[47]
[Footnote 47: Cf. _Childe Harold_, Canto IV., St. xxxi.]
Venerable simplicity is hardly the characteristic note of
Shakespeare's "strain" any more than it is of Petrarch's "strain." But
there can be no just quarrel with the general contention that at
Stratford, where Shakespeare gave ample proof of his characteristic
modesty, a pyramidal fane would be out of harmony with the
environment. There his birthplace, his garden, and tomb are the
fittest memorials of his great career.
V
It may justly be asked: Is there any principle which justifies another
sort of memorial elsewhere? On grounds of history and sentiment, but
in conditions which demand most careful definition, the right answer
will, I think, be in the affirmative. For one thing, Shakespeare's
life was not confined to Stratford. His professional career was spent
in London, and those, who strictly insist that memorials to great men
should be erected only in places with which they were personally
associated, can hardly deny that London shares with Stratford a title
to a memorial from a biographical or historical point of view. Of
Shakespeare's life of fifty-two years, twenty-four years were in all
probability spent in London.
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