Among the earlier publications of Fielding, may be noticed an Essay on Conversation ; an Essay on the Know ledge of the Characters of Men ; a Journey from this World to the next ; and the history of Jonathan Wild the Great ; in which he displayed his natural humour and knowledge of mankind, but of which the moral tendency is, at least, questionable.
Some years after he began to write for the stage, he married Miss Craddock, a young lady from Salisbury, who possessed a great share of beauty, and a fortune of 15001. pounds ; and about the same time, he succeeded, through his mother, to an estate at Stower, in Dorsetshire, of some what better than 2001. per annum. With this fortune, he wisely determined to bid adieu to all the follies and dis sipation to which he had been hitherto addicted, and to retire, with his wife, to his seat in the country. But his natural disposition, and passion for society and show, un fortunately prevailed over all his prudent resolutions ; and in less than three years from the period of his retirement from town, his extravagance, and total neglect of economy, reduced him to his former state of poverty, dependence and distress. His ardent temperament, however, did not suffer him to be easily discouraged. Having determined once more to exert his abilities, in endeavouring to pro cure a competent subsistence, he applied himself to the study of the law ; and, after the usual period of probation at the Temple, being called to the bar, he made no incon siderable figure in Westminster Hall. But the intem perance of his early life now began to affect his health so seriously, as to prevent him from bestowing the requisite attention on the duties of his laborious profession, and con sequently from reaching that degree of eminence, which his talents and learning might otherwise have enabled him to attain. Amidst all the severities of pain and poverty, however, he still found resources in his genius. For some years he devoted his talents, in a great measure, to politics; he was concerned in a political periodical paper, called the Champion, which owed its principal support to his prolific pen ; and he was himself the conductor of two publications,—the 'rue Patriot, and the Jacobite Journal, in which he supported the principles of the Hanoverian succession. About this period, he had the misfortune to lose his wife, whom he had ever tenderly loved ; and the fortitude which he had displayed in all the former distress ing situations of his life, is said to have entirely deserted him upon this trying occasion. His grief, indeed, was so
violent, that great apprehensions were, for a considerable period, entertained of his being ever again possessed of the ordinary powers of reason, Hitherto the genius of Fielding had been chiefly em ployed upon hasty dramatic effusions, written, no doubt, with the view of supplying the exigencies of the moment ; or upon miscellaneous subjects of mere temporary interest. But the powers of his mind were now, fortunately, directed to a species of composition, in which he was peculiarly qualified to excel, and to which he is principally indebted for his reputation with posterity. His celebrated novels of Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones, and Amelia, produced in the maturity of his genius, may be considered as forming a sort of xra in the history of his own life, as well as in the literary history of his country ; and have elevated Fielding to the first rank among the writers of fictitious narratives.
But the employment of his pen could evidently afford him only a precarious subsistence ; and although he occa sionally received large contributions from his ft lends, he is said to have been frequently reduced, by disease and duo pressure of want, to the extremity of-distress. In the year 1749, however, he at length received a small pension from government ; and, at the same time, his necessities obliged him to accept of the office of an acting magistrate in the commission of the peace for 'Westminster and the county of Middlesex ; an office which is generally obnoxious to the populace, and which, in those days, seldom failed to incur the imputation of venality and corruption, from which Fiel ding was not exempted. In discharging the duties of his office, lie displayed uncommon vigilance and activity of mind. Besides suggesting many beneficial plans and regu lations of police, he published several useful tracts upon subjects connected with the functions which he had to dis charge. Among these are, An Address to the Grand Tory of Middlesex. which he delivered at Westminster in June 1749 ; A Proposal for making an effectual provision for the Poor, &c. An Inquiry into the Causes of the late increase of Robbers, &c.