part of
Pasquin Drawcansir, to be performed by his Censorial Highness, for
his Interest.[6] The Satire to be introduced by an Oration and to
conclude by a Peroration. Both to be spoken from the Rostrum in the
manner of certain Orators by Signior Pasquin.

No cast remains, but presumably from references in the play itself,
Macklin took the role of Pasquin who with the aid of Marforio calls in
review characters representing all the foibles of the age. There is no
plot. Act I simply ends while Pasquin and the Spectators retire to the
Green Room to await the appearance of those characters whom Marforio has
called in review.

In this ambitious attempt to list all the follies of his age, Macklin
employs the popular technique of eighteenth-century plays such as
Fielding's _The Author's Farce_--the play appears to be writing itself
on the stage. He displays all the tricks of satire--exaggeratedly ironic
praise, allegorical names (Miss Giggle, Miss Brilliant, Miss Bashfull),
stock characters of satire (Pasquin, Marforio, Hydra, Drawcansir), lists
of offenses, parodies of polite conversation reminiscent of Swift, and
constant topical references: to the Robin Hood Society to which little
Bob Smart belongs; to Mother Midnight; to playwrights (Fielding, Foote,
Woodward, Cibber, and himself); to contemporary theatrical taste
(Pantomime, Delaval's _Othello_ which Macklin himself had coached,
Harlequins, Masquerades, and various theatrical tricks); to Critics
(Bonnell Thornton, who later reviewed this afterpiece, is called
Termagent since Thornton's pseudonym was "Roxana Termagent"; John Hill
is referred to as the "Inspector" of the _Daily Advertiser_; and
Fielding is called Sir Alexander Drawcansir). The farce abounds in these
topical references, from Pasquin's opening invocation to Lucian,
"O thou, who first explored and dared to laugh at Public Folly," to its
closing lecture against Sharpers like Count Hunt Bubble where the
obvious allusions to Section III on Gaming of Fielding's _Enquiry_ ...
are applauded by Solomon Common Sense, the voice of Reason.

This vast parade of fashions and foibles with frequent thinly veiled
references to individuals may explain the numerous Licenser's marks on
the manuscript. If all the marked lines were omitted, it is small wonder
that this afterpiece was performed only once. Dramatic satire, without
plot, is difficult to sustain even in farce, and if the marked lines
were cut, there was l