Correspondence.

never ought to be allowed ; it , although not forbidden , is evidently not contemplated by the Book of Constitutions . As anew member , I do not like to be the one to create any unpleasant feeling , but as I know your publication is read by some of the members , the appearance of this letter may perhaps draw their attention to the matter . I am , yours , & c ., SURREY . October 12 .

Literature.

LITERATURE .

THE LIFE OF HENRY FIELDING ; with notices of his writings , his times , and Ms contemporaries . By FREDERICK LAWRENCE , of the Middle Temple , Barrister-at-law . HALL , VIRTUE , & Co ., 25 , Paternoster Row , London . A life of Henry Fielding—the greatest of English novelists — in a compact and readable form has been long much required ; and the author of this volume has rendered good service to Literature by supplying the desideratum . Amongst the books

of the season it will hold a high rank , both as a gossipping , chatty , and pleasant narrative , and as a carefully digested record of entertaining facts . Tho subject of Mr . Lawrence ' s biography was a most interesting personage . In early life a dramatist and man of pleasure ; then a barrister , periodical critic , and author-of-all work , and finally a paid justice of the peace for Middlesex and Westminster , in which equivocal position ( for so it was considered at that time , ) he distinguished himself by his energy , intelligence , and public spirit- The following passage selected at random from the

volume before us , conveys a good notion of the state of the metropolis in Fielding ' s days;—" The times are strangely altered since Henry Fielding presided in the justice-room at Bow Street , committing rogues and vagabonds to Bridewell , and highwaymen to Newgate . Every facility was then offered to the proceedings of the lawless depredator and bold-faced villain . The streets of the metropolis were dangerous after nightfall . When a peaceful tradesman had to take a journey of fifty or sixty miles , he made his will before ho took his place in the Mail . Notorious highwaymen and swindlers swaggered about in public places , winking at the officers of justice , and enjoying the

admiration of the rabble . To prevent the commission of crime , and to detect and secure offenders , the very feeblest means were employed . The nocturnal guardians of the ill-lighted , narrow streets of London were infirm old men , who would have been chargeable to a parish , and shut up in a woikhouse , if they had not been employed in protecting the lives and property of the devoled inhabitants of the metropolis . Fielding himself has admirably described the London watchmen of these days , and . has not , in all probability , exaggerated their impotence and incapacity : — ' To begin / he

says , ' I think as low as I well can , with the watchmen in onr metropolis , who , being to guard our streets by night from thieves and robbers—an office which at least requires strength of body—are chosen out of those poor old decrepit ! people who are , from their want of bodily strength , rendered incapable of getting a livelihood by work . These men , armed only with a pole , which some of them are scarce able to lift , are to secure the persons and houses of bis Majesty ' s subjects from the attack of gangs of young , bold , stout , desperate , and well-armed villains . '"

In conclusion , we may remark , that in a work frequently quoted by Mr . Lawrence , written by a clergyman of Bath , ( Some Account of the English Stage ) there is evidence that the genial and high-minded author of Tom Jones and Amelia belonged to the Craft to which our pages are specially addressed . On more than one occasion his plays were performed for the benefit of different Lodges , —a fact , perhaps slight in itselfj but furnishing a proof , with which most Masons will be gratified , that one who had so glorious a sympathy with humanity , was connected with the most humanizing institution on earth .