ten o'clock
Charles Dickens , whose models were of the eighteenth century , made similar use of the episode in his early work , as readers of `` Pickwick '' may see for themselves . The first novel was received with acclaim and stirred up a pretty literary quarrel , for Richardson and his admiring clique would have been more than human had they not taken umbrage at so obvious a satire . Recriminations were hot and many . Mr. Andrew Lang should give us in a dialogue between dead authors , a meeting in Hades between the two ; it would be worth any climatic risk to be present and hear what was said ; Lady Mary , who may once more be put on the witness-stand , tells how , being in residence in Italy , and a box of light literature from England having arrived at ten o'clock of the night , she could not but open it and `` falling upon Fielding 's works , was fool enough to sit up all night reading . I think `` Joseph Andrews '' better than his Foundling '' -- the reference being , of course , to `` Tom Jones '' ; a judgment not jumping with that of posterity , which has declared the other to be his masterpiece ; yet not an opinion to be despised , coming from one of the keenest intellects of the time . Lady Mary , whose cousin Fielding was , had a clear eye alike for his literary merits and personal foibles and faults , but heartily liked him and acted as his literary mentor in his earlier days ; his maiden play was dedicated to her and her interest in him was more than passing . The Bohemian barrister and literary hack who had made a love-match half a dozen years before and now had a wife and several children to care for , must have been vastly encouraged by the favorable reception of his first essay into fiction ; at last , he had found the kind of literature congenial to his talents and likely to secure suitable renown : his metier as an artist of letters was discovered , as we might now choose to express it ; he would hardly have taken himself so seriously .