Sarah Fielding
Encyclopedia
Sarah Fielding was a British
author and sister of the novelist Henry Fielding
. She was the author of The Governess, or The Little Female Academy
(1749), which was the first novel in English written especially for children (children's literature
), and had earlier achieved success with her novel The Adventures of David Simple (1744).
and Ursula, and her younger siblings were Anne, Beatrice, and Edmund. Sarah's father, Edmund Feilding, the third son of John Feilding, was a military officer and relative of the Earls of Denbigh
(his father, John, was the youngest son of the 3rd Earl). Although Edmund spelled his last name "Feilding" as often as "Fielding," both Henry and Sarah spelled the name "Fielding." When asked by an Earl of Denbigh why, Henry Fielding's son said, "I cannot tell, my Lord, except it be that my branch of the family were the first that knew how to spell" (Battestin 7-8). Sarah's mother, Sarah Gould, was the daughter of Sir Henry Gould, a judge on the King's Bench who had been reappointed to the Queen's Bench, and Sarah Davidge Gould. This descent is important for understanding the early life and education of Edmund Feilding's children.
Edmund left the care of his children to his wife's mother, Sarah Davidge Gould, while he built his career in London. The children grew up in her home in Glastonbury
and their paternal grandfather's house in East Stour (John Feilding being a latitudinarian Cambridge-educated parish priest
with three livings and who had been considered for a bishopric in Ireland
) (Battestin 10). Henry was sent to Eton
, but all of the daughters were sent to Mary Rookes's boarding school in Salisbury
.
When Edmund's first wife (Sarah's mother) died in 1718, Edmund married Anne Rapha, a Roman Catholic widow, who brought with her several children, and later bore Edmund a son and half-brother for Henry and Sarah, the future reformer John Fielding
. Sarah Davidge Gould and Sir Henry Gould (Sarah's maternal grandparents) had fallen out with Edmund prior to children's mother's death, and Lady Gould was extremely displeased with Edmund's second marriage, and Anne Rapha Fielding was the subject of much anti-Catholic sentiment from the elder generation of the family. Lady Gould was so set against Anne and her enlargement to the family that in 1721, she sued for custody of the children and ownership of the family house in East Stour. She eventually won, leaving the children unable to see their father for years.
In the 1740s, Sarah Fielding moved to London
, sometimes living with her sisters and sometimes with her brother Henry and his family. The women of the family lacked sufficient money for a dowry
, and consequently none married. Even when Lady Gould died in 1733, there was little money for the children.
Sarah turned to writing to make a living. While she lived with her brother and acted as his housekeeper, she began to write. In 1742, Henry Fielding
published Joseph Andrews
, and Sarah is often credited with having written the letter from Leonora to Horatio (two of the characters in the book). In 1743, Fielding published his Miscellanies (containing his life of Jonathan Wild
), and Sarah may have written its narrative of the life of Anne Boleyn
.
In 1744, Sarah published a novel, The Adventures of David Simple. As was the habit, it was published anonymously. The novel was quite successful and gathered praise from contemporaries, including the publisher and novelist Samuel Richardson
. Richardson, who was himself the target of Henry Fielding's satire, said that he thought Sarah and Henry were possessed of equal gifts of writing. David Simple went into a second edition within ten weeks, and was translated into French and German. The title pages to Sarah Fielding's novels often carried the advertisement that they were written by "the author of David Simple". The novel was sufficiently popular that Sarah wrote Familiar Letters between the Principal Characters in David Simple as an epistolary
furtherance to the novel in 1747
. In 1753
, she wrote a sequel to David Simple entitled David Simple: Volume the Last.
David Simple was one of the earliest sentimental novel
s, featuring a wayfaring hero in search of true friendship who triumphs by good nature and moral strength. He finds happiness in marriage and a rural, bucolic life, away from the corruptions of the city. David Simple is an analog, in a sense, to the figure of Heartsfree, in Henry Fielding's Jonathan Wild and Squire Allworthy in his Tom Jones
. However, he also shares characteristics with other sentimental figures who find their peace only with escape from corruption and the harmony of a new Utopia
. In her Volume the Last, however, Sarah's fiction, like Henry's, is darker and shows less of a faith in the triumph of goodness in the face of a corrosive, immoral world.
Fielding also wrote three other novels with original stories. The most significant of these was The Governess, or The Little Female Academy
in 1749, which is the first novel in English written especially for children (children's literature
). In addition, she wrote The History of the Countess of Dellwyn in 1759, and The History of Ophelia in 1760.
