It has sometimes been identified as the seditious play, performed at the Cockpit in May 1640, which the Master of the Revels moved to have suppressed. However, the play's most recent editor, Marion O'Connor, dates it to "no earlier than the end of November 1640, and perhaps in the first months of 1641".
There has been some uncertainty about when this play was written, with some attributing it to a performance at the Cockpit in May 1640 and subsequent attempts to ban it. Nevertheless, the most recent editor, Marion O'Connor, suggests that it may have been penned no earlier than the end of November 1640 or even in early 1641.