It was never printed, although its title is identical with that of a caricature published in March 1737, and fully described in the Gentleman's Magazine for that month. If the play at all resembled the design, it must have been obscene and scurrilous in the extreme. [Footnote: Horace Walpole, in his _Memoires of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George II._, says (vol. i. p. 12), "I have in my possession the imperfect copy of this piece as I found it among my father's papers after his death." He calls it Fielding's; but no importance can be attached to the statement. There is a copy of the caricature in the British Museum Print Room (Political and Personal Satires, No. 2327).] Meanwhile the new bill, to which it had given rise, passed rapidly through both Houses. Report speaks of animated discussions and warm opposition. But there are no traces of any divisions, or petitions against it, and the only speech which has survived is the very elaborate and careful oration delivered in the Upper House by Lord Chesterfield. The "second Cicero"--as Sylvanus Urban styles him--opposed the bill upon the ground that it would affect the liberty of the press; and that it was practically a tax upon the chief property of men of letters, their wit--a "precarious dependence"--which (he thanked God) my Lords were not obliged to rely upon. He dwelt also upon the value of the stage as a fearless censor of vice and folly; and he quoted with excellent effect but doubtful accuracy the famous answer of the Prince of Conti [Conde] to Moliere [Louis XIV.] when _Tartuffe_ was interdicted at the instance of M. de Lamoignon:--"It is true, Moliere, Harlequin ridicules Heaven, and exposes religion; but you have done much worse--you have ridiculed the first minister of religion." This, although not directly advanced for the purpose, really indicated the head and front of Fielding's offending in _Pasquin_ and the _Historical Register_, and although in Lord Chesterfield's speech the former is ironically condemned, it may well be that Fielding, whose _Don Quixote_ had been dedicated to his Lordship, was the wire-puller in this case, and supplied this very illustration. At all events it is entirely in the spirit of Firebrand's words in _Pasquin_:-- "Speak boldly; by the Powers I serve, I swear You speak in Safety, even tho' you speak Against the Gods, provided that you speak Not against Priests." But the feeling of Parliament in favour of drastic legislation was even stronger than the persuasive periods of Chesterfield, and on the 21st of June 1737 the bill received the royal assent.