Fielding, Henry
NAME: Fielding, Henry
ACHIEVEMENTS: One of founders of the English novel
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None.
DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: 22nd April 1707, Sharpham Park, Somerset, England.
DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: 8th October 1754, Lisbon. Aged 47.
DISCIPLINE: Novelist/Playwright.
FIELD: Literature/Theatre.
LANGUAGE: English.
PARENTS: Father, Edmund Fielding. Mother, Sarah Gould.
SIBLINGS: Four sisters: Catharine, Ursula, Sarah and Beatrice. One brother, Edmund.
SPOUSE: First wife, Charlotte Cradock. Second wife Mary Daniel.
CHILDREN: By Charlotte, one son, James who died in infancy. Two daughters, Eleanor Harriet and ?
By Mary, two sons, William and Allen. Three daughters, Mary Amelia, Sophia and Louisa.
EDUCATION: Eton and University of Leiden. Holland; Middle Temple, London
MAJOR WORK: "Tom Jones" (1749).
LIFE AND TIMES: At Eton Fielding was a contemporary of <a school-fellow of> Pitt*, later Prime Minister. Soon after leaving Eton he plunged into London life, where he became a hack writer. <his cousin was> Lady Mary Wortley Montagu* , a distant cousin, encouraged him.
In 1728, his play "Love in Several Masques" was staged at Drury Lane, after which he went on to produce a variety of comedies, farces and burlesques. <he amused> Swift*, the satirist, said that he had only laughed twice in his life and once was at the Haymarket Theater in 1730 during Fielding's "Tom Thumb." <a pal of> Hogarth*, the artist, designed the frontispiece for the published text of "Tom Thumb" and the two men became good friends.
It was during this period of his life that Fielding met Arthur Murphy, the actor and a friend of Dr Samuel Johnson's, who later remembered Fielding for "the brilliancy of his wit, the vivacity of his humour, and his high relish of social enjoyment".
In 1736 he criticised the political corruption of <annoyed> Robert Walpole's* government in a play at the Haymarket and followed this up the next year with the "Historical Register for 1736", in which he satirized Walpole. Walpole's response was to introduce a bill in Parliament making it mandatory to obtain a license from the Lord Chamberlain before a play could be staged.
After this, Fielding gave up the stage and began studying for the law at the Middle Temple, so that he could have a profession which would keep his growing family. At the same time, he edited a periodical called "The Champion" and also wrote for it. In 1739, the actor manager<had spat with> Cibber* called Fielding a "broken wit.". Fielding used "The Champion" to ridicule Cibber's grammar.
A year after <parodied> Samuel Richardson* published his novel "Pamela" a parody was published called "Apology for the Life of Mrs Shamela Andrews." Fielding never confessed to writing it, but it was generally thought to be his.
In 1742 he published "The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and his friend Mr Abraham Adams" satirizing "Pamela". What Fielding had written rose above mere burlesque, into what is now considered to be a powerful novel of social criticism with the character of Parson Adams a comic masterpiece.
In the preface to "Joseph Andrews", Fielding pays Hogarth a great compliment by writing that the people he drew appear not only to breathe but to think.
The actor <wrote for> Garrick* was beginning his career in London at this time and asked Fielding to write for him. Fielding revamped an old work, "Wedding Day" in which Garrick opened in February 1743.
In 1743, he published "Miscellanies" of old and new work. 1745, when <wrote attacking> Prince Charles Stuart* (Bonnie Prince Charlie) attempted to overthrow the English king, Fielding put his talents to the service of the government. He wrote a pamphlet warning of the dangers of a Catholic ruler and he edited and mostly wrote a paper called "The True Patriot: And the History of Our Own Times", which was published weekly until the end of the rebellion in 1746.
In 1748, he was appointed magistrate for Westminster and Middlesex. His courthouse, where he also lived, was in Bow Street, London but the post was unpaid. Fielding was talented at the bar and with the assistance of his half-brother Sir John Fielding, established the Bow Street Runners to strengthen the police force in London.
In 1749, Fielding published the "History of Tom Jones, a Foundling". He had been working on it for some years and it was an instant success. The style of the novel gave Fielding a vast canvas and he built up a picture of 18th century England full of vitality, humour and humanity.
Fielding followed this with "Amelia" in 1751, a darker novel in which he showed the bleaker aspects of man's behaviour.
By this time, Fielding was suffering badly from gout and he was forced to use crutches or a wheelchair on occasions. He published "An Inquiry into the Cause of the late increase of Robbers, 1751" in which he analysed the reasons for so much crime, not least among them the huge amounts of gin drunk by the lower classes. A few weeks later, Hogarth's
depiction of London low life, "Gin Lane", was shown for the first time. Two month's after Fielding's "Inquiry" was published the Tippling Act was passed which restricted
sales of spirits.
His health problems were now acute and, when it seemed that removal to a warmer climate would be the only remedy, he moved to Lisbon
On the journey he wrote "Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon" which shows his undiminished zest for life. He died in Lisbon on 8th October 1754 and was buried in the English cemetery there.
ASSESSMENT: Together with Samuel Richardson he founded the English novel.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: He was treated by quack doctor <treated by quack> Joshua Ward*
Set up Bow Street Runners, prototype of <set up prototype> police*
ONELINER: Henry Fielding, co-founder of the English novel
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Jenkins, Elizabeth, Henry Fielding, Arthur Barker Ltd., London, 1966.