 | Studies in bibliography |  |
FIELDING'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE COMEDIAN (1732)
by
Martin C. Battestin
In Thomas Cooke's short-lived periodical The Comedian, or Philosophical
Enquirer, No. 5 (August 1732) there appeared together (pp. 32-38) a political
essay defending the Walpole administration against the attacks of
Opposition writers and a verse epistle praising the painter John Ellys. Introducing
the essay, entitled "Observations on Government, the Liberty of
the Press, News-papers, Partys, and Party-writer[s]," Cooke informed his
readers that it had been "communicated to me by a Friend." Immediately
following the essay, he introduced the poem, entitled "An Epistle to Mr.
Ellys the Painter," stating that it was written by the author of the essay:
As I promised, in my first Number of this Work, never to conclude my Labours of
the Month, without a Piece of Poetry, I am glad that I have now the Power to oblige
my Readers with one worthy their Attention, written by the Author of the preceding
Observations on Government, &c.
In 1968, in an essay on the circle of wits and artists who joined with
Hogarth in a campaign to promote the cause of native English painting, J. B.
Shipley was first to suspect that Fielding, a close friend of Cooke and Ellys,
was author of the poem.[1]
If Fielding wrote the poem, it would of course
follow that he also wrote the essay, and vice versa. Some time later, Thomas
Lockwood and I independently came to this conclusion,[2]
and others, notably
Bertrand Goldgar, Robert Hume and Ronald Paulson,[3]
have found the attributions
persuasive. To date, however, the case for Fielding's authorship has
not been made; and my purpose here is to adduce evidence—from his relationships
and circumstances at the time of composition and from parallels
with his known writings—that points convincingly to his authorship.
To begin with, the notion, once prevalent among scholars, that Fielding
never wavered in his hostility to the prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole,
has been thoroughly discredited.[4]
In 1729, as Fielding began his career as
among the papers of his cousin Lady Mary Wortley Montagu,[5] reflects her
own political views by ardently praising Walpole while satirizing the entire
phalanx of Opposition writers. Although he occasionally indulged in anonymous
literary high jinks at the minister's expense in 1728 and 1730,[6] in the
latter year and again in 1731 he also addressed a pair of humorous verse
epistles to the Great Man, angling for his patronage. Even in The GrubStreet
Opera—the first of his openly political satires, which was suppressed
before it could be staged in June 1731—the ridicule is even-handed in roasting
both parties: Walpole in the character of Robin the butler, and Pulteney,
leader of the Opposition, in the character of William the coachman. Far from
marking the beginning of Fielding's alliance with the Opposition, as is
sometimes said, the suppression of the Grub-Street Opera in fact marked
the beginning of a period of more than two years in which, having moved
from the Little Haymarket, a much inferior theater, to the Court's own
theater at Drury Lane, he prospered as London's most prolific and successful
playwright.
Curiously, it was Fielding himself who stopped the production of The
Grub-Street Opera at the eleventh hour (so the actors reported), and Fielding,
too, who actively discouraged its publication when he might have expected
the book of the play to be as profitable for him as Gay's had been in the
case of Polly, similarly suppressed by the government two years earlier. It
is difficult to account for this self-inflicted financial damage, or for his emerging
in triumph at Drury Lane after the fiasco at the Haymarket while the
actors themselves were hounded into hiding by the government. The only
plausible explanation for these surprising events would seem to be that
Fielding's overtures to the prime minister had been at last rewarded—that
by whatever means, but most likely by promising him a place at the Theatre
Royal, Walpole had made it worth Fielding's while to sink his own impudent
ballad opera. So it certainly appeared to the public, and to the antiministerial
authors of The Grub-Street Journal, when in February 1732, soon
after Fielding's comedy The Modern Husband was staged at Drury Lane,
the play was published with a fulsome dedication declaring his gratitude
and allegiance to "the Right Honourable Sir Robert Walpole, Knight of the
Most Noble Order of the Garter."[7]
Most of Fielding's friends in 1732 were associated with Walpole. Cooke
in The Comedian and James Ralph in the Weekly Register both promoted
the minister and his policies. And "Jack" Ellys had been engaged by Walpole
to acquire the famous collection of paintings at Houghton, for which service
Walpole would later appoint him Keeper of the Lions at the Tower. And
authors of the Grub-Street Journal began a campaign of vilification against
Fielding and his plays that continued throughout the spring and summer,
his only defenders were Court journalists: Cooke in The Comedian (June,
September, and October 1732), Ralph in the Weekly Register (8 July 1732),
and a pseudonymous writer in the Daily Courant (29 July 1732).
In short, there is nothing improbable about the possibility that Fielding
could be the "Friend" who contributed the pieces in question to Cooke's
Comedian. The evidence of the texts themselves strongly suggests that he
was. This evidence consists of parallels with his known writings, interests,
and relationships which are recorded in the endnotes. In selecting the parallels,
I have, as earlier in attributing the Craftsman essays to Fielding, followed
the advice of the late James Earle Deese, a scientist well known for
his studies of the psychological bases of language: on the principle that the
probability of Fielding's authorship of a given anonymous essay increases in
proportion to the number of close correspondences (whether commonplaces
or otherwise) between that essay and his known writings, I have kept the
number of parallels high. To assist the reader in distinguishing between the
commonplace and the unusual, however, I have marked with an asterisk
those notes that contain striking or distinctive parallels.[8]
N.B. Not only in the texts in question but throughout the journal,
Cooke, or the printer of The Comedian, shows certain peculiarities of spelling
which are not Fielding's: among these are the plural of nouns and the past
tense of verbs ending in y, such as Partys, Enemys, Beautys, etc. and sayed,
denyed, heared, etc.
With the exception of the plays and certain other pieces listed below,
references to Fielding's works are to the Wesleyan Edition (Middletown, CT,
and Oxford: Wesleyan University Press and Oxford University Press, 1966/
67- ), as follows in alphabetical order: Amelia, ed. Martin C. Battestin
(1983); The Champion and Related Writings, ed. W. B. Coley (2003); The
Covent-Garden Journal and A Plan of the Universal Register-Office, ed.
Bertrand A. Goldgar (1988); An Enquiry into the Causes of the Late Increase
of Robbers and Related Writings, ed. Malvin R. Zirker (1988); The Jacobite's
Journal and Related Writings, ed. W. B. Coley (1975); Joseph Andrews, ed.
Martin C. Battestin (1966/67); Miscellanies, Volume One, ed. Henry Knight
Miller (1972), Volume Two and Volume Three, ed. Bertrand A. Goldgar
and Hugh Amory (1993 and 1997); Tom Jones, ed. Martin C. Battestin and
Fredson Bowers, 2 vols. (1974/75), 2nd edn. paperback (Wesleyan University
Press, 1975); The True Patriot and Related Writings, ed. W. B. Coley (1987).
For The Coffee-House Politician, The Modern Husband, and The Fathers,
see Fielding's Complete Works, ed. W. E. Henley, vols. 9-10, 12 (1903); for
Nebraska Press, 1966). For The Masquerade, see The Female Husband and
Other Writings, ed. Claude E. Jones (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press,
1960); for Shamela, see Joseph Andrews and Shamela, ed. Martin C. Battestin
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1961); for The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon,
ed. Tom Keymer (Penguin Books, 1996).
