ed before
him,' and which was, in Fielding's immortal phrase, 'unto the Greeks
foolishness.' But in the moment of death his distinction returned to
him. He tried, and failed, to kill himself; and his progress to the
nubbing cheat was a triumph of execration. He reached Tyburn through a
howling mob, and died to a yell of universal joy.

The Ordinary has left a record so precious and so lying, that it must
needs be quoted at length. The great Thief-Catcher's confession is
a masterpiece of comfort, and is so far removed from the truth as
completely to justify Fielding's incomparable creation. 'Finding there
was no room for mercy (and how could I expect mercy, who never showed
any)'--thus does the devil dodger dishonour our Jonathan's memory!--'as
soon as I came into the Condemned Hole, I began to think of making a
preparation for my soul. . . . To part with my wife, my dear Molly, is
so great an Affliction to me, that it touches me to the Quick, and is
like Daggers entering into my Heart.' How tame the Ordinary's falsehood
to the brilliant invention of Fielding, who makes Jonathan kick his
Tishy in the very shadow of the Tree! And the Reverend Gentleman gains
in unction as he goes: 'In the Cart they all kneeled down to prayers and
seemed very penitent; the Ordinary used all the means imaginable to make
them think of another World, and after singing a penitential Psalm, they
cry'd Lord Jesus Christ receive our Souls, the cart drew away and they
were all turned off. This is as good an account as can be given by me.'
Poor Ordinary! If he was modest, he was also untruthful, and you are
certain that it was not thus the hero met his death.

Even had Fielding never written his masterpiece, Jonathan Wild would
still have been surnamed 'The Great.' For scarce a chap-book appeared in
the year of Jonathan's death that did not expose the only right and
true view of his character. 'His business,' says one hack of prison
literature, 'at all times was to put a false gloss upon things, and
to make fools of mankind.' Another precisely formulates the theory
of greatness insisted upon by Fielding with so lavish an irony and so
masterly a wit. While it is certain that The History of the Late Mr.
Jonathan Wild is as noble a piece of irony as literature can show, while
for the qualities of wit and candour it is equal to its motive, it is
likewise true that therein you meet the indubitable Jonathan Wild. It
is an entertainment to compare the ch