my privilege to make various tours of the British islands, since those of _1877 _and _1882, _recorded here; and my later books, _Gray Days and Gold, _and _Old Shrines and Ivy, _should be read in association with this one, by those persons who care for a wider glimpse of the same delightful field, in the same companionship, and especially by those who like to follow the record of exploration and change in Shakespeare's home. As to the question of accuracy,--and indeed, as to all other questions,--it is my wish that this book may be judged by the text of the present edition, which is the latest and the best._ _W. W._ June 6, 1893. PREFACE _Beautiful and storied scenes that have soothed and elevated the mind naturally inspire a feeling of gratitude. Prompted by that feeling the present author has written this record of his rambles in England. It was his wish, in dwelling upon the rural loveliness and the literary and historical associations of that delightful realm, to afford sympathetic guidance and useful suggestion to other American travellers who, like himself, might be attracted to roam among the shrines of the mother land. There is no pursuit more fascinating or in a high intellectual sense more remunerative; since it serves to define and regulate knowledge, to correct misapprehensions of fact, to broaden the mental vision, to ripen and refine the Judgment and the taste, and to fill the memory with ennobling recollections. These papers commemorate two visits to England, the first made in _1877, _the second in _1882; _they occasionally touch upon the same place or scene as observed at different times; and especially they describe two distinct journeys, separated by an interval of five years, through the region associated with the great name of Shakespeare. Repetitions of the same reference, which now and then occur, were found unavoidable by the writer, but it is hoped that they will not be found tedious by the reader. Those who walk twice in the same pathways should be pleased, and not pained, to find the same wild-flowers growing beside them. The first American edition of this work consisted of two volumes, published in _1879, 1881, _and _1884, _called _The Trip to England _and _English Rambles. _The former book was embellished with poetic illustrations by Joseph Jefferson, the famous comedian, my life-long friend. The paper on _Shakespeare's Home,--_written to record for American readers the dedication of the Shakespeare Memorial at Stratford,_--_was first printed in _Harper's Magazine, _in May _1879. _with delicate illustrative pictures from the graceful pencil of Edwin Abbey. This compendium of the _Trip _and the _Rambles, _with the title of _Shakespeare's England, _was first published by David Douglas of Edinburgh. That title was chosen for the reason that the book relates largely to Warwickshire and because it depicts not so much the England of fact as the England created and