same pseudonym, it was by Ralph, who had already attacked Pope, and
continued to maintain the Captain's character in the _Champion_ long
after Fielding had ceased to write for it. It is even possible that
Ralph had some share in originating the Vinegar family, for it is
noticeable that the paper in which they are first introduced bears no
initials. In this case he would consider himself free to adopt the name,
however disadvantageous that course might be to Fielding's reputation.
And it is clear that, whatever their relations had been in the past,
they were for the time on opposite sides in politics, since while
Fielding had been vindicating the Duchess of Marlborough, Ralph had been
writing against her.

These, however, are minor questions, the discussion of which would lead
too far from the main narrative of Fielding's life. In the same letter
in which Walpole had referred to _Miss Lucy in Town_, he had spoken of
the success of a new player at Goodman's Fields, after whom all the
town, in Gray's phrase, was "horn-mad;" but in whose acting Mr. Walpole,
with a critical distrust of novelty, saw nothing particularly wonderful.
This was David Garrick. He had been admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn
a year before Fielding entered the Middle Temple, had afterwards turned
wine-merchant, and was now delighting London by his versatility in
comedy, tragedy, and farce. One of his earliest theatrical exploits,
according to Sir John Hawkins, had been a private representation of
Fielding's _Mock-Doctor_, in a room over the St. John's Gate,
Clerkenwell, so long familiar to subscribers of the _Gentleman's
Magazine_; his fellow-actors being Cave's journeymen printers, and his
audience Cave, Johnson, and a few friends. After this he appears to have
made the acquaintance of Fielding; and late in 1742, applied to him to
know if he had "any Play by him," as "he was desirous of appearing in a
new Part." As a matter of fact Fielding had two plays by him--the _Good-