“ Robert Shallow is a justice of the peace in the county of Gloucester and his ancestors have the dozen white luces in their coats, the arms of the Lucys being three luces, while in Dugdale’s Warwickshire (ed. 1656) there is drawn a coat-of-arms in which these are repeated in each of the four quarters, making twelve in all. There are many considerations which make it unlikely that Shallow represents Lucy, the chief being the noteworthy difference in their circumstances. ”

“ As justice of the peace he showed great zeal against the Catholics, and took his share in the arrest of Edward Arden in 1583. In 1585 he introduced into parliament a bill for the better preservation of game and grain, and his reputation as a preserver of game gives some colour to the Shakespearian tradition connected with his name. Nicholas Rowe, writing in 1710, told a story that Lucy prosecuted Shakespeare for deer-stealing from Charlecote Park in 1585, and that Shakespeare aggravated the offence by writing a ballad on his prosecutor. ”