Authors, English -- 18th century -- Biography; Fielding, Henry, 1707-1754
The Register Office, above mentioned, is that referred to at p. 194.
What was the amount of the property so disposed of is not known. But in
making inquiries in connexion with an edition of the _Journal of a
Voyage to Lisbon_ issued by the Chiswick Press in 1892, [Footnote: This
considerably elaborates the first note at p. 179.] I discovered that
Fielding died possessed of a considerable library (653 lots), which was
sold in February 1755, "for the Benefit of his Wife and Family," by
Samuel Baker of York Street, Covent Garden, realising L364:7:1, or about
L100 more than the public gave in 1785 for the books of Johnson. An
account of this collection, rich particularly in law, classics, poetry
and drama, is given in the third series of my _Eighteenth Century
Vignettes_, 1896, pp. 164-178.
A few words, in supplement to those in the "Postscript" (pp. 191-2), may
be devoted to Fielding's family. Concerning the daughter Harriet, or
Harriot, mentioned in the foregoing will, I am indebted to Colonel W. F.
Prideaux for pointing out to me that in Burke's _Landed Gentry_, 1875,
vol. ii. p. 938, it is stated that she afterwards became the second wife
of Colonel James Gabriel Montresor. As his first wife died in March
1761, when he was more than fifty-eight; and as he afterwards married
for the third time, a widow, Mrs. Kemp of Teynham, Kent, it is probable
that, as Keightley says, Harriet Montresor was not long-lived.
[Footnote: According to Thomas Whitehead's _Original Anecdotes of the
late Duke of Kingston and Miss Chudleigh_, 1792, p. 95 (for reference to
which I am also indebted to Col. Prideaux), Miss Fielding was, at the
date of her marriage, "in a deep decline,"--a circumstance which lends a
touch of chivalry to Col. Montresor's devotion. She is said by Whitehead
to have been of "a sweet temper, and great understanding."] Of the other
children spoken of at p. 192, Louisa died in May 1753, being buried from
a house in Hammersmith. And this brings me to a final question as to
Fielding's sisters. Richardson speaks in August 1749 of being "well
acquainted" with _four_ Miss Fieldings; and Murphy and Lawrence both
refer to a Catherine and an Ursula of whom Mr. Keightley could learn
nothing. With Colonel Prideaux's help, and the kind offices of Mr.
Samuel Martin of the Hammersmith Free Library, the matter has now been
set at rest. In 1887 the late Sir Leslie Stephen had suggested to me
that Catherine and Ursula were probably born at Sharpham Park. This must
have been the case, though Keightley had failed to establish it. At all
events Catherine and Ursula existed, for they both died in 1750. The
Hammersmith Registers at Fulham record the following burials:--1750
July 9th, Mrs. Catherine Feilding (_sic_).
1750 Nov. 12th, Mrs. Ursula Fielding.
1750[-1] Feby. 24th, Mrs. Beatrice Fielding.
1753 May 10th, Louisa, d. of Henry Fielding, Esq.
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