many years, at the church of Hucknall-Torkard, in
which visitors desiring to do so, can write their names. The first book
provided for this purpose was an album given to the church by the poet,
Sir John Bowling, and in that there was a record of visitations during the
years from 1825 to 1834.... The catalog of pilgrims to the grave of Byron
during the last eighty years is not a long one. The votaries of that poet
are far less numerous than those of Shakespeare. Custom has made the visit
to Stratford "a property of easiness," and Shakespeare is a safe no less
than a rightful object of worship. The visit to Hucknall-Torkard is
neither as easy nor as agreeable. Torkard is neither as easy nor as
agreeable.... On the capital of a column near Byron's tomb I saw two
moldering wreaths of laurel, which had hung there for several years; one
brought by the Bishop of Norwich, the other by the American poet Joaquin
Miller. It was good to see them, and especially to see them beside the
tablet of white marble which was placed on that church wall to commemorate
the poet, and to be her witness in death, by his loving and beloved sister
Augusta Mary Leigh,--a name that is the synonym of noble fidelity, a name
that cruel detraction and hideous calumny have done their worst to
tarnish. That tablet names him "The Author of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage,"
and if the conviction of thoughtful men and women throughout the world can
be accepted as an authority, no name in the long annals of English
literature is more certain of immortality than the name of Byron. His
reputation can afford the absence of all memorial to him in Westminster
Abbey,--can endure it, perhaps, better than the English nation can,--and
it can endure the neglect and censure of the precinct of Nottingham. That
city rejoices in many interesting associations, but all that really
hallows it for the stranger is its association with the name of Byron. The
stranger will look in vain, however, for any adequate sign of his former
connection with that place. It is difficult even to find prints or
photographs of the Byron shrine, in the shops of Nottingham. [Footnote:
Since this paper was written the buildings that flanked the front wall of
Hucknall-Torkard churchyard have been removed, the street in front of it
has been widened, and the church has been "restored" and considerably
altered.--Author's note to the Editor.]

DR. JOHNSON'S BIRTHPLACE [Footnote: From "Our Old Home." Publi