episodes in _Don Quixote_ had seemed to disclose a fresh field for the
satire of contemporary manners. And in the satire of contemporary
manners he felt his strength lay. The success of _Pasquin_ proved he had
not miscalculated, for it ran more than forty nights, drawing, if we may
believe the unknown author of the life of Theophilus Cibber, numerous
and enthusiastic audiences "from _Grosvenor, Cavendish, Hanover_, and
all the other fashionable Squares, as also from _Pall Mall_, and the
_Inns of Court_."

In regard to plot, the comedy which _Pasquin_ contains scarcely deserves
the name. It consists of a string of loosely-connected scenes, which
depict the shameless political corruption of the Walpole era with a good
deal of boldness and humour. The sole difference between the "Court
party," represented by two Candidates with the Bunyan-like names of Lord
Place and Colonel Promise, and the "Country party," whose nominees are
Sir Harry Fox-Chace and Squire Tankard, is that the former bribe openly,
the latter indirectly. The Mayor, whose sympathies are with the "Country
party" is finally induced by his wife to vote for and return the other
side, although they are in a minority; and the play is concluded by the
precipitate marriage of his daughter with Colonel Promise. Mr. Fustian,
the Tragic Author, who, with Mr. Sneerwell the Critic, is one of the
spectators of the rehearsal, demurs to the abruptness with which this
ingenious catastrophe is brought about, and inquires where the
preliminary action, of which there is not the slightest evidence in the
piece itself, has taken place. Thereupon Trapwit, the Comic Author,
replies as follows, in one of those passages which show that, whatever
Fielding's dramatic limitations may have been, he was at least a keen
critic of stage practice:--

"_Trapwit._ Why, behind the Scenes, Sir. What, would you have every