He is remembered as a minor playwright, who wrote several plays for London's Blackfriars Theatre, and as the author of The History of Great Britain, being the Life and Reign of King James I, which documents the anti-Stuartism prevalent in the late Caroline era.
Dismayed by the rampant corruption among the clergy, he left the university and later entered the service of Essex's cousin, Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, as a steward.
His autobiographical Observations of God's Providence, in the Tract of my Life,[1] records some of his adventures, such as his 1642 rescue of Elizabeth Savage, Countess Rivers from anti-Catholic rioters.
Though it is clear that Wilson wrote The Inconstant Lady while still in service with Essex, it is unclear whether his latter two plays were completed during that period or his time at Oxford.
Dating is difficult, because none of the plays were published during the 17th century and The Corporal has survived only in a fragmentary manuscript that ends with Act II, scene 1.