FIELDING, Tom - The History of Tom Jones

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

by Henry Fielding

From the Biographical Note:

1707 - 1754

Fielding left Eton when he was eighteen and for a year or more appears to have roamed about accompanied by a valet.

Within five year he turned out some fifteen plays in every kind of comic vein. They brought him a lively fame; one of them, Tom Thumb, won renown for having made Swift laugh for the second time in his life.

At the age of thirty and with a family dependent upon him, Fielding enrolled as a law student in the Middle Temple. His application to study was so unusual that he was called to the Bar in less than half the ordinary period of probation.

QUOTES FOR DISCUSSION

… it hath been usual with the honest and well-meaning host to provide a bill of fare which all persons may peruse at their first entrance into the house; and having thence acquainted themselves with the entertainment which they may except, may either stay and regale with that what is provide for them, or may depart to some other ordinary better accommodated to their taste.

… we have condescended to take a hint from these honest victuallers, and shall prefix not only a general bill of faire to our whole entertainment, but shall likewise give the reading particularly bills to every course which is to be served up in this and the ensuing volumes.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 1, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 1

An objection may perhaps be apprehended from the more delicate, that his dish is too common and vulgar; for what else is the subject of all the romances, novels, plays, and poems, with which the stalls abound?

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 1, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 1

Where, then lies the difference between the food of the nobleman and the porter if both are at dinner on the same ox or calf, but in the seasoning, the dressing the garnishing, and the setting forth? Hence the one provokes and incites the most languid appetite and the other turns and palls that which is the sharpest and keenest.

In like manner, the excellence of the mental entertainment consists less in the subject than in the author’s skill in well dressing it up. How pleased, therefore, will the reader be to find that we have, in the following work, adhered closely to one of the highest principles of the best cook which the present age or perhaps that of Heliogabalus, hath produced.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 1, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 1

… for he sometimes said he looked on himself as still married, and considered his wife as only gone a little before him a journey which he should most certainly, sooner or later, take after her; and that he had not the least doubt of meeting her again in a place where he should never part with her more - sentiments for which his sense was arraigned by one part of his neighbours, his religion by a second, and his sincerity by a third.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 2, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 2

This lady was now somewhat past the age of thirty, an aera at which in the opinion of the malicious the title of old maid may with no impropriety be assumed.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 2, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 2

... it will be concluded by many that he lived like an honest man, owed no one a shilling, took nothing but what was his own, kept a good house, entertained his neighbours with a hearty welcome at his table and was charitable to the poor, i.e., to those who had rather beg than work, buy giving them the offals from it; that he died immensely rich and built a hospital.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 3, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 3

She had indeed given her master sufficient time to dress himself; for out of respect to him and regard to decency, she had spent many minutes in adjusting her hair at the looking-glass notwithstanding all the burry in which she had been summoned by the servant, and though her master, for aught she knew lay expiring in an apoplexy, or in some other fit.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 3, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 3

...and it is, perhaps better for such creatures to die in a state of innocence, than to grow up and imitate their mothers; for nothing better can be expected of them.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 3, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 4

He likewise ordered that proper clothes should be brought to himself as soon as he was stirring.

Such was the discernment of Mrs. Wilkins, and such the respect she bore her master under whom she enjoyed a most excellent place that her scruples gave way to his peremptory commands; and she took the child under her arms without any apparent disgust at the illegality of its birth; and declaring it was a sweet little infant, walked off and it to her own chamber.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 3, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 4

Indeed he very often made her such presents; and she, in complacence to him spent much time in adorning herself. I say in complacence to him because she always expressed the greatest contempt for dress and for those ladies who made it their study.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 4, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 5

Miss Bridget had always exprest so great a regard for what the ladies are pleased to call virtue, and had herself maintained such a severity of character, that it was expected, especially by Wilkins, that she would have vented much bitterness on this occasion, and would have voted for sending the child, as a kind of noxious animal, immediately out of the house; but, on the contrary, she rather took the good-natured side of the question, intimated some compassion for the helpless little creature, and commended her brother’s charity in what he had done.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 4, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 5

