Cibber, but also (though this appears to have been hitherto overlooked)
to Fielding himself. The "tall Man," who at Mercury's request strips off
his "old Grey Coat with great Readiness," but refuses to part with "half
his Chin," which the shepherd of souls regards as false, is clearly
intended for the writer of the paper, even without the confirmation
afforded by the subsequent allusions to his connection with the stage.
His "length of chin and nose," sufficiently apparent in his portrait,
was a favourite theme for contemporary personalities. Of the moral
essays, the most remarkable are a set of four papers, entitled _An
Apology for the Clergy_, which may perhaps be regarded as a set-off
against the sarcasms of _Pasquin_ on priestcraft. They depict, with a
great deal of knowledge and discrimination, the pattern priest as
Fielding conceived him. To these may be linked an earlier picture, taken
from life, of a country parson who, in his simple and dignified
surroundings, even more closely resembles the Vicar of Wakefield than
Mr. Abraham Adams. Some of the more general articles contain happy
passages. In one there is an admirable parody of the Norman-French
jargon, which in those days added superfluous obscurity to legal
utterances; while another, on "Charity," contains a forcible exposition
of the inexpediency, as well as inhumanity, of imprisonment for debt.
References to contemporaries, the inevitable Cibber excepted, are few,
and these seem mostly from the pen of Ralph. The following, from that of
Fielding, is notable as being one of the earliest authoritative
testimonies to the merits of Hogarth: "I esteem (says he) the ingenious
_Mr. Hogarth_ as one of the most useful Satyrists any Age hath produced.
In his excellent Works you see the delusive Scene exposed with all the
Force of Humour, and, on casting your Eyes on another Picture, you
behold the dreadful and fatal Consequence. I almost dare affirm that
those two Works of his, which he calls the _Rake's_ and the _Harlot's
Progress_, are calculated more to serve the Cause of Virtue, and for the