Henry Fielding: A Memoir

Henry Fielding: A Memoir

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Title: Henry Fielding: A Memoir
Author: G. M. Godden
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HENRY FIELDING
A MEMOIR INCLUDING NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTERS AND
RECORDS WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM CONTEMPORARY
PRINTS
BY
G. M. GODDEN

"I am a man myself, and my heart is interested in whatever can befall
the rest of mankind."
JOSEPH ANDREWS.

PREFACE
New material alone could justify any attempt to supplement the
Fielding of Mr Austin Dobson. Such material has now come to light,
and together with reliable facts collected by previous biographers,
forms the subject matter of the present volume. As these pages are
concerned with Fielding the man, and not only with Fielding the most
original if not the greatest of English novelists, literary criticism has
been avoided; but all incidents, disclosed by hitherto unpublished
documents, or found hidden in the columns of contemporary
newspapers, which add to our knowledge of Fielding's personality,
have been given.
The new material includes records of Fielding's childhood; documents
concerning his estate in Dorsetshire; the date and place, hitherto
undiscovered, of that central event in his life, the death of his beloved

wife, whose memorial was to be the imperishable figure of "Sophia
Western"; letters, now first published, adding to our knowledge of his
energies in social and legislative reform, and of the circumstances of
his life; many extracts from the columns of the daily press of the period;
notices, hitherto overlooked, from his contemporaries; and details from
the unexplored archives of the Middlesex Records concerning his
strenuous work as a London magistrate. The few letters by Fielding
already known to exist have been doubled in number; and a reason for
the extraordinary rarity of these letters has been found in the
unfortunate destruction, many years ago, of much of his
correspondence. The charm of the one intimate letter that we possess
from the pen of the 'Father of the English Novel,' that written to his
brother John, during the voyage to Lisbon, enhances regret at the loss
of these letters.
Among the contemporary prints now first reproduced that entitled the
Conjurors is of special interest, as being the only sketch of Fielding,
drawn during his lifetime, known to exist. Rough as it is, the
characteristic figure of the man, as described by his contemporaries and
drawn from memory in Hogarth's familiar plate, is perfectly apparent.
The same characteristics may be distinguished in a small figure of the
novelist introduced into the still earlier political cartoon, entitled the
Funeral of Faction.
Such in brief are the reasons for the existence of this volume. It remains
to express my warmest acknowledgment of Mr Austin Dobson's
unfailing counsel and assistance. My thanks are also due to Mr Ernest
Fielding for permission to reproduce the miniature which appears as the
frontispiece; to Mr Aubrey Court, of the House of Lords; to Mr E. S. W.
Hart, for his help throughout the necessary researches among the
Middlesex Records; to Mrs Deane of Gillingham; and to Mr Frederick
Shum of Bath. And I am indebted to Mr Sidney Colvin, Keeper of the
Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, in regard to
almost every one of the thirty-two rare prints and cartoons now
reproduced.
G. M. GODDEN.
October 26, 1909.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
YOUTH

CHAPTER II
PLAY-HOUSE BARD

CHAPTER III
MARRIAGE

CHAPTER IV
POLITICAL PLAYS

CHAPTER V
HOMESPUN DRAMA

CHAPTER VI
BAR STUDENT--JOURNALIST

CHAPTER VII
COUNSELLOR FIELDING

CHAPTER VIII
Joseph Andrews
CHAPTER IX
THE Miscellanies AND Jonathan Wild
CHAPTER X
PATRIOTIC