WILSON, ROBERT (d. 1600), English actor and play wright, was a comedian in the earl of Leicester's company in 1572, 1574 and 1581; and from 1583 until about 1588 in the Queen's. He then probably gave up acting for writing. He wrote several morality plays. The Three Ladies of London (1584), Three Lords of London (159o) and The Cobbler's Prophecy (1594) are gener ally ascribed to him. Three Ladies of London' (1584) con
tains the episode of the attempt of the Jew to recover his debt, afterwards adapted by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice. Robert Wilson (1579-161o), supposed to be his son, was one of Henslowe's dramatic hack-writers.