As a critic, Sarah Fielding wrote Remarks on Clarissa in 1749, concerning the novel Clarissa
by Samuel Richardson. As a biographer, she wrote The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia in 1757, a history, written from Greek and Roman sources, on the lives of Cleopatra and Octavia
, two famous women from Roman times. As a translator she produced Xenophon's Memoirs of Socrates, with the Defense of Socrates Before His Judges in 1762, a work by the Ancient Greek writer and soldier Xenophon
concerning the philosopher Socrates
.
and the similarly famous Elizabeth Montagu
(a member of the Blue Stockings Society
) gave her some financial aid. In around 1767, the novelist Sarah Scott
, sister of Elizabeth Montagu, invited Sarah Fielding to come and live with her in a female utopian community, an attempt to create the utopia described in Millenium Hall
, but Sarah declined the invitation. Sarah Fielding died in 1768. There is a memorial plaque to her on the west porch of Bath Abbey
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
author and sister of the novelist Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
. She was the author of The Governess, or The Little Female Academy
The Governess, or The Little Female Academy
The Governess, or The Little Female Academy by Sarah Fielding is the first full-length novel written for children, and a significant work of children's literature of the 18th century.In her preface, the author says:-Bibliography:...
(1749), which was the first novel in English written especially for children (children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
), and had earlier achieved success with her novel The Adventures of David Simple (1744).
Childhood
HenryHenry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
and Ursula, and her younger siblings were Anne, Beatrice, and Edmund. Sarah's father, Edmund Feilding, the third son of John Feilding, was a military officer and relative of the Earls of Denbigh
Earl of Denbigh
Earl of Denbigh is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1622 for the courtier and soldier William Feilding, 1st Viscount Feilding. He was Master of the Great Wardrobe under King James I and also took part in the Expedition to Cádiz of 1625...
(his father, John, was the youngest son of the 3rd Earl). Although Edmund spelled his last name "Feilding" as often as "Fielding," both Henry and Sarah spelled the name "Fielding." When asked by an Earl of Denbigh why, Henry Fielding's son said, "I cannot tell, my Lord, except it be that my branch of the family were the first that knew how to spell" (Battestin 7-8). Sarah's mother, Sarah Gould, was the daughter of Sir Henry Gould, a judge on the King's Bench who had been reappointed to the Queen's Bench, and Sarah Davidge Gould. This descent is important for understanding the early life and education of Edmund Feilding's children.
Edmund left the care of his children to his wife's mother, Sarah Davidge Gould, while he built his career in London. The children grew up in her home in Glastonbury
Glastonbury
Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,784 in the 2001 census...
and their paternal grandfather's house in East Stour (John Feilding being a latitudinarian Cambridge-educated parish priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
with three livings and who had been considered for a bishopric in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
) (Battestin 10). Henry was sent to Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, but all of the daughters were sent to Mary Rookes's boarding school in Salisbury
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
.
When Edmund's first wife (Sarah's mother) died in 1718, Edmund married Anne Rapha, a Roman Catholic widow, who brought with her several children, and later bore Edmund a son and half-brother for Henry and Sarah, the future reformer John Fielding
John Fielding
This article is about the London magistrate. For the soldier, see John Williams .Sir John Fielding was a notable English magistrate and social reformer of the 18th century. He was also the younger half-brother of novelist, playwright and chief magistrate Henry Fielding...
. Sarah Davidge Gould and Sir Henry Gould (Sarah's maternal grandparents) had fallen out with Edmund prior to children's mother's death, and Lady Gould was extremely displeased with Edmund's second marriage, and Anne Rapha Fielding was the subject of much anti-Catholic sentiment from the elder generation of the family. Lady Gould was so set against Anne and her enlargement to the family that in 1721, she sued for custody of the children and ownership of the family house in East Stour. She eventually won, leaving the children unable to see their father for years.
Writing career
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, sometimes living with her sisters and sometimes with her brother Henry and his family. The women of the family lacked sufficient money for a dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
, and consequently none married. Even when Lady Gould died in 1733, there was little money for the children.
Sarah turned to writing to make a living. While she lived with her brother and acted as his housekeeper, she began to write. In 1742, Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
published Joseph Andrews
Joseph Andrews
Joseph Andrews, or The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams, was the first published full-length novel of the English author and magistrate Henry Fielding, and indeed among the first novels in the English language...
, and Sarah is often credited with having written the letter from Leonora to Horatio (two of the characters in the book). In 1743, Fielding published his Miscellanies (containing his life of Jonathan Wild
Jonathan Wild
Jonathan Wild was perhaps the most infamous criminal of London — and possibly Great Britain — during the 18th century, both because of his own actions and the uses novelists, playwrights, and political satirists made of them...
), and Sarah may have written its narrative of the life of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
.
