Henry Fielding: a Memoir / Including Newly Discovered Letters and Records with Illustrations from Contemporary Prints

APPENDIX J

FIELDING'S Tom Thumb

This play appears to have carried some political significance in Fielding's day; if it was not, indeed, written with a political intention. This may be gathered from an article in the Daily Post of March 29, 1742, apropos of a performance of the Tragedy of Tragedies, that night, at Drury Lane. The article attributes, in detail, political intentions to the Tragedy--"a Piece at first calculated to ridicule some particular Persons and Affairs in Europe (at the Time it was writ) but more especially in this Island."

Footnotes for Chapter 1

1. Chancery Proceedings 1720 sqq. Fielding v. Fielding. From the records of this Chancery suit, instituted on behalf of Henry Fielding and his brother and sisters, as minors, by their grandmother Lady Gould, are taken the hitherto unpublished facts concerning the novelist's boyhood, contained in this chapter. The original documents are preserved in the Record Office. Back2. See Appendix A. Back3. By means of a legacy of £3000 left by her father for his daughter's sole use, "her husband having nothing to doe with it." Back4. History and Antiquities of Leicestershire. J. Nichols. 1810. Vol. iv. Part i. p. 292. Nichols does not state his authority for this statement, and it is not confirmed by local records. See Hutchins' History of Dorset for the list of Stour Provost rectors. Back5. Chancery Proceedings, 1722. Fielding v. Midford. Record Office. Back6. Edmund's name was added in October following. Back7. Chancery Decrees and Order Books. Record Office. Back8. Tom Jones, Book xiii. Introduction. Back9. Ibid., Book viii., ch. xiii. Back10. Tom Jones, Book ix. Introduction. Back11. See infra, chap. xi. Back12. Fifty years ago a portrait of the beautiful heiress, in the character of Sophia Western, was still preserved at the house of Bellairs, near Exeter, then the property of the Rhodes family. The present ownership of the picture has, so far, eluded inquiry. Back13. Fielding, Austin Dobson, p. 202. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 2

1. Joseph Andrews, Book iii. Chap. iii. Back2. Miscellanies,ed. 1743, vol. ii. p. 62. Back3. In the Miscellanies of 1743. Back4. Fielding, Austin Dobson, 1907. App. iv. Back5. What appears to be the original autograph of the above letter is now (1909) in the library of the Boston Athenaeum, having been presented by Mr C. P. Greenough. Back6. Notitia Dramatica (British Museum. MSS. Dept.) and Genest give 1734 as the date of Don Quixote; Murphy, edition of 1766, vol. iii p. 249, gives 1733. Back7. For the refutation of Genest's confusion of Timothy Fielding, a strolling player, with Henry Fielding, see Austin Dobson, Fielding, pp. 28, 29. Back8. The Miscellanies. Edition 1743. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 3

1. Tom Jones. Book xiii. Introduction. Back2. See the registers of St Mary Charlcombe. As Sarah Fielding, the novelist's sister, was buried in the entrance to the chancel of this church, it would appear that some connection existed between Charlcombe and the Fielding family. Back3. Seasonable Reproof--a Satire in the manner of Horace, 1735. Back4. The entry in the East Stour Registers is "W'm. Young, Curate 1731-1740." Back5. Voyage to Lisbon. Back

Footnotes for chapter 4

1. Works of Henry Fielding, Edited by Edmund Gosse. Introduction, p. xxi. Back2. Life of Garrick. T. Davies. 1780, vol. i. p. 223. Back3. Notitia Dramatica, MSS. Dept. British Museum, speaks of Pasquin as performed for the fortieth time on April 21, 1736: and quotes an advertisement of the play for March 5. There seems to be no record of the actual first night. Back4. Rich appears to have been the manager at Covent Garden from 1733 to 1761. Back5. Autobiography of Mrs Delany. 1861. Vol I. p. 554. Back6. See Fielding's ironic reference to such "iniquitous surmises" in the Dedication to the Historical Register. Back7. The earliest newspaper reference, so far available, is that of the Daily Journal for April 6 1737, which speaks of April 11 as the ninth day of the Register. Back8. In the succeeding Epilogue of Eurydice Hiss'd it must be admitted that Sir Robert's love of the bottle is broadly satirised. Back9. Daily Advertiser, April 29. 1737. Back10. Life of Garrick, T. Davies, vol. ii. p. 206. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 5

1. Life of Garrick. T. Davies, vol. ii. Back2. Works of Henry Fielding, edited by Edmund Gosse. Introduction, p. xxix. Back3. The Works of Mr George Lillo, with some Account of his Life, T. Davies. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 6

