 Love in Several Masques was Fielding 's first play , and was first released on 16 February 1728 . Though the play was never revived and only ran for four nights , it still did moderately well especially when compared with the competing plays at that time . In the play , three respectable males each meet a female counterpart three times , and share a parallel incident with letters and an unmasking . Fielding focuses on men and how he believes they should prove their worth before marriage . It also highlights Fielding 's belief in the relationship of morality and libertine beliefs and introduces character types that Fielding would use throughout his plays and novels . 