In the notes to the texts, the following abbreviations are used:
AF = The Author's Farce (1730)
Am = Amelia (1751)
CdGJ = Charge delivered to the Grand
Jury (1749)CGJ = Covent-Garden Journal (1752)
C-H = Chadwyck-Healey online database
Eighteenth-Century Fiction
(Cambridge, England: ChadwyckHealey
Ltd., 1996)Ch = The Champion (1739-1740)
CS = Common Sense (1738)
EC = "Essay on Conversation" (1743)
ECIR = Enquiry into the Causes of the
Late Increase of Robbers (1751)F = The Fathers (1778)
Grundy = Isobel M. Grundy, "New
Verse by Fielding," PMLA (1972),
213-245HF = Henry Fielding
JA = Joseph Andrews (1742)
JJ = Jacobite's Journal (1747-1748)
JSS = "Part of Juvenal's Sixth Satire
Modernized in Burlesque Verse"
(1743)JVL = Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon
(1755)JW = Jonathan Wild (1743)
JWN = Journey from This World to
the Next (1743)KCM = "Essay on the Knowledge of the
Characters of Men" (1743)Life = Martin C. with Ruthe R.
Battestin, Henry Fielding: A Life
(London: Routledge, 1989)Ma = Masquerade (1728)
Misc1, 2, 3 = Miscellanies, vols. 1, 2, 3
New Essays = Martin C. Battestin, New
Essays by Henry Fielding: His Contributions
to the Craftsman (1734-1739)
and Other Early Journalism
(Charlottesville: University Press
of Virginia, 1989)OED = Oxford English Dictionary
PRS = "Some Papers Proper to be Read
before the R[oyal] Society" (1743)Ribbles = Frederick G. and Anne G.
Ribble, Fielding's Library: An Annotated
Catalogue (Charlottesville:
Bibliographical Society of the
University of Virginia, 1996)TG = Of True Greatness (1741)
TJ = Tom Jones (1749)
TP = True Patriot (1745-1746)
UG = Universal Gallant (1735)
US = Universal Spectator (1737)
I. Observations on Government, the Liberty of the Press,
News-papers, Partys, and Party-writer[s]
The writer's arguments in defending Walpole and his government against
the attacks of antiministerial journalists anticipate HF's defense of the Pelham
administration in the late 1740s, when he complained against the abuse
of the Liberty of the Press by hired "Incendiaries" and ridiculed "the Multitude,"
who were swayed by such demagoguery, for presuming to think they
were competent to discern "the secret Springs by which the Wheels of State
move"—competent, that is, to judge the policies of the present government.
Opening with an epigraph from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations that
also serves as the conclusion to the essay in The Comedian, Fielding in The
True Patriot (4-11 March 1746) would repeat the essayist's argument, though
the essayist's "inferior Tradesman," a haberdasher in his coffee-house, has
given place to "the lowest Mechanic," a cobbler in his two-penny club. Having
in a critic who would judge the productions of musician, painter or
writer, HF considers the case of "the Politician, whose Talents are often
misrepresented, and his honest Endeavours defeated, by total Want of Skill,
and Weakness of Judgment, in those who take to themselves a Right of
giving a definitive Sentence in Politics." He continues:
The Mischief arising from Incapacity in the Judge, in this last Instance, is on
many Accounts the greatest, and particularly in this, as it is the most extensive: For
all the Sciences [HF had mentioned earlier], though there are many who assume
the Office of deciding, without any adequate Qualification, yet there are some who
have the Modesty to confess their Ignorance; whereas, in Politics, every Man is an
Adept; and the lowest Mechanic delivers his Opinion, at his Club, upon the deepest
Public Measures, with as much Dignity and Sufficiency as the highest Member of the
Commonwealth.
Now it is scarce probable that a Cobler, or indeed any other Man of Trade, nay
not even the Country Squire himself, if he be a Sportsman, should find Time sufficient,
from the Business of their several Callings, however well they may be qualified,
to search much into the History and Policy of the several States of Europe; and
thence to form an adequate and perfect Judgment of the true Interest of their own
Country, as it stands connected with, or opposed to that of others. Hence therefore
it may frequently happen, that the wisest and best Measures of a Ministry may not
meet with the Approbation of a Two-penny Club, or a Meeting of Fox-hunters.
235-236)
The same argument asserting the incompetence of "the Multitude" to
judge the appropriateness or efficacy of the government's policies is reintroduced
in The Jacobite's Journal (8 October 1748):
To speak plainly [Fielding writes], I am a little inclined to doubt whether Politics
(tho' it seems at present to be thought the universal Science, and within the Reach
of every Capacity) be, indeed, the proper Study of the Multitude; since Experience,
I am afraid, if not Reason, must convince us, that they are herein liable to commit
rather grosser Errors than their Superiors.
The following Observations on Government, the Liberty of the Press, Newspapers,
Partys, and Party-writer[s], were communicated to me by a Friend.
As Nature hath[9]
stamped on every Face[10]
Something particular, whereby
it may be distinguished from those of all other Men,[11]
so hath she given to
every Nation certain Characteristics different from one another.[12]
There is
scarce a People on Earth who have not a particular Bent,[13]
which is as general
among themselves as it is peculiar from that of the Rest of Mankind.
Thus the general Cast[14]
of the Dutch is to Trade, that of the Germans to drinking,
the French to dancing, the Italians to Music,[15]
and, I believe,[16]
the English
may of all Nations be sayed to be most inclined to Politics; and the unbounded
Liberty which we enjoy of speaking and writing our Thoughts is
the Cause of the present flourishing State of Politics in this Kingdom.
I have often wondered within myself what Idea a Foreigner must conceive[17]
at his first Entrance into[18]
one of our celebrated Coffee-houses; every
one of which resembles a Pamphlet-shop, or Register-office, especially on a
Saturday, when, I believe, there are almost as many new Essays published in
Spectator[20] was a great Enemy to[21] these little Cabals, and inferiour Councils
of State, and endeavoured to represent them as highly prejudicial to the
retail Trade of the Kingdom: the Sale of three Hats have been sometimes
lost by the reading one News-paper; and many Haberdashers have undone
their Familys by their too great Zeal[22] for the Good of the Nation. I must
own that[23] I cannot see the great Advantage which an inferior Tradesman
can reap[24] from the Study of News-papers, unless it is from the Advertisements;
which seem the Parts designed for his Perusal; and as they chiefly
turn on buying and selling, I shall easyly allow him the reading them: but
of what Benefit those laborious political Essays[25] which appear in the Front
of our Journals, one of which I have seen employ a careful Reader a full
Hour, can be to an honest Citizen I must confess I cannot understand: these
weekly Venders of Sedition prejudice the State by raising strange Chimæras
in the Brains[26] of those who are not competent Judges of the Subject, yet
are ready to acquiesce in every Assertion, tho it is seconded by no Colour of
Proof;[27] for Ignorance either believes every Thing, or it believes Nothing; it
either leaps over Mountains, or stumbles at every Straw.
The Study of Politics is of that intricate Nature, and the secret Springs
by which the Wheels of State[28]
move so difficult to be discerned, that it requires
no slender Genius, nor a small Share of Knowledge, to gain an Insight
into this Science; yet such is the foolish Forwardness of Mankind, especially
of our Countrymen, that, tho you meet with thousands who will own their
Ignorance in every other Way, you will scarce find one who is not in his own
Opinion a tolerable Politician. This our epidemical Distemper[29]
the Enemys
to our present happy Establishment have sufficiently nourished to their own
Ends. I have been often diverted, tho with a Mixture of Concern,[30]
in seeing
Half a Dozen of these mechanical Machi[a]vilians[31]
shaking their Heads,[32]
as a Sort of Approbation of the Author and Dislike of the Government, at a
flagrant[33]
Paragraph in one of the Papers against the Ministry, which some
vociferous Member[34]
hath been reading aloud to the Table; whereas had
the honest Board seen the Affair set in a true Light,[35]
they would not have
wished to have had a Man of the Author's Principles for a Customer.
