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68:(1731) had earlier been prevented from reaching the stage. However the trend itself survived through the 1720s and 1730s, and a number of these satirical works used the devices of physical, sexual and scatological humour to mock the persons of Walpole and George II. Both the king and the prime minister were men of short, corpulent build; George II being the unfortunate possessor of a disproportionately large posterior and an affliction of
240:. Under the circumstances one would naturally be led to question why Fielding would take his latest dramatic work to Griffard in Lincoln's Inn Fields instead of staging it with his own company. However, Fielding's relationship with the politics and political figures of his time was far from a simple one. His attitude towards political factions can be surmised succinctly from a declaration made on 26 March 1748 edition of
123:, where he encounters "the Noblesse of the Kingdom" on their way to celebrate the Festival of the Golden Rump. The Pagod of the Golden Rump is easily identifiable as George II; the Chief Magician (whose "belly" is "as prominent as the Pagod's Rump") is without doubt Robert Walpole; while the figure of Queen Caroline is presented as injecting a solution of
249:
it from another, at their
Expense; nor will I rashly condemn such a Writer as the vilest of Men, (provided he keeps within the Rules of Decency) if he endeavours to make the best of his own Cause, and uses a little Art in blackening his Adversary. Why should a Liberty which is allowed to every other Advocate, be deny’d to this?
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In a Time therefore of profound
Tranquillity, and when the Consequence, at the worst, can probably be no greater than the Change of a Ministry, I do not think a Writer, whose only Livelihood is his Pen, to deserve a very flagitious Character, if, when one Set of Men deny him Encouragement, he seeks
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to specifically aid his cause for the censorship of the stage has existed from the very beginning of the controversy. It was first suggested by Henry
Fielding in the same Craftsman essay that announced the existence of the play to the world. Fielding's conjecture is supported by, among others, his
275:
during his lifetime under instruction (and possibly suitable compensation) from
Walpole himself or someone acting on his behalf. By 1737 Fielding had definitely drifted further into the Opposition camp but until further decisive proof is unearthed, his claim to the authorship of
309:
There is, in fact, no convincing evidence that such a play was ever written. Using nothing more than the cartoon 'The
Festival of the Golden Rump', a resourceful hack could readily have composed enough scurrilous dialogue to provide Walpole with material for his Commons
127:
from time to time from a contrivance that is "a Golden Tube… with a large
Bladder at the End, resembling a common Clyster-Pipe" into the Pagod's Rump, "to comfort his Bowels, and to appease the Idol, when he lifted up his cloven Foot to correct his Domesticks".
51:
Plays, prints, pamphlets and journal articles attacking the King, Walpole and the extended Whig faction were not an uncommon feature of early 18th century London. Plays were subjected to the greatest displeasure from royal authority, and individual works like
184:. A later reminiscence by Thomas Davies informs that Griffard received a mere amount of one hundred pounds as a compensation for providing the Prime Minister with his most effective weapon for placing a censor over the stage. On reading the manuscript of
188:
Walpole immediately put a stop to any attempt of the public performance of the play. The manuscript was also used as his chief argument before the king and the House of
Commons for demanding an amendment of the original Theatrical Licensing Act of 1713.
27:. The play has never been performed on stage or published in print. No manuscript of the play survives, casting some doubt over whether it ever existed in full at all. The authorship of the play has often been ascribed to
271:(1731/2) and the several humorous verse epistles to Walpole soliciting government "sinecure". It has been suggested that Fielding had suppressed the performance as well as publication of
318:
had gone into rehearsal as
Fielding's earliest article proclaims, that not even a hack copy of the play has survived. In the absence of text and other evidence, the true story of
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180:; who put it into rehearsal with his company but also submitted the manuscript – obnoxious beyond any other play on contemporary stage – for the attentions of
225:, who claimed to have seen the manuscript in Fielding's handwriting among his father's papers. No evidence of this manuscript, however, has been discovered.
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168:, recently attributed to Henry Fielding. By the time of the publication of this essay the Bill for licensing the stage had already passed through the
221:
writing under the pen name of
Marforio, accused Fielding, in 1740, of penning the offensive play; but perhaps the most famous attribution is that of
137:
during the same month; and its picturesque description is soon turned into a satiric print called 'The
Festival of the Golden Rump' and published in
533:
43:
may have been secretly commissioned by Walpole himself in a successful bid to get his Bill for theatrical licensing passed before the legislature.
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sympathies. He came from a family with powerful connections at the Court; and time and again had Fielding attempted to obtain the patronage of
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205:, who was certainly no stranger to writing political satires on sensitive subjects, having produced on stage and published his latest works
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99:, the PM's brother and the 'Balance-Master of Europe'. The attending peers adorned with golden rumps, as are the overhanging curtains.
