Warwickshire: The Land of Shakespeare

by Clive Holland

Amongst the treasures relating to Shakespeare are the only known MSS. of his plays written before the close of the seventeenth century. The first of these, which is supposed to have been written about the year 1610, is “The History of King Henry IV.,” the two parts in one, and consists of fifty–six leaves. It is generally believed to be in the handwriting of Sir Edward Dearing, of Surrenden, Kent, and to have been transcribed by him from some other MS. since lost, as no printed copy is extant containing the various corrections and alterations shown in this MS.

There is also a volume of MS. poetical pieces, including a copy of “Julius Cæsar,” transcribed in the reign of Charles II. This play, it is clear from the enormous variations from all printed editions, must have been transcribed from some independent version, and it seems more than probable from an ancient playhouse copy.

In addition to these notable MSS. there are a fine copy of the folio edition of 1623; a “Hamlet,” 1607, 1637, 1676; the second part of “King Henry VI.,” 1619; “King Lear,” of 1608; “The Merchant of Venice,” of 1600; as well as a “Romeo and Juliet,” 1599; and a very interesting collection of wardrobe and property bills of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, dating from 1713 to 1716.

Of great interest outside the more domestic portion of the castle is Cæsar’s Tower, in the dungeons of which so many persons during past ages must have been confined, some of them doubtless never to be released save to go to execution. The dungeon—on the walls of which are rudely scratched inscriptions, drawings of bows and arrows, crucifixes, and coats–of–arms—is a strong, stone–vaulted chamber 17 feet by 13 feet and 14 feet 6 inches high. The roof is groined in two bays, and on the south side is a plain semicircular opening, admitting a beam of light from a deeply splayed window about 6 inches wide. On the same side of the dungeon is a passage cut off from the prison by an iron grating, so as to prevent access.

From the top of Guy’s Tower, which is reached by a staircase of one hundred and thirty–three steps, there is a fine general view of the castle itself, as well as the wide prospect of the surrounding country A noticeable feature of the tower is the immense strength of the vault beneath it, which would apparently point to the fact that in olden days some heavy engine for the purpose of slinging stones must have been placed upon the roof. In the tower there are five floors, each having a groined roof, and subdivided into one large and two small rooms, the sides of which in most cases are pierced with numerous loopholes for bowmen commanding in all directions the curtains which the tower was built to protect.

Any mention of Warwick Castle without a reference to the celebrated Warwick Vase, one of the most remarkable remains of the art of ancient Greece, would be incomplete. This fine vase, which was purchased by the second Earl of Warwick from his uncle Sir William Hamilton, is not in the castle itself, but in the conservatory standing in the grounds beyond the stone bridge spanning the moat, which was built to replace the ancient drawbridge. The inscription on the pedestal runs, “This monument of ancient art and Roman splendour was dug out of the ruins of the Tiburtine Villa, the favourite retreat of Hadrian Augustus, that it was restored by the order of Sir William Hamilton, Ambassador from George III., King of Great Britain, to Ferdinand IV., King of Sicily, who sent it home, and was by him dedicated to the ancestral or national genius of liberal arts in 1774.”

The romantic story of the vase runs as follows. During some excavations which were being carried out in the bed of a small lake called Pantinello near Tivoli, about sixteen miles from Rome, in 1770, the workmen unearthed the vase. How it came to be at the bottom of this lake has never been discovered and, indeed, can even scarcely be conjectured. But in view of the fact that Hadrian’s Villa was, in the year A.D. 546, occupied by Totila, King of the Goths, who was laying siege to Rome at that time, it may be that the vase was cast into the lake by Adrian’s orders to save it from the invaders.

The villa itself was finished about A.D. 138, but the vase is undoubtedly of considerably earlier date, and by some authorities is considered to have been the work of a Greek artist, Lysippus of Sicyon, who lived at the close of the fourth century, when a more elegant style was just replacing the more severe types of art of Phydias and his school. The vase is circular in form, 5 feet 6 inches high and 5 feet 8 inches in diameter, and is constructed of white marble. The base or pedestal on which it stands is modern. The handles of the vase are formed of vine stems, smaller branches of which run round the upper lip, and from which depend bunches of grapes so as to form a frieze. Covering the lower rim are two tiger and panther skins, of which the heads and four paws adorn the sides of the vase, the hind legs interlacing and hanging down between the handles. The heads of Sileni or male attendants of Bacchus are arranged along the tiger skins, with one exception of a female head, probably that of a Bacchante or faun.

With regard to this head, however, some authorities have held that it is a modern restoration, and represents Sir William Hamilton’s wife Emma—of Nelson fame. Between the heads are thyrsi or Bacchic rods entwined with ivy and vine shoots, and litui or augural wands used in taking omens. The capacity of the vase is more than one hundred and sixty gallons, and the use to which it was put or for which it was intended has been the subject of much speculation.

With the many tragedies and pageants which have in the dark ages of the pre–Medieval period down to the golden age of Elizabeth taken place within the enduring walls of this ancient stronghold, it is impossible to deal here. But in this ancient feudal castle the student, artist, and lover of the past will recognise one of the finest monuments in England of ancient splendour which yet remains happily largely uninjured by time. In it we have also an almost unique memorial of that transition period when the more severe and forbidding features of fortress–dwellings were being slowly replaced by others of a more domestic if not the less imposing character.