1. The fullest newspaper for theatrical notices at this date, preserved in the British Museum, the London Daily Post, is unfortunately missing for this year. Back2. Now first printed, from documents at the Record Office. Back3. A table inscribed by a former owner as having belonged to Henry Fielding, Esq., novelist, is now in the possession of the Somersetshire Archaeological Society. The inscription adds that Fielding "hunted from East Stour Farm in 1718." He would then be eleven years old! Back4. From the hitherto unpublished original, in the library of Alfred Huth, Esq. Back5. "Cro: Eliz." is the legal abbreviation for Justice Croke's law reports for the reign of Elizabeth. Back6. Champion, February 26, 1740. Back7. The Tryal of Colley Cibber, Comedian etc. 1740. Back8. Those of April 22, and April 29, 1740. Back9. And see Daily Gazeteer, Oct. 9, 1740. Back10. Champion, December 22, 1739. Back11. For April 22, April 29, May 6, and May 17. Back12. Boswell's Johnson, edited by Birkbeck Hill. Vol. i. p. 169. n. 2: "Ralph ... as appears from the minutes of the partners of the Champion in the possession of Mr Reed of Staple Inn, succeeded Fielding in his share of the paper before the date of that eulogium [1744]." Back

Footnotes for Chapter 7

1. A tantalising reference to one such acquaintance occurs in Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors. Vol. v. p. 357. In notes made by Lord Camden's nephew, George Hardinge, for a proposed Life of the Lord Chancellor there is this entry: "formed an acquaintance ... with Henry Fielding ... called to the Bar." Back2. Now in the possession of W. K. Bixby, Esq., of St Louis, U.S.A. Back3. In a manuscript copy of the Minutes, in the possession of the present writer. Back4. London Daily Post, June 18-26, 1741. Back5. The hard frost would be the terrible preceding winter of 1739-40, a winter long remembered for the severity of the cold, the cost of provisions, and the suffering of the poor. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 8

1. Cleopatra and Octavia. Sarah Fielding. Introduction. Back2. See the ledgers of Woodfall, the printer, quoted in Notes and Queries, Series vi. p. 186.Back3. It is interesting to note that Samuel Rogers was heard to speak with great admiration of chapter xiii. of Book iii., entitled "A curious Dialogue which passed between Mr Abraham Adams and Mr Peter Pounce." (MS. note by Dyce, in a copy of Joseph Andrews, now in the South Kensington Museum.) Back4. This copy, published in Amsterdam in 1775, is now in the possession of Mr Pierpont Morgan. Back5. Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Vol. ii. p. 194. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 9

1. Daily Post, June 5, 1742. Back2. MS. copy of the Minutes of the Meetings of the Partners in the Champion, in the possession of the present writer. Back3. See Daily Post. May 29, 1742. Back4. Preface to the Miscellanies. Back5. Such as the inscription on some verses, published in the Miscellanies, as "Written Extempore in the Pump-room" at Bath, in 1742. Back6. Preface to David Simple. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 10

1. These are in the Burney Collection, and are inscribed "These papers are by the celebrated Henry Fielding Esqre." Back2. See the Gentleman's Magazine. Dec. 1747. Back3. A Free Comment on the Late Mr. W-G-N's Apology ... By a Lady ... 1748. Back4. The Patriot Analized. 1748. Back5. True Patriot No. 14. Back6. True Patriot. No. 29. May 20, 1746. Back7. R. Cobbett. Memorials of Twickenham, 1872. Back8. The Journal's epitaph was promptly written by a scurrilous opponent in lines showing that the prominences of Fielding's profile were well-known:

Beneath this stone
Lies Trott Plaid John
His length of chin and nose.

See the Gentleman's Magazine, November 1748. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 11

1. The Fiat appointing Fielding as Magistrate for the City and Borough of Westminster, now in the House of Lords, is dated July 30, 1748. Back2. On the house identified with Mr Graves' description, and now known as "Fielding's Lodge," a tablet has recently been placed, through the energy of Mr R. G. Naish of Twerton. Back3. See Life of the Earl of Hardwicke. G. Harris. 1847. Vol. II. pp. 456-7. Back4. Tom Jones. Dedication. Back5. See Appendix for this, hitherto unpublished, receipt. Back6. London Magazine. Feb. 1749. Back7. In Germany an edition of 1771 was followed by a second in 1780, and a third in 1786. In 1765 a lyrical comedy founded on the famous novel was acted in Paris; and the same year it was transformed into a German comedy by J.H. Steffens. Back8. S. T. Coleridge. Manuscript notes in a copy of Tom Jones, now in the British Museum. Back9. Ibid. Back10. J. T. Smith. Nollekens and his Times. Vol. i. pp. 124-5. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 12