The Dutch,[36]
whose Wisdom in Government hath been the Theme of
most of those whose Endeavours have been to depreciate our own, are extremely
jealous of suffering their People to intermeddle in political Matters;
nor indeed would such busy Heads, as our present Incendiarys,[37]
find Food
for their Lucubrations,[38]
that wise State always prohibiting, with the strictest
Severity, all Sorts of Libels, which are so many Firebrands,[39]
and have often
raised Flames[40]
in a Commonwealth not to be extinguished without great
Trouble, and often not without the Ruin of the State.
Tho I have been always an Advocate for every Branch of Liberty, and
among others for that of the Press, yet I conceive that this, as well as all other
good Institutions, may, for Want of some Regulation, be in the End attended
with evil Effects.[41]
One of the Advantages arising from Liberty not abused is
the Power of alarming the People when any Invasion on their Propertys is
Attempt is evident; but to abuse in general Terms, to accuse without mentioning
Particulars, and, in the vulgar Phrase, to call Names,[42] savour[43] more
of the Licentiousness of Billingsgate[44] than of the Liberty of the Press. I
never yet heared it denyed that a speaking Trumpet[45] is of great Service to
alarm a Turnpike, when a Robbery hath been committed on the Highroad;
but should a Person take it into his Head,[46] whenever an Express arrives from
abroad, to cry out stop Thief,[47] and thereby interrupt him who is employed
in the national Busyness, I apprehend that some Stop should be put[48] to that
merry Gentleman's diverting himself[49] at the Expence of the Public, and of
the Character of the Person so employed: and I do not see, if a Stop was put
to our present weekly Incendiarys in a legal Way, why the Liberty of England
may not be sayed to stand on a very sound Bottom; however I would not be
understood[50] here to write against the Liberty of the Press, but the Abuse of
it; and the great Men who have been most aspersed by the Abuse are most
zealous for maintaining the Liberty of the Press; which will never fail while
the present Ministry subsists.
My present Design is to caution such of my Fellow-countrymen,[51]
who
cannot have had sufficient Opportunitys to improve in Politics, from giving
too ready an Ear[52]
to the Voices of Envy and Revenge, and to advise them to
rest contented[53]
under an Administration which hath hitherto defyed their
Enemys to make good any Charge against them;[54]
and whose chief Opponents
have been the most flagitious[55]
and most approved Enemys of their
Country: I would counsel them to be satisfyed under the Blessings of Peace
and Plenty tho they are not able to account for those Measures which have
worked their Happyness.
Cicero, esteemed a wise man in his Time, has left a just Reproof behind
him to these political Enquirers.[56]
Says he, [57]
when Men in the inferior Arts
guide themselves by Methods of their own, must the wise and they who act
in the more exalted Spheres of Life be obliged to govern themselves by the
Directions of the Multitude, and proceed by Maxims only which are obvious
to their Eyes?
"hath": Though no longer considered an invariable feature of HF's style during this
early period, he generally favored the archaic verb form hath, and its occurrence in six of
seven instances in the two pieces in question supports the case for his authorship.
"stamped on every Face": Cf. TJ (IV.xi) "stamped in the Mind of Allworthy" (p.
196); JA (III.i) "bears the truest Stamp of Dignity on his Mind" (p. 190).
"AS Nature . . . all other Men": A variation of phrasing HF often used when
treating the science of physiognomy, a favorite topic. Cf. KCM: "Nature doth really imprint
sufficient Marks in the Countenance, to inform an accurate and discerning Eye"
(Misc1, p. 161); JA (II.xvii) "Nature generally imprints such a Portraiture of the Mind in
the Countenance, that a skilful Physiognomist will rarely be deceived" (p. 182); JVL "we
may remark, in favour of the physiognomist . . . that nature is seldom curious in her works
within, without employing some little pains on the outside. . . . A tyrant, a trickster, and a
bully, generally wear the marks of their several dispositions in their countenances" (p. 57).
"so hath she [Nature] given to every Nation certain Characteristics different from
one another": Cf. Ch (16 Feb. 1739/40) "Different Ages, as well as Nations, distinguish
themselves by certain Characteristics from each other"; CGJ (2 Jun. 1752) "Charity is in fact
the very Characteristic of this Nation" (p. 247); F (I.ii) "It was ever the Characteristic of this
Nation." See also New Essays, p. 86 n. 33.
"Bent": Fielding elsewhere speaks of the natural inclination of a person or nation
as a "bent". Cf. Ch (20 Nov. 1739) "the Bent . . . of his Genius"; (21 Feb. 1739/40) re the
founding of hospitals, "this present Bent of our Genius"; TJ (XVIII.xi) "against the Bent
of their natural Dispositions" (p. 968); ECIR "the general Bent of the People" (p. 96);
CGJ (18 Jul. 1752) "a violent Bent or Disposition of the Mind to some particular Point"
(p. 300).
"Cast": In the sense of a disposition of mind or character, "cast" was a recent
usage in the eighteenth century; the earliest examples in the OED (cast, sb XII.38b) are
from 1711. HF also uses the word to refer to outward appearance (OED, cast, sb XII.37).
Cf. TJ (III.ii) Blifil is "A Youth of so different a Cast from little Jones" (p. 118); (V.i) "the
finest Woman in the World would lose all Benefit of her Charms, in the Eye of a Man who
had never seen one of another Cast" (p. 212); Am (I.iii) "to perform Characters of no
amiable Cast" (p. 28); JVL "the characters of Iago, Shylock, and others of the same cast"
(p. 57).
"the Dutch . . . to Music": Cf. JSS, where HF similarly identifies the characteristic
traits of these four nations, "French Finery, Italian Meats, / With German Drunkenness,
Dutch Cheats" (Misc1, p. 117). In TP (11-18 Mar. 1746) he characterizes the French hangman
as being "as well dress'd a Man as any in the Kingdom," and states that a Dutchman's
"God is Gold" (p. 242).
"I believe": The parenthetical interjection "I believe," which occurs twice in this
essay, is a hallmark of HF's style. The Chadwyck-Healey data base of eighteenth-century
fiction (which includes Sh, JA, JWN, JW, TJ, and Am) records 527 instances of "I believe"
for HF, 259 of which are of this specific interjection.
"what Idea a Foreigner must conceive": Cf. CGJ (4 Jan. 1752), where, as here, HF
marvels at the "Multitude" of newspapers published in London: "When I survey all these
wondrous Works . . . I am struck with no less Astonishment, than was the Foreigner when
he saw Leadenhall Market; nor can I more conceive what becomes of all this Quantity of
Paper, than he could find Consumers for so much Meat" (p. 14).
"at his first Entrance into": A favorite locution of HF's. Cf. JWN (I.viii) "on his
first Entrance into Elysium" (Misc2, p. 36); JW (I.iv) "Wild's first Entrance into the World"
(Misc3, p. 17); TJ (I.i) "at their first Entrance into the House" (p. 31); (XVIII.viii) "upon
his first Entrance [into the room]" (p. 947); Am (XI.vi) "at her first Entrance [into the
room]" (p. 480).
