(That
proposal was not accepted.) Dickens, Macaulay, Lord Lytton, and the
historian Grote were all active in promoting the movement, and it
proved successful. The property was duly secured by a private trust in
behalf of the nation. The most important house identified with
Shakespeare's career in Stratford was thus effectively protected from
the risks that are always inherent in private ownership. The step was
not taken with undue haste; two hundred and thirty-one years had
elapsed since Shakespeare's death.
Fourteen years later, in very similar circumstances, the still vacant
site of Shakespeare's demolished residence, New Place, with the great
garden behind it, and the adjoining house, was acquired by the public.
A new Shakespeare Fund, to which the Prince Consort subscribed L100,
and Miss Burdett-Coutts (afterwards Baroness Burdett-Coutts) L600, was
formed not only to satisfy this purpose, but to provide the means of
equipping a library and museum which were contemplated at the
Birthplace, as well as a second museum which was to be provided on the
New Place property. It was appropriate to make these buildings
depositories of authentic relics and books which should illustrate the
poet's life and work.
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