Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding was born in 1707 and at first wrote satirical plays for the London theatres, so directly aimed at the prime minister that they helped bring about the Censorship Act of 1737, which ended that career. He became a barrister, then a magistrate, and with his blind half-brother organised London's first modern police force. He published inquiries into theft and poverty. He died in 1754 in Lisbon, aged forty-seven, where he had gone to seek treatment.

In the catalogue 1

• NovelThe History of Tom Jones, a FoundlingHenry Fielding · 1749LiteraturePublic domain