church of St. George's, where he was buried. The admirers of our great
novelist owe Mr. Latreille a debt of gratitude for this opportune
discovery. It is true that a certain element of Bohemian picturesqueness
is lost to Henry Fielding's life, already not very rich in recorded
incident; and it would certainly have been curious if he, who ended his
days in trying to dignify the judicial office, should have begun life by
acting the part of a "trading justice," namely that of Quorum in
Coffey's _Beggar's Wedding_, which Timothy Fielding had played at Drury
Lane. But, on the whole, it is satisfactory to know that his early
experiences did not, of necessity, include those of a strolling player.
Some obscure and temporary connection with Bartholomew Fair he may have
had, as Smollett, in the scurrilous pamphlet issued in 1742, makes him
say that he blew a trumpet there in quality of herald to a collection of
wild beasts; but this is probably no more than an earlier and uglier
form of the apparition laid by Mr. Latreille. The only positive evidence
of any connection between Henry Fielding and the Smithfield carnival is,
that Theophilus Cibber's company played the _Miser_ at their booth in
August 1733.

With the exception of the _Miser_ and an afterpiece, never printed,
entitled _Deborah; or, A Wife for you all_, which was acted for Miss
Raftor's benefit in April 1733, nothing important was brought upon the
stage by Fielding until January of the following year, when he produced
the _Intriguing Chambermaid_, and a revised version of the _Author's
Farce_. By a succession of changes, which it is impossible here to
describe in detail, considerable alterations had taken place in the
management of Drury Lane. In the first place, Wilks was dead, and his
share in the Patent was represented by his widow. Booth also was dead,
and Mrs. Booth had sold her share to Giffard of Goodman's Fields, while
the elder Cibber had retired. At the beginning of the season of 1733-34