CHAPTER XI. THE AVON. The beautiful depending on what the mind brings to it-Rivers connected with poetry-Kenilworth-Guy's Cliff-Warwick Castle-The Hatton Rock-Bidford-General view of the valley of the Avon-Shakespeare as a naturalist-Warwickshire flowers and birds alluded to in his plays. "The current, that with gentle murmur glides, Thou know'st, being stopp'd, impatiently doth rage; He makes sweet music with the enamell'd stones, Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge He overtaketh in his pilgrimage; And so, by many winding nooks he strays THE passing pilgrim may vainly look in the sweet valley of the Avon for those charming scenes which Shakespeare depicts in his living pages. This is because the perception of the beautiful depends so much on the imaginative elements which the mind brings to the outward. The ancients imagined that, far away towards the setting sun, lay the Islands of the Blessed, where was a garden full of trees hanging with golden fruit, guarded day and night by an ever-wakeful dragon. Modern voyagers have never been able to discover these happy abodes, and find in their place only the Azores and Canary Islands, where oranges may be seen when ripe hanging amid the deep green foliage. This hint may serve to check undue expectations on the part of the traveller visiting the rural scenes of Shakespeare's life. We associate his country rambles and his study of nature with the Avon, and indeed the banks of rivers have always been the classic ground of poetry. Living streams have afforded to poets the greatest number of beautiful images, and on their brink Nature unfolds her charms in their most pleasing form. Here wild-flowers grow in the greatest profusion, and the skirting woods are vocal with the sweetest songsters. The Upper Avon rises near Naseby, but we need not notice any place on or near it above Kenilworth, as being unconnected with Shakespeare. The ruins of this noble castle are highly worthy of being visited, and still give evidence of its ancient magnificence. Kenilworth has been the scene of many interesting events in English history. Queen Elizabeth made her last visit here to the Earl of Leicester in 1575; on which occasion Shakespeare, as a boy, is supposed to have been present.* Sir Walter Scott, in his "Kenilworth," has immortalized this episode in baronial life. The grounds of Guy's Cliff beside the Avon are very beautiful, and visitors are permitted to have ready access to them. This is the retreat of Earl Guy, the slayer of the dun cow. A mile below this is the ancient city of Warwick. The castle is on the brink of the Avon, and is a noble building, the most ancient part of which is called Cæsar's Tower. The other, named Guy's Tower, dates from 1394. Proceeding downwards, the stream at one time flows through flat meadows, at another is skirted by high and wooded banks. Below Charlecote the most * See page 23. interesting point is at the Hatton Rock, where the river flows rapidly-through a narrow channel at the base of a richly-wooded cliff. The scenery between this and Stratford is highly picturesque. The stream flows gently amid fringes of rush and sedge; its forest trees give place to willow pollards, which line the banks in the vicinity of the town. After passing the church and the mill, the walk is beautiful, keeping the horsetrack on the right bank down to Bidford, the scene of one of Shakespeare's youthful adventures with the Topers and Sippers.* With regard to the scenery around Stratford, it is observable that the general outlines are rather tame. The beauty lies in those scenes by the river side, where the view of the spectator is narrowed. There are some elevated stand-points where the effect is fine, looking in the direction of the Ilmington and Meon hills. The Avon is seen winding through a broad and rich valley, now embosomed in wood, now flowing with a wide sweep through lowlying meadows, while the deep green and other hues of the variegated landscape melt gradually into the tints of the blue hills which bound the view. To the student of Shakespeare, the valley of the Avon will ever have a charm, because it was here nature was studied by nature's poet. Shakespeare's descriptions have all the freshness and fidelity of original observation. He saw the world with his own eyes, and everywhere gives proof of his having been a close observer. It gives an additional interest to his local * See page 31. ity, to know that most of his plants are to be seen in the fields and waste-places around his native town. He had no doubt become familiar with many of them from observation in youth, but it is probable that much of that exactness which he shows in his knowledge of natural history is due to subsequent study after he wrote plays and knew the artistic value of such knowledge. He had ample opportunities for acquiring it, as he always spent some part of the year in Stratford while he lived in London. Among his plays, "Winter's Tale" and "Midsummer Night's Dream" are pre-eminent for their beautiful allusions. In the former he speaks of "The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun, And with him rises weeping." How beautifully this expresses the closing of the flower after sunset, and the pearl drops of dew hanging from its drooping head in the morning! Among Perdita's spring flowers are "Daffodils That come before the swallow dares, and take But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes The daffodil, or narcissus, grows wild in woods and thickets, and has its petals pale yellow. It flowers in March, and often adorns our cottage gardens; most of the species of the violet flower in spring, and some also through the summer. Shakespeare elsewhere calls it accurately "the nodding violet,"—that is, nutant, having the head bent downward. The last two lines quoted here express figuratively the fact that the pale-yellow primrose flowers in April and May, and the corolla withers before midsummer. The minuteness of his observations is shown when he tells us of the fairy queen, "Midsummer Night's Dream," Act ii., Scene 1— "The cowslips tall her pensioners be, In their gold coats spots you see." These specks in the corolla he calls in "Cymbeline" "the crimson drops i' the bottom of a cowslip." What an exact appreciation of things in their natural relations does he show in the lines, "Hamlet," Act iv., Scene 7— "There is a willow grows askaunt the brook That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream!" As is well known, only the under side of the leaf in the willow is hoar-white, and hence naturally the hoar leaf is reflected from the water beneath. Some difference of opinion has arisen regarding one of the fruits, with which Titania bids the fairies feed Bottom.-"Midsummer Night's Dream," Act iii., Scene 1 -the "dewberry," "Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,' With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries." Some for dewberry would read gooseberry,-a perfectly needless conjecture, as the dewberry is plentiful in Shakespeare's native locality. It is a species of bramble, the Rubus cosius, with weak stems, slender prickles, and white or pale rose-coloured petals. The fruit, which is black with a bluish bloom, is larger grained and of a finer acid flavour than the common |