It has been observ’d by Mr. _Rowe_, that amongst other Extravagancies
which our Author has given to his Sir _John Falstaffe_, in the _Merry
Wives_ of _Windsor_, he has made him a Deer-stealer; and that he might at
the same Time remember his _Warwickshire_ Prosecutor, under the Name of
_Justice Shallow_, he has given him very near the same Coat of Arms, which
_Dugdale_, in his Antiquities of that County, describes for a Family
there. There are two Coats, I observe, in _Dugdale_, where three Silver
Fishes are borne in the Name of _Lucy_; and another Coat, to the Monument
of _Thomas Lucy_, Son of Sir _William Lucy_, in which are quarter’d in
four several Divisions twelve little Fishes, three in each Division,
probably _Luces_. This very Coat, indeed, seems alluded to in _Shallow’s_
giving the _dozen_ White _Luces_, and in _Slender_ saying _he may
quarter_. When I consider the exceeding Candour and Good-nature of our
Author (which inclin’d all the gentler Part of the World to love him; as
the Power of his Wit obliged the Men of the most delicate Knowledge and
polite Learning to admire him); and that he should throw this humorous
Piece of Satire at his Prosecutor, at least twenty Years after the
Provocation given; I am confidently persuaded it must be owing to an
unforgiving Rancour on the Prosecutor’s Side: and if This was the Case, it
were Pity but the Disgrace of such an Inveteracy should remain as a
lasting Reproach, and _Shallow_ stand as a Mark of Ridicule to stigmatize
his Malice.
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