Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Works of Henry Fielding: Complete in One Volume, With Memoir of the Author
The objects, however, of Fielding's satire were always of a legitimate kind; and in no part of his works do we find anything like a sneer, either against religion or virtue. His farces partook all of the same character; they were admirable burlesque representations, and they were almost invariably successful. The production only of two or three mornings, and struck off in the heat of the moment, they nevertheless pleased the public, and still con tinne to enliven our winters on the stage, by the exquisite manner in which they hit the object at which they are aimed. The representations, says Bishop Hurd, of common nature may either be taken accurately, so as to re?ect a faithful and exact image of their original, which alone is that I should call comedy or they may be forced or overcharged above the simple and just proportions of nature, as when the excesses of a few are given for standing cha racters; when not the man in general, but the pas sion is described, or when, in the draught of the man, the leading feature is extended beyond mea sure; and in these cases, the representation holds of the province of farce. This is a just and accurate definition, and the farces of Fielding comprehend all that is required: the mock tragedy of Tom Thumb' is considered replete with as fine a parody as per haps has ever been written; the Lottery, ' The Intriguing Chambermaid, ' and the Virgin Un masked, ' besides the real entertainment they afford, had also, on their first appearance, the merit of bringing out the comic genius of some of our best actresses. Of Mrs. Clive in particular, the author observes in one of his prefaces I cannot help te ?ecting that the town has one obligation to me, who made the first discovery of your just capacity, and brought you earlier forward on the theatre than the ignorance of some, and the envy of others, would otherwise have permitted. I shall not here dwell on anything so well known as your theatrical merit; which one of the finest judges, and the greatest man of his age, hath acknowledged to exceed, in humour, that of any of your predecessors in his time.
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