than a poetical fiction; but Fielding himself attests the pecuniary
success of _Pasquin_ in the Dedication to _Tumble-Down Dick_, and Mrs.
Charke's statement in her Memoirs that her salary for acting the small
part of Lord Place was four guineas a week, "with an Indulgence in Point
of Charges at her Benefit" by which she cleared sixty guineas, certainly
points to a prosperous exchequer. Fielding's own benefit, as appears
from the curious ticket attributed to Hogarth and facsimiled by A. M.
Ireland, took place on April 25, but we have no record of the amount of
his gains. Mrs. Charke farther says that "soon after _Pasquin_ began to
droop," Fielding produced Lillo's _Fatal Curiosity_ in which she acted
Agnes. This tragedy, founded on a Cornish story, is one of remarkable
power and passion; but upon its first appearance it made little
impression, although in the succeeding year it was acted to greater
advantage in combination with another satirical medley by Fielding, the
_Historical Register for the Year_ 1736.

Like most sequels, the _Historical Register_ had neither the vogue nor
the wit of its predecessor. It was only half as long, and it was even
more disconnected in character. "Harmonious Cibber," as Swift calls him,
whose "preposterous Odes" had already been ridiculed in _Pasquin_ and
the _Author's Farce_, was once more brought on the stage as Ground-Ivy,
for his alterations of Shakespeare; and under the name of Pistol,
Theophilus Cibber is made to refer to the contention between his second
wife, Arne's sister, and Mrs. Clive, for the honour of playing "Polly"
in the _Beggar's Opera_, a play-house feud which at the latter end of
1736 had engaged "the Town" almost as seriously as the earlier rivalry
of Faustina and Cuzzoni. This continued raillery of the Cibbers is, as
Fielding himself seems to have felt, a "Jest a little overacted;" but
there is one scene in the piece of undeniable freshness and humour, to
wit, that in which Cock, the famous salesman of the Piazzas--the George