"our celebrated Coffee-houses . . . Journals in this City": In HF's Coffee-House
Politician (1730), Politick, a retired tradesman in the City, is just such a character as the
writer describes, though his insatiable appetite for news is for news of foreign, not domestic,
affairs. With the writer's estimate of the number of newspapers published daily, especially
on Saturday, cf. Politick's advice to his daughter Hilaret: "If you would be informed in
these Matters, you must read all [the newspapers] that come out: about forty every Day,
and some Days fifty: and of a Saturday about four score" (I.ii). Later, Politick regrets that
he's had no time to read the "Lying Post" [HF's version of the Flying Post] because he's
been occupied poring over seventeen other papers, all of which he names (V.iii).
"The Spectator": HF's admiration for The Spectator (1711-12), and for its authors
Addison and Steele, was limitless; the paper would later serve as a model for his own
periodical The Champion. The Ribbles (S44) list no fewer than thirty-three references to
it in HF's writings.
"a great Enemy to": A favorite locution of HF's. C-H lists twenty-six occurrences
in his fiction alone, including the following. JA (I.xvii), where Parson Adams refers to
Whitefield, "I am myself as great an Enemy to the Luxury and Splendour of the Clergy as
he can be" (p. 82); (III.iii) Adams again: "I have never been a greater Enemy to any Passion
than that silly one of Vanity" (p. 214); (IV.viii) "he was a great Enemy to the Passions" (p.
309); JW (VI.i) "a great Enemy to this kind of Greatness" (Misc3, p. 139); TJ (V.x) "The
Parson . . . was not only strictly Chaste . . . but a great Enemy to the opposite Vice in all
others" p. 258); Am (II.viii) "the greatest Enemy to the French" (pp. 124-25). Also CS (13
May 1738) "as great an Enemy as I am to Noise" (New Essays, p. 546). In addition to
"great" HF's other adjectives modifying "Enemy" in this phrase are "bitter," "severest,"
"terrible," "dangerous," "utter."
"Zeal": C-H records thirty-three occurrences of "zeal" (21) and its related forms
"zealot," "zealous," "zealously" (12) in HF's fiction. E.g., JW (III.xii) "his Zeal for Justice"
(Misc3, p. 127); (IV.ii) "Zeal for a certain . . . Thing called Liberty" (Misc3, p. 140); TJ
(VIII.vii) "Zeal for the Cause" (p. 427); (XVII.viii) "Zeal for the Match" (p. 901).
"I must own that": C-H records 294 occurrences of this imperative construction in
HF's fiction: e.g., "I must say," "I must confess," "I must not . . . omit," etc. The form in
question here ("I must own") occurs twenty times: e.g., JW (I.v, Misc3, p. 20); Am (III.x,
p. 140; VI.iii, p. 241; VIII.x, p. 355; X.iv, p. 428).
"great Advantage . . . can reap": C-H records eleven occurrences of "reap" with
"advantage" as direct object in HF's fiction, and four others substituting "Benefit," "Profit,"
"Happiness," and "Harvest" [the last used metaphorically].
"those laborious political Essays": One of HF's favorite terms to denote dullness:
cf. JW (III.ii) "those laborious Writers" (Misc3, p. 97); TJ (V.i) "in which we profess to be
laboriously dull" (p. 215); JVL "the laborious much-read Doctor Zachary Grey" (p. 6).
"Chimæras in the Brains": References to the "Chimera" of classical mythology or
to the adjective "chimerical" abound in HF's writings. Particularly close to the phrasing
here are Ch (24 Jan. 1739/40) "nothing more than Chimeras of their own Brains"; Am
V.ix) "some Chimeras now arose in his Brain" (p. 228). Cf. also UG (I.ii) "This must be
some strange Chimera of his own"; TJ (XIV.i) "the Centaur, the Chimera, or any other
Creatures of mere Fiction" (p. 742); CGJ (7 Jan. 1752) "a strange mixed Monster, not much
unlike the famous Chimera of old" (p. 26). Besides these five examples, HF refers to the
Chimera or uses the adjective "chimerical" at least a further nineteen times from The
Modern Husband (I.ix) to A Comment on a Fragment of Lord Bolingbroke's Essays (1755):
see New Essays, pp. 482-483 n. 7.
"Colour of Proof": Cf. JW (IV.xiv) where the ordinary of Newgate speaks of Plato
and Aristotle: "Their whole Works are a strange Medley of the greatest Falshoods, scarce
covered over with the Colour of Truth" (Misc3, p. 185); and Am (XI.ii), where Dr. Harrison
comments on the nation's failure to reward merit: "It is an infamous Scandal . . . and I am
heartily sorry it can be said even with a Colour of Truth" (p. 459).
"The Study of Politics . . . secret Springs . . . Wheels of State": HF often refers to
the science of politics, or "Pollitricks" as he calls it in JW (II.v, Misc3, p. 67), as an intricate,
clocklike machine whose workings only a true adept could comprehend. With the phrasing
here, cf. TJ (VI.ii), where Mrs. Western mocks her brother: "You who are so great a Politician
can . . . discover the secret Springs which move the great State Wheels in all the
political Machines of Europe" (p. 275). Cf. also JW (I.i) the "secret Springs, various Windings,
and perplexed Mazes" [of human nature] (Misc3, p. 7); TP (24 Dec. 1745) "the principal
Wheels of this our political Machine" (p. 161); TJ (V.iv) "The World may indeed be
considered as a vast Machine, in which the Wheels are originally set in Motion by those
which are very minute, and almost imperceptible to any but the strongest Eye" (p. 225);
Am (XII.ii) "one who pretended to manage the Wheels in the great State Lottery of
Preferment" (p. 499).
"epidemical Distemper": HF several times represents the vogue of certain political,
or literary, opinions with which he disagrees as an "epidemical Distemper" (or "Madness"
or "Phrenzy") raging in the country: cf. CdGJ: "Evils" which, "like an epidemic Distemper,
affected Society" (ECIR, p. 14). Also Sh: "an epidemical Phrenzy now raging in Town" (p.
306); JJ (5 Dec. 1747) "epidemic Frenzy" (p. 95); (5 Nov. 1748) "this dangerous, epidemical
Madness" (p. 424); also Ch (11 Nov. 1739) "that Nation, where this [virtue] is epidemical."
"diverted, tho with a Mixture of Concern": Cf. TJ (XII.iv) though happy at
finding Sophia's pocketbook, Jones "was affected with a Mixture of Concern" (p. 632); JW
(I.v) "viewed, with a Mixture of Astonishment and Concern" (Misc3, p. 20); Am (I.vi) "Booth
standing silent, with a Mixture of Concern and Astonishment in his Countenance" (p. 43).
Also TJ (V.vi) "to ruminate, with a Mixture of Pain and Pleasure" (p. 237); (IX.iii) "with
great Indignation, but with a Mixture of Pity, answered" (p. 502); (XVIII.x) "may reflect,
not without some Mixture of Pleasure" (p. 960).
"mechanical Machi[a]vilians": Though HF's reference to Niccolo Machiavelli, the
most famous of all politicians, is not uncommon, few authors of the period can have
admired him more: in JJ (8 Oct. 1748) HF calls him "the greatest of Politicians" (p. 404),
and from The Modern Husband (III.iii) to the Covent-Garden Journal (21 Mar. 1752) he
quotes from or alludes to Machiavelli no fewer than eighteen times. For a passage from
TP in which HF invokes Machiavelli in a context similar to that of the present essay, see
intro. In that essay (p. 239) HF also spells the adjective with an i instead of an e: Machiavillian.
