"Sed Canis Magnus, cum eidem a Caesare Ludovico Bavaro idem privilegium confirmatum esset, totum scutum Aquila occupavit, _subjecta Alitis pedibus Scala_." Can Grande, then, was surely the first who carried the "santo uccello" _in su_ la Scala; and his epithet of Grande would also agree best with Dante's words, as neither his father nor brothers seem to have had the same claim to it. I would offer a farther remark about this same title or epithet Can Grande, and the origin of the scala or ladder as a charge upon the shield or coat of this family. Cane would at first sight appear to be a designation borrowed from the animal of that name. There would be parallels enough in Italy and elsewhere, as the Ursini, Lewis the Lion (VIII. of France), our own Coeur de Lion, and Harold Harefoot. Dante, too, refers to him under the name "Il Veltro," _Inferno_, canto 1. l. 101. But Joseph Scaliger, in the letter to which I referred before, gives the following account of it:-- "Nomen illi fuerat _Franscisco_, a sacro lavacro, _Cani_ a gentilitate, _Magno_ a merito rerum gestarum. Neque enim _Canis_ ab illo _latranti animali_ dictus est, ut recte monet Jovius, sed quod lingua Windorum, unde principes Veronenses oriundos vult, _Cahan_ idem est, quod lingua Serviana _Kral_, id est Rex, aut Princeps. Nam in gente nostra multi fuerunt Canes, Mastini, Visulphi Guelphi."--P. 17. This letter consists of about 58 pages, and stands first in the edition of 1627. It is addressed "ad Janum Dousam," and was written to vindicate his family from certain indignities which he conceived had been put upon it. Sansovino and Villani, it appears, had referred its origin to Mastin II., "qui," to use Scaliger's version of the matter,-- "Qui primus dictator populi Veronensis perpetuus creatus est, quem et _auctorem_ nobilitatis Scaligerae et _Scalarum_ antea _fabrum_ impudentissime nugantur hostes virtutis majorum nostrorum." It was bad enough to ascribe their origin to so recent a date, but to derive it from a mere mechanic was more than our author's patience could endure. Accordingly he is not sparing of invective against those who so disparage his race. _Vappa_, _nebulo_, and similar terms, are freely applied to their characters; _invidia_, [Greek: kakoetheia], &c., to their motives. The following is a specimen of the way he handles them:-- "Dantes Poeta illustrissimum Christianissimorum Regum Franciae genus a laniis Parisiensibus deducit, utique tam vere, quam ille tenebrio nostrum a scalarum fabro: quas mirum, ni auctor generis _in suspendium eorum parabat_, quos vaticinabatur illustri nobilitate suae obtrectaturos."