d as in flax. Wherever Shakespeare families are found,
however, they invariably show a very great preponderance of Christian
names that are characteristically Norman: Richard, Gilbert, Hugh,
William, John, Robert, Anthony, Henry, Thomas, Joan, Mary, Isabella,
Ann, Margaret, being met with frequently. It is likely then that the
widespread and persistent use of Norman Christian names by Shakespeare
families denotes their Norman origin, and that this link with their past
was preserved by family custom long after pride of ancestry--which first
continued its use--was forgotten, as in the case of the Irish peasantry
of Norman origin in Leinster--within what was formerly known as the
Norman Pale--who have long forgotten their origin, but having Norman
patronymics still preserve also Norman Christian names.

The etymological origin of Shakespeare's name is yet unsettled: one
scholar suggests that it derives from the Anglo-Saxon, _Saexberht_. This
would imply that the Anglo-Saxon prefix _saex_ has by time been
transmuted into Shake, and that the suffix, _berht_ has become pear or
pere. The instances in which the Anglo-Saxon _sae_ have changed into the
English _sh_ are extremely rare. The modern _sh_ in English when derived
from Anglo-Saxon is almost invariably _sc_ softened, or when derived
from Danish or Norse _sh_, as, for instance, in the words _sceadu_
shade, _sceaft_ shaft, _sceacan_ shake, _sceal_ shall, _scamu_ shame,
_skapa_ shape. I cannot find a single instance in the growth of
Anglo-Saxon into English where the original _berht_ has taken on the _p_
sound and become _pear_ or _pere_. The English for _berht_ as a rule is
bert, burt, or bard.

Shakespeare's sanity of judgment and spiritual self-reliance are
qualities which we naturally associate with the Norse temperament; his
fine sensibility and unfettered imagination strike us as much more
characteristically Gallic or Celtic. It seems probable then that in his
physical and spiritual composition we have a rare admixture of these
related Aryan types. Physically he was not a large man, being, in fact,
rather below the middle stature; his hair was strong in texture and dark
reddish in colour, while his eyes were brown; his nose was large, and
his lips full, but the face relieved of sensuousness by the dominant
majesty of the brow. This is not descriptive of an Anglo-Saxon type: it
is much more distinctly French or Norman. It is probable that the blood
of the Norman ran f