ot do
more than justice to the amiable qualities of the original, or to
her beauty, although this had suffered a little from the accident
related in the novel--a frightful overturn, which destroyed the
gristle of her nose. He loved her passionately, and she returned his
affection....

"His biographers seem to have been shy of disclosing that after the
death of this charming woman, he married her maid. And yet the act
was not so discreditable to his character as it may sound. The maid
had few personal charms, but was an excellent creature, devotedly
attached to her mistress, and almost brokenhearted for her loss. In
the first agonies of his own grief, which approached to frenzy, he
found no relief but from weeping along with her; nor solace when a
degree calmer, but in talking to her of the angel they mutually
regretted. This made her his habitual confidential associate, and in
process of time he began to think he could not give his children a
tenderer mother, or secure for himself a more faithful housekeeper
and nurse. At least, this was what he told his friends; and it is
certain that her conduct as his wife confirmed it, and fully
justified his good opinion."--_Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu._ Edited by Lord Wharncliffe. _Introductory Anecdotes_, vol.
i, pp. 80, 81.

Fielding's first wife was Miss Craddock, a young lady from
Salisbury, with a fortune of 1,500_l._, whom he married in 1736.
About the same time he succeeded, himself, to an estate of 200_l._
per annum, and on the joint amount he lived for some time as a
splendid country gentleman in Dorsetshire. Three years brought him
to the end of his fortune; when he returned to London, and became a
student of law.

158 In the _Gentleman's Magazine_, for 1786, an anecdote is related of
Harry Fielding, "in whom," says the correspondent, "good nature and
philanthropy in their extreme degree were known to be the prominent
features." It seems that "some parochial taxes" for his house in
Beaufort Buildings had long been demanded by the collector. "At
last, Harry went off to Johnson, and obtained by a process of
literary mortgage the needful sum. He was returning with it, when he
met an old college chum whom he had not seen for many years. He