In 1744, Sarah published a novel, The Adventures of David Simple. As was the habit, it was published anonymously. The novel was quite successful and gathered praise from contemporaries, including the publisher and novelist Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson was an 18th-century English writer and printer. He is best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded , Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and The History of Sir Charles Grandison...
. Richardson, who was himself the target of Henry Fielding's satire, said that he thought Sarah and Henry were possessed of equal gifts of writing. David Simple went into a second edition within ten weeks, and was translated into French and German. The title pages to Sarah Fielding's novels often carried the advertisement that they were written by "the author of David Simple". The novel was sufficiently popular that Sarah wrote Familiar Letters between the Principal Characters in David Simple as an epistolary
Epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...
furtherance to the novel in 1747
1747 in literature
The year 1747 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Samuel Johnson begins work on his dictionary of the English language* David Garrick becomes one of the managers of Drury Lane Theatre-New books:...
. In 1753
1753 in literature
The year 1753 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The earliest existing diary by a woman is written in 1753 by Mercy Seccombe, who had emigrated from Harvard, Massachusetts to Nova Scotia, Canada; her diary ends there....
, she wrote a sequel to David Simple entitled David Simple: Volume the Last.
David Simple was one of the earliest sentimental novel
Sentimental novel
The sentimental novel or the novel of sensibility is an 18th century literary genre which celebrates the emotional and intellectual concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism, and sensibility...
s, featuring a wayfaring hero in search of true friendship who triumphs by good nature and moral strength. He finds happiness in marriage and a rural, bucolic life, away from the corruptions of the city. David Simple is an analog, in a sense, to the figure of Heartsfree, in Henry Fielding's Jonathan Wild and Squire Allworthy in his Tom Jones
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, often known simply as Tom Jones, is a comic novel by the English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. First published on 28 February 1749, Tom Jones is among the earliest English prose works describable as a novel...
. However, he also shares characteristics with other sentimental figures who find their peace only with escape from corruption and the harmony of a new Utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
. In her Volume the Last, however, Sarah's fiction, like Henry's, is darker and shows less of a faith in the triumph of goodness in the face of a corrosive, immoral world.
The Governess, or The Little Female Academy
The Governess, or The Little Female Academy by Sarah Fielding is the first full-length novel written for children, and a significant work of children's literature of the 18th century.In her preface, the author says:-Bibliography:...
in 1749, which is the first novel in English written especially for children (children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
). In addition, she wrote The History of the Countess of Dellwyn in 1759, and The History of Ophelia in 1760.
As a critic, Sarah Fielding wrote Remarks on Clarissa in 1749, concerning the novel Clarissa
Clarissa
Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady is an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, published in 1748. It tells the tragic story of a heroine whose quest for virtue is continually thwarted by her family, and is the longest real novelA completed work that has been released by a publisher in...
by Samuel Richardson. As a biographer, she wrote The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia in 1757, a history, written from Greek and Roman sources, on the lives of Cleopatra and Octavia
Octavia Minor
Octavia the Younger , also known as Octavia Minor or simply Octavia, was the sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus , half-sister of Octavia the Elder, and fourth wife of Mark Antony...
, two famous women from Roman times. As a translator she produced Xenophon's Memoirs of Socrates, with the Defense of Socrates Before His Judges in 1762, a work by the Ancient Greek writer and soldier Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
concerning the philosopher Socrates
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
.
Final years
Sarah's sisters died between 1750 and 1751, and Henry died in 1754. Sarah retired from London and moved to a small house just outside Bath. The famous philanthropist Ralph AllenRalph Allen
Ralph Allen was an entrepreneur and philanthropist, and was notable for his reforms to the British postal system. He was baptised at St Columb Major, Cornwall on 24 July 1693. As a teenager he worked at the Post Office. He moved in 1710 to Bath, where he became a post office clerk, and at the age...
and the similarly famous Elizabeth Montagu
Elizabeth Montagu
Elizabeth Montagu was a British social reformer, patron of the arts, salonist, literary critic, and writer who helped organize and lead the bluestocking society...
(a member of the Blue Stockings Society
Blue Stockings Society (England)
The Blue Stockings Society was an informal women's social and educational movement in England in the mid-18th century. The society emphasized education and mutual co-operation rather than the individualism which marked the French version....
) gave her some financial aid. In around 1767, the novelist Sarah Scott
Sarah Scott
Sarah Scott was an English novelist, translator, and social reformer. Her father, Matthew Robinson, and her mother, Elizabeth Robinson, were both from distinguished families, and Sarah was one of nine children who survived to adulthood...
