Background
Fielding created three theatrical versions of The Grub-Street Opera. Of these, one was performed at a Haymarket theatre, but only in rehearsals. The play originates as an expanded version of The Welsh Opera. The revision had a puff piece in the 21 May 1731 Daily Post saying, "We hear that the Grubstreet Opera, written by Scriblerus Secundus, which was to have been postponed till next Season, will, at the particular Request of several Persons of Quality, be perform'd within a Fortnight, being now in Rehearsal at the New Theatre in the Hay-market."
Later, it was advertised again in the 5 June 1731 Daily Post as being rehearsed, but the 11 June edition stated that one of the performers was sick and the 14 June edition said that the play would be postponed indefinitely. It was never produced, and The Grub-Street Opera is the only play by Fielding that existed only as a printed play. It is unknown as to why the play was never put on for an audience, but it is possible that it was not performed because Fielding was either legally prevented to perform it by the British government or he was bribed to not perform it. John Henley, a defender of Robert Walpole and Walpole's government, discussed the incident in his poem "Hay-Market Actors of the design'd Grub-street Opera" (published in the 8–15 June 1731 edition of his newspaper, Hyp-Doctor). In it, he gloated over the play being kept from performance and stated that the government did not accept the play. He followed this in the 15–22 June edition with an attack upon Fielding.
Like E. Rayner's printing of The Welsh Opera, Rayner printed The Genuine Grub-Street Opera without Fielding's knowledge in August 1731. The print edition was based on the second script. Fielding responded with claims of piracy and was upset that his satirical attack, primarily upon Walpole's administration, became public knowledge. Fielding eventually printed his own version of the play, dated 1731. However, it is possible that it was not actually printed until June 1755, shortly after Fielding's death, by his friend Andrew Millar. Regardless of the date, the connection of Fielding to the edition establishes this later version as the only authoritative edition.
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