The International Monthly Magazine, Volume 5, No. 1, January, 1852Various
History
The International Monthly Magazine, Volume 5, No. 1, January, 1852
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
Want, sorrow, and pain subdued his body at last, but his great and noble
humor rode buoyant over them all, and his frank and manly philosophy
overcame them. His generous attachment to his family comforted him to
the last; and though all the labors of the poor fellow were only
sufficient to keep him and them in a bare competence, yet it must be
remembered, to his credit, that he left behind him a friend who valued
him so much as to provide for the family he had left destitute, and to
place them beyond the reach of want. It is some credit to a man to have
been the friend of Ralph Allen; and Fielding before his death raised a
monument to his friend a great deal more lasting than bronze or marble,
placing his figure in the romance of Tom Jones under the name of
Allworthy. "There is a day, sir," says Fielding in one of his
dedications to Mr. Allen, "which no man in the kingdom can think of
without fear, but yourself--the day of your death." Can there he a finer
compliment? Nor was Fielding the man to pay it to one whom he thought
was undeserving of it.
Never do Fielding's courage, cheerfulness, and affection forsake him; up
to the last days of his life he is laboring still for his children. He
dies, and is beholden to the admiration of a foreigner, Monsieur de
Meryionnet, French consul at Lisbon, for a decent grave and tombstone.
There he lies, sleeping after life's fitful fever. No more care, no more
duns, no more racking pain, no more wild midnight orgies and jovial
laughter. Of the women who are weeping for him a pious friend takes
care. Here, indeed, it seems as if his sorrow ended; and one hopes and
fancies that the poor but noble fellow's spirit is at last pure and
serene.
FOOTNOTES:
[H] The Works of Henry Fielding, in two volumes, octavo. With a Life,
Portrait, and Autograph. London: Henry G. Bohn, Covent Garden.
[New-York: Stringer and Townsend. 1851.]
From "Recollections of a Police Officer" in Chambers's Edinburgh
Journal.
FLINT JACKSON.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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