The Touch-Stone

The Touch-Stone; or, Historical, Critical, Political, Philosophical, and Theological Essays on the Reigning Diversions of the Town is a 1728 anonymous satirical pamphlet, generally attributed to the Grub-Street writer James Ralph. Issued in octavo and reissued in 1731 under the title The Taste of the Town, it offers a mock-heroic survey of London entertainments—Italian opera, spoken drama, puppet-shows, fairs and masquerades—while arguing for "good taste" and proposing native English subjects such as Tom Thumb, Robin Hood and Dick Whittington and His Cat for the lyric stage. The essays lampoon exorbitant opera fees, scenic spectacle that overwhelms plot, and the jargon of pedantic critics.

Later scholars have described the pamphlet as a lively contemporary portrait of 1720s amusements and an early contribution to English theatrical criticism. The work also influenced the early burlesques of Henry Fielding, especially Tom Thumb (1730) and The Tragedy of Tragedies (1731).

Although published anonymously, the work has long been attributed to Ralph. The attribution has been debated, notably over the tone of its opening essay on Italian opera, but subsequent analyses read that passage as sustained irony; modern reference works and recent critics generally accept Ralph as the author.