The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-10-10

From the New York Times
 YIN the October Yale Review, it's ed-
 itor, Dean Cross. writes of &The Le-
 A gend of Henry Fielding" That le- gend may rather be called biography or history as it is written. It is the ortho- dox. prevailing, and probably uncon- ouerable belief that Fielding was scapegrace, much given to gallantry, DID, ping wine even beyond the generous guz- zling habit of the eighteenth century, living ih a garret, neglecting his Wlle' dashing off a farce after tavern night, tobacco wrappers his habitual writing paper. No wonder Thackeray was a little too free with that sympathetic or patronizing adjective. Poor DICK Steele poor" Congreve! Why poor Congreve? God of the coffee houses, fa- nous, fashionable, well-to-do. the mas ter of the stage, perfectly satisfied with himself, with life in general, and every thing in particular but his overdose or gout, why did Congreve need to DC pitied? And poor Steele can't always have reeked of burning sack. So easy it is to put tag on man. Joe" Ad- dison, beautiful, austere, and laden wlth wine, in some anecdotes brandy, dlo work enough, and so did Steele. As TOT Fielding, his novels, his dramatic works, his assiduous labors as a journalist, pamphleteer, and a magistrate, must have kept him more than busy enough in his too short life.
 Whence arose the calumny that he wrote plays and novels in order to optaln ''the wherewithal to feed gross appe- tites?" How did the facts of his lire come to be so perverted.
 His career, it should be remembered was political, as well as literary. lie belonged to~a wing of the whig party led by Lord Chesterfield, and the Pel- hams, Lyttleton, and the younger Vii liam Pitt, who called themselves pa triots For them he fought on the stage and in the press those battle which cul- minated in the overthrow of Walpole, and after the victory mad been won he continued the fight against the most fierce opposition. In this political war fare no regard was ever paid to truth The one aim of the newspapers opposed to Fielding's party was to smother with abuse a master of ridicule and irony who awakened their fury. Any shabby poet, any debauchee, any ale house ruff fan whom he might introduce into a play or novel, was either Fielding him. self or an associate ". His works were raked for characters and incidents that might be interpreted to his utter disgrace and dishonor. More than once it was declared that Fielding was in all essentials of character merely a Jon athan Wild, that famous thief and thief taker who had been hanged at Tyburn. Thus political malice forged a Fielding and has passed him off on the world as a. true one. Instead of ''the bibulous spendthrift and libertine of tradition Fielding must have been singularly in- dustrious. He lived well and as a gen. tleman should. Of his intense, devouring labor. Dean Caoss gives us good pic ture:
 .He was a manager of theater when
 he brought out his two great political satires: he was student of the law when he edited the Champion his en- tire family, including himself, was ill
 when he wrote Jonathan wiids he was editing The Jacobite Journal Nwhen he expended those thousand of hours on from Jones' he was justice of the peace, 1 liable to be walked at night to sign a commitment. while he was writing in turn, Amelia The Covent Garden Jour l nal, and legal pamphlets which re- quired the most painstaking care"
 l He was a worker for tho reform of the penal code, for police reform. poor re- form. So busy, so productive. interested