neously I think, to a Mr. Hughes, who died a few months. later. The expressive pseudonym was used afterwards by William Kenrick, one of Fielding's bitter enemies, and apparently by other facetious writers. In 1743, Kenrick, then only a boy, was too young to have been the author. The Porcupine of that year was probably Macnamara Morgan,† an Irish pettifogger, who later wrote poor plays and seems to have relied upon the newspapers for a living. He knew just enough of the London bar to abuse it. His poem derived its title and substance from the resignation of Sir John Strange, the Solicitor-General, and the appointment of William Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield, in his place. Both the retirement of Strange and the selection of Murray for his office puzzled the general public; for the former, though appointed by the Walpole Government, had taken a stand in favour of the new administration, while the latter, being a Scotsman, was suspected of Jacobite principles. Porcupinus Pelagius undertook to lay bare the political transaction. Under a thin allegorical disguise, the "Inquisitor-General" summons his court, announces his resignation, and calls upon the candidates for his office to plead their claims. One after another, ten or twelve wellknown London lawyers of the several Inns, their names partially concealed by the dash, pronounce eloquent eulogies upon themselves, "from the zenith of B-tle to the nadir of W-ll-r”; but in vain, for Murray, in addition to all his qualifications or rather disqualifications-has the support of the Court and the King. Though so free a use of their names must have been hotly resented by the younger members of the bar, the most offensive passage was levelled at Chief Justice Willes, who is described as having the "weak voice" of a "poor old woman." This "lawless libel" encountered a sharp reply in "Causticks applied to

"The Gentleman's Magazine,'' Nov., 1743, p. 569. "Notes and Queries," 2 S. I, 94 (Aug. 1, 1857).

the Causidicade . . . by B. Flavius Flap-Bugg of Barnard's Inn." Still it ran on through no less than four editions before the year was over. To have one or both of these wretched satires on his own profession and friends ascribed to him gave Fielding great pain. A few weeks before, "Thomas Bootle, Esq; Chancellor to His Royal Highness," and "George Weller, Esq; of the Middle Temple," and scores of other lawyers had subscribed to his "Miscellanies," and now in return they were being subjected to gross ridicule by a brother whom they had aided and supposed to be a gentleman at least. So it was made to appear to the public.

This trading on Fielding's literary reputation continued for a full year, until a book appeared that compelled him, in justice to the real author, to break silence. It happened in this way. While he was out of town in the spring of 1744, his sister Sarah published a novel entitled "The Adventures of David Simple: Containing An Account of his Travels Through the Cities of London and Westminster, In the Search of A Real Friend." Like her hero, Miss Fielding felt that she had no friend among her acquaintances who could help her; and in an "Advertisement to the Reader," appealed as a last resort to the public for support in her undertaking. The first edition of "David Simple" with its cry for help is a very rare book, unknown to all who have written of the novel. The "Advertisement" doubtless reflects in a measure Fielding's distressful circumstances in 1744 as well as his sister's. For this reason it is here quoted in full:

"THE following Moral Romance (or whatever Title the Reader shall please to give it) is the Work of a Woman, and her first Essay; which, to the good-natured and candid Reader will, it is hoped, be a sufficient Apology for the many Inaccuracies he will find in the Style, and other Faults of the Composition.

"PERHAPS the best Excuse that can be made for a Woman's venturing to write at all, is that which really produced this Book; Distress in her Circumstances: which she could not so well remove by any other Means in her Power.

"If it should meet with Success, it will be the only Good Fortune she ever has known; but as she is very sensible, That must chiefly depend upon the Entertainment the World will find in the Book itself, and not upon what she can say in the Preface, either to move their Compassion or bespeak their Good-will, she will detain them from it no longer."

