Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-23
DEFOE AND FIELDING.

Mrs. J. II. Durston read two very in
teresting papers, one on the life of Dan
lei DefOe and the other on Fielding.
OF the former she said in part:
Daniel DefOe was the precursor Of
the English novel and led the way ir
l119 with his famous Robinson Crusoe.'
novel of incident. the never ceasinc
delight of children. ~" w"e ONO of IT,
most productive of the English writ
ers. pamphleteer journalist. writer of
both religious and commercial treatscs
OF history and fiction.
Defoe is sometimes represented as an
illiterate London tradesman but his own
account is that he was educ ats by his
father. a well-to-do butcher, with a view
to the Dssenter ministry. At whatever
time he picked up his knowledge he was
well Informed and even accomplished,
being by his own account. master of
hVe languages including Latin. widely
read in books of history and travel, and
acquainted with such science as was
known in his day.
The number. variety. freshness AMI
popularity of Defoe's works furnished
the ""~t roesible evidence cf tho fertility
and ingenuity of his intellect. For thirty
years, always ready upon every politi-
cal and social question that was passing
he still had energy, when this excitement
was over, and was quite as prolific on
subjects of perennial and universal in
terest as he had been on the more excit-
ing topics of the hour, and the reputcd
author of $50 distinct publications. He
published his first novel when nearly
sixty years of age.
Many of DefOe's phrases are old-fash-
Toned and have long since dropped out
of current English AS we should eX-
pect of an author writing upon such a
variety of topics, his command of Eng
fish is wonderful He is seldom pathetic
but when he is, the words seem to flow
in 40 choicest abundance y" Il
great master of the language, of abuse.
Sometimes in the extravaganza OF high
spirits he coins words t'-"+ are not un-
like eccentrcities of Carlyle. The fol-
lowing are an example,:
1.-THE yet further extravap"r""s which
naturally attend the mischief of wit, are
beauism, dogmaticality. ADMINISTRATION.
impudensity and various kinds Of fop-
perosities.
The use of homely language is one of
the most remarkable features in De-
foes e+,'~ ~-,d it is one of the secrets
of the continued popularity of Robinson
Crusoe.
Defoe continued his great literary &C
tiyity to the very last, dying in April,
1881.
Fielding was born in somersetshire.
England. in 1907. educated at Elton.
studied law at Leyden. but quit money
bound before completing his course, re-
turned to England and at twenty COM
menced writing for the comic stage. He
had abundance of health, plunged into
jovial exercise, married at twenty-eight.
adored his wife. retired to small es-
tate left him by his mother, Toasted.
gave dinners. kept fine horses, pack
of hounds, fine retinue OF servants IN
yellow livery, and in three years spent
his inheritance and his wife's fortune.
He failed in :speculations. was admitted
to the bar in TAO. but was unsuccess-
full. and continued to write for the sup
port of his family He was one of the
ablest men of the period. but was hunt
ed by. bailiffs and arrested for debt. He
lost his wife while they were struggling
on in their worldly difficulties, was al
most broken-hearted and found no re-
lief, but in weeping in concert with her
maid servant "for the angel they mu-
tually regretted" He naturally ended
by marrying the maid. He went to Lis
bon in 1854 to restore his failing health
and there died a few months later.
Fielding was a mastery observer and
painter of human nature, as he saw it
He lived through the scenes and char.
acters he has described, and saw the
world in it's hilarity, coarseness and bru'
tally. He announced that his object
was to paint real life faithfully and ir
that lies his prominence. His character!
are strongly built rather than refined
delicacy of perception and high cast o.
thought are wanting.