CHAPTER IV--CONJECTURES.
The historians "suppose" that Shakespeare attended the Free School in Stratford from the time he was seven years old till he was thirteen.
There is no _evidence_ in existence that he ever went to school at all.
The historians "infer" that he got his Latin in that school--the school which they "suppose" he attended.
They "suppose" his father's declining fortunes made it necessary for him to leave the school they supposed he attended, and get to work and help support his parents and their ten children.

But there is no evidence that he ever entered or retired from the school they suppose he attended.
They "suppose" he assisted his father in the butchering business; and that, being only a boy, he didn't have to do full-grown butchering, but only slaughtered calves.

Also, that whenever he killed a calf he made a high-flown speech over it.

This supposition rests upon the testimony of a man who wasn't there at the time; a man who got it from a man who could have been there, but did not say whether he was or not; and neither of them thought to mention it for decades, and decades, and decades, and two more decades after Shakespeare's death (until old age and mental decay had refreshed and vivified their memories).

They hadn't two facts in stock about the long-dead distinguished citizen, but only just the one: he slaughtered calves and broke into oratory while he was at it.
Curious.