[60] Censura Literaria, vol. iii., p. 254.
[61] Life, Diary, and Correspondence of Sir William Dugdale, by Hamper. Lond. 1827. Our memorandum has omitted the page. The letter was written to Dugdale by Randall Holme, a brother herald.
[62] Another opinion, however, is that the spear had been given to one of his ancestors as having been a magistrate of some description. This supposition seems to be supported by the grant of arms to John Shakspeare in 1599, which has been printed by Mr. Malcolm. But Shakspeares in Warwickshire are as plentiful as blackberries, and perhaps the name originated in the stout arms of a whole tribe of soldiers.
[63] Vix ea nostra voco—(as above translated). The effect is stronger if the whole passage is called to mind. It is Ovid;
Nam genus, et proavos, et quæ non fecimus ipsi,
Vix ea nostra voco.—Metamor. lib. 13. v. 140.
For birth, and rank, and what our own good powers
Have earned us not, I scarcely call them ours.
Ovid, himself a man of birth, puts this sentiment in the mouth of Ulysses, a king. But then he was a king whose talents were above his royalty.
[64] Life of Gibbon, in the Autobiography, vol. i.