Authors, English -- 18th century -- Biography; Fielding, Henry, 1707-1754
that they attend and watch his Motions, and think themselves only safe
when they act under his Direction and Example. Our Ship in Truth seems
to give Laws on the Water with as much Authority and Superiority as you
Dispense Laws to the Public and Examples to yr Brethren in Commission.
Please to direct yr Answer to me on Board as in the Date, if gone to be
returned, and then send it by the Post and Pacquet to Lisbon to
"Yr affect Brother
"H. FIELDING
"To John Fielding Esq. at his House in
"Bow Street Covt Garden London."
As the _Queen of Portugal_ did not leave Ryde until the 23d, it is
possible that Fielding received a reply. During the remainder of this
desultory voyage he continued to beguile his solitary hours--hours of
which we are left to imagine the physical torture and monotony, for he
says but little of himself--by jottings and notes of the, for the most
part, trivial accidents of his progress. That happy cheerfulness, of
which he spoke in the _Proposal for the Poor_, had not yet deserted him;
and there are moments when he seems rather on a pleasure-trip than a
forlorn pilgrimage in search of health. At Ryde, where, for change of
air, he went ashore, he chronicles, after many discomforts from the most
disobliging of landladies (let the name of Mrs. Francis go down to
posterity!), "the best, the pleasantest, and the merriest meal, [in a
barn] with more appetite, more real, solid luxury, and more festivity,
than was ever seen in an entertainment at White's." At Torbay, he
expatiates upon the merits and flavour of the John Dory, a specimen of
which "gloriously regaled" the party, and furnished him with a pretext
for a dissertation on the London Fish Supply. Another page he devotes to
commendation of the excellent _Vinum Pomonae_, or Southam cyder, supplied
by "Mr. Giles Leverance of Cheeshurst, near Dartmouth in Devon," of
which, for the sum of five pounds ten shillings, he extravagantly
purchases three hogsheads, one for himself, and the others as presents
for friends, among whom no doubt was kindly Mr. Welch. Here and there he
sketches, with but little abatement of his earlier gaiety and vigour,
the human nature around him. Of the objectionable Ryde landlady and her
husband there are portraits not much inferior to those of the Tow-wouses
in _Joseph Andrews_, while the military fop, who visits his uncle the
captain off Spithead, is drawn with all the insight which depicted the
vagaries of Ensign Northerton, whom indeed the real hero of the
_Journal_ not a little resembles. The best character sketch, however, in
the whole is that of Captain Richard Veal himself (one almost feels
inclined to wonder whether he was in any way related to the worthy lady
whose apparition visited Mrs. Bargrave at Canterbury!), but it is of
necessity somewhat dispersed. It has also an additional attraction,
because, if we remember rightly, it is Fielding's sole excursion into
the domain of Smollett. The rough old sea-dog of the Haddock and Vernon
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account