justasabrightladlikeme，rearedinavillageonthebanksoftheMississippi，mightbecomeperfectinknowledgeoftheBeringStraitwhalefisheryandtheshoptalkoftheveteranexercisesofthatadventurebristlingtradethroughcatchingcatfishwitha\"trotline\"Sundays。ButthesurmiseisdamagedbythefactthatthereisnoevidenceandnoteventraditionthattheyoungShakespearewaseverclerkofalawcourt。
ItisfurthersurmisedthattheyoungShakespeareaccumulatedhislawtreasuresinthefirstyearsofhissojourninLondon，through\"amusinghimself\"bylearningbooklawinhisgarretandbypickinguplawyertalkandtherestofitthroughloiteringaboutthelawcourtsandlistening。Butitisonlysurmise;thereisnoEVIDENCEthatheeverdideitherofthosethings。TheyaremerelyacoupleofchunksofplasterofParis。
ThereisalegendthathegothisbreadandbutterbyholdinghorsesinfrontoftheLondontheaters，morningsandafternoons。Maybehedid。Ifhedid，itseriouslyshortenedhislawstudyhoursandhisrecreationtimeinthecourts。Inthoseverydayshewaswritinggreatplays，andneededallthetimehecouldget。Thehorseholdinglegendoughttobestrangled;ittooformidablyincreasesthehistorian’sdifficultyinaccountingfortheyoungShakespeare’seruditionaneruditionwhichhewasacquiring，hunkbyhunkandchunkbychunk，everydayinthosestrenuoustimes，andemptyingeachday’scatchintonextday’simperishabledrama。
Hehadtoacquireaknowledgeofwaratthesametime;andaknowledgeofsoldierpeopleandsailorpeopleandtheirwaysandtalk;alsoaknowledgeofsomeforeignlandsandtheirlanguages:
forhewasdailyemptyingfluentstreamsofthesevariousknowledges，too，intohisdramas。Howdidheacquiretheserichassets？