taining as well as instructive book by Philip Miller of the Chelsea Gardens.

As reprinted in Dublin, the pamphlet is an octavo volume, having a preface of six pages (based upon Fielding's original preface), and eighty-seven pages of text. In the fashion of the time, the original Latin and the paraphrase face each other on opposite pages, while humorous comment runs along beneath the so-called translation. Fielding never got beyond 772 lines of the first book of the "Ars Amatoria," but promised to go on in the same manner not only with Ovid but with other Latin poets, provided he were "properly encouraged." A long quotation in the preface from the defence of Ovid prefixed to Dryden's translation of the first book of the "Ars Amatoria" concluded with the assurance from Fielding that the paraphrase herewith submitted to the public contained "nothing capable of offending the nicest ear," a phrase with which we are now familiar from its appearance, slightly altered, in the dedication to "Tom Jones." "One of the most learned men of this age," it was added, remarked, after "perusing" the book, "that he thought it would serve better to explain the meaning of Ovid to a learner, than any other translation, or all his numerous commentators." The learned man, if Fielding is serious, should be either Chesterfield or Lyttelton.

It is quite evident from Fielding's phrasing that, though he had the Latin before him, he kept his eye close to Dryden's free translation, a copy of which was at hand among his books. What he did with Ovid was to modernize him much as he had done with Juvenal in his youth; only he now chose prose instead of verse as more suitable to a light theme. Rome and its places of amusement become London, Vauxhall, Ranelagh, the Mall, and the theatres, while Baiae is easily converted into Bath, where the springs are equally "sulphurous," and where "Master Dapperwit, bringing

home the wounds made by fair eyes in his bosom, cries out, on his return, 'The waters are not so wholesome as they are reported; I have received more harm than good at this place.' For Ovid's "bunches of grapes in Methymna" and "ears of corn in Gargara," we have "apples in Herefordshire" and "grains of wheat in Hampshire." In the same way Ovid's characters, real and mythical, are transformed into well-known men and women of Fielding's day. The unnatural passion of Pasiphaë has its modern instance in the story of "Mrs. Mary Hamilton," who fell in love with a beautiful girl. Roman augury and divination are displaced by Parson Whitefield's "inspiration"; and "the lying Cretans" make way for the freethinkers, who "believe nothing which they cannot see and account for." A distinct political colour was given to the paraphrase by turning Augustus Caesar into "our mighty George" meditating "new triumphs" in France, and by identifying the Emperor's grandson with the Duke of Cumberland, whose "matchless labours" were begun at Dettingen and completed at Culloden. "The true English reader," Fielding remarks in a footnote, "will be . . delighted to see Ovid introduced as singing forth the praises of the British hero."

Again, there appeared, in the same month* as "The Familiar Letters," a shilling volume which, though Fielding's name has, I think, never been associated with it, should probably be assigned to him as author or editor. It is nothing less than "A Compleat and Authentick History of the Rise, Progress, and Extinction of the Late Rebellion, And of the Proceedings against the Principal Persons concerned therein," to give only the opening phrases of a long title-page concluding with "The whole compos'd with the greatest Accuracy possible in regard to Facts and Dates, and free from all Mixture of fictitious Circum*The Gentleman's Magazine,'' April, 1747, p. 204.

stances, or ill-grounded Conjectures." The booklet, extending to 155 octavo pages, bears the imprint of Cooper, the publisher of "The True Patriot." Following the title-page is a chart giving the plan of action at Preston Pans, designed for the Earl of Marchmont by an engineer who was present at the battle. With the additions necessary to complete the story, the pamphlet is based upon the detailed account of the rebellion which Fielding had published piecemeal in "The True Patriot" week by week. At times the narrative follows "The True Patriot” verbatim, but generally rather in the way of summary with rephrasing in the interest of unity and compactness. Nothing of importance, however, is omitted by the compiler, while much is perforce added, especially towards the close, with reference to the fate that overtook the leaders of the insurrection.