"shaking their Heads": In TP (4-11 Mar. 1746), a paper parallelling the argument
of the present essay in several passages (see intro.), HF thus reports overhearing the leader
of a party of Opposition supporters declare "That the Nation was undone; to which all the
rest assented by shaking their Heads" (p. 237). Characters in HF's fiction also fall to shaking
their heads for different reasons: to express disapproval (JA III.viii, p. 25; JWN I.iv, Misc2,
p. 22; I.xv, p. 63), pain or anger (JA IV.xi, p. 322), hearty satisfaction at cracking a joke
(II.xi, pp. 145-146). But with this gesture of the writer's "mechanical Machiavillian" signifying
approbation of another's comment in affectation of deep understanding, cf. TJ
(V.ix) Square's response to the doctor's opinion that Tom and Blifil are scoundrels: "the
Philosopher, very sagaciously shaking his Head, agreed" (p. 255); and cf. also (XI.ii), the
landlord of an inn, whom his neighbors believe to be "a very sagacious Fellow." He
acquired this reputation by looking wise and by accompanying "his Words with certain
explanatory Gestures, such as shaking, or nodding the Head," leaving "his Hearers to
understand more than he expressed" (p. 576).
"flagrant": Cf. JWN (I.xiv) "those flagrant Proofs of his Inhumanity" (Misc2, p. 62);
JJ (11 Jun. 1748) "The first of these flagrant Instances (indeed the most flagrant that any
Age or Country hath produced" (p. 306).
"some vociferous Member": Cf. TJ (VII.xiv) "a vociferous Drawer" (p. 385); JVL
"all the vociferous Inhabitants" (p. 24). Also TJ (II.ix) "made his Sister vociferous" (p. 111);
(VII.xi) "they grew . . . very noisy and vociferous" (p. 366).
"set in a true Light": A favorite formula of HF's; C-H records 109 instances in
the fiction alone. Cf. Sh (titlepage) "and all the matchless Arts of that young Politician set
in a true and just Light"; Am (I.ii) "another Illustration . . . will set my Intention in still
a clearer Light" (p. 20).
"The Dutch": During 1728 and 1729, when he was a student at Leiden, HF would
have had opportunities to witness at first hand the Dutch policy of censorship to which the
writer refers.
"our present Incendiarys" [repeated later in the essay]: HF also uses this term for
antiministerial writers in JJ (26 Mar. 1748) "these Incendiaries" (p. 212).
"Lucubrations": Frederick Ribble notes that this is HF's favorite term for describing,
as here, the opinions of periodical journalists: see Ch (26 Jan. 1739/40), TP (5
Nov. 1745, p. 107), JJ (3 Sep. 1748, p. 380), CGJ (4 Jan. 1752, p. 13). Cf. also TJ (VIII.xv) the
Man of the Hill "made use" of the night "for his Walks and Lucubrations" (p. 486).
"Firebrands": Cf. JW (I.iii) Hecuba dreamed "that she was delivered of a Firebrand
that set all Troy in Flames" (Misc3, p. 13). "Firebrand" is the name of the priest who
murders Common Sense in Pasquin (1736).
"raised Flames": C-H records eighteen instances in the fiction alone where HF
uses "Flame" or "Flames" in a metaphorical sense. With the specific idea of raising a
flame, cf. JA (I.xviii) "he did indeed raise a Flame in her, which required the Care of a
Surgeon to cool" (p. 86); JW (I.xii) "in whose tender Breast his Passion has raised a more
ardent Flame than that of any of his Rivals had been able to raise" (Misc3, p. 39). Cf. also
Am (II.i) "so foolishly did I imagine I could be Master of a Flame to which I was every Day
adding Fuel" (p. 68).
"Liberty . . . attended with evil Effects": For examples of this favorite locution,
see New Essays, p. 86, n. 31. HF would later argue strenuously against any attempt by the
government to "regulate" the stage, which, he warned, would prove to be a first step
toward curtailing the liberty of the press. When, however, he later became principal
propagandist for the Pelham ministry, he would take the essayist's own view that the abuse
of the government by Opposition writers warranted regulation of the press. In JJ (12 Mar.
1748) he declared: "I am very sorry to see, in an Age when the Liberty of the Press is pretended
to be in Danger, such an Abuse made of this Liberty, as must give the greatest
Encouragement to its Enemies (if there were any such) to attempt a Restraint of it: For
wise and good Men will, by these Means, be brought to esteem this Liberty rather as a
Nusance, than as a valuable Privilege to the Society" (p. 198).
"the vulgar Phrase . . . call Names": C-H records 85 occurrences in HF's fiction
alone of "vulgar" or "vulgarly"; of these, 38 occur in phrases referring to terms used in
colloquial speech—e.g. "vulgarly called," "vulgarly named," "as the Vulgar express it"—
including seven instances of the essayist's "in the vulgar Phrase," as follows: JW (II.ii) "in
the vulgar Phrase, cheating" (Misc3, p. 54); TJ (IV.v) "would, in the vulgar Phrase, be
crying Roast-meat" (p. 165); (VIII.ii) "(according to the vulgar Phrase) struck all of a Heap"
(p. 410); (IX.iii) "In the vulgar Phrase, she had taken up the Broomstick" (p. 501); (X.ix)
"began, in the vulgar Phrase, to smell a Rat" (p. 563); (XII.xii) "He was . . . according to
the vulgar Phrase, whistle-drunk" (pp. 624-625); (XII.xiii) "as the vulgar Phrase is, . . .
drew in his Horns" (p. 677). On the specific vulgar phrase "to call Names," see note 36.
"savour": This olfactory metaphor was a favorite of HF's, who, for example, used
it in much the same context in Ch (10 Dec. 1739) "The Licentiousness of some modern
Performances savouring too much of the old Comedy." Also, among many other examples:
JA (IV.viii) "it savours too much of the Flesh" (p. 310); KCM "seems to savour of Ill-nature"
(Misc1, p. 160); JW (I.vi) "a Custom . . . savouring of the Sneaking-Budge" (Misc3, p. 27); TJ
(VII.vi) "these Views . . . may seem to savour too much of Malevolence" (p. 346); CdGJ
"it seems rather to savour of Ostentation than Utility" (ECIR, p. 12).
"Billingsgate": HF often refers to the foul and abusive language of the porters and
fishmongers of Billingsgate, and at least twice with reference to the essayist's "vulgar
Phrase, to call Names": JJ (13 Feb. 1748) "The Defendant [the Corporation of Billingsgate]
. . . urged, that when these Invectives proceeded to the Use of opprobrious Terms, and to
downright calling Names [emphasis added], such Works had always been adjudged to be
the Property of Billingsgate" (p. 160); CGJ (3 Mar. 1752) referring to a species of false wit:
"it never fails to propagate gross Abuse and Scandal; so far indeed as to inspire Men to call
Names [emphasis added], and to deal in all the Language of Billingsgate" (p. 128). Other
references to the language of Billingsgate: JJ (5 Dec. 1747, p. 96; 12 Mar. 1748, p. 200; 16
Apr., p. 237; 11 Jun., p. 307; 2 Jul., p. 328); TJ (XI.viii, p. 603; XVIII.ii, p. 919); CGJ (11
Jan. 1752, p. 32; 25 Jan., p. 56; 25 Nov., p. 379).
"a speaking Trumpet": A sort of megaphone: cf. JW (IV.ix) "One of the Sailors . . .
with the Assistance of a speaking Trumpet, informed us" (Misc3, p. 165); JVL "his voice,
which was as loud as a speaking trumpet" (p. 83).
