The Temple Beau: "Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea"

By Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding was born at Sharpham Park, near Glastonbury, in Somerset on April 22nd 1707. His early years were spent on his parents’ farm in Dorset before being educated at Eton.

An early romance ended disastrously and with it his removal to London and the beginnings of a glittering literary career; he published his first play, at age 21, in 1728.

He was prolific, sometimes writing six plays a year, but he did like to poke fun at the authorities. His plays were thought to be the final straw for the authorities in their attempts to bring in a new law. In 1737 The Theatrical Licensing Act was passed. At a stroke political satire was almost impossible. Fielding was rendered mute. Any playwright who was viewed with suspicion by the Government now found an audience difficult to find and therefore Theatre owners now toed the Government line.

Fielding was practical with the circumstances and ironically stopped writing to once again take up his career in the practice of law and became a barrister after studying at Middle Temple. By this time he had married Charlotte Craddock, his first wife, and they would go on to have five children. Charlotte died in 1744 but was immortalised as the heroine in both Tom Jones and Amelia.

Fielding was put out by the success of Samuel Richardson's Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded. His reaction was to spur him into writing a novel. In 1741 his first novel was published; the successful Shamela, an anonymous parody of Richardson's novel.

Undoubtedly the masterpiece of Fielding’s career was the novel Tom Jones, published in 1749. It is a wonderfully and carefully constructed picaresque novel following the convoluted and hilarious tale of how a foundling came into a fortune.

Fielding was a consistent anti-Jacobite and a keen supporter of the Church of England. This led to him now being richly rewarded with the position of London's Chief Magistrate. Fielding continued to write and his career both literary and professional continued to climb.

In 1749 he joined with his younger half-brother John, to help found what was the nascent forerunner to a London police force, the Bow Street Runners. Fielding's ardent commitment to the cause of justice in the 1750s unfortunately coincided with a rapid deterioration in his health. Such was his decline that in the summer of 1754 he travelled, with Mary and his daughter, to Portugal in search of a cure. Gout, asthma, dropsy and other afflictions forced him to use crutches. His health continued to fail alarmingly.

Henry Fielding died in Lisbon two months later on October 8th, 1754.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stage Door
• Release date: Jan 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781787802698

Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) was an English novelist, dramatist, and prominent magistrate. He was born into noble lineage, yet was cut off from his allowance as a young man and subsequently began a career writing plays. He wrote over 25 dramatic works, primarily satires addressing political injustice. When Fielding's career as a playwright ended with new censorship laws, he turned to writing fiction. His work as a novelist is considered to have ushered in a new genre of literature. Among his best known masterpieces are The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild (1743) and The History of Tom Jones (1749).

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The Temple Beau by Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding was born at Sharpham Park, near Glastonbury, in Somerset on April 22nd 1707.  His early years were spent on his parents’ farm in Dorset before being educated at Eton.

An early romance ended disastrously and with it his removal to London and the beginnings of a glittering literary career; he published his first play, at age 21, in 1728.

He was prolific, sometimes writing six plays a year, but he did like to poke fun at the authorities. His plays were thought to be the final straw for the authorities in their attempts to bring in a new law. In 1737 The Theatrical Licensing Act was passed.  At a stroke political satire was almost impossible. Fielding was rendered mute.  Any playwright who was viewed with suspicion by the Government now found an audience difficult to find and therefore Theatre owners now toed the Government line.

Fielding was practical with the circumstances and ironically stopped writing to once again take up his career in the practice of law and became a barrister after studying at Middle Temple.  By this time he had married Charlotte Craddock, his first wife, and they would go on to have five children. Charlotte died in 1744 but was immortalised as the heroine in both Tom Jones and Amelia. 

Fielding was put out by the success of Samuel Richardson's Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded.  His reaction was to spur him into writing a novel.  In 1741 his first novel was published; the successful Shamela, an anonymous parody of Richardson's novel.

Undoubtedly the masterpiece of Fielding’s career was the novel Tom Jones, published in 1749.  It is a wonderfully and carefully constructed picaresque novel following the convoluted and hilarious tale of how a foundling came into a fortune.

Fielding was a consistent anti-Jacobite and a keen supporter of the Church of England. This led to him now being richly rewarded with the position of London's Chief Magistrate.  Fielding continued to write and his career both literary and professional continued to climb. 

In 1749 he joined with his younger half-brother John, to help found what was the nascent forerunner to a London police force, the Bow Street Runners. Fielding's ardent commitment to the cause of justice in the 1750s unfortunately coincided with a rapid deterioration in his health.  Such was his decline that in the summer of 1754 he travelled, with Mary and his daughter, to Portugal in search of a cure.  Gout, asthma, dropsy and other afflictions forced him to use crutches. His health continued to fail alarmingly.

Henry Fielding died in Lisbon two months later on October 8th, 1754.

