Fielding Part 10

FIELDING AND MRS. HUSSEY.

At pp. 124-5, vol. i., of J. T. Smith's _Nollekens and his Times_, 1828, occurs the following note:--

"Henry Fielding was fond of colouring his pictures of life with the glowing and variegated tints of Nature, by conversing with persons of every situation and calling, as I have frequently been informed by one of my [i.e. J. T. Smith's] great-aunts, the late Mrs. Hussey, who knew him intimately. I have heard her say, that Mr. Fielding never suffered his talent for sprightly conversation to mildew for a moment; and that his manners were so gentlemanly, that even with the lower cla.s.ses, with which he frequently condescended particularly to chat, such as Sir Roger de Coverley's old friends, the Vauxhall watermen, they seldom outstepped the limits of propriety. My aunt, who lived to the age of 105, had been blessed with four husbands, and her name had twice been changed to that of Hussey: she was of a most delightful disposition, of a retentive memory, highly entertaining, and liberally communicative; and to her I have frequently been obliged for an interesting anecdote. She was, after the death of her second husband, Mr. Hussey, a fashionable sacque and mantua-maker, and lived in the Strand, a few doors west of the residence of the celebrated Le Beck, a famous cook, who had a large portrait of himself for the sign of his house, at the north-west corner of Half-moon Street, since called Little Bedford Street. One day Mr. Fielding observed to Mrs. Hussey, that he was then engaged in writing a novel, which he thought would be his best production; and that he intended to introduce in it the characters of all his friends. Mrs. Hussey, with a smile, ventured to remark, that he must have many niches, and that surely they must already be filled. 'I a.s.sure you, my dear madam,'

replied he, 'there shall be a bracket for a bust of you.' Some time after this, he informed Mrs. Hussey that the work was in the press; but, immediately recollecting that he had forgotten his promise to her, went to the printer, and was time enough to insert, in vol. iii. p. 17 [bk.

x. ch. iv.], where he speaks of the shape of Sophia Western--'Such charms are there in affability, and so sure is it to attract the praises of all kinds of people.'--'It may, indeed, be compared to the celebrated Mrs. Hussey.' To which observation he has given the following note: 'A celebrated mantua-maker in the Strand, famous for setting off the shapes of women.'"

There is no reason for supposing that this neglected anecdote should not be in all respects authentic. In fact, upon the venerated principle that

"there it stands unto this day To witness if I lie,"--

the existence of the pa.s.sage and note in Tom Jones is practically sufficient argument for its veracity. This being so, it surely deserves some consideration for the light which it throws on Fielding's character. Mrs. Hussey's testimony as to his dignified and gentlemanly manners, which does not seem to be advanced to meet any particular charge, may surely be set against any innuendoes of the Burney and Walpole type as to his mean environment and coa.r.s.e conversation. And the suggestion that "the characters of all his friends"--by which must be intended rather mention of them than portraits--are to be found in his masterpiece, is fairly borne out by the most casual inspection of _Tom Jones_, especially the first edition, where all the proper names are in italics. In the dedication alone are references to the "princely Benefactions" of John, Duke of Bedford, and to Lyttelton and Ralph Allen, both of whom are also mentioned by name in bk. xiii. ch. i. The names of Hogarth and Garrick also occur frequently. In bk. iv. ch. i. is an anecdote of Wilks the player, who had been one of Fielding's earliest patrons. The surgeon in the story of the "Man of the Hill" (bk. viii.

ch. xiii.) "whose Name began with an _R_," and who "was Sergeant-Surgeon to the King," evidently stands for Hogarth's Chiswick neighbour, Mr.

