The Memorial institution has an independent government, and is
to a larger extent under local control. But the extended series of
performances of Shakespearean drama, which takes place each year in
April at the Memorial Theatre, has something of the character of an
annual commemoration of Shakespeare by the nation at large.]
At any rate, the ancient objection to the erection of a national
monument in London, which was based on the absence of any memorial in
Stratford, is no longer of avail. In 1821, in 1847, and in 1864, when
the acquisition of the Stratford property was unattempted or
uncompleted, it was perfectly just to argue that Stratford was
entitled to have precedence of London when the question of
commemorating Shakespeare was debated. It is no just argument in 1906,
now that the claims of Stratford are practically satisfied.
Byron, when writing of the memorial to Petrarch at Arqua, expressed
with admirable feeling the sentiment that would confine outward
memorials of a poet in his native town to the places where he was
born, lived, died, and was buried. With very little verbal change
Byron's stanza on the visible memorials of Petrarch's association with
Arqua is applicable to those of Shakespeare's connexion with
Stratford:--
They keep his dust in Stratford, where he died;
The midland village where his later days
Went down the vale of years; and 'tis their pride--
An honest pride--and let it be their praise,
To offer to the passing stranger's gaze
His birthplace and his sepulchre; both plain
And venerably simple, such as raise
A feeling more accordant with his strain
Than if a pyramid form'd his monumental fane.
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