HENRY FIELDING,
Born 1707.—Died 1754.—Anne.—George I.—George II.
Son of Lieutenant-General Fielding and great grandson of the third Earl of Denbigh, was born at Sharpham, in Somersetshire. He was the author of Tom Jones and several other novels full of character and accurate descriptions of varieties of life, but disfigured by the great coarseness of the age in which he wrote. He died of dropsy at Lisbon.
GENERAL WOLFE.
Born 1726.—Died 1759.—George I.—George II.—George III.
This brave General, born in Kent, earned during his short life of thirty-three years unusual distinction. He was appointed General of the British troops in North America, under Lord Chatham’s administration, and fought in the siege of Louisbourg, which surrendered, in Cape Breton. While afterwards besieging Quebec, Wolfe was shot at the moment of his victory over the French under Montcalm, and when told that the French troops were flying, said, “I die content.”
SAMUEL RICHARDSON.
Born 1689.—Died 1761.—William III.—Anne.—George I.—George II.—George III.
This celebrated novelist was born in Derbyshire. He was educated at Christ’s Hospital, and began life as a printer. He was the first English writer of fiction who, in Sir Charles Grandison, avoided the coarseness which disfigures Smollett’s and Fielding’s works. He wrote also Pamela and Clarissa Harlowe, which have been translated into most of the European languages.