This Jenny Jones was no very comely girl, either in her face or person; but nature had somewhat compensated the want of beautify with what is generally more esteemed by those ladies whose judgment is arrived at years of perfect maturity, for she ahd given her a very uncommon share of understanding. This gift Jenny had a good deal improved by erudition. She had lived several years a servant with a schoolmaster, who, discovering a great quickness of parts in the girl, and an extraordinary desire of learning – for every leisure house she was always found reading in the books of the scholars – had the good nature or folly – just as the reader pleases to call it – to instruct her so far, that she obtain a competent skill in the Latin language, and was, perhaps as good a scholar as most of the young men of quality of the age. This advantage, however like most others of an extraordinary kind, was attended with some small inconveniences; for as it is not to be wondered at that a young woman so well accomplished should have little relish for the society of those whom fortune had made her equals, but whom education had rendered so much her inferiors; so it is matter of no greater astonishment that this superiority in Jenny together with that behavior which is its certain consequence should produce among the rest some little envy and ill-will towards her; and these had, perhaps, secretly burnt in the bosoms of her neighbours ever since her return from her service.
Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 6, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 7

Can love, which always seeks the good of its object, attempt to betray a woman into a bargain where she is so greatly to be the loser? If such corrupter, therefore should have the impudence to pretend a real affection for her, ought not the woman to regard him not only as an enemy, but as the worst of all enemies, a false, designing, treacherous, pretended friends, who intended not only to debauch her body, but her understanding at the same time?

Here Jenny expressing great concern, Allworthy paused a moment, and then proceeded: “I have talked thus to you, child, not to insult you for what is past and irrevocable, but to caution and strengthen you for the future. Nor should I have taken this trouble but from some opinion of your good sense, notwithstanding the dreadful slip you have made; and from some hopes of your hearty repentance, which are founded on the openness and sincerity of your confession.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 7, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 9

… for it is a secret well known to great men, that, by conferring an obligation, they do not always procure a friend, but are certain of creating many enemies.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 9, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 12

Nor did she go pining and moping about the house like a puny foolish girl ignorant of her distemper; she felt, she knew and she enjoyed the pleasing sensation of which, as she was certain it was not only innocent but laudable, she was neither afraid nor ashamed.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 11, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 14

One of the maxim which the devil in a late visit upon the earth, left to his disciples, is, when once you are got up to kick the stool from under you. In plain English, when you have made your fortune by the good offices of friend, you are advised to discard him as soon as you can.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 1, Chapter 13, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 18

... we intend in it rather to pursue the method of those writers, who profess to disclose the revolutions of countries than to imitate the painful and voluminous historian who, to preserve the regularity of his series, thinks himself obliged to fill up as much paper with the detail of months and years in which nothing remarkable happened as he employs upon those notable aeras when the greatest scenes have been transacted on the human stage.

Such histories as these do, in reality, very much resemble a newspaper which consists of just the same number of words whether there be any news in it or not. They may likewise be compared to a stage coach, which performs constantly the same course empty as well as full.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 2, Chapter 1, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 19

But it is with jealousy as with the gout: when such distemper are in the blood, there is never any security against their breaking out;

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 2, Chapter 3, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 22

Leve fit quod bene fertur onus

A burden becomes lightest when it is well borne

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 2, Chapter 3, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 22

I believe it is a true observation that few secretes are divulged to one person only; but certainly, it would be next to a miracle that a fact of this kind should be known to a whole parish, and not transpire any farther.
Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 2, Chapter 5, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 25

Scandal, therefore, never found any access to his table; for as it hath been long since observed that you may know a man by his companions, so I will venture to say that, by attending to the conversations at a great man’s table, you may satisfy yourself of his religion, his politics, his taste, and indeed of his entire disposition; for though a few odd fellows will utter their own sentiments in all places, yet much the greater part of mankind have enough of the courtier to accommodate their conversation to the taste and inclination of their superiors.
Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 2, Chapter 6, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 27

… but as many of my readers, I hope, know what an exquisite delight there is in conveying pleasure to a beloved object, so some few I am afraid, may have experienced the satisfaction of tormenting one we hate.
Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 2, Chapter 7, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 31

Hence, too, must flow those tears which a widow sometimes so plentifully sheds over the ashes of a husband with whom she led a life of constant disquiet and turbulency and who now she can never hope to torment any more.
Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 2, Chapter 7, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 31

… he exercised much thought in calculating as well as he could the exact value of the whole; which calculations he often saw occasion to alter in his own favour…

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 2, Chapter 8, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 32

