262 



SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



it belonged from the trouble of ansAvering frequent appli- 

 cations for pemiission to see it : that was bad enough, 

 quite lamentable enough, but that for such a paltry con- 

 sideration, the world should have been deprived of 

 Shakespeare's 3,Iulberry tree, is monstrous indeed ! This 

 vicar, it seems, took a dislike to the tree, because it sub- 

 jected him to the frequent importunities of travellers, 

 vrhose zeal might prompt them to visit it, and, " in an 

 e^^il hour," says ]Mr. Drake, the sacrilegious priest 

 ordered the tree, then remarkably large, and at its full 

 growth, to be cut down, which was no sooner done than 

 it was cleft to pieces for firewood." 



Could this ]^ar. Gastrell so strangely deceive himself 

 as to beheve that such a tree could be liis property ex- 

 clusively ? Did he not know that it was the property of 

 all England, that posterity had a share in it ? How 

 many years lono;er mio^ht that tree ha\e lived and 

 flourished : how long might art have preserved it, even 

 in deca}' ; and Vv'ho but Islw Gastrell would have removed 

 even the last hfeless rugged stump ? who but would have 

 cherished it while the least splinter remained I Some 

 little solace it is, that the greater pait of the wood was 

 saved from the fire. It was puixhased by Mr. Thomas 

 Shai-p, watchmaker^ of Stratford, who, well knowing the 

 ■s'alue set upon it by the world, turned it much to his own 

 advantage, b}' converting every fragment into little boxes, 

 tooth-pick cases, tobacco-stoppers, &:c. wliich were sought 

 after with avidity. 



Having in 1756 destroyed the tree, it was not long 

 before ]\Ir. Gastrell completed the sacrilege by destroying 

 the house also. Compelled to pay the monthly assess- 

 ments towards the maintenance of the poor, (some part 



