One of the characters, Leathersides, was a representation of a writer for The Grub-Street Journal. This allowed Fielding to mock one of his greatest contemporary critics. This was followed by Fielding's writing of "A Criticism on the Covent-Garden Tragedy, originally intended for the Grub-Street Journal". The piece mocks the bias of The Grub-Street Journal, portrays its critics as having no understanding of theatre, and characterises them as being jealous of Fielding's success.Cleary 1984 pp. 59–60
