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-natured Man (a title subsequently used by Goldsmith), and a piece called The Wedding Day. The former was almost finished: the latter was an early work, being indeed “the third Dramatic Performance he ever attempted.” The necessary arrangements having been made with Mr. Fleetwood, the manager of Drury Lane, Fielding set to work to complete the Good-natured Man, which he considered the better of the two. When he had done so, he came to