"take it into his Head": A favorite locution of HF's: cf. JWN (I.xviii) "This
Gentleman took it into his Head to list under my Banner" (Misc2, p. 78); TJ (XI.iv) "if
they take it into their Heads to go to the Devil" (p. 585); Am (II.ix) "I took it into my
Head to marry" (p. 95); (III.iii) "This young Fellow had taken it into his Head to go into
the Army" (p. 107); (III.viii) "When my Wife had once taken it into her Head" (p. 125);
(VI.vi) "you are liable to take such things into your Head" (p. 251) [emphasis added].
"cry out stop Thief": Cf. TJ (VIII.xi) "called out . . . Stop Thief" (p. 458); Am
(XI.vii) "He instantly gave the Alarm of `stop Thief' " (p. 483); (XII.vi) "Action in the
Street, accompanied with the frequent Cry of `stop Thief' " (p. 519).
"some Stop should be put": A passive form of "put a stop to," a favorite locution
of HF's appearing three lines below this. Both constructions occur in JA (I.v) "an Accident
. . . put a stop to these agreeable Walks" (p. 28); (III.iii) "This Career was soon put a stop
to by my Surgeon" (p. 206); (IV.x) "something now happened, which put a stop to Dick's
Reading" (p. 320). Cf. also JW (I.vi) "an Accident . . . put a Stop to his Continuance in a
Way of Life" (Misc3, p. 27); (IV.i) "several . . . thought it principally their Duty to put
a Stop to the future Progress of our Hero" (p. 139); (IV.ii) "Modesty . . . put a Stop
to the Torrent of Compliments" (p. 142); (IV.xiv) "the Punch . . . put a Stop to his Reading"
(p. 185); TJ (IV.ix) "Fortune . . . put a Stop to her Promotion" (p. 187); (V.v) "an
Accident put a Stop to her Tongue" (p. 229); (VIII.viii) "she put a Stop to his swearing"
(p. 433).
"that merry Gentleman's diverting himself": Dr. Ribble notes that HF often used
"merry" ironically to describe malicious, ill-natured "fun": cf. JWN (I.ii) "I am surprized
. . . that you did not divert yourself by . . . playing some merry Tricks with the Murderer' "
(Misc2, p. 10); JA (Preface) "the Comedy of Nero, with the merry Incident of ripping up
his Mother's Belly" (p. 7 [italics reversed]); TJ (XV.iii), referring to a club of liars: "every
Member should, within the twenty-four Hours, tell at least one merry Fib" (p. 789).
"I would not be understood": Cf. JA (II.xiii) "I would not be understood to mean
Persons literally born higher" (p. 156); TJ (V.vi) "I would not be understood" to have
meant to offend (p. 238); Am (III.vi) "I would not be understood . . . to reflect on Mrs.
Booth" (p. 119).
"Fellow-countrymen": HF was fond of using various compound forms of "Fellow-":
"Fellow-Citizens" (Ch [22 Nov. 1739]), "Fellow-Creatures" (TJ [I.iii, p. 41]), "Fellow-Soldiers"
([JWN I.xxi, Misc2, p. 93]), "Fellow-Sufferers" (TJ [XIII.ii, p. 691]); "Fellow Travellers"
(JW [III.iii, Misc3, p. 98]).
"giving too ready an Ear": Cf. Am (IX.i) "This worthy Clergyman . . . gave a
ready Ear to all which Amelia said" (p. 359); JA (II.iv) "she inclined so attentive an Ear to
every Compliment" (p. 103).
"to rest contented": Am (IV.iii) "forced to rest contented with his Ignorance" (p.
164); JVL "I was obliged . . . to rest myself contented" (p. 25).
"defyed their Enemys to make good any Charge against them": One of HF's
favorite formulas: JA (IV.vi) " `my Conduct may defy Malice itself to assert so cursed a
Slander' " (p. 297); TJ (XIV.iii) " `I defy any body . . . to say' " (p. 752); Am (I.ix) " `I defy
the World to say' " (p. 58). See also JA (pp. 62, 112, 234 [2]), TJ (pp. 185, 317, 506, 600), and
additional references in New Essays, p. 138 nn. 29, 32.
"flagitious": This otherwise rarely used word recurs in HF's works: Ch (6 Mar.
1739/40) "private Scandal . . . of so flagitious a kind"; JWN (I.xv) "the most impudent and
flagitious manner" (Misc2, p. 64); TP (12 Nov. 1745) "guilty of the most flagitious Acts"
(p. 118); (28 Jan.-4 Feb. 1746) "the most flagitious Schemes" (p. 210); (6-13 May 1746) "one
of the most flagitious Crimes" (p. 285); CdGJ "a Crime . . . carried to so flagitious a Height"
(ECIR, p. 29); ECIR "a cruel and flagitious Act" (p. 117); "the most impudent and flagitious
of [wretches]" (p. 121); CGJ (8 Feb. 1752) "the Trial of very flagitious Offences" (p. 84).
"Cicero . . . these political Enquirers": This same passage from Cicero's Tusculan
Disputations (V.xxxvi.104) also served HF as the epigraph for TP (4-11 Mar. 1746), which
treats much the same theme as this essay (see intro.); it served him again as the epigraph
for JJ (6 Feb. 1748). It is possible, however, that the editor Cooke, a classicist, was responsible
for this concluding paragraph. Besides the anomalous use of "has" (instead of "hath,"
as in the five preceding instances), the writer quotes Cicero from the conventional text,
reading "numerosque moderantur" and "verissimum," whereas HF in the TP and JJ has
"modulantur" and "rectum," respectively—variants to be found in the 1566 edition of
Cicero's Opera by Lambin, which HF owned (Ribbles C29): see Miriam Austin Locke, ed.
The True Patriot (University of Alabama Press, 1964), p. 171.
An Tibicines, iique qui Fidibus utuntur, suo, non Multitudinis, Arbitrio, Cantus
Numerosque moderantur, Vir sapiens, multò Arte majore præditus, non quid verissimum
fit, sed quid velit Vulgus, exquiret? Tusc. Quæst, Lib. 5.
II. An Epistle to Mr. Ellys the Painter
Though he concludes with a tribute to Walpole that recalls Fielding's
dedication to The Modern Husband, the motives of Cooke's anonymous
friend in addressing these verses to Ellys were chiefly personal, not political.
What, then, besides the fact that Fielding is almost certainly the author of
the preceding essay, is the evidence within the poem itself that points to his
authorship?
To begin with, Fielding and "Jack" Ellys or Ellis (1701-57) were friends
who had much in common: they belonged to a circle of clubbable wits and
amphitheaters, where champions like James Figg practised and taught the
manly arts of boxing and swordplay; and they both, in their different ways,
were actively involved with the Theatre Royal at Drury Lane. Ellys owned
shares in the patent of the theater where Fielding was house playwright; and
in September of this year of 1732, when Robert Wilks, one of the famous
"triumvirate" of patentees died (the others being Colley Cibber and Barton
Booth), Ellys would act as deputy for Wilks's widow in managing the theater.
Twenty years later, in the Covent-Garden Journal (29 August 1752), Fielding's
playful reference to Ellys in his capacity as keeper of the lions at the
Tower suggests that their friendship lasted.