Ranby, by whose advice Fielding was ordered to Bath in 1753. Again, he knew, though he did not greatly admire, Warburton, to whose learning there is a handsome compliment in bk. xiii. ch. i. In bk. xv. ch. iv. is the name of another friend or acquaintance (also mentioned in the _Journey from this World to the Next_), Hooke, of the _Roman History_, who, like the author of _Tom Jones_, had drawn his pen for Sarah, d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough. Bk. xi. ch. iv. contains an anecdote, real or imaginary, of Richard Nash, with whom Fielding must certainly have become familiar in his visits to Bath; and it is probable that Square's medical advisers (bk. xviii. ch. iv.), Dr. Harrington and Dr. Brewster, both of whom subscribed to the _Miscellanies_ of 1743, were well-known Bathonians. Mr. Willoughby, also a subscriber, was probably "Justice Willoughby of Noyle" referred to in bk. viii. ch. xi. Whether the use of Handel's name in bk. iv. ch. v. is of any significance there is no evidence; but the description in bk. iv. ch. vi. of Conscience "sitting on its Throne in the Mind, like the LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR of this Kingdom in his Court," and fulfilling its functions "with a Knowledge which nothing escapes, a Penetration which nothing can deceive, and an Integrity which nothing can corrupt," is clearly an oblique panegyric of Philip Yorke, Lord Hardwicke, to whom, two years later, Fielding dedicated his _Enquiry into the late Increase of Robbers_, etc. Besides these, there are references to Bishop Hoadly (bk. ii. ch. vii.), Mrs.

Whitefield, of the "Bell" at Gloucester, and Mr. Timothy Harris (bk.

viii. ch. viii), Mrs. Clive, and Mr. Miller of the _Gardener's Dictionary_ (bk. ix. ch. i.); and closer examination would no doubt reveal further allusions. Meanwhile the above will be sufficient to show that the statement of the "celebrated mantua-maker in the Strand"

respecting Fielding's friends in _Tom Jones_ is not without foundation.

APPENDIX No. III.

AMELIA'S ACCIDENT.

In addition to the alterations mentioned at p. 109 _n_., Fielding inserted the following paragraph in the _Covent-Garden Journal_, No. 3, for 11th January 1752:--

"It is currently reported that a famous Surgeon, who absolutely cured one Mrs. Amelia Booth, of a violent Hurt in her Nose, insomuch, that she had scarce a Scar left on it, intends to bring Actions against several ill-meaning and slanderous People, who have reported that the said Lady had no Nose, merely because the Author of her History, in a Hurry, forgot to inform his Readers of that Particular, and which, if those Readers had any Nose themselves, except that which is mentioned in the Motto of this Paper, they would have smelt out."

The motto is the pa.s.sage from Martial (Ep. i. 4. 6) in which he speaks of the _nasus rhinocerotis_.

APPENDIX No. IV.

FIELDINGIANA.

The three foregoing Appendices were added to the second edition of 1889.

In this Appendix, No. IV., I propose to bring together a few dispersed fragments of information, which, either in the way of fresh particulars, or in correction of hitherto-accepted statements made in the body of the book, have come to light during the interval. Much that is absolutely new cannot, at this date, be reasonably antic.i.p.ated. But the unexpected always happens; and the unexpected in the present instance has been productive of two or three items which are not unworthy of brief record.

The first relates to that famous "eulogy of Gibbon" mentioned in the second sentence of the book. The connexion of Fielding's family with the Hapsburgs is now no longer a.s.serted. In April 1894, the question was exhaustively examined in the _Genealogist_ (New Series) by Mr. J. Horace Round, who came to the conclusion that such a claim could not be established; and that, consequently, any picturesque conjunction between that "exquisite picture of human manners" (as Gibbon called _Tom Jones_) [Footnote: _Autobiographies of Edward Gibbon_, 1896, p. 419.] and the "Imperial Eagle of the house of Austria" must henceforth be abandoned.

Mr. Round has since reprinted his paper at pp. 216-49 of his _Studies in Peerage and Family History_, 1901; and in a final paragraph he announces that his arguments, at first hotly contested, have now been accepted by Burke, from whose records the story has been withdrawn.