1. His Commission in the Peace for Westminster bears date October 25. 1748. Back2. An application is reported for the 2nd of December before "Justice Fielding" of Meards Court, St. Anne's, but for reasons given below this may refer to John Fielding. Back3. From the autograph now at Woburn Abbey, and printed in the Correspondence of John Fourth Duke of Bedford. Vol. i. p. 589. Back4. Middlesex Records. Volume of Qualification Oaths for Justices of the Peace. 1749. From an entry dated July 13, 1749, in the same volume, Fielding appears to have then owned leases in the three first named parishes only. Back5. See the King's Writ, now preserved in the Record Office. Back6. Middlesex Records. Sacramental Certificates. Back7. Middlesex Records. Oath Rolls. Back8. Amelia. Book i. Chapter ii. Back9. The Westminster Session Rolls, preserved among the Middlesex Records, contain many recognizances all signed by Fielding. Back10. "On Friday last," announces the General Advertiser for May 17, "Counsellor Fielding, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace was chosen Chairman of the Sessions at Hicks Hall for the County of Middlesex"; a statement not very compatible with the incontestable evidence preserved in the General Orders Books of the Middlesex Records, by which it appears that John Lane Esq're was elected Chairman of the Middlesex General Sessions and General Quarter Session from Ladyday 1749 to September 1752. The personal paragraphist of 1749 was perhaps no less inaccurate than his descendant of to-day. But a few weeks later this honour of chairmanship was certainly accorded to Fielding by his brethren of the Bench for Westminster. An entry in the Sessions Book of Westminster, 1749 runs as follows: "May. 1749, Mr Fielding elected chairman of this present Session and to continue untill the 2nd day of the next." MSS Sessions Books for Westminster. Vol. 1749. Middlesex Records. Back11. From the autograph now at Woburn Abbey, and printed in the Correspondence of John, Fourth Duke of Bedford, vol. ii. p. 35. Back12. From the hitherto unpublished autograph now in the British Museum. Back13. This letter is now in the Dreer Collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, U.S.A. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 13

1. Doubtless faithfully rendered in the old print, here reproduced, of Fielding's blind half-brother, assistant, and successor, Sir John Fielding, hearing a Bow Street case. Back2. See Appendix. Back3. Middlesex Records. MSS. Sessions Books. 1750. Back4. From the hitherto unpublished autograph, now at Woburn Abbey. Back5. This hitherto unpublished letter is now in the British Museum. It is addressed to "--Perkins, Esq. at his Chambers No. 7, in Lincolns Inn Square," and is sealed with Fielding's seal, a facsimile of which appears on the cover of the present volume. Back6. Fielding. Austin Dobson. p. 156. Back7. The General Advertiser. March 7, 1751. Back8. The London Magazine for February devoted five columns to an "Abstract of Mr Fielding's Enquiry"; and in the following month the Magazine again noticed the book, by printing a long anonymous letter in which Fielding is attacked as a 'trading author' and a 'trading justice,' and in which the writer shows his intellectual grasp by advocating in all seriousness a law prohibiting the sovereign from gambling! Back9. See Journals of the House of Commons. Vol. xxii. p. 27, and the London Magazine. Vol. xx. p. 82. The Catalogue of Printed Papers. House of Commons, 1750-51, includes "A Bill for the more effectual preventing Robberies Burglaries and other Outrages within the City and Liberty of Westminster--" &c. Back10. This hitherto unpublished letter is now in the British Museum. It is endorsed "Jan. 15, 1750(1)." Back11. 24 George II. c. 40. June 1751. Back12. Middlesex Records. Sessions Book. 1751. Back13. General Advertiser. Sept. 9. 1751. Back14. Middlesex Records. Sessions Book. October, 1751. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 14

1. Anecdotes. Mrs Piozzi. p. 221. Back2. Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Introductory Anecdotes, p. cxxiii. Back3. Ibid. Vol. ii. p. 289. Back4. It is curious that to this unlucky incident, based according to Lady Louisa Stuart, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's grand-daughter, on a real accident to Mrs Fielding, Dr Johnson attributed the failure of the book with the public: "that vile broken nose ruined the sale," he declared. Early in January Fielding himself protests in his Covent Garden Journal that every reader of any intelligence would have discovered that the effects of Amelia's terrible carriage accident had been wholly remedied by "a famous Surgeon"; and that "the Author of her History, in a hurry, forgot to inform his Readers of that Particular." The particular has by now fallen into its due insignificance, and, save for Johnson's explanation therein of the poor sale of the book, is scarce worth recalling. Back5. London Magazine. December 1751. p. 531 and Appendix. Back6. Fielding. Austin Dobson. p. 161. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 15

