ublet, over which was a loose black gown without sleeves; all which
looks like an attempt to preserve an exact likeness. The inscription
upon it, also, seemed to show that there were some in the world by no
means unaware of who and what he was.

Next to the tomb of Shakspeare in the chancel is buried his favorite
daughter, over whom somebody has placed the following quaint
inscription:--

"Witty above her sex, but that's not all,
Wise to salvation was good Mistress Hall.
Something of Shakspeare was in that, but this
Wholly of him, with whom she is now in bliss;
Then, passenger, hast ne'er a tear,
To weep with her that wept with, all--
That wept, yet set herself to cheer
Them, up with comfort's cordial?
Her lore shall live, her mercy spread,
When thou hast ne'er a tear to shed."

This good Mistress Hall, it appears, was Shakspeare's favorite among his
three children. His son, Hamet, died at twelve years of age. His
daughter Judith, as appears from some curious document still extant,
could not write her own name, but signed with her mark; so that the
"wit" of the family must have concentrated itself in Mistress Hall. To
her, in his last will, which is still extant, Shakspeare bequeathed an
amount of houses, lands, plate, jewels, and other valuables, sufficient
to constitute quite a handsome estate. It would appear, from this, that
the poet deemed her not only "wise unto salvation," but wise in her day
and generation, thus intrusting her with the bulk of his worldly goods.

His wife, Ann Hathaway, is buried near by, under the same pavement. From
the slight notice taken of her in the poet's will, it would appear that
there was little love between them. He married her when he was but
eighteen; most likely she was a mere rustic beauty, entirely incapable
either of appreciating or adapting herself to that wide and wonderful
mind in its full development.

As to Mistress Hall, though the estate was carefully entailed, through
her, to heirs male through all generations, it was not her good fortune
to become the mother of a long line, for she had only one daughter, who
became Lady Barnard, and in whom, dying childless, the family became
extinct. Shakspeare, like Scott, seems to have had the desire to
perpetuate himself by founding a family with an estate, and the
coincidence in the result is striking. Genius must be its own monument.

After we had explored the church we went out to walk about the place