The Prompter (periodical)
The Prompter was a London theatrical and political periodical issued twice a week from 14 December 1734 to April 1736.[1]
Playwright Henry Fielding wrote most of the early numbers—often signing “Scriblerus Secundus”—while political writer James Ralph contributed essays on literary professionalism and stage reform.[2]
History
The first issue (price one‑penny) appeared on 14 December 1734, printed “for J. Huggonson at the Crown in the Strand.”[2] Released every Tuesday and Saturday, the sheet opened with a satirical “Prompt” followed by brief theatre notices.
Fielding used the column to lampoon Italian opera, actor monopolies, and the patent theatres’ control of London drama. Ralph’s pieces urged playwrights to embrace “a fair Trade in Wit,” free from patronage.[3]
Audience interest flagged after the first year, and mounting legal pressure on Fielding’s theatres forced changes in tone. Publication ceased in April 1736, a few months before the Licensing Act 1737 curtailed unlicensed performance.[4]
Reception and influence
Contemporaries praised its “spirited Defence of the British Stage,” but Walpole‑leaning papers derided it as “Ralph’s Prompt‑box.”[5] Modern scholars see *The Prompter* as an early forum for professional‑writer ideology and a forerunner to Fielding and Ralph’s later collaboration on The Champion.[6]
See also
References
- ↑ McKinsey 1973, pp. 118–120.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Battestin 1993, p. 80.
- ↑ McKinsey 1973, p. 119.
- ↑ Okie 1967, p. 874.
- ↑ McKinsey 1973, p. 120.
- ↑ Harris 1993, p. 31.
Sources
- Battestin, Martin C. (1993). Henry Fielding: A Life. Routledge. p. 80. Search this book on
- Harris, Bob (1993). A Patriot Press: National Politics and the London Press in the 1740s. Oxford University Press. p. 31. Search this book on
- McKinsey, Elizabeth R. (1973). "James Ralph: The Professional Writer Comes of Age". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 117 (2): 118–120.
- Okie, Laird (1967). "James Ralph: An Eighteenth‑Century Professional Writer". Huntington Library Quarterly. 30 (4): 874.
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