The novel runs gently on friendship and good nature, with ingratitude as a foil to these virtues of the heart. Like the Heartfrees in "Jonathan Wild," David is "simple" because he is kind, honest, and generous. Miss Fielding kept her name off the title-page; the novel was written by "a Lady"; and bore the imprint of Fielding's publisher, Andrew Millar. Moreover, "David Simple" resembled "Joseph Andrews" in format-two handsome duodecimo volumes; the chapters were grouped in four books with facetious headings; and there were conversations in a stagecoach, on the road up to London, between a clergyman and an atheist, and Cynthia and a Butterfly. Altogether the novel was a rather pale yet delicate reflection of the master, just such a book as should come from the sister of Henry Fielding, who had lived with him, listened to his wonderful conversation, and read the books he thought not too hard for her. But people, not knowing that Fielding had such a sister, could not be blamed for ascribing "David" to him. Fielding had no good reason for being surprised on his return to London, to find himself the reputed author of an anonymous novel.

It was a curious situation. Fielding felt that his honour was at stake, for he had promised to put forth no more

anonymous books or pamphlets; his sister wished to keep her authorship concealed; and Millar, of course, equally wished to retain the shadowy influence of Fielding's name on the sales. The knot was untied by their bringing out another impression of the novel with a title-page enlarged to include "The Second Edition, Revised and Corrected. With a Preface by Henry Fielding Esq." Suppressing his sister's Advertisement, Fielding informed the public in his preface that the author was "a young woman nearly and dearly allied to me, in the highest friendship as well as relation," who needed in the composition of a novel no assistance from him or from anyone else. It appears, however, though his statement is vague, that he did render her considerable aid in the matter of details and the general conduct of the story; and for the second impression he certainly reread much of the novel, correcting “grammatical and other errors in style," and occasionally inserting a piquant phrase, especially in the chapter headings. But all the original lapses of his sister in diction, he declared, amounted to little when set against the beauties of the book and its noble thoughts. His love for his sister is ample excuse for his opinion that "the merit of this work consists in a vast penetration into human nature, a deep and profound discernment of all the mazes, windings and labyrinths, which perplex the heart of man to such a degree, that he is himself often incapable of seeing through them." In this high estimate of Sarah's novel, Richardson for once agreed with his rival. After Fielding's death, Richardson wrote to her, in line with a remark of Dr. Johnson's, that her late brother's knowledge of the human heart was but as "the knowledge of the outside of a clock-work machine," while hers was "that of all the finer springs and movements of the inside."* To be suspected as the author of "David Simple," said Fielding, was an honour that * Barbauld, "Correspondence," II, 104.

should displease no one. What grieved him was that the public refused to take him at his word, really accused him of duplicity, in breaking a promise which he had solemnly made in print the previous year and had so far strictly kept, "of never publishing, even a pamphlet, without setting my name to it." The honour thrust upon him involved grave dishonour.

"David Simple" aside, Fielding believed that his enemies were engaged in a conspiracy to smirch his good name; they would disgrace him both as a lawyer and as a man of letters. With great vehemence, he denounced them and their "Causidicade," revoked his promise, and bade farewell to literature:

"A second Reason which induces me to refute this Untruth [his writing 'David Simple'], is, that it may have a Tendency to injure me in a Profession, to which I have applied with so arduous and intent a Diligence, that I have had no Leisure, if I had Inclination, to compose any thing of this kind. Indeed I am very far from entertaining such an Inclination; I know the Value of the Reward, which Fame confers on Authors, too well, to endeavour any longer to obtain it; nor was the World ever more unwilling to bestow the glorious, envied Prize of the Laurel or Bays, than I should now be to receive any such Garland or Fool's Cap. There is not, I believe, (and it is bold to affirm) a single Free Briton in this Kingdom, who hates his Wife more heartily than I detest the Muses. They have indeed behaved to me like the most infamous Harlots, and have laid many a spurious, as well as deformed Production at my Door: In all which, my good Friends the Critics have, in their profound Discernment, discovered some Resemblance of the Parent; and thus I have been reputed and reported the Author of half the Scurrility, Bawdy, Treason and Blasphemy, which these few last Years have produced.