Henry Fielding (1707-1754) was an English playwright, journalist, novelist and magistrate, born in Somerset and educated at Eton. After a successful career writing satirical comedies for the London stage, cut short by the Licensing Act of 1737, he trained in the law and turned to prose fiction with Joseph Andrews (1742) and Jonathan Wild (1743). Appointed a justice of the peace for Westminster in 1748, he sat at Bow Street and, with his half-brother John, organized the constables later known as the Bow Street Runners. Tom Jones (1749) was followed by Amelia (1751); he died at Lisbon in 1754, where he had gone for his health.
Frequently Cited
“I am, in reality, the founder of a new province of writing, so I am at liberty to make what laws I please therein.”
“Prudence and circumspection are necessary even to the best of men. They are indeed, as it were, a guard to Virtue, without which she can never be safe.”
Tom Jones tells the story of a foundling raised by a good country gentleman, his expulsion from home, his adventures on the road and in London, and his final restoration and marriage. The eighteen books are each opened by an essay in which the narrator talks with the reader about the art of writing, critics, love, or human nature.
