Shakespeare's England . onof an adjacent shop, the staircase hall of which breakscruelly into the sacred edifice and impends above thealtar. On July 12, 1882, the present writer, walk-ing in the churchyard of St. Pauls, Covent Garden,—the sepulchre of William Wycherley, Robert Wilks,Charles Macklin, Joseph Haines, Thomas King, SamuelButler, Thomas Southerne, Edward Shuter, Dr. Arne,Thomas Davies, Edward Kynaston, Richard Estcourt,William Havard, and many other renowned votaries ofliterature and the stage, — found workmen building anew wall to sustain the enclosure, and almost everystone in the
Shakespeare's England . onof an adjacent shop, the staircase hall of which breakscruelly into the sacred edifice and impends above thealtar. On July 12, 1882, the present writer, walk-ing in the churchyard of St. Pauls, Covent Garden,—the sepulchre of William Wycherley, Robert Wilks,Charles Macklin, Joseph Haines, Thomas King, SamuelButler, Thomas Southerne, Edward Shuter, Dr. Arne,Thomas Davies, Edward Kynaston, Richard Estcourt,William Havard, and many other renowned votaries ofliterature and the stage, — found workmen building anew wall to sustain the enclosure, and almost everystone in the cemetery uprooted and leaning against theadjacent houses. Those monuments, it was said, wouldbe replaced; but it was impossible not to consider thechances of error in a new mortuary deal — and thegrim witticism of Rufus Choate, about dilating withthe wrong emotion, came then into remembrance, anddid not come amiss. Facts such as these, however, bid us remember thateven the relics of the past are passing away, and. i^;^=^ *«*>*• 174 SHAKESPEARES ENGLAND chap. that cities, unlike human creatures, may grow to be soold that at last they will become new. It is not wonder-ful that London should change its aspect from onedecade to another, as the living surmount and obliteratethe dead. Thomas Suttons Charter-House School,founded in 1611, when Shakespeare and Ben Jonsonwere still writing, was reared upon ground in whichseveral thousand corses were buried, during the time ofthe Indian pestilence of 1348; and it still stands andflourishes — though not as vigorously now as might bewished. Nine thousand new houses, it is said, are builtin the great capital every year, and twenty-eight milesof new street are thus added to it. On a Sunday Idrove for three hours through the eastern part of Lon-don without coming upon a single trace of the openfields. On the west, all the region from Kensington toRichmond is settled for most part of the way; whilenorthward the city is stretching
Size: 1384px × 1805px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectshakespearewilliam15