Fielding was a generous man who "loved" his friends (his own word in
a letter to Lyttelton on behalf of Edward Moore). It would be like him to
write a poem celebrating Ellys's talents, especially at a time when Ellys was
being ignored by critics and fellow artists alike. In a verse epistle to Bartholomew
Dandridge in 1731, Joseph Mitchell had ranked that painter near
the top of a list of fifteen contemporary "British Masters" from which Ellys
was conspicuously excluded; and in his notebook for August 1731, George
Vertue, in a similar list of gifted painters, also named Dandridge, but not
Ellys. The poet of the "Epistle to Ellys," aiming to redress such slights, opens
by declaring that lesser painters than his friend owe their inflated reputations
chiefly to the influence of their sponsors: Charles Jervas to the praise of Pope,
his friend and pupil; Bartholomew Dandridge to the puffing of (most likely)
Lord Barrington, for whom he had this year painted a much admired equestrian
portrait of the Prince of Wales. In contrast, these verses to Ellys, inspired
by an "impartial Muse," are meant to "raise / A juster Trophy to thy
Pencil's Praise"—"an honest Tribute . . . / Pay'd by a greater Friend to Truth
than thee."
It would be quite in character, then, for Fielding to pay this tribute to
Ellys; that he indeed wrote the poem may be confidently inferred from evidence
in the text itself. The evidence, however, cannot include the compliments
paid, in order, to Sir Charles Wager (1666-1743), admiral; Anne
Lennox (1703-89), countess of Albemarle; Benjamin Hoadly (1676-1761),
bishop of Salisbury; William Wake (1657-1737), archbishop of Canterbury;
and "th' undaunted Gladiator" James Figg (d. 1734). Fielding, of course,
knew both Hoadly and Figg and elsewhere compliments them in his writings
for their different qualities; but, as the footnote states, all these figures are
in the poem because Ellys painted their portraits. Other compliments in the
poem, however, are all to persons whom Fielding admired and praised: the
Duke of Argyll (or Argyle, as Fielding spelled it); the Duke and Duchess of
Richmond, his patrons; Lady Mary Chambers and the Countess of Shaftesbury;
his brilliant cousin, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu; and, finally, the
prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole, Lady Mary's friend and now Fielding's
benefactor. Two other allusions—to the doting "Leander" and "the comic
Phiz of M—" —were likely brought to mind by the recent successful production
of Fielding's play, The Mock Doctor. And "Dorinda," the poet's
"Epistle to Lyttleton." Relevant details for all these will be found in the
notes to the text.
From the evidence presented, there should be little doubt that, considered
separately, the "Epistle to Ellys" and the preceding prose "Observations
on Government, etc." are by Fielding. Moreover, because we are assured
by Cooke, editor of The Comedian, that both pieces are by the same "Friend,"
the force of the evidence is doubled.
An Epistle to Mr. Ellys the Painter.
While Jervass lives in Pope's admiring Song,[58]And Dandridge borrows Fame from B—n's Tongue,[59]
Shall no impartial Muse, my Ellys, raise
A juster Trophy to thy Pencil's Praise?
To others while fictitious Charms they give,
Shall real Worth[60] in thee neglected live?
Tho thou can'st need no Monument of mine,
Tho on thy Canvas best thy Beautys shine,
O! let this Verse an honest Tribute be,
Pay'd by a greater Friend to Truth than thee.
When (the great Work of thine excelling Hand!)
We see the well-known Nymph or Hero stand,
Where thoughtful [61] Wager wakes to guard our Isle,
Where [62] Albemarle enchants us with a Smile,
In [63] Hoadley where, and [64] Wake's just Features, shine
All the great Symptoms of their Souls divine,
While skillful you each Passion's Mark unfold,
We gaze, nor ask whose Pictures we behold:
Nor is your Powr to these great Themes confin'd;
You know to paint each Passion of the Mind:[65]
Behold th' undaunted[66] Gladiator there;
How just his Posture! and how fierce his Air!
Behold his Looks impatient for the Fight;
Cowards would fly, Argyle[67] approve, the Sight!
Equal with thine no other Art we view,
Who know'st decaying Nature to renew,
Can'st Death's lamented Triumphs render vain,
And bid departed Beauty live again.
Here the fond Parent[68] of his Child bereft
May view at least the much lov'd Image left.
Leander[69] here, when Melesinda's coy,
Doats on the smiling Object of his Joy:
And far, alas! by cruel Fate remov'd,
Here, in the slightest Sketch, I fondly trace
All the dear Sweetness of Dorinda's [70] Face:[71]
Tho Parents, Fortune, and tho she, conspire
To keep far from me all my Soul's Desire,
Still shall my ravish'd Eyes their Darling see,
If not so beauteous, look more kind thro thee.
O! let thine Art on future Times bestow
Those Beautys which our own to Nature owe:
Be no Lourissa on thy Canvas seen;
Nor draw the comic Phiz[72] of M—[73]
How Nature errs let other Pencils tell;
Shew thine, more noble, how she can excel:
Shew Richmond's happy Pair[74] in Love entwin'd,
Both grac'd alike in Person and in Mind;
Well will such Subjects all thy Powrs engage,
Honours to thee, and Glorys of their Age.
While Hope of Gain the venal Fancy warms,
The Painter often gives, not copys, Charms;
But thou such wretched Compliments refrain;
Who would paint S—l lovely paints in vain.
Let perfect Art, like thine, those Subjects chuse
Where bounteous Nature hath been most profuse:
At Chambers[75] still thine Art incessant try,
At Shaftsb'ry's Mien,[76] and Wortley's radiant Eye;[77]
And, while some future Dryden[78] shall relate
What Walpole[79] was, how wise, humane, and great,
O! may the Patriot's mighty Image shine,
In future Ages, by no Hand but thine.
Which uninstructed Beauty can't bestowe.
What they Should prove, Coquettes and Prudes shall see;
And what She is, Dorinda read, in thee.
(Grundy, p. 240)
"Pope's admiring Song": Pope's verse epistle to the painter Charles Jervas, his friend and teacher in the art of painting, was published in 1716. In his unpublished cantos burlesquing the Dunciad (1729/30) HF, mocking Pope and his verse form, describes the palace of the god of Rhime: "With J[ervas'] Paintings all the Walls were hung" (Grundy, p. 226). Perhaps to please his cousin Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (see below, n. 14), among whose papers the manuscript of the cantos was found, HF in this early period was critical of Pope, who also appears as Codrus, Juvenal's poor poet, both in the cantos and in HF's poem "To John Hayes, Esq." (Misc1, pp. 51-53), published in 1743 but written earlier.
"Dandridge . . . B—n's Tongue": Bartholomew Dandridge (1691-c. 1755), painter, who, like Ellys, studied under Kneller and was Ellys's more successful rival for fame. The poet most likely refers to Dandridge's having this year painted for William Wildman, viscount Barrington (1717-93), an equestrian portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales, which was highly praised. (See George Vertue, Vertue Note Books, vol. 3, The Walpole Society, 22 [1933-34], p. 57.) If Barrington is meant, the long dash concealing the name prevents spoiling the meter with an eleventh syllable.
"paint each Passion of the Mind": Cf. HF's "To John Hayes, Esq." (Misc1, p. 52), referring to Titian's skill: "So the Great Artist diff'ring Passions joins, / And Love with Hatred, Fear with Rage combines."
