Sarah Fielding

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Standard Name: Fielding, Sarah
Birth Name: Sarah Fielding
Pseudonym: A Lady
Pseudonym: The Author of David Simple
SF , best known as a mid-eighteenth-century novelist, tried a range of other genres as well: history, criticism, a play, a translation, and a landmark children's book which is both a work of pedagogy and commonly billed as the first school story for girls. Her reputation is gradually emerging from the shadow of her brother Henry 's and enabling recognition of her status as a woman of letters, and her pivotal position in the history of the novel.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Birth Henry Fielding
He was the elder brother of Sarah Fielding , and second cousin of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (their grandfathers were brothers).
Family and Intimate relationships Jane Collier
JC was living with Sarah Fielding in Beauford Buildings, London.
Scholars differ as to whether this was early or late in the year.
Keymer, Tom. “Jane Collier, Reader of Richardson, and the Fire Scene in ClarissaNew Essays on Samuel Richardson, edited by Albert J. Rivero, Macmillan; St Martins Press, 1996, pp. 141-61.
145 and n26
Sabor, Peter, and Sarah Fielding. “Introduction”. The Adventures of David Simple and Volume the Last, University Press of Kentucky, 1998, p. vii - xli.
xxxix
Bree, Linda. Sarah Fielding. Twayne, 1996.
xii
Keymer, Tom. “Jane Collier, Reader of Richardson, and the Fire Scene in ClarissaNew Essays on Samuel Richardson, edited by Albert J. Rivero, Macmillan; St Martins Press, 1996, pp. 141-61.
145 and n26
Friends, Associates Sarah Scott
SS formed a friendship with Sarah Fielding at Bath.
Rizzo, Betty, and Sarah Scott. “Introduction”. The History of Sir George Ellison, University Press of Kentucky, 1996, p. ix - xlv.
xvii
Friends, Associates Sarah Scott
When these two settled at Batheaston, they became part of a circle of women that included friends they had already made: Sarah Fielding, Elizabeth Cutts , Margaret Riggs (whose daughter was to continue the...
Friends, Associates Samuel Richardson
His close friends, too, included a remarkable number of writing women: among others Sarah Fielding , sister of his literary arch-rival, Jane Collier , Hester Mulso (later Chapone) , Susanna Highmore (later Duncombe) , and...
Friends, Associates Mary Jones
In her local life, however, MJ felt isolated. On one occasion she told Martha Lovelace (later Beauclerk) that her only friend was a young Student of Oxford—
Jones, Mary. Miscellanies in Prose and Verse. Dodsley, 1750.
375
probably not an intellectually stimulating friendship...
Friends, Associates Jane Collier
JC was a lifelong friend of Sarah Fielding and her brother Henry (who famously mentioned in a book inscription her understanding more than Female, mixed with virtues almost more than human),
qtd. in
Londry, Michael. “Our dear Miss Jenny Collier”. Times Literary Supplement, 5 Mar. 2004, pp. 13-14.
14
and of...
Friends, Associates Charlotte Lennox
She met Sarah Fielding at Richardson's house, and became friendly also with Henry Fielding , Saunders Welch (the philanthropist, who later offered her employment), and Lord Orrery . She was presumably the Mrs Lenox with...
Friends, Associates Frances Sheridan
In London they quickly acquired an influential and highly talented circle of friends, including Samuel Johnson , Samuel Richardson , Edward Young , Frances Brooke , Sarah Scott , and Sarah Fielding . Richardson admired...
Intertextuality and Influence Charlotte Lennox
For the plot Lennox cannibalized material from her novel Henrietta: Henrietta becomes Harriet Courtney; her brother becomes the dominant character, and the last third of the novel is dropped. The obstacles to Harriet's marriage...
Intertextuality and Influence Eliza Haywood
This book's full title, with its reference to a Search after Happiness, sounds like a possible source for Sarah Fielding 's David Simple, whose hero is depicted in Search of a Real Friend...
Intertextuality and Influence Elizabeth Inchbald
The story is set in London, where a brother and sister are starving, and are helped by a man who appears benevolent but actually hopes to seduce the sister. The pair turn out not...
Intertextuality and Influence Mary Ann Radcliffe
MAR focuses on the impossibility for middle-class women of earning an honest living, and the gradual male takeover of traditionally female jobs. She laments the fact that men no longer offer women adequate protection, and...
Intertextuality and Influence Jane Taylor
This is both a conduct book and a work of epistolary fiction, in the style of Sarah Fielding 's The Governess, like it much concerned with the building of friendships. JT , who contributed...
Intertextuality and Influence Mary Lamb
M. B.'s purpose in story-telling is not moral improvement but making little girls feel better (the youngest is seven): cheering them up since, newly sent to boarding school, they are crying for home; alleviating their...

