[1] The play is unusual and noteworthy as a philo-Semitic response to the prevailing anti-Semitism of Elizabethan drama and in contemporaneous English society more generally.
The title page of both editions describe the play as "right excellent and famous", "a perfect pattern for all estates to look into, and a work right worthy to be marked."
They also assign the play's authorship to "R. W." The consensus of modern scholarly and critical opinion identifies "R. W." as the comic actor and playwright Robert Wilson; strong commonalities among three plays, The Three Ladies of London, its sequel The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London (printed 1590), and The Cobbler's Prophecy (printed 1594), indicate that all three dramas were written by the same person.
In its form and structure, The Three Ladies of London looks back to the medieval allegory and the morality play, with characters who are personifications of abstract qualities rather than distinct individuals.
Diligence, Simplicity, Sincerity, Tom Beggar, Peter Pleaseman the parson, and similar figures populate the play.