The Living Novel & Later Appreciations [antikvár]

THE ANCESTOR When I was young and was reading too many novels the works of Fielding were regarded as one of the pleasant things in store for those about to reach the age of consent. He was the last novelist, as Thackeray said, to be allowed to describe a man, and there were book-soaked critics like Professor Saintsbury to expatiate over their wine upon Fielding's use of the privilege. It is true that Dr. Johnson called Fielding a blockhead and that Richardson—who had reason to spit and squirm—dismissed him as an ostler; but on the whole the warm impression of his genius and character prevailed, the impression which was most frankly but tolerantly conveyed in one of the letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: