was called to the Bar by the benchers of the Middle Temple, and (says
Mr. Lawrence) "chambers were assigned him in Pump Court." Simultaneously
with this, his regular connection with journalism appears to have
ceased, although from his statement in the Preface to the
_Miscellanies_,--that "as long as from _June_ 1741," he had "desisted
from writing one Syllable in the _Champion_, or any other public Paper,"
--it may perhaps be inferred that up to that date he continued to
contribute now and then. This, nevertheless, is by no means clear. His
last utterance in the published volumes is certainly in a sense
valedictory, as it refers to the position acquired by the _Champion_,
and the difficulty experienced in establishing it. Incidentally, it pays
a high compliment to Pope, by speaking of "the divine Translation of the
_Iliad_, which he [Fielding] has lately with _no Disadvantage to the
Translator_ COMPARED with the Original," the point of the sentence so
impressed by its typography, being apparently directed against those
critics who had condemned Pope's work without the requisite knowledge of
Greek. From the tenor of the rest of the essay it may, however, be
concluded that the writer was taking leave of his enterprise; and,
according to a note by Boswell, in his _Life of Johnson_, it seems that
Mr. Reed of Staple Inn possessed documents which showed that Fielding at
this juncture, probably in anticipation of more lucrative legal duties,
surrendered the reins to Ralph. The _Champion_ continued to exist for
some time longer; indeed, it must be regarded as long-lived among the
essayists, since the issue which contained its well-known criticism on
Garrick is No. 455, and appeared late in 1742. But as far as can be
ascertained, it never again obtained the honours of a reprint.

Although, after he was called to the Bar, Fielding practically
relinquished periodical literature, he does not seem to have entirely
desisted from writing. In Sylvanus Urban's Register of Books, published