this sheet, though the house adjacent on each side originally belonged to it. As you perceive from the print, it is an old frame house filled in with brick and plaster. The roof is earthen tiles. On the front is a sign with this inscription, "The immortal Shakespeare was born in this house."

STRATFORD-ON-AVON, Aug. 4, 1851.

MY DEAR WIFE, Having shown you the outside of Shakespeare's house, we will now enter. An old lady resides here, and is in charge of the house, which is owned by the Shakespeare Club. She will wait on us. The front door opens into a room with a coarse stone floor, used till within about twenty years as a meat market. Passing through into a small back room, we ascend a very narrow, dark, and crooked flight of stairs, when we find ourselves in the room in which Shakespeare was born, represented on this sheet. It has but one window, with very low ceiling, and would be altogether uninteresting if anybody else than Shakespeare had first seen the light of day in it. What little furniture it contains is said to have belonged exclusively to Shakespeare himself. The walls, windows, and ceiling are entirely written over with the names of visitors. Among these are names of Walter Scott, Washington Irving, Prof. J. W. Webster, late deceased, Judge Daly, of New York, and many others. A bust of Shakespeare is among the orna

ments of the room.

Nearly opposite my hotel- the "Red Horse" Tavern-is another and more extensive collection of relics of the Bard of Avon, which we also visited. Thence we repaired to the church in which rest his remains, but found it closed, it being already near nine o'clock. The church, surrounded by the churchyard, stands on the very banks of the Avon, a pleasant and quiet stream, made dear to all to whom the

English language is known. The country, also, is pleasant,
though somewhat more hilly than near London. Between
Banbury and Stratford we passed the famous Edge Hill,
where a battle was fought between Oliver Cromwell and
Charles I. A round building, used as a public-house, marks
the spot where the ancient castle stood which was destroyed
in the battle.
Aug. 5th.
Before breakfast we again sallied out to the
church, gained admission, and found Shakespeare's tomb-
stone, that of his wife, and one of each of his three daugh-
ters. The four latter have their respective names, etc.,
inscribed, but on Shakespeare's tomb there appears only
these lines:

"Good friends, for Jesus' sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here;

Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones."

These five stones are horizontal slabs, and make a part of the pavement or flooring to that portion of the church called "Shakespeare's Chapel." Near to them in the wall is a slab inserted bearing Shakespeare's name and surmounted by his bust.

It is said Shakespeare first attracted attention by a distich in which he showed little fear of the parson. This dignitary had an old dog which had become useless from the infirmities of age, and which he requested the clerk to kill. Shakespeare, overhearing this, wrote the following and attached it to the dog's neck, which had the effect to procure his reprieve.

“Now I am old and cannot bark,

I am condemned by the parson to be hanged by the clark."

At half-past 8 o'clock I left Stratford-on-Avon by coach, bidding farewell to the "Red Horse," and making my bow, as I passed, to the "Old Stag's Head," "The Bull," and a few other hotels, and reached Warwick, 10 miles, at

10 o'clock. Here we spent a few minutes in the Assizes, Criminal Court, heard one young man receive some good advice from the judge, which closed up with a sentence to the penitentiary for six months; and listened to the indictment of another for passing counterfeit money at a beer-shop, against whom the young woman who served him came forward to testify. She was a modest, good-looking servant girl, but showed not the slightest evidence of shame when she testified that it was her business to attend the bar of the beer-shop.

From the court room we repaired to the ancient church, founded in 1392. Here repose the remains of the Robert Dudley, Queen Elizabeth's Earl of Leicester, also those of Ambrose, his brother. No one could discover from the tomb of Leicester, whether the ashes of a villain, or a saint, rested there. Nor did the remarks of the attendant throw any light upon that point. Unfortunately for his memory, however, history does solve that question.

Warwick contains a population of some 10,000 persons, is compact, and quite pleasant. There are many objects of interest not far away, such as Guy's Cliff, Stoneleigh Abbey, and Kenilworth Castle; but its own castle, on the borders of the village, possesses a claim to especial mention, which it shall have in my next.

Yours &c.,

A. A. MINER.

CHAPTER XXIV.

GENERAL DENOMINATIONAL SERVICE.

VERY few ministers who are faithful to parish duties

VERY

restrict their zeal and endeavors to such narrow limits. They know that the parish is no isolated interest; that its vitality and efficiency can be fully maintained only as they maintain the great body of which it is a part. The hand cannot be kept strong if the blood of the body is bereft of nutrition. Hence the good parish minister feels his obligations to, his duty as respects, the general church, supplementing denominational service within his parish with general service without the parish confines. It will not be set down to Dr. Miner's special credit that he simply did what most of his clerical brethren did,- gave service to his denomination at large. There was, however, something exceptional in the extent of this general service. The whole denomination was ever upon his heart, and no exactions of any lesser body could tempt him to neglect the claims. of all the brethren the land over. It is at times said of a particular minister: "He is a good preacher and is conscientiously attentive to the claims of his people upon him; he never neglects the sick, the dying, and the bereaved. But this is all. His parish is his denomination; he never acts for or seems to think of any

broader and more comprehensive sphere. This is a most excellent record, so far as it goes; it is a weak, at least an imperfect one, perhaps a selfish one, in view of what it does not include. From the first of his ministry to his dying hour A. A. Miner was too great for any parish, for anything less than the whole Zion of his faith, it will soon be made to appear, too great for a denomination. But his never-failing devotion to his special charge was but symbolic of his broader work for, and interest in, every phase of denominational endeavor, from the Provinces to the Pacific slope.

It is of interest to look over the files of the denominational periodicals for the past half-century, specially those circulating in New England. The "ministers present" at his State Convention and his Association, and all denominational assemblies in his neighborhood, very rarely fail to include the name of A. A. Miner. The important committees, particularly the responsible committee on fellowship, very frequently include the same name, either as chairman or secretary. In 1850, the Massachusetts Universalist Convention saw occasion to make a report of its condition and work to the United States Convention, and "Bro. A. A. Miner" is the "committee of one" to perform the duty. Though E. H. Chapin's masterly eloquence had made him the favorite preacher on special occasions, on his leaving Boston for New York, his mantle soon fell upon Mr. Miner, as, at the ordination of W. H. Ryder, at Nashua, in 1845; of H. A. Eaton, at Milford, in 1846; of J. W. Putnam, the same year, at Danversport; of the installation of John Moore, in 1847: if he does not preach