ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Henry Fielding's transition from playwright and theatrical impresario to prose fiction writer. In 1736, Fielding advertised Pasquin—which soon became one of his most commercially successful pieces—as a play "by the Great Mogul's Company of English Comedians, Newly Imported". In 1739, in collaboration with his friend and former theatre colleague James Ralph, Fielding turned to journalism, writing and editing pieces for The Champion under the pseudonym of "Capt. Hercules Vinegar". Critics often note that the early 1740s awakened in Fielding a heightened religious sensibility. In Fielding's novels, religious matters acquire greater prominence, and abusive or wicked clerics become more serious sources of detestation. Besides depriving Fielding of his main source of income, the Licensing Act also left the "Great Mogul" of drama without a platform for displaying his intellectual powers, advancing his social criticism, and experimenting with new forms of entertaining.
