I dare now call my own. O, Cromwell, Cromwell, Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my King, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies!"_ At the conclusion of this greatest of monologues King James arose at the head of the royal banquet board, and lifting a glass of sparkling champagne, proposed three cheers for Shakspere, which were given with intense feeling, echoed and re-echoed through those royal halls like thunder music from the realms of Jupiter. The King beckoned William to approach the throne chair, and there, in the presence of the nobility of the realm, placed upon his lofty brow a wreath of oak leaves, with a monogram crown ring to decorate the digit finger of the brilliant Bard. It was worth the gold and glory of all the ages to have heard the "Divine" William scatter his nuggets of eloquence; and until my pilgrimage of a thousand years reincarnates me again into the "Island of Immortality," I shall cherish that banquet night as the greatest milestone in the memory of my ruminating rambles. _Glory, like the sun on rushing river, Shines down the years, forever, and forever!_ CHAPTER XIX. STRATFORD. SHAKSPERE'S DEATH. PATRIOTISM DOWN THE AGES. _"The sands are numbered that make up my life; Here must I stay, and here my life must end."_ _"Time is the King of man, For he is their parent, and he is their grave, And gives them what he will, not what they crave."_ During the years 1614, 1615 and 1616 Shakspere sauntered about for pleasure and business among the bohemians and nobility of London, Oxford and Stratford, piecing and renewing his personal and real estate for the benefit of his two daughters, Susannah and Judith, and thus making every preparation for that eternal sleep that never fails to shut down the pale and bloodless eyelids of meandering, melancholy man. The spectacular play of "King Henry the Eighth" was given at the Globe Theatre on the evening of the 29th of June, 1613. It had been largely advertised as a royal historical dramatic treat, and the nobility were there in great force. William and myself before leaving London occupied a private box as spectators on the left of the great stage. The audience numbered nearly two thousand, pit, gallery and cockloft being filled to overflowing. During the third act of the play a cannon was fired, giving a grand salute to the mimic King Henry and his royal train as they appeared before the assembled multitude. Part of the gun wadding fired by the mock cannon was thrown on the open roof of the Globe, and immediately ignited the thatch, spreading flames around the top rim of the great octagonal playhouse. Shakspere saw at once the danger of stampeding the audience through the two great, high doors, and with his natural calmness and imperial courage rushed in front of the footlights and said: