Yet,
as we know, he was not the solitary masker or mummer in this
extraordinary carnival, which seems not creditable to the taste of its
promoters, and resembles rather the entry of a travelling circus into a
provincial town than a serious commemoration of a great man. However,
'thither Mr Boswell repaired with all the enthusiasm of a poetical
mind;' as he informs us, 'such an opportunity for the warbling of his
Muse was not neglected.' On Wednesday, Sept. 6th, about five in the
morning, says _The Scots Magazine_ for that month in its leading
article, the performers from Drury Lane paraded the streets of
Stratford, and serenaded the ladies with a ballad by Garrick, beginning

'Ye Warwickshire lads and ye lasses
See what at our Jubilee passes;
Come revel away, rejoice and be glad,
For the lad of all lads was a Warwickshire lad,
Warwickshire lad,
All be glad,
For the lad of all lads was a Warwickshire lad.'

Guns were fired, the magistrates assembled, and there was a public
breakfast in the town-hall. In this number of the magazine there is a
letter extending to seven columns from James Boswell, Esq., on his
return to London, after being 'much agitated' by 'this jubilee of
genius.' He describes it as 'truly an antique idea, a Grecian thought;'
the oratorio at the great Stratford church, with the music by Dr Arne,
was, he admits, grand and admirable, but 'I could have wished that
prayers had been read, and a short sermon preached.' Then the
performance of the dedication ode by Garrick is described as 'noble and
affecting, like an exhibition in Athens or Rome.' Lord Grosvenor, at the
close, went up to Garrick, 'and told him that he had affected his whole
frame, showing him his nerves and veins still quivering with agitation.'
The masquerade our traveller, as the 'travelled thane,' affects to
regard complacently as an 'entertainment not suited to the genius of the
British nation, but to a warmer country, where the people have a great
flow of spirits, and a readiness at repartee.' Bozzy no doubt had seen
the carnival abroad, and his memories of sunnier skies would not find
congenial atmosphere in the unpropitious weather when the Avon rose with
the floods of rain, the lower grounds were laid under water, and a
guinea for a bed was regarded as an imposition, though 'no one,'
declares our hero, 'was understood to come there who had not plenty of
money'--their own or t