Tu secanda marmora

Locas sub ipsum funus; et sepulchri

Immemor, struis domos

Which sentiment I shall thus give to the English reading: “you provide the nobles materials for building, when a pickaxe and a spade are only necessary; and build house of fine hundred by a hundred feet, forgetting that of six by two.”
Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 2, Chapter 8, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 32

… the captain had, by perverse accident, betaken himself to a new walk that evening

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 2, Chapter 9, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 33

… all experiments of bleeding, chafing, dropping &c., proved ineffectual. Death that inexorable judge, had passed sentence on him, and refused to grant him a reprieve, though two doctors who arrived and were fee’d at one and the same instant, were his counsel.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 2, Chapter 9, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 33

Containing the Most Memorable Transactions Which Passed in the Family of Mr. Allworthy, from the Time When Tommy Hones Arrived at the age of Fourteen, till He Attained the Age of Nineteen. In this Book the Reader May Pick Up Some Hints Concerning the Education of Children

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 1, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 35

He was as good as his word; for he rode immediately to his house, and complained of the trespass on his manor in as high terms and as bitter language as if his house had been broken open, and the most valuable furniture stole out of it.
Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 2, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 37

Tom’s guilt now flue in his face more than any severity could make it. He could more easily bear the lashes of Thwackum, than the generosity of Allworthy. The tears burst from his eyes and he fell upon his knees, crying” Oh sir you are too good to me. Indeed you are. Indeed I don’t deserve it.”

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 2, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 38

Can honour teach any one to tell a like or can any honour exist independent of religion?

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 2, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 38

…there were scare any two words of a more vague and uncertain signification, that the two he had mentioned; for that there were almost as many different opinions concerning honour as concerning religion.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 3, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 39

… we have different ideas of honour;…

I have asserted that true honour and true virtue are almost synonymous terms, and they are both founded on the unalterable rule of right, and the eternal fitness of things; to which an untruth being absolutely repugnant and contrary, it is certain that true honour cannot support an untruth.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 3, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 39

Upon the whole, it is not religion or virtue, but the want of them, which is here exposed.
Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 3, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 39

… for this worthy man having observed the imperfect institution of our public schools, and the many vices which boys were there liable to learn, had resolved to educate his nephew, as well as the other lad, whom he had in a manner adopted, in his own house where he thought their morals would escape all that danger of being corrupted to which they would be unavoidably exposed in any public school or university.
Having therefore, determined to commit these boys to the tuition of a private tutor…

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 5, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 42

Castigo te non quod odio habeam, sed quod Amen.
I chastise thee not out of hatred, but out of love.
Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 6, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 43

However, when Tom grew up and gave tokens of that gallantry of temple which greatly recommends men to women, this disinclination which she had discovered to him when a child, by degrees abated and at last she so evidently demonstrated her affection to him to be much stronger than what she bore her own son that it was impossible to mistake her any longer.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 6, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 44

“Oh sir!” answered Tom, “your poor gamekeeper, with all his large family, ever since your discarding him have ben perishing with all the miseries of cold and hunger: I could not bear to see these poor wretches naked and starving, and at the same time know myself to have been the occasion of all their sufferings. I could not bear it, sire; upon my soul, I could not.” [Here the tears ran down his cheeks, and he thus proceeded.] “It was to save them from absolute destruction I parted with your dear present, notwithstanding all the value I had for it; I sold the horse for them, and they have every farthing of the money.”

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 8, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 46

This affair was afterwards the subject of much debate between Thwackum and square. Thwackum held, that this was flying in Mr. Allworthy’s face, who had intended to punish the fellow for his disobedience. He said, in some instances; what the world called charity appeared to him to be opposing the will of the Almighty, which had marked some particular persons for destruction;…

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 8, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 46

… for though they would both make frequent use of the word mercy, yet it was plain that in reality Square held it to be inconsistent with the rule of right; and Thwackum was for doing justice, and leaving mercy to heaven. The two gentlemen did indeed somewhat differed in opinion concerning the objects of this sublime virtue; by which Thwackum would probably have destroyed one half of mankind, and Square the other half.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 3, Chapter 10, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 48

… I always thought there was something very cruel in confining anything. It seemed to be against the law of nature by which everything hath a right to liberate; nay, it is even unchristian, for it is not doing what we would be done by; but if I had imagined Miss Sophia would have been so much concerned at it, I am sure I never would have done it;…