The next matter is the exact period of Fielding's residence at Leyden (p. 8). This, although somewhat developed, long remained obscure. In 1883, in the absence of other data, I accepted, as my predecessors had done, Murphy's statement that Fielding "went _from Eton to Leyden_, and there continued to show an eager thirst for knowledge, and to _study the civilians_ with a remarkable application for _about two years_, when, remittances failing, he was obliged to return to London, _not then quite twenty years old_ [i.e. before 22nd April 1727]." [Footnote: Fielding's _Works_, 1762, i. 8. The italics are mine.] When the "Sarah Andrew"

episode was conclusively traced to November 1725 (Appendix I. p. 200), it seemed only reasonable to suppose that it was succeeded by the Leyden expatriation, especially as Fielding's first play was produced in February 1728. Nor was this supposition seriously disturbed by the appearance of further information. Among Mr. Keightley's MSS. I found reference to a paper in the _Cornhill Magazine_ for November 1863, ent.i.tled "A Scotchman in Holland" (I believe it to have been by James Hannay). In this the writer stated that he had been allowed to inspect the Alb.u.m of the University of Leyden, and had there, under 1728, found the entry, "Henricus Fielding, Anglus, Ann. 20. Stud. Lit." Further, that Fielding was living at the Hotel of Antwerp. It will be noted that this account was derived from the Alb.u.m itself; and that Fielding is styled "Stud. Lit." Twelve years after the _Cornhill_ article, the University published their list of students from 1575 to 1875; and in 1883 Mr. Edward Peac.o.c.k, F.S.A., compiled from it, for the "Index Society," an _Index to English speaking Students who have graduated at Leyden University_. At p. 35 of this appears "Fielding, Henricus, _Anglus_, 16 Mart. 1728. [col.] 915." This, it will be observed, adds the month and day, but reveals nothing as to the cla.s.s of study. As I have implied, neither of these entries was seriously inconsistent with Murphy's statement, except as regards "studying the civilians." But in 1906, Mr. A. E. H. Swaen printed in the _Modern Language Review_ [Footnote: Vol. i, pp. 327-8 (July 1906, No. iv.)] what was apparently the fullest version of the inscription. From col. 915 (the column given by Mr. Peac.o.c.k), he copied the following:--"Febr. 16 1728: Rectore Johanne Wesselio, Henricus Fielding, Anglus. 20, L." Mr. Swaen held that this meant that, on the date named, Fielding was _entered as litterarum studiosus_ at Leyden. In this case, it would follow that his stay in Holland must have been subsequent to February 16, 1728; and Mr. Swaen went on to suggest that as Fielding's "first play, _Love in Several Masques_, was staged at Drury Lane in February 1728, and his next play, _The Temple Beau_, was produced in January 1730," the barren interval or part of it, may have been filled by residence at Leyden.

The fresh complications imported into the question by this new aspect of it will be at once apparent. Up to 1875 there had been but one Fielding on the Leyden books; so that all these differing accounts were variations from a single source. In this difficulty I was fortunate enough to enlist the sympathy of Mr. Frederic Harrison, who most kindly undertook to make inquiries on my behalf at Leyden University itself. In reply to certain definite queries drawn up by me, he obtained from the distinguished scholar and Professor of History, Dr. Pieter Blok, the following authoritative particulars. The exact words in the original _Alb.u.m Academic.u.m_ are:--"le Martii _1728_ Henricus Fielding, Anglus, annor. 20 Litt. Stud." He was then staying at the "Casteel van Antwerpen"--as related by "A Scotchman in Holland." His name only occurs again in the yearly _recensiones_ under the 22nd February 1729, as "Henricus Fieldingh," when he was domiciled with one Jan Oson. He must, consequently, have left Leyden before the 8th February 1730,--the 8th February being the birthday of the University, after which all students had to be annually registered. The entry in the _Alb.u.m_ (as Mr. Swaen affirmed) is an admission entry; there are no leaving entries. As regards "studying the civilians," Fielding might, in those days--Dr.

Blok explains--have had private lessons from the professors, but could not have studied in the University without being on the books. To sum up:--After producing _Love in Several Masques_ at Drury Lane, probably on the 12th February 1728, [Footnote: Genest, iii. 209.] Fielding was admitted a "Litt. Stud." at Leyden University on 16th March; was still there in February 1729; and left before 8th February 1730. Murphy is therefore in fault in almost every particular. Fielding did _not_ go from Eton to Leyden; he did _not_ make any recognised study of the civilians "with remarkable application" or otherwise; and he did _not_ return to London before he was twenty. But it is by no means improbable that the proximate cause of his coming home was the failure of remittances.

