Stratford-upon-Avon a Hundred Years Ago

Summary

The manuscript diary from which these extracts are taken was made by the Rev. William Harness in 1844. Harness, born in 1790, a lifelong friend of Mary Russell Mitford, had a wide acquaintanceship with literary men and actors of his time; and, as his notes show, he was a fervent admirer of Shakespeare, an edition of whose works, in eight volumes, he brought out in 1825. An interesting reference is made in one of his letters to the pious task he carried out in restoring the inscriptions on the Shakespeare tombstones during his visit to Stratford:

I have [he wrote to his sister], had the Epitaph restored to Mrs Hall’s tombstone; and am now having the letters refreshed on the stones of Dr Hall her husband, and Mr Nash who was the first husband of Shakespeare’s granddaughter, and the heiress of Mrs Hall. Shakespeare and his wife and these three all lie together side by side in front of the altar. This restoration will not cost me more than £3. How strange that it should have been left for me to do; and I’m making a step towards saving the money by leaving off sugar, which Dr Thompson advised me to do, and I find a great improvement in the tea, now I’m used to it.