of the chimney is still
seen a place which while writing he was accustomed to rub his feet
against, as they rested on it. In a keep or dungeon of this feudal
_chateau_, the local association suggested to the philosopher his chapter
on "The Liberty of the Citizen." It is the second chapter of the twelfth
book, of which the close is remarkable.

[Footnote A: A public subscription secured the house in which Shakspeare
was born at Stratford-on-Avon. Durer's house, at Nuremberg, is still
religiously preserved, and its features are unaltered. The house in which
Michael Angelo resided at Florence is also carefully guarded, and the
rooms are still in the condition in which they were left by the great
master.--Ed.]

Let us regret that the little villa of POPE, and the poetic Leasowes of
SHENSTONE, have fallen the victims of property as much as if destroyed by
the barbarous hand which cut down the consecrated tree of Shakspeare. The
very apartment of a man of genius, the chair he studied in, the table he
wrote on, are contemplated with curiosity; the spot is full of local
impressions. And all this happens from an unsatisfied desire to see and
hear him whom we never can see nor hear; yet, in a moment of illusion, if
we listen to a traditional conversation, if we can revive one of his
feelings, if we can catch but a dim image, we reproduce this man of genius
before us, on whose features we so often dwell. Even the rage of the
military spirit has taught itself to respect the abode of genius; and
Caesar and Sylla, who never spared the blood of their own Rome, alike felt
their spirit rebuked, and alike saved the literary city of Athens.
Antiquity has preserved a beautiful incident of this nature, in the noble
reply of the artist PROTOGENES. When the city of Rhodes was taken by
Demetrius, the man of genius was discovered in his garden, tranquilly
finishing a picture. "How is it that you do not participate in the general
alarm?" asked the conqueror. "Demetrius, you war against the Rhodians, but
not against the fine arts," replied the man of genius. Demetrius had
already shown this by his conduct, for he forbade firing that part of the
city where the artist resided.

The house of the man of genius has been spared amidst contending empires,
from the days of Pindar to those of Buffon; "the Historian of Nature's"
chateau was preserved from this elevated feeling by Prince Schwartzenberg,
as our MARLBOROUGH had performed the same glorious o