Another of the hitherto-unsolved difficulties in Fielding's life has been the date of his first marriage (p. 38). Lawrence gave the year as 1735; and Keightley suggested the spring of that year. This, as Swift would say, is near the mark, though confirmation has been slow in coming. In a letter dated 18th June 1906, Mr. Thomas S. Bush announced in the _Bath Chronicle_ that the desired information was to be found in a register (not at Salisbury, where search had been fruitlessly made, but) at the tiny church of St. Mary, Charlcombe, a secluded parish about one and a half miles north of Bath. Here is the record:--"November ye 28, 1734.--Henry Fielding, of ye Parish of St. James in Bath, Esq., and Charlotte Cradock, of ye same Parish, spinster, were married by virtue of a license from ye Court of Wells." All Fielding lovers owe a debt of grat.i.tude to Mr. Bush, whose researches also revealed the fact that Sarah Fielding, the novelist's third sister, was buried, not in Bath Abbey, where Dr. John Hoadly [Footnote: Bishop Hoadly is sometimes said to have written her epitaph. In this case it must have been (like Dr.

Primrose's on his Deborah) antic.i.p.atory, for Dr. Benjamin Hoadly, Bishop of Winchester, died in 1761.] raised a mural memorial to her, but "in yr entrance of the chancel [of Charlcombe Church] close to yr Rector's seat," 14th April 1768. These are not the only fresh traces of the connexion of the Fieldings with the old "Queen of the West." In June last a tablet to Fielding and his sister was placed on the wall of Yew Cottage, now Widcombe Lodge, Church Street, Widcombe, where they once lived.

Sarah Fielding figures frequently in Richardson's _Correspondence_; and it is with Richardson as much as with Fielding that the next jotting is concerned. Previously to 1900, although second-hand booksellers had, I believe, occasionally attributed to Fielding the pamphlet known as _An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews_, April 1741, no one had devoted much attention to that unworshipful performance. But when Miss Clara Thomson began to prepare her excellent and careful life of Richardson (1900), it became a part of her task to examine into this question. She found, first, that Richardson had himself ascribed _Shamela_ to Fielding in a letter to "Mrs. Belfour" (Lady Bradshaigh); [Footnote: _Correspondence_, 1804, iv. p. 286.] and she was acute enough to discover, in the pamphlet itself, which appeared some months before _Joseph Andrews_, the suggestive, though not conclusive, fact that "Mr.

B." was provisionally transformed into "Mr. b.o.o.by." When, in 1902, I was engaged upon my own Memoir of Richardson for the "Men of Letters"

series, I was naturally indisposed to connect this undoubtedly clever, but also unquestionably gross production with Fielding, already "unjustly censured," as he complained in the "Preface" to the _Miscellanies_ of 1743, for much that he had never written (p. 72). But I must honestly confess that for the present it has been my ill-fortune to discover only corroborative evidence. To a doc.u.ment at South Kensington, in which _Shamela_ is mentioned, I found that Richardson had appended, in the tremulous script of his old age:--"Written by Mr. H.

Fielding"; and since the publication of my book on Richardson, Mr.

Frederick Macmillan has drawn my attention to the fact that a letter written in July 1741, by Mr. T. Dampier, afterwards Sub-Master of Eton and Dean of Durham, to one of the Windhams, contains the following:-- "The book that has made the greatest noise lately in the polite world is _Pamela_, a romance in low life. It is thought to contain such excellent precepts, that a learned divine at London [Footnote: This enables me to correct an error at p. 74. As Miss Thomson points out (_Samuel Richardson_, 1900, p. 31) it was Dr. Benjamin Sloc.o.c.k of St. Saviour's, Southwark, and not Dr. Sherlock, who praised _Pamela_ from the pulpit.

