patience of the most laborious application, would otherwise have made him. Beside the demands for expence, which his valetudimarian habit of body constantly made upon him, he had likewise a family to maintain; from business he derived little or no supplies, and his prospects, therefore, grew every day more gloomy and melancholy. To these discouraging circumstances, if we add the infirmity of his wife, whom he loved tenderly, and the agonies he felt on her account, the measure of his afflictions will be well nigh full. To see her daily languishing, and wearing away before his eyes, was too much for a man of his strong sensations; the fortitude of mind, with which he met all the other calamities of life, deserted him on this most trying occasion; and her death, which happened about this time, brought on such a vehemence of grief, that his friends began to think him in danger of losing his

reason.

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When the first emotions of his sorrow were abated, he began again to struggle with his fortune. He engaged in two perodical papers successively. The first of these was called, "The True Patriot;" which was set on foot during the late rebellion, and was conducive to the excitement of loyalty, and a love for the constitution in the breasts of his countrymen. The Jacobite Journal was calculated to discredit the shattered remains of an unsuccessful party; and by a well applied raillery and ridicule, to bring the sentiments of the disaffected into contempt.

By this time, Fielding had attained the age of 43; and being incessantly pursued by reiterated attacks of the gout, he was wholly rendered incapable of pursuing the business of a barrister any longer. He was obliged therefore to accept the office of an acting magistrate in the commission of the peace for Middlesex, with a yearly pension from government,

That he was attentive to the duties of this public station, is evident, from the many tracts he published relating to several of the penal laws, and to the vices and mal-practices which those laws were intended to restrain; particularly "A Charge to the Grandjury, delivered at Westminister, on the 29th of June, 1749;" the "Enquiry into the Causes of the Increase of Robberies;" and "A Proposal for the Maintenance of the Poor."

Amidst these severe exercises of his understanding, and all the labourious duties of his office, his invention could not lie still; but

he found leisure to amuse himself, and afterwards the world, with "The History of Tom Jones." And now we are arrived at the second grand epoch of Mr. Fielding's genius, when all his faculties were in perfect unison, and conspired to produce a complete work, eminent in all the great essentials of a composition; in fable, character, sentiment, and elocution; and as these could not be all united in so high an assemblage without a rich invention, a fine imagination, an enlightened judgment, and lively wit, we may fairly here decide his character, and pronounce him, the English Cervantes.

It may be added, that in many parts of Tom Jones, we find he possessed the softer graces of character-painting, and of description ; many situations and sentiments are touched with a del cate hand; and throughout the work, he seems to feel as much delight in describing the amiable qualities of human nature, as in his early days he had in exaggerating the strong and harsh features of turpi tude and deformity."

Thus have we traced our author, in his progress to the time when the vigour of his mind was in its full growth of perfection; from this period it sunk, but by slow degrees, into a decline. Amelia, which succeeded Tom Jones, in about four years, has in. deed the marks of genius, but of a genius falling into decay. Ame lia is the Odyssey, the moral and pathetic work of Henry Fielding: While he was planning and executing this piece, it should be remembered, that he was distracted by that multiplicity of avoca tions which surround a public magistrate; and his constitution, now greatly impaired and enfeebled, was labouring under the at tacks of the gout, which were of course severer than ever. How ever, the activity of his mind was not to be subdued one literary pursuit was no sooner over than fresh game arose. A periodical paper under the title of "The Covent Garden Journal, by sig Alexander Drawcansir, knight, and censor-general of Great Brit ain," was immediately set on foot. It was published twice in every week, viz. on Tuesday and Saturday; and conduced so much to the entertainment of the public, that it was felt with a general regret, that the author's health did not enable him to persist in the undertaking any longer.

Soon after this work was dropped, by the advice of physicians,

Mr. Fielding set out for Lisbon. The last gleams of his wit and humour sparkled in the account he left behind him of his voyage to that place. In this his last sketch, he puts us in mind of a person under sentence of death, jesting on the scaffold; for his strength was now quite exhausted; and in about two months after his arrival at Lisbon, he yielded his last breath, in the year 1754, and in the 48th year of his age.

Thus was closed a course of diappointment, distress, vexation, infirmity, and study; for with each of these his life was variously chequered, and perhaps, in stronger proportions than has been the lot of many.

We have seen how Mr. Fielding very soon squandered away his small patrimony, which with economy, might have procured him independence; we have seen how far he ruined, into the bargain, a constitution which in its original texture, seemed formed to last much longer. When indigence and illness were once let in upon him, he no longer remained master of his own actions; snd that delicacy of conduct, which alone constitutes and preserves a character, was obliged to give way.