...To confine anything, seems to me against the law of nature, by which everything hath a right to liberty.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 4, Chapter 3, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 53

Sir, I cannot help congratulation you on your nephew; who at an age when few lads have any ideas but of sensible objects, is arrived at a capacity of distinguishing right from wrong

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 4, Chapter 4, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 53

… for by adhering to those narrow rules the younger Brutus had been condemned of ingratitude, and the elder of parricide

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 4, Chapter 4, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 54

“And I have instilled principles into him too,” cried Square. “What but the sublime idea of virtue could inspire a human mind with the generous thought of giving liberty? And I repeat to you again if it was a fit thing to be proud, I might claim the honour of having infused that idea.”

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 4, Chapter 4, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 54

“So between you both,” says the squire, “the young gentleman hath been taught to rob my daughter of her bird. I find I must take care of my partridge-mew. I shall have some virtuous religious man or other set all my partridges at liberty.”

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 4, Chapter 4, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 54

Let those of high life therefore, no longer despise the ignorance of their inferiors; nor the vulgar any longer rail at the vices of their betters.

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 4, Chapter 7, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 59

Charlie Brown, you blockhead!

“Why, husband,” says she, “would any but such a blockhead as you not have enquired what place this as before he had accepted it?

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book 4, Chapter 9, Great Books Volume 37, Pg. 62

Vocabulary – Tom Jones

compunction, pg. 46
A feeling of guilt or moral scruple that follows the doing of something bad

anxiety arising from awareness of guilt

uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by regret for doing wrong or causing pain; contrition; remorse.

deist, pg. 46
the philosophy of religion is the standpoint that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion

Belief in God based only on reason and nature

believe in the existence of God, on purely rational grounds, without any reliance on revealed religion

a movement or system of thought advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe

A belief in a god of nature -- a noninterventionist creator -- who permits the universe to run itself according to natural laws.

effeminate, pg. 58

traits in a human male that are more often associated with traditional feminine nature, behavior, mannerisms, style or gender roles. Having characteristics never associated with manliness or men. Not necessarily feminine or womanly. Having qualities or characteristics more often associated with women than men.

eleemosynary, pg 1

relating to, or supported by charity

pertaining to alms, charity, or charitable donations;

eminent, pg. 49

high in station, rank, or repute; prominent; distinguished

Outstanding, as in character or performance

conspicuous, signal, or noteworthy

erudition, pg. 7

acquired by study, research, etc.; learning; scholarship.

erudire “to instruct, educate, cultivate”, literally “free from rudeness”

The word erudition came into Middle English from Latin.

Heliogabalus, pg. 1

The emperor of Rome, ruled from 218 to 222, famous for his religious reforms and the introduction of the cult of the Syrian sun god

The sun god

The patron god of Emesa

importunate, pg. 37
troublesomely urgent : overly persistent in request or demand
pressingly entreating

offals, pg. 3

a culinary term used to refer to the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of organs.

Waste parts, especially of a butchered animal.

Refuse; rubbish

nonmeat edible products from animal slaughter

the waste or by-product of a process: as a : trimmings of a hide : the by-products of milling used especially for stock feeds

opprobrious, pg. 8
Expressing contemptuous reproach; scornful or abusive

Disgraceful; shameful

parricide, pg. 54

the act of killing one's father, mother, or other close relative.

a person who commits such an act.

the act of murdering one's father (patricide), mother (matricide)

pedagogue, pg. 23

A schoolteacher; an educator who instructs in a pedantic or dogmatic manner.
a dull, formal, or pedantic teacher

overly concerned with minute details

a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules

Peremptory, pg 4

Putting an end to all debate or action

Not allowing contradiction or refusal

potation, pg. 49

A drink

The action of drinking something, esp. alcohol.

reprobate, pg. 46
A morally unprincipled person, depraved
One who is predestined to damnation.

taciturnity, pg. 58

the state or quality of being reserved or reticent in conversation. 2. Scots Law. The relinquishing of a legal right through an unduly long delay. Habitually untalkative. Habitual silence, or reserve in speaking

vociferous, pg. 33

marked by or given to vehement insistent outcry

Making, given to, or marked by noisy and vehement outcry

(vehement: zealous; ardent; impassioned, acting or moving with great force; violent; impetuous; having or characterized by intense feeling or strong passion; fervent, impassioned,)