Timeline

By February 1752: James Harris (friend of Sarah Fielding and...

Writing climate item

By February 1752

James Harris (friend of Sarah Fielding and Jane Collier ) published Hermes: or, A Philosophical Inquiry concerning Language and Universal Grammar.
Griffiths, Ralph, 1720 - 1803, and George Edward Griffiths, editors. Monthly Review. R. Griffiths.
6: 129

1774: The British Novelist: Or, Virtue and Vice...

Writing climate item

1774

The British Novelist: Or, Virtue and Vice in Miniature was published in twelve volumes of abridged texts by Sarah and Henry Fielding , Richardson , Smollett , and Lennox .
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

1818: The successful children's writer Elizabeth...

Women writers item

1818

The successful children's writer Elizabeth Sandham published The School-Fellows, a Moral Tale, which devotes a chapter to commemoration of Princess Charlotte (who had died on 6 November 1817).
Burmester, James et al. English Books. James Burmester Rare Books, 1985–2024, Numbered catalogues.
61

By Christmas 1869: Francis Galton, mathematician, scientist,...

Writing climate item

By Christmas 1869

Francis Galton , mathematician, scientist, and eugenicist, published Hereditary Genius: An Enquiry into its Laws and Consequences,
Saturday Review. Chawton.
28.739 (25 December 1869): 832-3

Texts

Fielding, Sarah. Familiar Letters between the Principal Characters in David Simple. 1st ed., Priinted for the author and sold by A. Millar, 1747, 2 vols.
Sabor, Peter, and Sarah Fielding. “Introduction”. The Adventures of David Simple and Volume the Last, University Press of Kentucky, 1998, p. vii - xli.
Fielding, Sarah. Remarks on Clarissa, Addressed to the Author. 1st ed., J. Robinson, 1749.
Fielding, Sarah. The Adventures of David Simple. 1st ed., A. Millar, 1744, 2 vols.
Fielding, Sarah. The Adventures of David Simple and Volume the Last. Editor Sabor, Peter, University Press of Kentucky, 1998.
Fielding, Sarah. The Adventures of David Simple, Volume the Last. 1st ed., A. Millar, 1753.
Fielding, Henry, and Sarah Fielding. The Correspondence of Henry and Sarah Fielding. Editors Battestin, Martin C. and Clive T. Probyn, Clarendon Press, 1993.
Fielding, Sarah, and Jane Collier. The Cry. 1st ed., R. and J. Dodsley, 1754, 3 vols.
Fielding, Sarah. The Governess. A. Millar, 1749.
Fielding, Sarah, and Jill E. Grey. The Governess. Oxford University Press, 1968.
Fielding, Sarah. The Histories of Some of the Penitents in the Magdalen-House. 1st ed., John Rivington and J. Dodsley, 1760, 2 vols.
Fielding, Sarah. The History of Ophelia. 1st ed., R. Baldwin, 1760, 2 vols.
Fielding, Sarah. The History of the Countess of Dellwyn. 1st ed., A. Millar, 1759, 2 vols.
Fielding, Sarah. The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia. 1st ed., Printed for the author and sold by A. Millar; J. Dodsley, and J. Leake, 1757.
Fielding, Sarah. The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia. Editor Johnson, Christopher Dyer, Bucknell University Press and Associated University Presses, 1994.
Fielding, Sarah. Xenophon’s Memoirs of Socrates, With the Defence of Socrates. 1st ed., A. Millar, 1762.