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When he was not under the immediate urgency of want, they who were intimate with him are ready to aver, that he had a mind greatly superior to any thing mean or little; when his finances. were exhausted, he was not the most elegant in his choice of the means to redress him; and he would instantly exhibit a farce, or a puppet-shew, in the Haymarket-theatre; which was wholly inconsistent with the profession he had embarked in. But his intimates can witness, how much his pride suffered when he was forc ed into measures of this kind; no man having a juster sense of propriety, or more honorable ideas of the profession of an author and a scholar.

Henry Fielding was in stature, rather rising above six feet; his frame of body large, and remarkably robust, till the gout had broken the vigour of his constitution.

An elegant and correct edition of his works was published by the ingenious and learned Arthur Murphy, esq. an eminent counsellor ; but more generally known as an excellent dramatic author. To Mr. Murphy's "Essay on the Life and Genius of Fielding, prefixed to his works, we stand indebted for the princiincidents in these memoirs.

THIS very learned divine was born at Hawkherst, in the county of Kent, on the 6th of June, 1684. He was son to the rev. Mr. Richard Lardner, who was a minister of respectable character among the protestant dissenters, and for many years pastor of a congregation at Deal. It is not known where he received his grammatical education; though it is supposed, from his father's resi dence at Deal, that it might be at that place. Wherever it was, there can be no doubt, from the literature which he afterwards displayed, of his having made an early progress in the knowledge of the learned languages. From the grammar-school he was removed to a dissenting academy in London, under the care of the reverend Dr. Joshua Oldfield. Here however he must have continued but a very little time, for in the latter end of 1699, being then only in the 16th year of his age, he was sent to prosecute his studies at Utrecht, under the professors D'Uuries, Grævins, and Burman, names of no small celebrity in the literary world. Under such tutors, Mr. Lardner made a suitable improvement, in various branches of learning; and he brought back with him a testimonial from professor Burman, to that purpose.

It was not uncommon, at that period, for the young men who were intended for the dissenting ministry in England, to study abroad, and particularly in the universities of Holland. Several persons, who afterwards became of no small consideration among the dissenters, and who distinguished themselves by their valuable writings, were educated in this manner. Mr. Martin Tomkins went over with Mr. Lardner to Utrecht, and they found there Mr. Daniel Neal.

After spending somewhat more than three years at Utrecht, Mr. Lardner removed to Leyden, where he studied about six months. In 1703, he returned to England, in company with

Mr. Tomkins and Mr. Neal; and from that time to the year 1709, we have no memorials concerning him. This space was probably spent by him at his father's house, who quitted Deal in 1703, or 1704, and came to reside in or near London; and we may be certain, that young Lardner employed himself in a close and diligent preparation for the sacred profession which he had in view. He was not one of those who are in haste to display their talents in the pulpit; for it was not till the second of August, 1709, when he was about twenty-five years of age, that he preached his first sermon. This was at Stoke-Newington, for his friend Mr. Martin Tomkins, who had become the minister of a congregation at that place.

In 1713, Mr. Lardner was invited to reside in the house of lady Treby, the widow of sir George Treby, knt. who had been appointed lord-chief-justice of the court of common pleas in 1692, and had sustained that high office and dignity, with great integrity and ability, till his decease, in 1702, The proposal made to our author was, that he should be domestic chaplain to her ladyship, and tutor to her youngest son, Brindly Treby. To this proposal he acceded; and it need not be said how well qualified he was, by his knowledge, judgment, and learning, for superintending a young gentleman's education. After having conducted Mr. Treby's studies three years, he accompanied him in an excursion into France, the Austrian Netherlands, and the United Provinces; which employed four months. From a journal which Mr. Lardner kept of this tour, it was evident, that he did not lose the opportunity which it afforded him of making exact and judicious observations on the manners and customs of the inhabitants whom he saw and visited, and on the edifices and curiosities of the countries through which he passed. How long he sustained the specific character of tutor to young Mr. Treby, does not appear but he continued in lady Treby's family till her death, which happened in the beginning of the year 1721. By this event, he was removed from a situation which seems to have been an agreeable one, and was thrown into circumstances of some perplexity and suspense. His own remarks will shew the state of his mind at that time. I am at a loss," says he, "how to dispose of myself. I can say, I am desirous of being useful in the world.