John Taylor (1578–1653)

"'Tis a mad world and in sadnes / I travail'd madly in these dayes of madnes."

"In paper, many a poet now survives"

"The play A Mad World, My Masters by Thomas Middleton, published in 1608, is recorded as being performed in 1605."

"The syntax of "a mad world " may indicate allusion to and/or acknowledgement of Nicholas Breton's 1603 tract "A Mad World, my Masters."

"Wanderings to See the Wonders of the West, 1649; reported in Esther Moir, The Discovery of Britain: The English Tourists 1540-1840, page 26."

"The veteran BBC journalist John Simpson used "A Mad World, My Masters" as the title for memoirs published in 1999/2000."

"God sends meat, and the Devil sends cooks."

"Works, vol. ii, p. 85 . Compare the 1735 Poor Richard's Almanack."