This novel is sometimes thought of as first because he almost certainly began composing it before he wrote Shamela and Joseph Andrews. It is a satire of Walpole that draws a parallel between Walpole and Jonathan Wild, the infamous gang leader and highwayman. He implicitly compares the Whig party in Parliament with a gang of thieves being run by Walpole, whose constant desire to be a "Great Man" should culminate only in the antithesis of greatness: being hanged.
(Tags : The History Of The Life Of The Late Mr. Jonathan Wild The Great (Unabridged) Henry Fielding Audiobook, Henry Fielding Audio CD )