One of the reasons they say Shakespeare can ‘t be Shakespeare is that he didn’t have a university education. There are any number of reasons why this is bollox, but one of the most persuasive is that so much of Shakespeare’s best work is pungent, earthy, salty, common speech—precisely the sort of thing you would not find in a University. As for example, here is Mistress Quickly the Landlady, reminding Sir John Falstaff of his duty:
Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-sea-coal fire, upon Wednesday in Wheeson week, when the prince broke thy head for liking his father to a singing man of Windsor, thou didst swear to me then, as I was washing thy wound, to marry me and make me my lady thy wife. Canst thou deny it? Did not goodwife Keech, the butcher’s wife, come in then and call me gossip Quickly? Coming in to borrow a mess of vinegar, telling us she had a good dish of prawns, whereby thou didst desire to eat some, whereby I told thee they were ill for a green wound. And didst thou not, when she was gone downstairs, desire me to be no more familiarity with such poor people, saying that ere long they should call me madam? And didst thou not kiss me, and bid me fetch thee thirty shillings? I put thee now to thy book oath. Deny it if though canst.
—William Shakespeare, Henry IV part II, Act II, sc. i..
“Wheeson” is apparently a north-country form of “Whitsun.” The singing-man of Windsor" has evidently generated a fair amount of scholarly ink. It may have something to do with an alleged plot against the crown. There is a crisp summary on pp 234-5 of the Arden Shakespeare (1967) edition.
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