The parts in general were not so well played as I could have wished, and in particular the part of Filbert, to speak in the style of the French Gazette.

Penkethman did wonders; Mrs.Bicknell performed miraculously, and there was much honour gained by Miss Younger, though she was but a parish child."[2] Filbert was played by Johnson, Jonas Dock by Penkethman, Joyce ("Peascod's daughter, left upon the parish") by Miss Younger, and Kitty by Mrs.Bicknell, mentioned by the author in "Mr.
Pope's Welcome from Greece":-- And frolic Bicknell, and her sister young.
The welcome given by the public to the play brought in its train some annoyance to the author: "I find success, even in the most trivial things, raises the indignation of scribblers," he wrote to Parnell on March 18th, "for I, for my 'What D'ye Call It' could neither escape the fury of Mr.Burnet or the German doctor.

Then, where will rage end when Homer is to be translated?
Let Zoilus hasten to your friend's assistance, and envious criticism shall be no more."[3] A more biting attack than that of Thomas Burnet's _Grumbler_ (No.

1, February 14th, 1715) or that of Philip Horneck in "The High German Doctor" was the "Key to 'The What D'ye Call It,'" written by the actor Griffin in collaboration with Lewis Theobald.

About this Gay wrote to Caryll in April: "There is a sixpenny criticism lately published upon the tragedy of 'The What D'ye Call It,' wherein he with much judgment and learning calls me a blockhead and Mr.Pope a knave.