sentences:  No direct source for the play has been identified, other than Massinger's own earlier play, "A New Way to Pay Old Debts," which was modeled on Thomas Middleton's "A Trick to Catch the Old One".Specific connections have been cited between "The City Madam" and Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" (regarding Sir John Frugal's pretended absence and masquerade), Ben Jonson's "Volpone" (Luke Frugal's rhapsodizing over his wealth), and "Rollo, Duke of Normandy" (Stargaze's astrological verbiage), among other works.