befriended Lillo the jeweller's son, so he was now aiding this vivacious young man of fresh and original talents, rather strict in his moral and religious principles, for he had been bred among the Dissenters and knew the follies of polite society only by report. Moore's affairs assumed a very serious aspect by his falling in love with Jenny Hamilton, daughter of Charles Hamilton, table-decker to the princesses. She was a sprightly girl if she be the author of a poem on her lover which purports to have been addressed by her to the daughter of Stephen Duck, the peasant poet who had once been Cibber's rival for the laurel. A play upon her lover's name ends each stanza, of which the last runs in one of the many versions:

You will wonder, my girl, who this dear one can be,
Whose merit can boast such a conquest as me;

But you shan't know his name, tho' I told you before,
It begins with an M, but I dare not say More.

While the poem, attributed by some to Thomas Francklin the translator, was amusing the town, Fielding wished to see the romance brought to a happy conclusion and to obtain at the same time an officer for the Government who would exert a salutary influence upon the stage. In these circumstances, he laid the case before Lyttelton:

"Sir

Bow St. Augt 29, 1749

Permit me to bring up the Rear of your Friends in paying my Compliments of Congratulation on your late happy Nuptials. There may perhaps be seasons when the Rear may be as honourable a Post in Friendship as in War, and if so, such certainly must be every time of Joy and Felicity. Your present situation must be full of these; and so will be, I am confident, your future Life from the same Fountain. Nothing can equal the excellent character your Lady bears among those of her own Sex, and I never yet

knew them speak well of a Woman who did not deserve their good words. How admirable is yr Fortune in the Matrimonial Lottery! I will venture to say there is no man alive who exults more in this, or in any other Happiness that can attend you than my self; and you ought to believe me from the same Reason that fully persuades me of the satisfaction you receive from any Happiness of mine; this Reason is that you must be sensible how much of it I owe to your Goodness; and there is a great Pleasure in Gratitude tho it is second I believe to that of Benevolence: for of all the Delights upon Earth none can equal the Raptures which a good Mind feels on conferring Happiness on those whom we think worthy of it. This is the sweetest ingredient in Power, and I solemnly protest I never wished for Power more than a few Days ago for the sake of a Man whom I love, and that more perhaps from the Esteem I know he bears towards you than from any other Reason. This Man is in Love with a young Creature of the most apparent worth, who returns his Affections. Nothing is wanting to make two very miserable People extremely blessed but a moderate Portion of the greatest of human Evils. So Philosophers call it, and so it is called by Divines, whose word is the rather to be taken as they are, many of them, more conversant with this Evil than ever the Philosophers were. The Name of this man is Moore to whom you kindly destined that Laurel, which, though it hath long been withered, may not probably soon drop from the Brow of its present Possessor; but there is another Place of much the same Value now vacant; it is that of Deputy Licensor to the Stage. Be not offended at this Hint: for tho I will own it impudent enough in one who hath so many Obligations of his own to you, to venture to recommend another Man to your Favour, yet Impudence itself may possibly be a Virtue when exerted on the behalf of a Friend; at least I am the less ashamed of it, as I have

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