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of Oxford, a staunch Jacobite propagandist. In this satire, the "visionary" in his dream lands up in a pleasant meadow not unlike
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236:. It was at this location that his final plays would be staged, as well as political satires by others like Joseph Dormans and
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176:. The play, reports the article, was submitted unsolicited to Henry Griffard, then the manager of the playhouse at
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is a farcical play of unknown authorship said to have been written in 1737. It acted as the chief trigger for the
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by early 1737. All these personal deficiencies were mercilessly lampooned by Opposition satirists of the period.
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translated as "Whoever envies me, let him be RUMPED". The reference clearly draws attention to the self-titled
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Slick Filth: A Story of Robert Walpole and Henry Giffard, to Which is Appended the Farce of the Golden Rump
31:, at that time a popular and prolific playwright who often turned his incisive satire against the monarch,
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From 1735/6 to the closing of the theatres by the Licensing Act, Fielding had been the manager of the
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dates back to an anonymous allegory published in two parts in the Opposition journal
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on 7 May. The subtitle of the print reads "Rumpatur, quisquis Rumpitur invidia",
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Thomson, Peter. 'Magna Farta: Walpole and the Golden Rump', Keith Cameron (ed),
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39:. Modern literary historians, however, increasingly embrace the opinion that
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is presented as the satyric figure in the centre. On his left and right are
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The earliest published reference to the existence of a play called
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Early in his career as a writer, Fielding had displayed obviously
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appears in an anonymous essay in the 28 May 1737 edition of
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and of Walpole himself, as evident from his dedication of
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It is certainly a matter of speculation, especially if
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Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick, Esq. Volume 2.
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301:(in his autobiography) and Thomas Davies (in his
131:An extract of this raucous piece is published in
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215:around roughly the same time. A contributor to
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35:, and particularly the "prime minister", Sir
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683:The Historical Register for the Year 1736
490:Battestin, Martin, and Battestin, Ruthe.
208:The Historical Register for the Year 1736
115:, this work has later been attributed to
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450:Battestin and Battestin 1989, p. 122
441:Battestin and Battestin 1989, p. 116
432:Battestin and Battestin 1989, p. 226
423:Battestin and Battestin 1989, p. 226
414:Battestin and Battestin 1989, p. 226
405:Battestin and Battestin 1989, p. 222
396:Battestin and Battestin 1989, p. 227
387:Battestin and Battestin 1989, p. 224
303:Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick
95:, respectively. On the far left is
83:'The Festival of the Golden Rump'.
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280:cannot be expressly disinclined.
844:Censorship in the United Kingdom
111:on 19 and 26 March 1737. Titled
25:Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737
378:Thomson 1993, p. 119 and p. 123
322:remains a mystery to this day.
284:The role of Sir Robert Walpole
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201:has often been attributed to
193:Attribution to Henry Fielding
72:, to which he had acquired a
197:The anonymous authorship of
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230:Little Theatre at Haymarket
113:A Vision of the Golden Rump
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859:George II of Great Britain
508:. Oxford: Intellect, 1993.
494:. London: Routledge, 1989.
297:theatrical contemporaries
62:(1729) and Fielding's own
747:The Covent-Garden Journal
644:The Covent Garden Tragedy
369:Thomson 1993, pp. 125–126
360:Thomson 1993, pp. 123–124
595:The Tragedy of Tragedies
134:The Gentleman's Magazine
864:Plays by Henry Fielding
772:Actor Rebellion of 1733
560:Love in Several Masques
288:The suspicion that Sir
218:The Grub Street Journal
782:Paper War of 1752–1753
492:Henry Fielding: A Life
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242:The Jacobite's Journal
232:along with his friend
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693:Novels and Narratives
665:The Universal Gallant
616:The Grub Street Opera
273:The Grub-Street Opera
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477:Thomson 1993, p. 130
459:Thomson 1993, p. 130
178:Lincoln's Inn Fields
468:Davies 1784, p. 217
103:The controversy of
777:Licensing Act 1737
757:(play, attributed)
637:The Old Debauchees
630:The Modern Husband
602:The Letter Writers
574:The Author's Farce
506:Humour and History
268:The Modern Husband
244:, where he wrote:
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808:Christopher Smart
299:Theophilus Cibber
292:had commissioned
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203:Henry Fielding
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182:Robert Walpole
151:Rumpsteak Club
125:aurum potabile
121:Greenwich Park
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89:Robert Walpole
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675:Later plays
623:The Lottery
551:Early plays
238:Henry Carey
234:James Ralph
854:Lost plays
839:1737 plays
833:Categories
485:References
47:Background
722:Tom Jones
658:The Miser
581:Tom Thumb
145:for what
143:dog Latin
85:George II
33:George II
54:John Gay
701:Shamela
310:speech.
261:of the
74:fistula
791:People
765:Events
729:Amelia
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348:Notes
174:Lords
70:piles
59:Polly
337:ISBN
255:Whig
211:and
91:and
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