The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-06-10

III Henry Fielding is not duly appreciated
by the present generation OF novel readers il /,
MOI because later masters OF prose fiction hayt
iaiied to acknowledge with humility or with on
thuslasm his superior excellence in the SAINT
nelu OF composition To say nothing Of soc
one-rate craftsmen like the late Lord Lytton
whose most creditabio stories. Tho Cations >
My Novel," and What Will he Do with IT,
are painstaking and almost servile reproduc.
lions OF Fielding's manner. there Is on tho mart
OF Walter Scott. OF Dickens. OF Thackeray. and
OF George Eliot a consensus OF respect and nd
miratlon for tho man who drew "Purson Adj
ans ana Amelia" and who conceived and
wrought out that almost perfect type Of tia
prose comedy epic embodied in Tom Jones. -
indeed. with the exception Of his Pharisuical
ana envious contemporary. Richardson. no
writer small or great who has known by expc-
rlencc something OF the difficulties involved in
the making OF a novel. hns deprecated Field
ing.
The author Of Tom Jones" hus been treat.
cd with equal Difference by those whose facnl.
ties are rather OF an analytic and critical than
a synthetic and creative kind Next. indeed
to the succinct but immortal sulOsy pronounc-
cd by Gibbon. perhaps the most iinpressiye
monument to Fielding IL the study OF his
works. which MIR. Leslie Stephen has lately
prosecuted with so much energy and INSIGHT.
Ihiismuch. therefore. as the emlnence to which
FIELDING has been lifted Is practically unchal-
lengcd and as. amid all the Hux and refux OF
taste and opinion during the last hundred and
forty yenrs there have been no signs OF n dis.
position to reconsider the popular verdict
new critical estimate oi the father
OF the English novel would be general.
~ regarded a. quite superffuous For
that reason Mr.. AUSTIN DoBsoN, who has un.
dertaken to prepare u sketch OF Fielding for
the series OF English Men Of Letters. has
discreetly confined himself for the most part
TO the purely biographical eide OF his subject
1t happens. too. thai in the case Of Fielding
biographical inquiries are invested with pecu.
liar interest. because 1t 10 undisputed that his
two heroines. Sophia and Amelia. are physl-
cally and morally faithful portraits OF the
novelist's first wife: and that both In Anne
las husband and In Tom Jones. whose or.
rors and weaknesses are depicted without
excavation. the writer was sometimes draw.
ing upon his personal experience. The readers
OF flelding's novels are therefore peculiarly
Eager 10 learn as much as possible about
their author. and Mr.. Dobson has done a great
aeal IN the narrow space at his command, to
correct or verify the existing materials for q
ieiineation OF tho man and to piece out or
Illumine them where they we're defective or
obscure. We have turned with special curiosity
~ the data which Mr.. Dobson has collected re.
'pecting Fieldings first and second marriage.
and TO the hitherto unpublished correspond.
'noe respecting Tom Jones" between Rich.
srdson and two young ladies' who avowed their
admiration OF that story. much TO the disgust
u the elder and tanner novelist For this Also.
uteiy new matter. however. we must refer the
-eader TO the book itself
There arc several facts relating to Henry
Fielding which 1t Is specially useful to bear In
mind. 1t could be said Of him. as It could at.
Onward DO said Of BulweT. that he was. In the