Fleay regarded the play as a revision of one written by Chapman for
the Admiral's in 1598 under the title of The Will of a Woman. But Greg (Henslowe, ii. 194) interprets Henslowe's entry 'the iylle of a woman' as The Isle of Women. The 1598 play seems to have been renamed The Fount of New Fashions. Hazlitt, Manual, 89, 94, says part Heber's sale included MSS. both of The Fount of New Fashions, and of The Gentleman Usher under the title of The Will of a Woman, but Greg could not find these in the sale catalogue.
Bussy D'Ambois. 1604
S. R. 1607, June 3 (Buck). 'The tragedie of Busye D'Amboise. Made by George Chapman.' William Aspley (Arber, iii. 350). 1607. Bussy D'Ambois. A Tragedie: As it hath been often presented at Paules. For William Aspley.
1608. For William Aspley. [Another issue.]
1641. As it hath been often Acted with great Applause. Being much corrected and amended by the Author before his death. A. N. for Robert Lunne. [Prologue and Epilogue.]
1646. T. W. for Robert Lunne [Another issue.]
1657. . . . the Author, George Chapman, Gent. Before his death. For Joshua Kirton. [Another issue.]
Editions by C. W. Dilke (1814, O. E. P. iii), F. S. Boas (1905, B. L.), W. A. Neilson (1911, C. E. D.).—Dissertation: T. M. Parrott, The Date of C.'s B. d'A. (1908, M. L. R. iii. 126).
The play was acted by Paul's, who disappear in 1606. It has been suggested that it dates in some form from 1598 or earlier, because Pero is a female character, and an Admiral's inventory of 1598 (Henslowe Papers, 120) has 'Perowes sewt, which W^m Sley were'. As Sly had been a Chamberlain's man since 1594, this must have been a relic of some obsolete play. But the impossible theory seems to have left a trace on the suggestion of Greg (Henslowe, ii. 198) that Chapman may have worked on the basis of the series of plays on The Civil Wars of France written by Dekker (q.v.) and others for the Admiral's at a later date in 1598 than that of the inventories. From one of these plays, however, might come the reminiscence of a 'trusty Damboys' in Satiromastix (1601), IV. i. 174. For Bussy itself a jest on 'leap-year' (I. ii. 82) points to either 1600 or 1604, and allusions to Elizabeth as an 'old queen' (I. ii. 12), to a 'knight of the new edition' (I. ii. 124), with which may be compared Day, Isle of Gulls (1606), i. 3, 'gentlemen . . . of the best and last edition, of the Dukes own making', and to a 'new denizened lord' (I. ii. 173) point to 1604 rather than 1600. The play was revived by the King's men and played at Court on 7 April 1634 (Variorum, iii. 237), and to this date probably belongs the prologue in the edition of 1641. Here the actors declare that the piece, which evidently others had ventured to play, was
known,
And still believed in Court to be our own.
They add that
Field is gone,
Whose action first did give it name,
