent from the banks of the Avon, which rises in a small spring at Naseby in Northamptonshire. It is eight miles south-west from Warwick, and ninetyfour north-west from London.

The church was originally a rectory, and was purchased in 1337 of Simon Montacute, bishop of Worcester, by John de Stratford, archbishop of Canterbury, and attached to the chantry he had founded in the chapel of St. Thomas the martyr, adjoining the south aisle of the church. This chantry consisted of five priests. Eventually it acquired the title and privileges of a collegiate church, and on the dissolution was made a vicarage.

Stratford church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is a spacious edifice in the early style of English architecture. It consists of a nave, and side aisles, a transept or cross aisle, and a chancel or choir, with a square embattled tower rising from the intersection, and surmounted by a lofty octagonal spire. It has been supposed to occupy the site of an ancient monastery, and to have been either built or rebuilt by archbishop Stratford.

The nave is supported on each side by six pointed arches, which rise from clustered columns: above these, the sides are divided into twelve compartments, forming twelve clerestory pointed windows, enriched with tracery in the later style. The fine oak roof is richly carved. The principal entrance into this part of the church is at the west end, under a deeply-recessed pointed arch, over which are three conjoined niches, crowned by clegant and lofty canopies. Above is the great western window, in the later style, nearly equal in width to the nave itself. The nave terminates at the western arch of the tower, which was occupied by the organ. In the space beneath the organ-loft were formerly two altars, the north dedicated to the Trinity, that on the south to St. Peter and St. Paul. There was a third altar, dedicated to St. Andrew; but its position is not

known.

The roof of the nave was formerly enriched externally with ornamented battlements and pinnacles; but these were taken down in 1764.

At the eastern extremity of the north aisle was a chapel dedicated to the virgin, used by the brotherhood of the Holy Cross. The three steps which led to the altar remain. This chapel is now occupied by monuments of the Clopton family, with recumbent figures finely sculptured in marble, and painted to represent the natural complexion.

At the east end of the south aisle, which is in the decorated style, a chapel was erected to St. Thomas à Becket, the ascent to the altar of which still remains; and near it in the south wall are three vacant canopied niches.

In the transepts are several both ancient and modern monuments; and at the extremity of each

is a large enriched window. Massive piers of clustered columns and lofty arches support the tower, and separate the nave from the chancel, "which," says Neale, "is the most beautiful as well as the most perfect division of this church, and was erected between the years 1465 and 1491 by Thomas Balsall, D.D., who then held the office of dean. It is separated from the transept by an oaken screen, which originally formed a part of the ancient rood-loft, and which was glazed in the year 1813. Five large ornamented windows (in the later style), on each side, give light to the chancel they were formerly decorated with painted glass, the remains of which were taken out in the year 1790, and transferred to the centre of the great eastern window, where they still remain, though in a very confused state. On each side of the eastern window is a niche, boldly finished in the florid style of pointed architecture. In the south wall, near the altar, are three similar niches conjoined, in which were placed the consessus, or seats for the priests officiating at mass; and immediately adjoining them is the piscina. On each side of the chancel is a range of stalls belonging to the ancient choir, remarkable for the grotesque carvings which ornament the lower part of each seat."

There are many monuments in the chancel. Among them may be noticed that of dean Balsham, on the north wall; and that also of the most distinguished native of Stratford, William Shakspeare, enclosing his bust. A slab very near covers the ashes of the poet, and is inscribed with the well-known lines, said to be from his own pen :

"Good frend, for Jesvs' sake forbeare
To digg the dvst encloased heare:
Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones,
And cvrst be he yt moves my bones."

Shakspeare's wife and other members of his family also lie in Stratford church.

on the sepulchral slab, was prompted by the sight The story goes, that the inscription just given, of the charnel-house, entered by an ornamented doorway just beyond the stalls, which was filled with skulls and bones, and that the poet apprehended his bones might one day be cast upon the heap. This charnel-house was taken down in 1800, and the bones arched over.

entwined, form a pleasing approach to the northern An avenue of lime-trees, with their branches porch, over which is a room, originally lighted by a window, which is now blocked up by a tablet. This room was probably used as a record chamber.

The dimensions of Stratford church are as follows:-Nave, 103 feet long, 28 feet wide, 50 feet high; side aisles, each, 103 feet long, 20 feet wide, 25 feet high; transept, 94 feet long, 20 feet wide, 30 feet high; chancel, 66 feet long, 28 feet wide, 40 feet high. The total length east to west, 197 feet. The tower is 28 feet square, 80 feet high; the spire 83 feet high.