ture of her in his Amelia Booth. But the necessities of life ere long roused him once again to face the world. Again he tries the law, and eschews literature; but the sin of authorship was not yet condoned, and he was still briefless, and so he was flung back once more upon the old labour. The advent of the Pretender, and the rebellion of 1745, threw the whole country into an agony of alarm, and Fielding took up his pen as a political writer in support of the Georgian dynasty. Accordingly, on the 5th November, the first number of the True Patriot made its appearance. In this Fielding put forward all the powers of his vigorous mind, all his resources of wit, satire, and ridicule—strong, sound arguments, and shrewd common sense, and thus he continued, without intermission, to render signal service to the dismayed government, nor relaxed his exertions till the danger had passed away. It is pleasant to think that, though the government failed to reward one of its greatest friends, the publication brought Fielding both fame and money. The world were now surprised at the second marriage of Fielding. The woman who had faithfully adhered to his first wife during all her sorrows, and soothed her dying moments, was perhaps the only one in the world who could fill the solitudes of his heart with a material presence without displacing the spiritual mistress that still presided there. So he married Mary Macdaniel; and the world shook its head in condemnation, and its sides with laughter, and the wits squibbed and be-rhymed him; and he laughed at the world with all the hearty contempt of his honest nature.
His next political undertaking was the Jacobite Journal, established in December, 1747, with the same object as the Patriot, in the course of which he was subjected to bitter personal attacks, which he repelled with spirit and ability, assailing the jacobite party with scathing ridicule and the liveliest humour; nor did he cease from the contest till he had driven his enemies from the field, and then he laid down his pen in November, 1748. Fielding was now over forty years of age. His health was fast failing; his means were small, and, depending on his literary labour, were most precarious. His old and staunch friend, George Lyttleton, now a lord of the treasury, obtained some small recognition of his services, and in December, 1748, the paltry place of a Middlesex justice was given to the man who had done more than any writer of his day for the house of Hanover. The duties of this office were laborious and difficult from the state of crime in the metropolis; and, the emoluments being derived from fees, there was a strong inducement to corruption. To the honour of Fielding, he acquitted himself with an ability and energy that suppressed crime, and an integrity that was proof against every temptation, and his latest biographer has truly observed that "the services which he rendered to the public were of so important a kind as to entitle him to the respect of posterity if he had never written a line."
For many years past Fielding had been preparing the greatest of all his works, and in February, 1749, he gave it to the world. The novel of "Tom Jones" appeared, and gave to its author immortality. "Our immortal Fielding," says Gibbon, "was the younger branch of the earls of Denbigh, who drew their origin from the counts of Hapsburg. The successors of Charles V. may disdain their brothers of England, but the romance of 'Tom Jones,' that exquisite picture of human manners, will outlive the palace of the Escurial and the imperial eagle of Austria." The mere biographer may not indulge largely in criticism, however tempting the occasion, "Tom Jones," like Don Quixote and Gil Blas, is for all times. They are true—and, like truth, they are eternal—pictures hung up in the great gallery of the world's literature, that grow mellow by time; and though the drapery and costume may be out of fashion in after ages, they are all the more precious as records of the past, while the portraits are those of humanity in every age. "As a picture of manners," says one who is the best judge, as he is the legitimate representative of Fielding in our own days—Mr. Thackeray—"the novel of Tom Jones is indeed exquisite; as a book of construction, quite a wonder. The by-play of wisdom; the power of observation; the multiplied felicitous turns of thought; the varied character of the great comic epic—keep the reader in a perpetual admiration and curiosity." The popularity of this work was, as might be expected, great and immediate. It was to be found everywhere in Britain, and ere a year, was translated into French, and has since passed into every European language.
In May, 1749, Fielding was elected chairman of sessions by his brother magistrates, a post which he filled with credit and ability, giving abundant proofs that the man of letters was also an accomplished man of law. Besides some able charges, he published in January, 1751, "An inquiry into the causes of the late increase of robbers, with some proposals for remedying the growing evil," which was highly esteemed. Notwithstanding the engrossments of professional duties, and the constant interruption of health, Fielding found time to compose another novel, and in 1751 he published "Amelia." It is a tribute of undying love and veneration for his first wife, whose character is faithfully portrayed in Amelia, as his own is, to a great extent, in that of Booth. In this the world was somewhat disappointed, for what author is there who ever wrote two chefs-d'œuvre? Not Homer, nor Milton, nor Cervantes, nor Le Sage, nor yet Henry Fielding. It is too didactic, and has less of incident and humour than its great predecessor, and yet it is a fine work, abounding in pathos and the true sentiments of morality. It had, however, a large sale, and elicited the highest commendation from Johnson. The same year Fielding started a new periodical, the Covent Garden Journal, which involved him in literary warfare with Hill, who conducted the Inspector, and drew upon him an unworthy attack from Smollett.
Fielding's health was now almost shattered, yet he seems to have relaxed little in the discharge of his duties. At length, in 1754, he resolved as a last hope to try the effects of a warmer climate, and on the 26th of June he went on board a vessel bound for Lisbon, accompanied by his wife and eldest daughter. The incidents of the journey are given in his posthumous work, "A Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon." He reached that city in August, and died on the 8th of October, 1754, in the forty-eighth year of his age.
As an author, we must look at Fielding in the three departments of literature in which he has written. As a dramatist, he cannot be said to have succeeded, but he failed as did other great writers of fiction; as a political journalist, he ranks higher than most of his contemporaries, both for vigour, skill, acumen, and wit; but as a novelist, he stands pre-eminent in English literature—without an equal up to his own times—without a superior up to the present. Scott justly called him "the first of British novelists;" who shall say that he has lost that place yet? Who has surpassed him in photographic portraiture of character, in felicitous conduct of a story, in descriptive power, in force of expression, in grave irony, and a Cervantic species of pleasantry? There are, no doubt, faults in his novels, as there are faults in his moral nature, but in each his generosity of nature, his love of truth, his brave, pure, fearless, incorruptible spirit, and his genial manly heart, redeem his errors and endear his memory. Mr. Thackeray thus gives an outline of his person—"His figure was tall and stalwart; his face handsome, manly, and noble-looking; to the very last days of his life he retained a grandeur of air; and, although worn by disease, his aspect and presence imposed respect upon the people about him."
There have been many editions of Fielding's works. The best is that by Thomas Roscoe, fourth edition, 1851. Several biographies have also appeared, to which, especially that by Mr. Lawrence, 1855, we acknowledge ourselves indebted.—J. F. W.
FIELDING, Henry B., a distinguished botanist, died 21st November, 1851. He was the possessor of one of the most extensive collections of dried plants in England. He purchased the Prescottian herbarium, which contained a large number of Russian plants, and he also became possessor of the Peruvian collection of Ruiz and Pavon. In 1844 he published, along with Dr. Gardner, a volume entitled "Sertum Plantarum," which contains figures and descriptions of seventy-five species of new and rare plants from his herbarium. His herbarium and books were bequeathed to the university of Oxford. He was a fellow of the Linnæan Society.—J. H. B.
FIELDING, Sir John, son of Lieutenant-general Fielding by his second wife, and half-brother of the great novelist, Henry Fielding, whom he succeeded in the office of justice of Westminster. He was blind from his youth, but early displayed mental powers of a superior order. His excellent moral qualities, in after life, exercised a beneficial influence on those with whom he associated. In those days the office of a metropolitan justice was in very low repute. Fielding, however, discharged his magisterial duties with such uprightness and ability that he earned unbounded praise for himself, and enhanced the reputation of the office. He received the honour of knighthood in October, 1761. He was a liberal supporter of several charitable
