[1] A dramatic satire, advertised in March at Covent Garden Theatre and written (as stated by Dibdin, _History of the Stage_. Vol. v. p. 156), by the actor Macklin, bore for sub-title _Pasquin turned Drawcansir, Censor of Great Britain_. The name, and the further details of the advertisement, recall Fielding's early success with his political _Pasquin_: but all further trace of this 'Satire' seems lost. See Appendix C. [2] _A faithful Narrative..._. By Drawcansir.... Alexander. 1752. [3] 25. G II. cap 36. [4] All trace seems now lost of the actual part Fielding may have taken in the drafting of this Act. [5] 25. G. II. c. 37. [6] It would seem, from the following advertisement, that Fielding's inexhaustible pen published, about this time, a sixpenny pamphlet on 'a late Act of Parliament'; but all trace of it has been lost:--"A speech made in the Censorial Court of Alexander Drawcansir, Monday, 6th June, 1752, concerning a late Act of Parliament. Printed for the Author. Price 6d." _The General Advertiser_, June 27, 1752. [7] The _General Advertiser_ March 4. 1752. [8] The _General Advertiser_, April 15, 1752. CHAPTER XVI POOR LAW REFORM "... surely there is some Praise due to the bare Design of doing a Service to the Public."--Dedication of the _Enquiry_. It is evident that the beginning of the year 1753 found Fielding fully conscious that now he could only anticipate a 'short remainder of life.' But neither that consciousness, nor the increasing burden of ill-health, availed to dull the energies of these last years. Scarcely had that indomitable knight, General Sir Alexander Drawcansir retired from the active public service of conducting the _Covent Garden Journal_ when his creator reappeared with an astonishingly comprehensive and detailed plan of poor-law reform; a plan adapted to the whole kingdom, and which according to a legal comment involved "nothing less than the repeal of the Act of Elizabeth and an entire reconstruction of the Poor Laws." [1] Poor-law reform was at this time occupying the attention of the nation, and apparently also of the legislature. And we know, from the _Enquiry into the Increase of Robberies_, that the question of lessening both the sufferings and the criminality of the poor had for years occupied Fielding's warm heart and active intellect. But the extent to which he devoted these last months of his life to the cause of the poorest and most degraded deserves more than a passing recognition. He tells us, in the _Introduction_ to the pamphlet embodying his great scheme, that he has applied himself long and constantly to this subject; that he has "read over and considered all the Laws, in anywise relating to the Poor, with the utmost Care and Attention," in the execution of which, moreover, he has been for "many Years very particularly concerned"; and that in addition to this exhaustive study of the laws themselves, he has added "a