ABSTRACT
Prodigal sons have a way of complaining about the inadequacy of their allowances, but it seems to have been the case that Fielding never had as much money to spend as the eldest son of a well-off and powerful man of the time might expect. In the eight years since he married again, Edmund's family had increased by no fewer than six sons. In these same months Fielding's thoughts were occupied by matters calculated to divert the town in a more agreeable way — a way, he hoped, that would bring him both fame and the money he needed to be independent of his father. He was, that is, well advanced in the writing of a comedy, Love in Several Masques, which he had the good sense to understand was never likely to see the light of day unless it had the benefit of the advice and, more to the point, the sponsorship of some astute and influential patron.
