The Final Years: 1751–4

Abstract

Fielding’s last years were typical of his earlier life, full of energy well used, both in his work and in the pleasures and pains of living. Despite severe illness and other troubles, he never lost his zest for the day or his sense of humour. Nevertheless the vision which accounts for the serious regard of a wide range of social issues in Amelia also controls his last important works: An Enquiry into the Causes of the Eate Increase of Robbers (1751), The Covent-Garden Journal (1752), Examples of the Interposition of Providence in the Detection and Punishment of Murder (1752), A Proposal for Making an Effectual Provision for the Poor (1753), A Clear State of the Case of Elizabeth Canning (1753), the revised Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great (1754), and The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon (1755). Though Fielding was never a pessimist, his view of the world took on a sober colouring as he kept watch over the human condition. His intense vision of things and his implicit belief that it was his responsibility to observe and to comment on what he saw were mutually nourishing aspects of his deepest being.