conveniently suppressed. It is alleged that Walpole himself caused the
farce in question to be written, and to be offered to Giffard, for the
purpose of introducing his scheme of reform; and the suggestion is not
without a certain remote plausibility. As may be guessed, however, _The
Golden Rump_ cannot be appealed to. It was never printed, although its
title is identical with that of a caricature published in March 1737,
and fully described in the Gentleman's Magazine for that month. If the
play at all resembled the design, it must have been obscene and
scurrilous in the extreme. [Footnote: Horace Walpole, in his _Memoires
of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George II._, says (vol. i. p. 12),
"I have in my possession the imperfect copy of this piece as I found it
among my father's papers after his death." He calls it Fielding's; but
no importance can be attached to the statement. There is a copy of the
caricature in the British Museum Print Room (Political and Personal
Satires, No. 2327).]

Meanwhile the new bill, to which it had given rise, passed rapidly
through both Houses. Report speaks of animated discussions and warm
opposition. But there are no traces of any divisions, or petitions
against it, and the only speech which has survived is the very elaborate
and careful oration delivered in the Upper House by Lord Chesterfield.
The "second Cicero"--as Sylvanus Urban styles him--opposed the bill upon
the ground that it would affect the liberty of the press; and that it
was practically a tax upon the chief property of men of letters, their
wit--a "precarious dependence"--which (he thanked God) my Lords were
not obliged to rely upon. He dwelt also upon the value of the stage as a
fearless censor of vice and folly; and he quoted with excellent effect
but doubtful accuracy the famous answer of the Prince of Conti [Conde]
to Moliere [Louis XIV.] when _Tartuffe_ was interdicted at the instance
of M. de Lamoignon:--"It is true, Moliere, Harlequin ridicules Heaven,