The story of English literature for young readers . nument was erected by hisdaughter and Doctor Hall, in the parish church ofStratford. It consists of a half-length statue fittedinto the wall above the tomb, which is near the altarof the church; though made of marble, it waspainted so as to closely resemble the poet; thehands and face were of flesh color, the eyes of a lighthazel, and the hair and beard auburn j the doublet,or coat, was scarlet and covered with a loose blackgown, or tabard, without sleeves.* About 1793, the bust was whitewashed over; butyears afterwards the whitewash was remo
The story of English literature for young readers . nument was erected by hisdaughter and Doctor Hall, in the parish church ofStratford. It consists of a half-length statue fittedinto the wall above the tomb, which is near the altarof the church; though made of marble, it waspainted so as to closely resemble the poet; thehands and face were of flesh color, the eyes of a lighthazel, and the hair and beard auburn j the doublet,or coat, was scarlet and covered with a loose blackgown, or tabard, without sleeves.* About 1793, the bust was whitewashed over; butyears afterwards the whitewash was removed, and theoriginal colors were found to remain intact, as theydo to this day. The bust is supposed to be a faith-ful likeness of the poet, and the fact that one side ofthe face is somewhat larger than the other, indicatesthat it was probably copied from a plaster cast actu-ally moulded upon Shakespeares face. Upon the slab covering his tomb in the floor of thechurch is the following epitaph : * Brittotit on Monumental bust of SJiakes^eare. For Young Readers, 143 Good frend for Jesvs sake forbeareTo digg the dvst encloased heare,Blese be ye man yt spares thes stones,And cvrst be he yt moves my bones. This inscription was intended to preserve Shake-speares tomb, as in those days changes were oftenroughly and rudely made ; it is supposed that his re-mains would long since have been removed to West-minster Abbey but for this verse. The last lineal descendant of Shakespeare wasElizabeth, daughter of Susanna and Doctor Hall. Shemarried twice; the last time becoming Lady Barnard;but died in 1675, without children. At her death, New Place, the home for which Shakespeare hadlabored and where his last years were spent, passedinto the hands of strangers \ coming finally into thepossession of a clergyman named Gastrell, who carednothing for its associations but barbarously pulled itdown, giving as an excuse that he had been tormentedby visitors interested in the great poets last d
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectenglishliterature
