The _Letters of Matthew Arnold_, published in 1895, contain touching allusions to Laleham Churchyard. At Harrow, February 27, 1869, the poet wrote: "It is a wonderfully clear, bright day, with a cold wind, so I went to a field on the top of the hill, whence I can see the clump of Botleys and the misty line of the Thames, where Tommy lies at the foot of them. I often go for this view on a clear day." At London, August 2, 1869, he wrote: "On Saturday Flu and I went together to Laleham. It was exactly a year since we had driven there with darling Tommy and the other two boys, to see Basil's grave; he enjoyed the drive, and Laleham, and the river, and Matt Buckland's garden, and often talked of them afterwards. And now we went to see _his_ grave, poor darling. The two graves are a perfect garden, and are evidently the sight of the churchyard, where there is nothing else like them; a path has been trodden over the grass to them by people coming and going. It was a soft, mild air, and we sat a long time by the graves." [3] The crime was committed on November 4, 1820. The victim was a farmer, named William Hirons. The assassins, four in number, named Quiney, Sidney, Hawtrey, and Adams, were hanged, at Warwick, in April, 1821. [4] Arthur Hodgson, born in 1818, was educated at Eton and at Cambridge. He went to Australia in 1839, and made a fortune as a sheep-farmer. He served the State in various public offices, and was knighted by Queen Victoria. He has been five times Mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon. [5] An entry in the Diocesan Register of Worcester states that in 1374 "John Clopton of Stretforde obtained letters dimissory to the order of priest."--In 1477 Pope Sixtus the Fourth authorized John Clopton to perform divine service in Clopton manor-house.--Mrs. Gaskell, then Miss Byerley, saw the attic chapel at Clopton, in 1820, and wrote a description of it at that time. [6] The original sign of the Shoulder of Mutton, which once hung before that house, was painted by Grubb, who also painted the remarkable portrait of the Corporation Cook, which now hangs in the town hall of Stratford,--given to the borough by the late Henry Graves, of London. [7] When the moat was disused three "jack bottles" were found in its bed, made of coarse glass, and bearing on the shoulder of each bottle the crest of John-a-Combe. These relics are in the collection of Sir Arthur Hodgson. [8] It is said that the remains of Lord Lovat were, soon after his execution, secretly removed, and buried at his home near Inverness, and that the head was sewed to the body.