The reason why our artist has assigned such an employment to him, we can only guess. It seems, indeed, from Dr. _Johnson's_ Life of _Gay_, that _Pope_ did not _think_ the _Beggar's Opera_ would succeed. _Swift_, however, was of the same opinion; and yet the former supported the piece on the first night of exhibition, and the latter defended it in his _Intelligencer_ against the attacks of Dr. _Herring_,[7] then preacher to the Society of _Lincoln's-Inn_, afterwards archbishop of _Canterbury. Hogarth_ might be wanton in his satire; might have founded it on idle report; or might have sacrificed truth to the prejudices of Sir _James Thornhill_, whose quarrel, on another occasion, he is supposed to have taken up, when he ridiculed _The Translator of Homer_ in a view of "The Gate of _Burlington-house_." There are besides some allusions in the verses already quoted, as well as in the piece they refer to, which I confess my inability to illustrate. Those who are best acquainted with the theatric and poetical history of the years 1728, &c. would prove the most successful commentators on the present occasion; but not many can possibly be now alive who were at that period competent judges of such matters. This print, however, was not only unpublished, but in several places is unfinished. It was probably suppressed by the influence of some of the characters represented in it. The style of composition, and manner of engraving, &c. &c. would have sufficiently proved it to be the work of _Hogarth_, if the initials of his name had been wanting at the bottom of the plate. [1] The _Perseus_ and _Andromeda_, for which _Hogarth_ engraved the plates mentioned in p. 170, was not published till 1730; but there was one under the same title at _Drury-Lane_ in 1728. As both houses took each other's plans at that time, perhaps the _Lincoln's-Inn Fields Perseus_ might have been acted before it was printed. [2] _Rich._ [3] No _sensible_ and _pretty_ play, &c. This refers to _Cibber's_ decision on the merits of some piece offered for representation, and, we may suppose, rejected. In a copy of verses addressed to _Rich_ on the building of _Covent Garden_ Theatre, are the following lines, which seem to allude to the rejection already mentioned: "Poets no longer shall submit their plays To learned _Cibber's_ gilded withered bays; To such a judge the labour'd scene present, Whom _sensible_ and _pretty_ won't content: But to thy theatre with pleasure bear The comic laughter and the tragic tear." [4] The original _Macheath_. He used, however, to perform the heroes, particularly _Alexander_. From these lines it appears that _Massanello_, was a favourite part with him. From _Chetwood's_ History of the Stage, p. 141, I learn that _Walker_ had contracted the two parts of _Durfey's Massanello_ into one piece, which was acted with success at _Lincoln's-Inn Fields_.