An Episode from Henry Fielding's 'The Mock Doctor' or 'Dumb Lady Cured', 1740-1 (oil on...

an ill gentleman leaning on his walking stick as he hands over a bag of money to the mock doctor; The scene is taken from Henry Fielding (1707-54)'s 'The Mock Doctor', or 'The Dumb Lady Cur'd', adapted from Molière (1662-73)'s play 'Le médecin malgré lui' (1732), and first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1732. Charlotte pretending to be mute on the left; the mock-doctor Gregory on the right, his hand held out behind him to receive a purse held by Charlotte's tyrannical father, Sir Jasper. The second of the two Vauxhall supper-box paintings done by Hayman