The mistake seems to have originated with Jeffrey, and was freely repeated.] recommended it very strongly from the pulpit.... The dedication [of Conyers Middleton's _Life of Cicero_] to Lord Hervey has been very justly and prettily ridiculed by Fielding in a dedication to a pamphlet called _Shamela_ which he wrote to burlesque the fore-mentioned romance." [Footnote: Hist. MSS. Commission, 12th Report, Appendix, Part IX., p. 204.] This shows unmistakably that _Shamela_ was attributed to Fielding by contemporary gossip. But then so was The _Causidicade_ (p.

112), and _The Apology for the Life of Mr. The' Cibber_, _Comedian_ (p.

72). I still cling to the hope that Fielding was _not_ the author of _Shamela_. The matter is examined at some length at pp. 42-45 of the "Men of Letters" Memoir of Richardson; and it is plain that, if Fielding had wished to father it, he would have included it in the _Miscellanies_ of 1743.

The remaining points which call for notice are little more than dispersed adversaria. To the _amende honorable_ which Fielding made to Richardson in the _Jacobites Journal_ (pp. 113-14) should be added a further pa.s.sage from the later _Covent-Garden Journal_, No. 10-- _Pleasantry_ (as the ingenious Author of _Clarissa_ says of a Story) "_should be made only the Vehicle of Instruction_." Among other places connected with the composition of _Tom Jones_ (p. 118) may be mentioned Widcombe House, Bath (then Mr. Philip Bennet's), a Palladian villa close to the road from Widcombe Hill to Prior Park; and, if we are to believe _Rambles round Edge Hills_, 1896, p. 17, Fielding actually read that work in MS. to Lyttelton and Lord Chatham in the dining-room of Radway Grange in Warwickshire (Mr. Miller's). It should also be added that the agreement for _Tom Jones_ (p. 121), dated 5th March 1749, together with Fielding's antecedent receipt for the money, dated 11th June 1748, of which in 1883 I could obtain no tidings, are (or were lately) in the Huth collection. But perhaps the most important item which has come to light since 1883 is the Will discovered in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury by Mr. George A. Aitken. It is undated, though it was evidently executed at Ealing in the novelist's last days, and runs as follows:--

"In the name of G.o.d Amen. I Henry Fielding of the Parish of Ealing in the County of Middles.e.x do hereby give and bequeath unto Ralph Allen of Prior Park in the County of Somerset Esq. and to his heirs executors administrators and a.s.signs for ever for the use of the said Ralph his heirs, &c. all my estate real and personal and whatsoever and do appoint him sole executor of this my last will Beseeching him that the whole (except my share in the Register Office) may be sold and forthwith converted into money and annuities purchased thereout for the lives of my dear wife Mary and my daughters Harriet and Sophia and what proportions my said executor shall please to reserve to my sons William and Allen shall be paid them severally as they shall attain the age of twenty and three. And as for my shares in the Register or Universal Register Office I give ten thereof to my aforesaid wife seven to my daughter Harriet and three to my daughter Sophia my wife to be put in immediate possession of her shares and my daughters of theirs as they shall severally arrive at the age of twenty one the immediate profits to be then likewise paid to my two daughters by my executor who is desired to retain the same in his hands until that time. Witness my hand Henry Fielding. Signed and acknowledged as his last will and testament by the within named testator in the presence of Margaret Collier, Richd. Boor, Isabella Ash."

"On the 14th November 1754," comments Mr. Aitken, "administration (with the will annexed) of the goods, &c., of Henry Fielding, at Lisbon, deceased, was granted to John Fielding, Esq., uncle and guardian lawfully a.s.signed to Harriet Fielding, spinster, a minor, and Sophia Fielding, an infant, for the use and benefit and of the minor and infant until they were twenty one; Ralph Allen, Esq., having renounced as well the execution of the will as administration of the goods, &c.; and Mary Fielding, the relict, having also renounced administration of the goods of the deceased." [Footnote: _Athenaeum_, February 1, 1890. A portrait of Mary Fielding by Cotes, described by one who knew it as "a very fine drawing of a very ugly woman," was sold not many years since at Christie's.]

The Register Office, above mentioned, is that referred to at p. 194.

