Colman was indebted to Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones as an inspiration for several characters and incidents and is an early example of a dramatisation of a popular novel.[2] An Advertisement preceding The Jealous Wife in Colman's Dramatick Works of 1777 reveals that he also developed ideas for the play from The Spectator, The Connoisseur and The Adelphi of Terrance.[3]David Garrick helped Colman to work on the draft and cut down its length.[4]
^The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21) Volume X. The Age of Johnson. Cambridge University Press. 2000. ISBN1-58734-073-9.
^Kewes, Paulina (2001). ""[A] play, which I presume to call original": appropriation, creative genius, and eighteenth-century playwriting". Studies in the Literary Imagination.