rds. Four classes of writers wage war over the facts: the
Baconians, like the late Mr. Donnelly, who deny everything; the
Romanticists, who accept what is pleasant, and occasionally believe
manufactured tradition to suit their inclinations; the agnostic
Shakespeareans, like Halliwell-Phillipps, who really work, but believe
only what they can see and touch, if it accords with their opinions; and
the ingenuous workers who seek saving truth like the agnostics, but
bring human influences and natural inferences to bear on dusty records.
Now, Halliwell-Phillipps does not scruple to affirm that three
heralds,[51] the worthy ex-bailiff of Stratford, and the noblest poet
the world has ever produced, were practically liars in this matter,
because they make statements that do not harmonize with the limits of
his knowledge and the colour of his opinions. From his grave the poet
protests--

"Good name in man or woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash....
But he who filches from me my good name
Robs me of that, which not enriches him,
But leaves me poor indeed."

_Othello_, Act III., Scene 3.

We must therefore at least start inquiry with the supposition that these
men thought they spoke truth. There was no reason they should not have
done so. Sir John Ferne[52] writes: "If any person be advanced into an
office or dignity of publique administration, be it eyther
Ecclesiasticall, Martiall or Civill ... the Herealde must not refuse to
devise to such a publique person, upon his instant request, and
willingness to bear the same without reproche, a Coate of Armes, and
thenceforth to matriculate him with his intermarriages and issues
descending in the Register of the gentle and noble.... In the Civil or
Political State divers Offices of dignitie and worship doe merite Coates
of Armes to the possessours of the same offices, as ... Bailiffs of
Cities and ancient Boroughs or incorporated townes." John Shakespeare
had certainly been Bailiff of Stratford-on-Avon in 1568-9; the draft
states that he then applied for arms, and that the herald, Cooke, had
sent him a "pattern." Probably he did not conclude the negotiations
then, thinking the fees too heavy, or he might have delayed until he
found his opportunity lost, or he might have asked them for his year of
office alone. No doubt John Shakespeare was deeply impressed with the
dignity of his wife's relatives, an