What was the amount of the property so disposed of is not known. But in making inquiries in connexion with an edition of the _Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon_ issued by the Chiswick Press in 1892, [Footnote: This considerably elaborates the first note at p. 179.] I discovered that Fielding died possessed of a considerable library (653 lots), which was sold in February 1755, "for the Benefit of his Wife and Family," by Samuel Baker of York Street, Covent Garden, realising L364:7:1, or about L100 more than the public gave in 1785 for the books of Johnson. An account of this collection, rich particularly in law, cla.s.sics, poetry and drama, is given in the third series of my _Eighteenth Century Vignettes_, 1896, pp. 164-178.

A few words, in supplement to those in the "Postscript" (pp. 191-2), may be devoted to Fielding's family. Concerning the daughter Harriet, or Harriot, mentioned in the foregoing will, I am indebted to Colonel W. F.

Prideaux for pointing out to me that in Burke's _Landed Gentry_, 1875, vol. ii. p. 938, it is stated that she afterwards became the second wife of Colonel James Gabriel Montresor. As his first wife died in March 1761, when he was more than fifty-eight; and as he afterwards married for the third time, a widow, Mrs. Kemp of Teynham, Kent, it is probable that, as Keightley says, Harriet Montresor was not long-lived.

[Footnote: According to Thomas Whitehead's _Original Anecdotes of the late Duke of Kingston and Miss Chudleigh_, 1792, p. 95 (for reference to which I am also indebted to Col. Prideaux), Miss Fielding was, at the date of her marriage, "in a deep decline,"--a circ.u.mstance which lends a touch of chivalry to Col. Montresor's devotion. She is said by Whitehead to have been of "a sweet temper, and great understanding."] Of the other children spoken of at p. 192, Louisa died in May 1753, being buried from a house in Hammersmith. And this brings me to a final question as to Fielding's sisters. Richardson speaks in August 1749 of being "well acquainted" with _four_ Miss Fieldings; and Murphy and Lawrence both refer to a Catherine and an Ursula of whom Mr. Keightley could learn nothing. With Colonel Prideaux's help, and the kind offices of Mr.

Samuel Martin of the Hammersmith Free Library, the matter has now been set at rest. In 1887 the late Sir Leslie Stephen had suggested to me that Catherine and Ursula were probably born at Sharpham Park. This must have been the case, though Keightley had failed to establish it. At all events Catherine and Ursula existed, for they both died in 1750. The Hammersmith Registers at Fulham record the following burials:--1750 July 9th, Mrs. Catherine Feilding (_sic_).

1750 Nov. 12th, Mrs. Ursula Fielding.

1750[-1] Feby. 24th, Mrs. Beatrice Fielding.

1753 May 10th, Louisa, d. of Henry Fielding, Esq.

The first three, with Sarah, make up Richardson's "Four worthy Sisters"

(p. 140); and the final entry renders it probable that, in May 1753, Fielding was staying in the house at Hammersmith then occupied by his surviving sister, Sarah.

No well-authenticated likeness of Fielding has yet superseded Hogarth's outline (pp. 184-5), nor, if Murphy's statement (_Works_, 1762, i. p.

47) that "no portrait of him had ever been made" previously, be accurate, can any new likeness be looked for. Nevertheless, both at the Guelph (1891) and Georgian (1906) exhibitions, the Hon. Gerald Ponsonby exhibited a portrait of Fielding; and another is included in the picture attributed to Hogarth (also shown at the latter exhibition, and lately belonging to Sir Charles Tennant), of the "Green Room, Drury Lane."

There is also a bust (posthumous) by W. F. Woodington at Eton. And this reminds me that no more fitting tail-piece to this Appendix can be conceived than the compact and penetrating lines which the late James Russell Lowell composed as an inscription for the bust of Henry Fielding at Taunton:--

"He looked on naked nature unashamed, And saw the Sphinx, now b.e.s.t.i.a.l, now divine, In change and re-change; he nor praised nor blamed, But drew her as he saw with fearless line.

Did he good service? G.o.d must judge, not we.

Manly he was, and generous and sincere; English in all, of genius blithely free: Who loves a Man may see his image here."

A. D.

_March_ 1907.