Index of Contents

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

SCENE: LONDON

PROLOGUE, Written by Mr. RALPH, and Spoken by Mr. GIFFARD

ACT I

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE VI

ACT II

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE VI

SCENE VII

SCENE VIII

SCENE IX

SCENE X

SCENE XI

SCENE XII

SCENE XIII

SCENE XIV

ACT III

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE VI

SCENE VII

SCENE VIII

SCENE IX

SCENE X

SCENE XI

SCENE XII

ACT IV

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE VI

SCENE VII

SCENE VIII

SCENE IX

SCENE IX

ACT V

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE VI

SCENE VII

SCENE VIII

SCENE IX

SCENE X

SCENE XI

SCENE XII

SCENE XIII

SCENE XIV

SCENE XV

SCENE XVI

SCENE XVII

SCENE XVIII

SCENE XIX

SCENE XX

SCENE XXI

SCENE XXII

EPILOGUE, Written by a FRIEND, and Spoken by Mrs. GIFFARD

Sung by Miss THORNOWETS, in the Second Act

Sung in the Third Act, by Miss Thornowets

HENRY FIELDING – A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

HENRY FIELDING – A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Non aliter, quam qui adverso vix Flumine Lembum

Remigiis subigit. 

Virg. Georg.

Indignor quidquam reprehendi, non quia crassè

Compositum, illepidève putetur, sed quia Nobis.

Hor. Art. Poet.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

MEN

Sir Avarice Pedant,

Sir Harry Wilding

Young Wilding

Veromil

Valentine

Pedant

Pincet

WOMEN

Lady Lucy Pedant

Lady Gravely

Bellaria

Clarissa

Taylor, Perriwig-maker, Servants, &c.

SCENE: LONDON

THE TEMPLE BEAU

PROLOGUE, Written by Mr. RALPH, and Spoken by Mr. GIFFARD

Humour and Wit, in each politer Age,

A Triumphant, rear'd the Trophies of the Stage:

But only Farce, and Shew, will now go down,

And Harlequin's the Darling of the Town.

Will's has resign'd its old Pretence to Wit,

And Beaux appear, where Criticks us'd to sit.

Button himself, provok'd at Wit's Decline,

Now Lets his House, and swears he'll Burn his Sign.

Ah! shou'd all others that on Wit depend,

Like him, Provok'd; like him, their Dealings end;

Our Theatres might take th' Example too,

And Players starve themselves—as Authors do.

But, if the gay, the courtly World disdain

To hear the Muses and their Sons complain;

Each injur'd Bard shall to this Refuge fly,

And find that Comfort, which the Great deny:

Shall frequently employ this Infant Stage,

And boldly aim to wake a dreaming Age.

The Comick Muse, in Smiles severely gay,

Shall scoff at Vice, and laugh its Crimes away.

The Voice of Sorrow pine in Tragick Lays,

And claim your Tears, as the sincerest Praise.

Merit, like Indian Gems, is rarely found;

Obscure, 'tis sullied with the common Ground:

But when it blazes in the World's broad Eye,

All own the Charms, they pass'd unheeded by.

Be you the first t'explore the latent Prize,

And raise its Value, as its Beauties rise.

Convince that Town, which boasts its better Breeding,

That Riches—are not all that you exceed in.

Merit, where-ever found, is still the same,

And this our Stage may be the Road to Fame.

ACT I

SCENE I

SCENE: An Antichamber in Sir Avarice Pedant's House.

LADY LUCY, LADY PEDANT, LADY GRAVELY.

LADY LUCY, entring in a Passion, followed by the LADY GRAVELY.

LADY LUCY

No more of your Lectures, dear Sister. Must I be fatigu'd every Morning, with an odious Repetition of fulsome, dull, antiquated Maxims, extracted from old Philosophers and Divines, who no more practised what they wrote, than you practise what you read? Sure, never Woman had such a Time on't!—Between a Husband mad with Avarice, a Son-in-Law mad with Learning, a Neice mad with Love—and a Sister—

LADY GRAVELY

Ay, what am I? I'd be glad to know what I am.

LADY LUCY

The World knows what you are—

LADY GRAVELY

How, Madam!—the World knows nothing of me.

LADY LUCY

It says it does; it talks of you very freely, Child. First, that you are not so young as you would seem; nor so handsom, or good as you do seem; that your Actions are as much disguised by your Words, as your Skin by Paint; that the Virtue in your Mouth, no more proceeds from the Purity of your Heart, than the Colour in your Cheeks does, from the Purity of your Blood.

LADY GRAVELY

Very fine, indeed!

LADY LUCY

That your Ardency to reprove the World is too often rank Envy; that you are not angry with the Deformities of the Mind, but the Beauties of the Person: For it is notorious, that you never spoke well of a handsome Woman, nor ill of an ugly one.

LADY GRAVELY

Impudent Scandal!

LADY LUCY

That you rail at the Diversions of the Town, for several Reasons, but the Love of Goodness has nothing to do with any. Assemblies, because you are very little regarded in them; Operas, because you have no Ear; Plays, because you have no Taste; Balls, because you can't dance: and lastly—that you went to Church, twice a-day, a whole Year and half, because—you was in Love with the Parson; ha, ha, ha!

LADY GRAVELY

As ill as that malicious Smile becomes you, I am glad you put it on: For it convinces me, that what you have said is purely your own Suggestion, which I know how to despise. Or, perhaps, you call a