 External evidence on the play's date is lacking.In the text of the play, the character Weatherwise repeatedly refers to almanacs; he quotes sixteen almanac proverbs or catchphrases — fifteen of which derive from the 1611 edition of Thomas Bretnor's almanac, a fact that yields the obvious likely date for the play.This procedure was not atypical of Middleton's practice; when he composed his "Inner Temple Masque" in 1618, he used eleven proverbs from Bretnor's 1618 almanac.