Shakespeare's England . would wish to die. In shape the town of Stratford somewhat resemblesa large cross, which is formed by High Street, runningnearly north and south, and Bridge Street and WoodStreet, running nearly east and west. From these,which are main avenues, radiate many and deviousbranches. A few of the streets are broad and straightbut many of them are narrow and crooked. High andBridge streets intersect each other at the centre of thetown, and there stands the market house, an uglybuilding, of the period of George the Fourth, withbelfry and illuminated clock, facing eastward towar
Shakespeare's England . would wish to die. In shape the town of Stratford somewhat resemblesa large cross, which is formed by High Street, runningnearly north and south, and Bridge Street and WoodStreet, running nearly east and west. From these,which are main avenues, radiate many and deviousbranches. A few of the streets are broad and straightbut many of them are narrow and crooked. High andBridge streets intersect each other at the centre of thetown, and there stands the market house, an uglybuilding, of the period of George the Fourth, withbelfry and illuminated clock, facing eastward towardthe old stone bridge, with fourteen arches, — the bridgethat Sir Hugh Clopton built across the Avon, in thereign of Henry the Seventh. A cross once stood atthe corner of High Street and Wood Street, and nearthe cross was a pump and a well. From that centralpoint a few steps will bring the traveller to the birth-place of Shakespeare. It is a little, two-story cottage,of timber and plaster, on the north side of Henley. v * CHAP. XII SHAKESPEARES HOME 123 Street, in the western part of the town. It must havebeen, in its pristine days, finer than most of thedwellings in its neighbourhood. The one-story house,with attic windows, was the almost invariable fashionof building, in English country towns, till the seven-teenth century. This cottage, besides its two stories,had dormer-windows, a pent-house over its door, andaltogether was built and appointed in a manner bothluxurious and substantial. Its age is unknown; butthe history of Stratford reaches back to a period threehundred years antecedent to William the Conqueror,and fancy, therefore, is allowed ample room to magnifyits antiquity. It was bought, or occupied, by Shake-speares father in 1555, and in it he resided till hisdeath, in 1601, when it descended by inheritance to thepoet. Such is the substance of the complex documen-tary evidence and of the emphatic tradition that conse-crate this cottage as the house in which Shakes
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectshakespearewilliam15
