success.

After the _Intriguing Chambermaid_ and the revived _Author's Farce_,
Fielding seems to have made farther exertions for "the distressed Actors
in Drury Lane." He had always been an admirer of Cervantes, frequent
references to whose master-work are to be found scattered through his
plays; and he now busied himself with completing and expanding the loose
scenes of the comedy of _Don Quixote in England_, which (as before
stated) he had sketched at Leyden for his own diversion. He had already
thought of bringing it upon the stage, but had been dissuaded from doing
so by Cibber and Booth, who regarded it as wanting in novelty. Now,
however, he strengthened it by the addition of some election scenes, in
which--he tells Lord Chesterfield in the dedication--he designed to give
a lively representation of "the Calamities brought on a Country by
general Corruption;" and it was duly rehearsed. But unexpected delays
took place in its production; the revolted players returned to Drury
Lane; and, lest the actors' benefits should further retard its
appearance by postponing it until the winter season, Fielding
transferred it to the Haymarket, where, according to Geneste, it was
acted in April 1734. As a play, _Don Quixote in England_ has few stage
qualities and no plot to speak of. But the Don with his whimsies, and
Sancho with his appetite and string of proverbs, are conceived in
something of the spirit of Cervantes. Squire Badger, too, a rudimentary
Squire Western, well represented by Macklin, is vigorously drawn; and
the song of his huntsman Scut, beginning with the fine line "The dusky
Night rides down the Sky," has a verse that recalls a practice of which
Addison accuses Sir Roger de Coverley:--

_"A brushing Fox in yonder Wood,
Secure to find we seek;