Henry Fielding, Pasquin: A Dramatick Satire on the Times

Thomas R. Cleary (University of British Columbia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1736

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play
Satire

Resources

The full title under which this work was published - “Pasquin: A Dramatick Satire on the Times: Being the Rehearsal of two Plays, viz. A Comedy call'd, The Election; and a Tragedy call'd, The Life and Death of Common Sense” - indicates the salient structural-generic characteristic of this play. The first of a series of highly successful, dangerously political, rollickingly satiric experiments in “irregular” drama that Fielding staged at the “Little Theatre” in the Haymarket between its opening night, 5 March 1736, and the passage of the Stage Licensing Act in 1737, Pasquin (so named after a statue in ancient Rome to which anonymous satiric writings were affixed at night) is a double “rehearsal play.” Set in the “…

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820 words

Citation: Cleary, Thomas R.. "Pasquin: A Dramatick Satire on the Times". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 August 2003 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2905, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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