, sister of Elizabeth Montagu, invited Sarah Fielding to come and live with her in a female utopian community, an attempt to create the utopia described in Millenium Hall
Millenium Hall
A Description of Millenium Hall and the Country Adjacent is a 1762 novel by Sarah Scott. was Scott's most significant novel. It was popular enough to go to four editions by 1778, and interest in it has revived in the 21st century among feminist literary scholars...
, but Sarah declined the invitation. Sarah Fielding died in 1768. There is a memorial plaque to her on the west porch of Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England...
.
List of works
- 1744 - The Adventures of David Simple
- 1747 - Familiar Letters between the Principal Characters in David Simple
- 1749 - The Governess, or The Little Female AcademyThe Governess, or The Little Female AcademyThe Governess, or The Little Female Academy by Sarah Fielding is the first full-length novel written for children, and a significant work of children's literature of the 18th century.In her preface, the author says:-Bibliography:...
- 1749 - Remarks on Clarissa
- 1753 - David Simple: Volume the Last
- 1754 - The Cry: A New Dramatic FableThe Cry (book)Jane Collier's and Sarah Fielding's The Cry: A New Dramatic Fable was Fielding's sixth and Collier's second and final work. The work is an allegorical and satirical novel...
(with Jane CollierJane CollierJane Collier was an English novelist most famous for her book An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting . She also collaborated with Sarah Fielding on her only other surviving work The Cry ....
) - 1757 - The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia
- 1759 - The History of the Countess of Dellwyn
- 1761 - The History of Ophelia
- 1762 - Xenophon's Memoirs of Socrates, with the Defense of Socrates Before His Judges
Further reading
- Barchas, Janine. "Sarah Fielding's Dashing Style and Eighteenth-Century Print Culture". ELH 63.3 (1996): 633-56.
- Battestin, Martin C. and Clive T. Probyn, eds. The Correspondence of Henry and Sarah Fielding. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
- Battestin, Martin C. "Henry Fielding, Sarah Fielding, and 'the Dreadful Sin of Incest'". Novel 13.1 (1979): 6-18.
- Bree, Linda. Sarah Fielding. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1996.
- Downs-Miers, Deborah. "Spring the Trap: Subtexts and Subversions". Fetter'd or Free?: British Women Novelists, 1670–1815. Eds. Mary Anne Schofield and Cecilia Macheski. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1986.
- Eaves, T. C. Duncan and Ben D. Kimpel. Samuel Richardson: A Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
- Fielding, Sarah. The History of Ophelia. Ed. Peter Sabor. Peterborough, ON: Broadview PressBroadview PressBroadview Press is an independent academic publisher that focuses on the humanities. Founded in 1985 by Don LePan, the company now employs over 25 people, has over 500 titles in print, and publishes approximately 50 titles each year...
, 2004. ISBN 978-1551111209. - Johnson, Christopher D. "Introduction". The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia. London: Associated University Presses, 1994.
- Needham, Arnold E. The Life and Works of Sarah Fielding. 1943.
- Nussbaum, Felicity A. The Limits of the Human: Fictions of Anomaly, Race, and Gender in the Long Eighteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
- Rizzo, Betty. Companions Without Vows: Relationships Among Eighteenth-Century British Women. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1994.
- Sabor, Peter. "Richardson, Henry Fielding, and Sarah Fielding". The Cambridge Companion to English Literature 1740-1830. Eds. Thomas Keymer and Jon Mee. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
- Schellenberg, Betty A. The Professionalization of Women Writers in Eighteenth-Century Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- Schofield, Mary Anne. Masking and Unmasking the Female Mind. University of Delaware Press, 1990.
- Skinner, Gillian. "'The Price of a Tear': Economic Sense and Sensibility in Sarah Fielding's David Simple". Literature and History 3rd series. 1.1 (1992): 16–28.
- Spencer, Jane. The Rise of the Woman Novelist: From Aphra Behn to Jane Austen. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986.
- Spender, Dale. Mothers of the Novel. London: Pandora, 1986.
- Stockstill, Ashley. "Better Homes and Gardens: The Fairy World(s) of Sarah Fielding and Sarah Scott". Feminist Studies in English Literature 6.2 (1998): 137-58.
- Terry, Richard. "David Simple and the Fallacy of Friendship". Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. 44.3 (2004): 525-44.
- Todd, JanetJanet ToddJanet Margaret Todd is a Welsh-born academic and a well-respected author of many books on women in literature. Todd was educated at Cambridge University and the University of Florida, where she undertook a doctorate on the poet John Clare...
. The Sign of Angellica: Women, Writing and Fiction, 1660–1800. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989. - Woodward, Carolyn. "Sarah Fielding's Self-Destructing Utopia: The Adventures of David Simple". Living by the Pen: Early British Women Writers. Ed. Dale Spender. New York: Teachers College Press, 1992.