OUR UR immortal Fielding, says Gibbon, belonged to the younger branch of the earls of Denbigh, who drew their origin from the counts of Hapsburgh, the lineal descendants of Eltrico, in the seventh century, dukes of Alsace. Far different, continues the great historian, have been the fortunes of the English and German divisions of the family of Hapsburgh. The former, the knights and sheriffs of Leicestershire, have slowly risen to the dignity of a peerage. The latter, the emperors of Germany and kings of Spain, have threatened the liberty of the Old, and invaded the treasures of the New World. The successors of Charles V. may disdain their brethren 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. As Thackeray remarks, there can be no gainsaying the sentence of so great a judge. To have your name mentioned by Gibbon is like having it written on the dome of St Peter's. Pilgrims from all the world admire and behold it. Henry Fielding was born at Sharpham Park, near Glastonbury, Somersetshire, on the 22d of April 1707. His father was Lieutenant-General Fielding, a grandson of the first Earl of Fielding. Young Fielding at an early age was intrusted to the care of a clerical tutor, the Rev. Mr Oliver, and afterwards removed to Eton, where he counted among his schoolfellows many who obtained distinction in later life; the wit and easy versifier, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams; Lord Lyttelton, the historian of Henry II.; and William Pitt, the "Great Commoner." Next he repaired to the university of Leyden, to study law, but dived more profoundly into light literature and the belles lettres than 54 FIELDING AS A DRAMATIST. into the researches of erudite jurists. In 1727 he returned to England, and launched into all the pleasures of London fashionable life; a tall, robust, handsome, and accomplished young man, with an inexhaustible fund of animal spirits, a quick and ready intellect, a courtly address, and a certain dignity of bearing. "One can fancy," says Thackeray, "the eagerness and gusto with which a man of Fielding's frame, with his vast health and robust appetite, his ardent spirits, his joyful humour, and his keen and hearty relish for life, must have seized and drunk that cup of pleasure which the town offered to him. His wit and manners made him friends everywhere; he lived with the élite of Georgian society; he was courted by peers and men of fashion." He had an allowance from his father, which, however, was very rarely paid; had it been regularly discharged, it would by no means have met a tithe of Fielding's expenses. Good wine, good clothes, and good luxury are all articles which can only be purchased at a heavy cost. The gay and radiant Fielding, therefore, ran into debt, incurred heavy bills, and borrowed money in all directions; did not scruple to accept a few pieces from the purses of his rich friends, and was always dunning one or other of them for a dinner or a guinea. When these resources began to fail,-and fashionable friends are soon exhausted! he wrote for the stage, throwing off light dramatic trifles which were utterly worthless as works of art. His first comedy was entitled "Love in Several Masques;" his second, "The Temple Beau ;” and between 1728 and 1737 he wrote a score of theatrical pieces, all of which are now forgotten, but which answered their author's purpose by temporarily supplying him with funds. No one was more sensible than he himself of their want of merit. The audience on one occasion hissing a scene which he had carelessly refused to correct,--remarking to Garrick that the public were too stupid to detect the deficiencies of his work, he quietly exclaimed, "So they have found it out, have they?" Let us be thankful that he lived to do justice to his powers, and that we have to admire the creator of "Tom Jones" rather than censure the scribbler of "The Temple Beau." Yet it must be owned that both wit and humour may be enjoyed in "Pasquin" and "The Wedding Day," and that in even the worst of his trifles occurs some brief stroke of satire or judicious reflection. --- |