That Fielding himself pieced together this history of the rebellion there can be no reasonable doubt. Of course it may be argued that the work was done by some hack in the employ of Cooper; indeed, the compiler's use of has instead of hath would at first sight point to a hand other than Fielding's-to the conclusion that Fielding's only connection with the history was that of being the halfeditor, half-author of the original narrative which ran through his periodical. But other considerations point directly to Fielding as the man who prepared the pamphlet for Cooper. A reason for Fielding's dropping his favourite hath is patent in the opening sentences which take the reader into the author's confidence. "The merit of a performance," it is said there, "does not at all depend upon its subject; for the lightest may be raised by an able, the most lofty may be injured by a weak and injudicious pen. This that I have undertaken is not so much the result of choice, as of necessity; I thought a succinct History of the Rebellion equally fit for the perusal of the

present age, and of posterity." In short, Fielding purposely disguised his hand, so far as he could, in doing a piece of journeyman's work to which the hazards of life had driven him. Still, the patriotic aim emerges. At a time when numerous untrustworthy accounts of the rebellion were spread broadcast, the author would relate for his contemporaries and their descendants what really happened. With this purpose clearly stated, the little book began, and so it closed. "Thus we have brought," runs the concluding paragraph, "this history down from the first contrivance of the rebellion abroad to the death of the last person who suffered for it, with all the clearness, candour, and exactness in our power . ; and we shall conclude it with a hearty wish, that nothing of the like kind may happen for the future; but that the British nation may live in the quiet possession of their laws, liberties, and properties, under the auspicious Government of the Royal Family, till time shall be no more; with a continual increase of peace, plenty and prosperity at home, and of respect and glory abroad."

No one needs to be told that this paragraph was written by the hand that wrote the last leader of "The True Patriot." Fielding overestimated the value that posterity would place upon his history of the rebellion; owing to its anonymity, probably few copies of it-I have seen only one-longer exist; but it is of interest in that it shows Fielding's care for exact dates and other minor details in writing history. Facts aside, the history is not so "impartial" as it claimed to be; boldly Hanoverian in tone, it has the appearance of being put out as a political pamphlet to offset the influence of the Jacobite historians.*

* With this pamphlet may be involved another. Late in October, 1745, Cooper published a pamphlet called "The History of the Present Rebellion in Scotland" ("Gentleman's Magazine,'' Oct., 1745, p. 560). On a flyleaf of the second edition of Sarah Fielding's "Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia" (1758), Millar advertised the "History of the Rebellion in Scotland, 1745," among

The Ministry soon had more pressing need of Fielding's pen. On June 18, 1747, Parliament was suddenly dissolved. Since the Battle of Culloden, opposition to the Government had been gathering strength. People revolted at the carnage in the days succeeding the battle and at the hideous executions of the following summer. Many Englishmen fully sympathized with the indignation that Smollett expressed in "The Tears of Scotland." When, for example, it was proposed to give the Duke of Cumberland the freedom of one of the London Companies, an alderman cried out, "Then let it be of the Butchers," and the Duke was thenceforth known as "Billy the Butcher." Subsequently certain Acts of Parliament aimed at those who had been in rebellion were severely criticised. The wearing of Highland dress was made punishable with imprisonment for a first and with transportation for a second offence. As a blow to the feudal rights of the Highland chieftains, all "heritable jurisdictions" in Scotland were abolished, though provision was made in the statute for partial compensation. An Act of grace was not quite what it claimed to be; for "the King's most gracious, general, and free pardon" specifically excluded by name eighty persons. Withal, people were tired of a foreign war which continued to drift on with no end in sight. In these circumstances, the Ministry, having put through Parliament its measures consequent upon the rebellion, appealed to the country, to the surprise of the Opposition, who were not books written by Henry Fielding. The presumption is that the two pamphlets, each costing a shilling, were one and the same, and that Fielding was the author. I have been unable to discover a copy of this pamphlet, though perhaps one was formerly in the library of Col. W. F. Prideaux ("Notes and Queries,'' Jan. 7, 1888, p. 1). In "The True Patriot," Fielding began his account of the insurrection under the title, "Observations on the Present Rebellion," which he soon altered to "The Present History of Great Britain." Thus "A Compleat and Authentick History," whether compiled and elaborated by Fielding or by another hand, appears to have behind it not only the articles in "The True Patriot," but also the pamphlet of 1745.