by AUSTIN DOBSON AUTHOR OF STEELE HORACE WALPOLE WILLIAM HOGARTH VIGNETTES IN RHYME ETC. JEnglisb fl en of Letters EDITED BY JOHN MORLEY HARPER BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON 1902 HENRY FIELDING 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 Stephens brilliant studies, in the recent edition de luxe and the Cornhill Magazine, are now in every ones 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 Field ing as have come down to us to correct I hope not obtru sively 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 authori ties I. Arthur Murphys Bssay on the Life and Genius of Henry iddi ig, SJsQ, This was prefixed to the first collected edi tion of Fieldings works published by Andrew Millar in June, 1762 and it continued for a long time to be the rec ognised authority for Fieldings life. It is possible that it fairly reproduces his personality, as presented by contempo rary tradition but it is misleading in its facts, and needless ly 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 vi PREFATORY NOTE. the Greeks and the machineryof the Eapo of the Lock, than to make the requisite biographical inquiries. This is the more to be deplored, because, in 1763, Fieldings widow, brother, and sister, as well as his friend Lyttclton, were still alive, and trustworthy information should have been procurable. n. Watsons Life of Henry Fielding, Esq. This is usually to be found prefixed to a selection of Fieldings works issued at Edinburgh. It also appeared as a volume in 1807, al though there is no copy of it in this form at the British Mu seum. 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 Scotts biographical sketch for Ballantynea Novelists Library. This was published in 1821 and is now included in the writers Miscellaneous Prose Works. Sir Wal ter 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. Roscoes Memoir, compiled for the one-volume edition of Fielding, published by Washbourne and others in 1840. V. Thackerays well-known lecture, in the English 2Iu mourists of the Eighteenth Century, 1853. VI. The Life of Henry Melding with Notices of his Writ ings, his Times, and his Contemporaries. By Frederick Law rence. 1855. This is an exceedingly painstaking book, and constitutes the first serious attempt at a biography. Ita chief defect as pointed out at the time of its appearance is an ill-judged emulation of Forsters Goldsmith. The au thor attempted to make Fielding a literary centre, which is impossibleand the attempt has involved him in needless digressions. He is also not always careful to give chapter and verse for his statements. VII. Thomas Keightleys papers On the Life and Writings of Henry Fielding, i Prases Magazine for January and Feb PREFATORY NOTE. vii ruary, 1858. These, prompted by Mr. Lawrences book, are most valuable, if only for the authors frank distrust of his predecessors. They arc the work of an enthusiast, and a very conscientious examiner. If, as reported, Mr...