This
is often excused on the plea of the coarser manners of the age; but a
much stronger defence is advanced on the ground that, while other
novelists of the time made immorality an incentive to merriment, F.'s
treatment of such subjects, as Lowell has said, "shocks rather than
corrupts," and that in his pages evil is evil. On the other hand, there
is universal agreement as to the permanent interest of the types of
character presented, the profound knowledge of life and insight into
human nature, the genial humour, the wide humanity, the wisdom, and the
noble and masculine English of the book. His only other novel, _Amelia_,
which some, but these a small minority, have regarded as his best, was
_pub._ in 1751. His health was now thoroughly broken, and in 1753, as a
forlorn hope, he went in search of restoration to Lisbon, where he _d._
on October 8, and was buried in the English cemetery. His last work was a
_Journal_ of his voyage. Though with many weaknesses and serious faults,
F. was fundamentally a man of honest and masculine character, and though
improvident and reckless in his habits, especially in earlier life, he
was affectionate in his domestic relations, and faithful and efficient in
the performance of such public duties as he was called to discharge.
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