"Argyle": John Campbell (1680-1743), second duke of Argyll (or Argyle, as HF invariably spelled the name). As brigadier general he served courageously in Marlborough's campaigns, in which HF's father also took part; and as commander of the forces in north Britain, he was instrumental in suppressing the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. In 1732 and for some time after, he was a member of Walpole's administration, but by 1740 he was in Opposition. He was for HF the very type of the man of courage: see Ch (29 Jan. 1739/40); TG (Misc1, pp. 25, 28), and EC (Misc1, p. 152). Argyll subscribed to HF's Miscellanies (1743), a set on royal paper.
"fond Parent": JA (IV.xvi) "their fond Parents" (p. 344); TJ (VII.vi) "that fond Parent" (p. 346); Am (III.xi) "a fond Parent" (p. 141).
"Leander": The name HF gave to Charlotte's true love in The Mock Doctor, which opened at Drury Lane on 23 June of this year.
"Dorinda's Face": Dorinda, the poet's (unusual) name for a certain "Miss D. W." for whom he sighs in vain, was also at about this time the name HF gave to the woman he loved. In his unpublished verse "Epistle to Lyttleton," written in March or April 1733, he would pay "Dorinda" a pretty compliment. Referring to Lyttelton's poem Advice to a Lady (Feb. 1733), he substitutes her name for that of Lyttelton's heroine, Belinda:
"Phiz": HF often used this colloquial abbreviation for "physiognomy": Ma (p. 9), AF (III, p. 76), US (8 Oct. 1737, New Essays, p. 542), PRS (Misc1, p. 195), JJ (23 Jan. 1748, p. 138).
"M—": Most likely a reference to Dr. John Misaubin, a French physician practising medicine in London, who trumpeted the virtues of his pills as a cure for venereal disease. In April 1732 Hogarth, a close friend of Fielding and Ellys, captured his "comic Phiz" in Plate 5 of A Harlot's Progress, where he is the thin quack who quarrels with his portly colleague Dr. Rock about which of their nostrums is the more efficacious. The book of HF's Mock Doctor (published 11 July 1732) is dedicated to Misaubin, and in the play itself Gregory (played by Theophilus Cibber) impersonates him when he poses as a French physician. Later, Misaubin's incompetence and vanity are mocked in TJ (V.vii, pp. 240-241 and XIII.ii, p. 688).
"Richmond's happy Pair": Charles Lennox (1701-50), second duke of Richmond, and his wife Sarah (1706-51). HF dedicated to him both his comedy The Miser (staged at Drury Lane in Feb. 1733, published 13 Mar.) and his poem Of Good Nature (Misc1, p. 30), and paid him another compliment in Letter XLI of Sarah Fielding's Familiar Letters (1747). In Of Good Nature, HF also admires the beauty of the duchess, whom he links, as in this poem, with the Countess of Shaftesbury, praising "Shaftsb'ry's Air" and admiring "the Snow that whitens Richmond's Breast" (Misc1, p. 35); in "The Queen of Beauty" she is the most beautiful woman at Court (Misc1, p. 79). In the "Epistle to Lyttleton" (written Mar.Apr. 1733) the Duchess of Richmond and Countess of Shaftesbury again appear together and are joined, as here, by Lady Mary Chambers: "Thine [Lyttelton] be the pleasing Task to Form the Fair, / To join a Chamber's Soul with Shaftsb'ry's Air," while "Richmond leads in Triumph all Mankind" (p. 240). The duchess was a subscriber to HF's Miscellanies.
"Chambers": Lady Mary (d. 1735), daughter of the second earl of Berkeley and wife of Thomas Chambers. In the "Epistle to Lyttleton" (Grundy, p. 240), as here, she is complimented together with the Countess of Shaftesbury and the Duchess of Richmond.
"Shaftsb'ry's Mien": Susanna Cooper, neé Noel (d. 1758), wife of the fourth earl of Shaftesbury, who, as first cousin to James Harris of Salisbury, was on friendly terms with HF. In his poem Of Good Nature, "Shaftsb'ry's Air" complements the Duchess of Richmond's snow white breast (see above, note 11). In HF's "Epistle to Lyttleton" (1733), all four of the "Ellys" poet's beauties are complimented: Shaftesbury, Richmond, Lady Mary Chambers, and HF's cousin Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (Grundy, pp. 240-241); for the last see note 14 below. The countess returned HF's compliments by subscribing to two sets of the Miscellanies (1743) on royal paper.
"Wortley's . . . Eye": Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), HF's second cousin, among whose papers Isobel Grundy discovered the unpublished manuscripts of his burlesque of Pope's Dunciad (1729/30) and the "Epistle to Lyttleton" (Mar.-Apr. 1733), where will be found HF's compliments to Lady Mary's "Eyes" as well as to the other three beauties mentioned by the "Ellys" poet (see above, notes 11-13). Indeed, HF's purpose in writing the "Epistle to Lyttleton" was to defend his cousin from Pope's slanders on her character in his First Satire of the Second Book of Horace Imitated (published 15 Feb. 1733). HF had dedicated to her his first play, Love in Several Masques (1728), and at his request she would later criticize an early draft of The Modern Husband (1732).
"Dryden": John Dryden (1631-1700). HF appreciated Dryden's greatness as a poet (see TG, in Misc1, p. 24), and, in a metaphorical history of the progress of wit in England, HF crowns him "King" of the period of the Restoration (CGJ [21 Mar. 1752], p. 153).
"Walpole": Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), prime minister. For a brief summary of HF's relations with Walpole from the beginning of his literary career to this year of 1732, see the introduction to this essay. The first clear sign of his gratitude for Walpole's patronage was HF's fulsome dedication of The Modern Husband to him (Feb. 1732). More expansively and in prose, the Dedication anticipates the language of these concluding lines of the "Epistle to Ellys," where the poet lauds the prime minister for being "wise, humane, and great" and calls him "the Patriot." The lines are an abridgment in verse of the close of the Dedication, where "The Muses" (perhaps through "some future Dryden," as the "Ellys" poet foresees) "shall remember . . . the wise Statesman[,] the generous Patron, the stedfast Friend, and the true Patriot; but above all that Humanity and Greatness of Temper, which shine thro' all your Actions."
See J. B. Shipley, "Ralph, Ellys, Hogarth, and Fielding: The Cabal against Jacopo
Amigoni," Eighteenth-Century Studies, 1 (1968), 322.
See Martin C. with Ruthe R. Battestin, Henry Fielding: A Life (London: Routledge,
1989), pp. 153-154, 161, 641 n. 221.
See Bertrand A. Goldgar, ed., Fielding's Covent-Garden Journal and A Plan of the
Universal Register-Office (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1988), p. 329 n.1;
Robert D. Hume, Henry Fielding and the London Theatre 1728-1737 (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1988), p. 150 n. 101; and Ronald Paulson, The Life of Henry Fielding: A Critical
Biography (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000), pp. 96-97.
See, especially, Frederick G. Ribble, "Fielding's Rapprochement with Walpole in
Late 1741," Philological Quarterly, 80 (2001), 71-81.
See Martin C. Battestin, "Four New Fielding Attributions: His Earliest Satires of
Walpole," Studies in Bibliography, 36 (1983), 69-109.
For a detailed account of the course of Fielding's political attitudes and relationships
in the period leading to the dedication of The Modern Husband to Walpole, see Life, pp.
110-128.
See Battestin, New Essays by Henry Fielding: His Contributions to the Craftsman
(1734-1739) and Other Early Journalism (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989),
pp. xxxvi-xxxvii. As in the case of New Essays, I am greatly indebted to Frederick G. Ribble
not only for his constructive criticism of the manuscript of this essay, but also for adding
to the number of parallels cited in the notes.
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