Henry Fielding

Question 1

When was Henry Fielding born?

Answer 1

b1707 d.1754

Question 2

How many plays has Henry Fielding written?

Answer 2

Some 25 plays. He was forced to make an income out of writing when his father stopped giving him an allowance.

Question 3

Which of Fielding’s plays ridiculed the Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole?

Answer 3

Historical Register, for the Year 1736.

Question 4

What was the newspaper that Fielding ran?

Answer 4

Champion, or the British Mercury (1739-1741)

Question 5

What is the title of Fielding’s parody of Richardson’s Pamela?

Answer 5

An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews (1741), published under the name Mr.Conny Keyber.

Question 6

When was Joseph Andrews published?

Answer 6

1742.

Question 7

What is the full title of Joseph Andrews?

Answer 7

The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams

Question 8

What is Joseph Andrews about?

Answer 8

It is the tale of a a good-natured footman’s adventures on the road home from London with his friend and mentor, the absent-minded parson Abraham Adams.

Question 9

Which is the most famous of the three Miscellanies published in 1743?

Answer 9

The Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great.

Question 10

What is The Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great about?

Answer 10

It is a satirical biographical novel about the London underworld boss called Jonathan Wild. Wild is a thief taker who captures criminals and turns them over to the authorities. He also has other underhand business.

Question 11

When did Fielding write the pamphlet, “A Serious Address to the People of Great Britain. In Which the Certain Consequences of the Present Rebellion, Are Fully Demonstrated. Necessary To Be Perused by Every Lover of his Country at This Juncture”?

Answer 11

At the start of the Jacobite rebellion in 1745.

Question 12

What is the name of the newspaper that Fielding wrote during the Jacobite rebellion?

Answer 12

The True Patriot: And the History of Our Own Times

Question 13

What is the journal that Fielding started after closing down his newspaper?

Answer 13

The Jacobite Journal (1747). Its propaganda value was deemed so great that the government purchased 2,000 copies of each issue for free distribution among the inns and alehouses of the kingdom.

Question 14

When was Tom Jones published?

Answer 14

1749.

Question 15

What is the complete title of Tom Jones?

Answer 15

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Question 16

Who are the protagonists of Tom Jones?

Answer 16

Tom Jones, and the girl he loves, Sophia Western.

Question 17

Who is Squire Allworthy?

Answer 17

A character in Tom Jones, a kindhearted widower who acts as a surrogate father to him.

Question 18

Which novel of Fielding is considered a forerunner of the Victorian domestic novel?

Answer 18

Amelia (1751)

Question 19

What is Amelia about?

Answer 19

It follows the life of Amelia and Captain William Booth after they are married. The character Amelia is possibly modelled on Fielding’s wife Charlotte who died in 1744.

Question 20

The title of the one travel account that Fielding published?

Answer 20

The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon was written when he went to Portugal to seek the sun to cure his various ailments. He died there the same year he reached Portugal.

Question 21

What did Walter Scott call Fielding?

Answer 21

“The Father of the English novel”