Editing Henry Fielding (section)

==Jurist and magistrate==
[[File:HenryFieldingWidcombeLodge.jpg|thumb|right|Henry Fielding Memorial at Widcombe Lodge in Bath]]
Despite the scandal, Fielding's consistent anti-Jacobitism and support for the [[Church of England]] led to his appointment a year later as [[Chief Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate|Westminster's chief magistrate]], while his literary career went from strength to strength. Most of his work concerned London's criminal population of thieves, informers, gamblers and prostitutes. Though living in a corrupt and callous society, he became noted for impartial judgements, incorruptibility and compassion for those whom social inequities led into crime. The income from his office ("the dirtiest money upon earth") dwindled as he refused to take money from the very poor.<ref name="Henry Fielding Facts"/> Joined by his younger half-brother [[John Fielding|John]], he helped found what some call London's first police force, the [[Bow Street Runners]], in 1749.<ref name="spart">{{Cite web |url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jfielding.htm |title=Henry Fielding |publisher=Spartacus Educational |access-date=9 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090517094957/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jfielding.htm |archive-date=17 May 2009}}</ref>

According to the historian [[G. M. Trevelyan]], the Fieldings were two of the best magistrates in 18th-century London, who did much to enhance judicial reform and improve prison conditions. Fielding's influential pamphlets and enquiries included a proposal for abolishing public hangings. This did not, however, imply opposition to capital punishment as such – as is evident, for example, in his presiding in 1751 over the trial of the notorious criminal [[James Field (criminal)|James Field]], finding him guilty in a robbery and sentencing him to hang. John Fielding, despite being blind by then, succeeded his older brother as chief magistrate, becoming known as the "Blind Beak of Bow Street" for his ability to recognise criminals by their voices alone.<ref name="words">{{Citation |contribution=Words, Words, Words |title=From the Beginnings to the 18th Century |publisher=La Spiga languages |year=2003}}.</ref>

[[File:Henry Fielding grave.jpg|thumb|Henry Fielding's grave in the cemetery of the [[Church of England]] [[St. George's Church, Lisbon]]]]
In January 1752 Fielding started a fortnightly, ''[[The Covent-Garden Journal]]'', published under the pseudonym "Sir Alexander Drawcansir, Knt., Censor of Great Britain" until November of that year. Here Fielding challenged the "armies of [[Grub Street]]" and periodical writers of the day in a conflict that became the [[Paper War of 1752–1753]].

Fielding then published ''Examples of the Interposition of Providence in the Detection and Punishment of Murder'' (1752), a treatise rejecting deistic and materialistic visions of the world in favour of belief in God's presence and divine judgement,<ref>Henry Fielding, 1988. ''An Enquiry Into the Causes of the Late Increase of Robbers and Related Writings''. Oxford: Clarendon, 1988.</ref> arguing that the murder rate was rising due to neglect of the Christian religion.<ref>Claire Valier, 2005. ''Crime and Punishment in Contemporary Culture''. Routledge. p. 20.</ref> In 1753 he wrote ''Proposals for Making an Effectual Provision for the Poor''.