Much of Fielding's amusing literary and social satire in his plays of 1736 and 1737 was in a popular vein, if we may judge from the abundance of similar satire in the newspapers of the time. Elsewhere I have shown why Fielding's hits were sure to have been met by the laughing approval of his audiences. His attack on pantomime was somewhat different, however, for pantomime was at the height of its popularity. Critics of it, like Fielding and Aaron Hill, were running counter to popular taste.