Eventually the site became a public garden, where a slip of the
mulberry-tree may still be seen.
[Illustration: SHAKESPEARE'S TOMB, STRATFORD-ON-AVON.]
Shakespeare died in 1616, and was buried in the church at Stratford,
where on the ancient stone that covered his remains were inscribed in
old English characters the well-known words:
Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here,
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
Shakespeare's threatened curse was doubtless one reason why his bones
had remained undisturbed, for it was no uncommon occurrence in his time
for the bones of the dead to be removed from a tomb and to be replaced
or mingled with those of a stranger, for even the tomb of his daughter,
who died in 1649, shared that fate, her epitaph being effaced and
replaced by another of a person in no way related to the Shakespeare
family, but who was buried in the same grave.
In one corner of the church was a tomb bearing the effigy of John
O'Combe, who we thought might have hailed from the neighbourhood of the
old abbey of that name which we passed the night before. In spite of his
benefactions recorded in the church, he was looked upon as a usurer,
because he charged 10 per cent, for his money.
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