1. A dramatic satire, advertised in March at Covent Garden Theatre and written (as stated by Dibdin, History of the Stage. Vol. v. p. 156), by the actor Macklin, bore for sub-title Pasquin turned Drawcansir, Censor of Great Britain. The name, and the further details of the advertisement, recall Fielding's early success with his political Pasquin: but all further trace of this 'Satire' seems lost. See Appendix C. Back2 A faithful Narrative.... By Drawcansir.... Alexander. 1752. Back3. 25. G II. cap 36. Back4. All trace seems now lost of the actual part Fielding may have taken in the drafting of this Act. Back5. 25. G. II. c. 37. Back6. It would seem, from the following advertisement, that Fielding's inexhaustible pen published, about this time, a sixpenny pamphlet on 'a late Act of Parliament'; but all trace of it has been lost:--"A speech made in the Censorial Court of Alexander Drawcansir, Monday, 6th June, 1752, concerning a late Act of Parliament. Printed for the Author. Price 6d." The General Advertiser, June 27, 1752. Back7. The General Advertiser March 4. 1752. Back8. The General Advertiser, April 15, 1752. Back

Footnotes for Chapter 16

1. Life of Henry Fielding. Frederick Lawrence, p. 138. Back2. Saunders Welch. A Letter on the subject of Robberies, wrote in the year 1753. Back3. See the Public Advertiser 1753 March 17, 20, 24 &c. Back4. This unique contemporary print of Fielding may be seen in the British Museum, Print Room, Social Satires, No. 3213. Back5. Record Office. State Papers. Domestic G. II., 127, no. 24. Back6. Lysons. Environs of London. 1795. Vol. ii. p. 229. Back7. The quotations from the Voyage to Lisbon are from the edition recently prepared by Mr Austin Dobson, for the 'World's Classics.' Back8. This letter is now in the British Museum. The endorsement on the back is: "Dec. 6, 1753 from Mr Fielding recommending Mr. Saunders Welch to be in the Com. of ye Peace for Westmr and Middx." Back

Footnotes for Chapter 17

1. The Public Advertiser, 1754, February 26. Back2. The Public Advertiser 1754, April 17. Back3. Middlesex Records. Sessions Book. 1754. Back4. See the Middlesex Records. Back5. See the Public Advertiser. February, 1754. Back6. This little house was apparently replaced by a larger house; and it is probably this second building of which a sketch is inserted in a copy of Lysons' Environs to be seen in the Guildhall Library. It is now pulled down. Back7. Dr Johnson spoke of Saunders Welch as "one of my best and dearest friends." Back8. Austin Dobson. Fielding, p. 170. Back9. "Dedication" of the Voyage, written possibly by John Fielding. Back10. Austin Dobson. Fielding, p. 179. From the autograph in the possession of Mr Frederick Locker. Back11. This and the following passage occur in the second version of the Voyage to Lisbon. Back

Footnotes for Appendices

1. Austin Dobson. Fielding. Appendix IV. p. 212-13; and Eighteenth Century Vignettes, 1896, pp. 164-178. Back2. Austin Dobson. Fielding. Appendix IV. p. 212-13; and Eighteenth Century Vignettes, 1896, pp. 164-178. Back3. J. Nichols. History and Antiquities of Leicestershire. 1810. Vol. iv. Pt. I. p. 594. Back4. Austin Dobson. Fielding, p. 192. Back5. T. Whitehead. Original Anecdotes of the late Duke of Kingston, 1795. p. 95. Back6. Some Hapsburghs, Fieldings, Denbighs and Desmonds, by J. E. M. F. Back7. Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries. Vol. viii. p. 353. Back8. Morrison Manuscripts. Catalogue. Back9. The Athenaeum. February 1. 1890. Back10. History of Wiltshire. Sir R. C. Hoare; volume entitled "Old and New Sarum or Salisbury," by R. Benson and H. Hatcher, 1843. p 602. Back11. Lysons. Environs of London, edition of 1795. Vol. i. part iii. p. 544. Back12. Ibid. Edition 1811. Vol. i. p. 10. Back13. Manning and Bray. History of Surrey, 1814, vol. iii. p. 316. Back14. Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, edited by Lord Wharncliffe and W. M. Thomas. Vol. ii. p. 3, note I, and p. 22. Back

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