[13] It is possible that Fielding's own pen supplied the conclusion to this first act. For he tells us, in the preface to the _Miscellanies_, that a version, in burlesque verse, of part of Juvenal's sixth satire was originally sketched out before he was twenty, and that it was "all the Revenge taken by an injured Lover." The story loses none of its zest, moreover, when we remember that Harry Fielding was at this time still a Ward of Chancery. [1] Chancery Proceedings 1720 sqq. _Fielding_ v. _Fielding_. From the records of this Chancery suit, instituted on behalf of Henry Fielding and his brother and sisters, as minors, by their grandmother Lady Gould, are taken the hitherto unpublished facts concerning the novelist's boyhood, contained in this chapter. The original documents are preserved in the Record Office. [2] See Appendix A. [3] By means of a legacy of £3000 left by her father for his daughter's sole use, "her husband having nothing to doe with it." [4] _History and Antiquities of Leicestershire_. J. Nichols. 1810. Vol. iv. Part i. p. 292. Nichols does not state his authority for this statement, and it is not confirmed by local records. See Hutchins' _History of Dorset_ for the list of Stour Provost rectors. [5] Chancery Proceedings, 1722. _Fielding_ v. _Midford_. Record Office. [6] Edmund's name was added in October following. [7] _Chancery Decrees and Order Books_. Record Office. [8] Tom Jones, Book xiii. Introduction. [9] Ibid., Book viii., ch. xiii. [10] _Tom Jones_, Book ix. Introduction. [11] See _infra_, chap. xi. [12] Fifty years ago a portrait of the beautiful heiress, in the character of Sophia Western, was still preserved at the house of Bellairs, near Exeter, then the property of the Rhodes family. The present ownership of the picture has, so far, eluded inquiry. [13] _Fielding_, Austin Dobson, p. 202. CHAPTER II PLAYHOUSE BARD "I could not help reflecting how often the greatest abilities lie wind-bound, as it were, in life; or if they venture out, and attempt to beat the seas, they struggle in vain against wind and tide."--_Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon_.