Much more of interest might be written of this fascinating town which, although the resort of so many thousands from all parts of the world almost the year through, yet seems without effort to preserve an atmosphere even in these modern times not altogether out of keeping with the bygone age in which its most famous son lived. To whatever cause, whether commercial or otherwise, this lingering savour of romance and of past times is due, those who value antiquities, and who revel in memorials of the days gone by, may be unfeignedly grateful. CHAPTER XII A GROUP OF SHAKESPEARE’S VILLAGES Around Stratford lie grouped quite a number of villages which Shakespeare undoubtedly knew and visited, and possibly described in one or other of his plays and poems. Great as is the attraction of Stratford itself to many, there will be also pleasurable interests found in the old–world villages which lie within easy distance. In them and about them, indeed, there still lingers much of the “atmosphere” of Shakespearian times, and in travelling to them along winding roads and leafy by–ways one breathes the wider air of the Feldon and Arden, and from the summits of their little hills can catch glimpses of the district which Speed, not altogether unwarrantably, referred to as another Eden. In the fields still toil peasants little differing, in the more retired spots, in mode of life from those who toiled in Shakespeare’s days, gathering the harvest of peas in autumn, or sowing them in spring. Some, of course, who garner the peas are merely birds of passage, wayside toilers, here to–day and gone to–morrow; but many others are natives of the place or neighbourhood in which they dwell, speaking with much the same voices and phraseology as the peasants of Shakespeare’s time. [Illustration: RUGBY SCHOOL.] Through sweet Warwickshire lanes and by–paths one may reach many a retired village well worth seeing, and wander, as Shakespeare wandered, into places which he undoubtedly knew. In spring and summer few counties can show a richer wealth of wayside flowers, or a greater glory of leaf and bud; and the autumn is not less lovely. If only for the beauty of the lanes and the by–ways many will feel rewarded in making a pilgrimage to some of the spots which we shall briefly describe. Some six miles north–west of Stratford, close to the banks of the picturesque little River Alne, lies Aston Cantlow, anciently known as Estone Cantilupe. The first portion of the old name having probably a reference to its position as regards Alcester, from which it is distant five miles; and the latter part being derived from William de Cantelu, or Cantilupe, a man of considerable power and influence in the reign of King John, from whom he obtained a charter for the holding of a market and a yearly fair. The family of Cantilupe appears to have possessed the manor for rather more than half a century, from 1205 to 1272.