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ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS
FIELDING
BY AUSTIN DOBSON
PREFATORY NOTE.
From a critical point of view, the works of Fielding have received
abundant examination at the hands of a long line of distinguished
writers. Of these, the latest is by no means the least; and as Mr.
Leslie Stephen's brilliant studies, in the recent _edition de luxe_ and
the _Cornhill Magazine_, are now in every one's hands, it is perhaps no
more than a wise discretion which has prompted me to confine my
attention more strictly to the purely biographical side of the subject.
In the present memoir, therefore, I have made it my duty, primarily, to
verify such scattered anecdotes respecting Fielding as have come down to
us; to correct (I hope not obtrusively) a few mis-statements which have
crept into previous accounts; and to add such supplementary details as I
have been able to discover for myself.
In this task I have made use of the following authorities:--
I. Arthur Murphy's _Essay on the Life and Genius of Henry Fielding,
Esq._ This was prefixed to the first collected edition of Fielding's
works published by Andrew Millar in April 1762; and it continued for a
long time to be the recognised authority for Fielding's life. It is
possible that it fairly reproduces his personality, as presented by
contemporary tradition; but it is misleading in its facts, and
needlessly diffuse. Under pretence of respecting "the Manes of the
dead," the writer seems to have found it pleasanter to fill his space
with vagrant discussions on the "Middle Comedy of the Greeks" and the
machinery of the _Rape of the Lock_, than to make the requisite
biographical inquiries. This is the more to be deplored, because, in
1762, Fielding's widow, brother, and sister, as well as his friend
Lyttelton, were still alive, and trustworthy information should have
been procurable.
II. Watson's _Life of Henry Fielding, Esq_. This is usually to be found
prefixed to a selection of Fielding's works issued at Edinburgh. It also
appeared as a volume in 1807, although there is no copy of it in this
form at the British Museum. It carries Murphy a little farther, and
corrects him in some instances. But its author had clearly never even
seen the _Miscellanies_ of 1743, with their valuable Preface, for he
speaks of them as one volume, and in apparent ignorance of their
contents.
III. Sir Walter Scott's biographical sketch for Ballantyne's _Novelist's
Library_. This was published in 1821; and is now included in the
writer's _Miscellaneous Prose Works_. Sir Walter made no pretence to
original research, and even spoke slightingly of this particular work;
but it has all the charm of his practised and genial pen.
IV. Roscoe's Memoir, compiled for the one-volume edition of Fielding,
published by Washbourne and others in 1840.
V. Thackeray's well-known lecture, in the _English Humourists of the
Eighteenth Century_, 1853.
VI. _The Life of Henry Fielding; with Notices of his Writings, his
Times, and his Contemporaries_. By Frederick Lawrence. 1855. This is an
exceedingly painstaking book; and constitutes the first serious attempt
at a biography. Its chief defect--as pointed out at the time of its
appearance--is an ill-judged emulation of Forster's _Goldsmith_. The
author attempted to make Fielding a literary centre, which is
impossible; and the attempt has involved him in needless digressions. He
is also not always careful to give chapter and verse for his statements.
VII. Thomas Keightley's papers _On the Life and Writings of Henry
Fielding_ in _Fraser's Magazine_ for January and February 1858. These,
prompted by Mr. Lawrence's book, are most valuable, if only for the
author's frank distrust of his predecessors. They are the work of an
enthusiast, and a very conscientious examiner. If, as reported, Mr.
Keightley himself meditated a life of Fielding, it is much to be
regretted that he never carried out his intention.
Upon the two last-mentioned works I have chiefly relied in the
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