e difference, in all lawfull warlyke faites and civill use"
(_Ibid._, G. XIII.).

John Shakespeare did not live long after his application, dying in 1601.

Whether or not the grant of the impaled Arden arms was completed before
his death, there is no record of his using them. Whether his son ever
used the impalement we do not now know, but it does not appear on any of
the tombs or seals that have been preserved. But the Shakespeare arms
have been certainly used.

William Shakespeare was mercilessly satirized by his rivals, Ben Jonson
and others,[81] about his coat of arms; but it was the recognition of
his descent that secured him so universally the attribute of "gentle."
As Davies, addressing Shakespeare and Burbage in 1603, says:

"And though the stage doth stain pure gentle blood,
Yet generous ye are in mind and mood."[82]

We must not forget there would be possible ill-feeling among the
families of the Arden sisters, when the youngest, whom they had probably
always pitied and looked down on, because of her comparatively
unfortunate marriage, should have the audacity to think of using the
arms of their father, to which they had never aspired.

[Illustration: OLD HOUSE AT WILMECOTE, BY SOME SUPPOSED TO BE ROBERT
ARDEN'S.

_To face p. 35._]

FOOTNOTES:

[60] He tried in every way to prove Camden wrong, but his bitterness
only hurt himself. His strictures were confuted before the highest
authority.

[61] August 10, 1895, p. 202.

[62] "Herald and Genealogist," vol. i., p. 510, 1863; and _Notes and
Queries_, Series III., vol. v., p. 493.

[63] Dugdale's "Warwickshire," p. 925.

[64] Preserved at Somerset House, 8 Porch.

[65] Dugdale places the sons in another order.

[66] Pat. Henry VII., second part, mem. 30, February 22.

[67] Same series, mem. 35, September 9.

[68] Pat. 23 Henry VIII., September 24, first part, mem. 12.

[69] "Arden of the court, brother to Sir John Arden of Park Hall."
"Itinerary," vi. 20, about 1536-42.

[70] Sir Warine Trussell held Billesley 15 Edward III. The will of Sir
William Trussell of Cublesdon, 1379, mentions a bequest to his cousin,
"Sir Thomas d'Ardene" ("Testamenta Vetusta," Sir N. H. Nicolas, vol. i.,
p. 107). William Trussell was made a brother of the Guild of Knowle
1469, and there is an entry in 1504 of a donation "for Sir William
Trussell and for his soul": "To Thomas Trussell, farmer of the said
Bishop of Worcester; in Knowle for the Worke-silver