Henry Fielding: A Memoir | Page 2

JOURNALISM

CHAPTER XI
Tom Jones
CHAPTER XII
MR JUSTICE FIELDING

CHAPTER XIII
FIELDING AND LEGISLATION

CHAPTER XIV

Amelia
CHAPTER XV
JOURNALIST AND MAGISTRATE

CHAPTER XVI
POOR LAW REFORM

CHAPTER XVII
VOYAGE TO LISBON--DEATH

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS _From photographs by Marie Léon_.
Henry Fielding _From a miniature now in the possession of Mr Ernest
Fielding._
Sharpham House, showing the room in which Fielding was born _from
a print published in 1826_.
Sir Henry Gould _From a mezzotint by J. Hardy_.
Eton--1742 From an engraving of a drawing by Cozens.
Anne Oldfield _From a mezzotint of a painting by J. Richardson_.
Leyden--1727 _From an engraving of a drawing by C. Pronk_.
Kitty Clive as Philida _From a mezzotint of a painting by Veter van
Bleeck, junr. 1735._
Frontispiece to Fielding's "Tom Thumb" By Hogarth.
The Close, Salisbury--1798 _From an acquatint of a drawing by E.
Dayes_.
Charlcombe Church, near Bath _From an engraving of a drawing made
in 1784_.
Fielding's house, East Stour, Dorsetshire _From a print published in
Hutchins' "History of Dorsetshire," 1813_.

Sir Robert Walpole--1740 From a contemporary cartoon.
"Pasquin" _From a cartoon depicting a scene in "Pasquin" in which
Harlequinades, etc., triumph aver legitimate drama. Pope is leaving a
box. The Signature "W. Hogarth" is doubtful_.
Cartoon celebrating the success of "Pasquin" _From a contemporary
cartoon showing Fielding, supported by Shakespeare, receiving an
ample reward, while to Harlequin and his other opponents is accorded a
halter_.
The Little Theatre in the Haymarket _From an engraving by Dale,
showing the demolition of the Little Theatre in 1821_.
The Green Room, Drury Lane _From the painting by Hogarth, in the
possession of Sir Edward Tennant_.
The Temple--1738 _From an engraving of a drawing by J. Nicholas_.
Henry Fielding holding the Banner of the "Champion" newspaper
_From a contemporary cartoon showing Sir Robert Walpole laughing
at the "Funeral" of an Opposition Motion in Parliament_.
Cartoon showing Fielding, in Wig and Gown, as a supporter of the
Opposition _From a print of 1741_.
Henry Fielding reading at the Bedford Arms _From the frontispiece to
Sir John Fielding's "Jests."_
Assignment for "Joseph Andrews" From the autograph now in the
South Kensington Museum.
Beaufort Buildings, Strand, in 1725 _From a watercolour drawing by
Paul Sandby, 1725_.
Prior Park, near Bath, the seat of Ralph Allen, 1750 From an engraving
of a contemporary drawing.
George, First Baron Lyttelton From a portrait by an unknown artist.
Theatre Ticket for Fielding's "Mock Doctor" _The signature "W.
Hogarth" is doubtful_.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu--1710 _From an engraving by Caroline
Watson, from a miniature in the possession of the Marquis of Bute_.
The Bow Street Police Court, Sir John Fielding presiding _From the
"Newgate Calendar"_, 1795.
Edward Moore _From a frontispiece in Chalmers' "British Essayists"_
1817.
Sir John Fielding _From a mezzotint of a painting by Nathaniel Hone,
R.A._

Ralph Allen _From a chalk drawing by W. Hoare, R.A._
Henry Fielding _From an engraving of a pen and ink sketch, made by
Hogarth after Fielding's death_.
Henry Fielding, defending Betty Canning from her accusers, the Lord
Mayor, Dr Hill, and the Gipsy _From a contemporary print, now first
reproduced, and the only known sketch of Fielding made during his
lifetime_.
Justice Saunders Welch From an engraving of a sketch by Hogarth.
Ryde--1795 From an engraving of a drawing by Charles Tomkins.
Lisbon--1793 From a mezzotint of a drawing by Noel.
The design on the cover is a copy, slightly enlarged, of an impression
of Fielding's seal, attached to an autograph letter in the British
Museum.

HENRY FIELDING

CHAPTER I
YOUTH
"I shall always be so great a pedant as to call a man of no learning a
man of no education."--Amelia.
Henry Fielding was born at Sharpham Park, near Glastonbury, on the
22nd of April 1707. His birth-room, a room known as the Harlequin
Chamber, looked out over the roof of a building which once was the
private chapel of the abbots of Glastonbury; for Sharpham Park
possessed no mean history. Built in the sixteenth century by that
distinguished prelate, scholar, and courtier Abbot Richard Beere, the
house had boasted its chapel, hall, parlour, chambers, storehouses and
offices; its fishponds and orchards; and a park in which might be kept
some four hundred head of deer. It was in this fair demesne that the
aged, pious, and benevolent Abbot Whiting, Abbot Richard's successor,
was seized by the king's commissioners, and summarily hung, drawn,
and quartered on the top of the neighbouring Tor Hill. Sharpham
thereupon "devolved" upon the crown; but the old house remained,
standing in peaceful seclusion where the pleasant slope of Polden Hill

overlooks the Somersetshire moors, till the birth of the 'father of the
English Novel' brought a lasting distinction to the domestic buildings of
Abbot Beere. In the accompanying print, published in