His Father, we are told, was a considerable Dealer in Wool; but
having no fewer than ten Children, of whom our _Shakespeare_ was the
eldest, the best Education he could afford him was no better than to
qualify him for his own Business and Employment. I cannot affirm
with any Certainty how long his Father liv'd; but I take him to be
the same Mr. _John Shakespeare_ who was living in the Year 1599,
and who then, in Honour of his Son, took out an Extract of his
Family-Arms from the Herald's Office; by which it appears, that he
had been Officer and Bailiff of _Stratford_, and that he enjoy'd
some hereditary Lands and Tenements, the Reward of his Great
Grandfather's faithful and approved Service to King _Henry_
VII.
Be this as it will, our _Shakespeare_, it seems, was bred for some
Time at a Free-School; the very Free-School, I presume, founded at
_Stratford_: where, we are told, he acquired what _Latin_ he was
Master of: but, that his Father being oblig'd, thro' Narrowness
of Circumstance, to withdraw him too soon from thence, he was
so unhappily prevented from making any Proficiency in the Dead
Languages: A Point, that will deserve some little Discussion in
the Sequel of this Dissertation.
How long he continued in his Father's Way of Business, either as an
Assistant to him, or on his own proper Account, no Notices are left
to inform us: nor have I been able to learn precisely at what
Period of Life he quitted his native _Stratford_, and began his
Acquaintance with _London_, and the _Stage_.
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