The History of Tom Jones A Foundling

Volume I

Henry Fielding

Bibliographic Record

Contents

HARVARD CLASSICS SHELF OF FICTION, VOLUME I

NEW YORK: P.F. COLLIER & SON, 1917 NEW YORK: BARTLEBY.COM, 2000

Biographical Note

Criticisms and Interpretations.

1. By William Makepeace Thackeray
2. By Leslie Stephen
3. By Austin Dobson
4. By Gordon Hall Gerould

List of Characters

Dedication

Book I.
Containing as Much of the Birth of the Foundling as Is Necessary or Proper to Acquaint the Reader with in the Beginning of This History

1. Introduction to the Work, or Bill of Fare to the Feast
2. A Short Description of Squire Allworthy
3. An Odd Accident Which Befel Mr. Allworthy at His Return Home
4. The Reader’s Neck Brought Into Danger by a Description
5. Containing a Few Common Matters, with a Very Uncommon Observation Upon Them
6. Mrs. Deborah is Introduced Into the Parish
7. Containing Such Grave Matter, That the Reader Cannot Laugh Once Through the Whole Chapter
8. A Dialogue Between Mesdames Bridget and Deborah
9. Containing Matters Which Will Surprize the Reader
10. The Hospitality of Allworthy
11. Containing Many Rules, and Some Examples, Concerning Falling in Love
12. What the Reader May, Perhaps, Expect to Find in It
13. Which Concludes the First Book

Book II.
Containing Scenes of Matrimonial Felicity in Different Degrees of Life

1. Showing What Kind of a History This Is
2. Religious Cautions Against Showing Too Much Favour to Bastards
3. The Description of a Domestic Government
4. Containing One of the Most Bloody Battles, or Rather Duels, That Were Ever Recorded in Domestic History
5. Containing Much Matter to Exercise the Judgment and Reflection of the Reader
6. The Trial of Partridge, the Schoolmaster
7. A Short Sketch of That Felicity Which Prudent Couples May Extract from Hatred
8. A Receipt to Regain the Lost Affections of a Wife
9. A Proof of the Infallibility of the Foregoing Receipt

Book III.
Containing the Most Memorable Transactions Which Passed in the Family of Mr. Allworthy, from the Time When Tommy Jones 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

1. Containing Little or Nothing
2. The Heroe of This Great History Appears with Very Bad Omens
3. The Character of Mr. Square the Philosopher, and of Mr. Thwackum the Divine
4. Containing a Necessary Apology for the Author
5. The Opinions of the Divine and the Philosopher Concerning the Two Boys
6. Containing a Better Reason Still for the Beforementioned Opinions
7. In Which the Author Himself Makes His Appearance on the Stage
8. A Childish Incident, in Which, However, Is Seen a Good-Natured Disposition in Tom Jones
9. Containing an Incident of a More Heinous Kind
10. Master Blifil and Jones Appear in Different Lights

Book IV.
Containing the Time of a Year

1. Containing Five Pages of Paper
2. A Short Hint of What We Can Do in the Sublime, and a Description of Miss Sophia Western
3. Wherein the History Goes Back to Commemorate a Trifling Incident That Happened Some Years Since
4. Containing Such Very Deep and Grave Matters, That Some Readers, Perhaps, May Not Relish It
5. Containing Matter Accommodated to Every Taste
6. An Apology for the Insensibility of Mr. Jones
7. Being the Shortest Chapter in This Book
8. A Battle Sung by the Muse in the Homerican Style
9. Containing Matter of No Very Peaceable Colour
10. A Story Told by Mr. Supple, the Curate
11. The Narrow Escape of Molly Seagrim
12. Containing Much Clearer Matters
13. A Dreadful Accident Which Befel Sophia
14. The Arrival of a Surgeon

Book V.
Containing a Portion of Time Somewhat Longer Than Half a Year

1. Of the Serious in Writing, and for What Purpose It Is Introduced
2. In Which Mr. Jones Receives Many Friendly Visits
3. Which All Who Have No Heart Will Think to Contain Much Ado about Nothing
4. A Little Chapter, in Which is Contained a Little Incident
5. A Very Long Chapter, Containing a Very Great Incident
6. By Comparing Which with the Former, the Reader May Possibly Correct Some Abuse Which He Hath Formerly Been Guilty of in the Application of the Word Love
7. In Which Mr. Allworthy Appears on a Sick-Bed
8. Containing Matter Rather Natural Than Pleasing
9. Which, Among Other Things, May Serve as a Comment on That Saying of æschines, That “Drunkenness Shows the Mind of a Man, as a Mirrour Reflects His Person”
10. Showing the Truth of Many Observations of Ovid, and of Other More Grave Writers
11. In Which a Simile in Mr. Pope’s Period of a Mile Introduces as Bloody a Battle as Can Possibly Be Fought Without the Assistance of Steel or Cold Iron
12. In Which Is Seen a More Moving Spectacle Than All the Blood in the Bodies of Thwackum and Blifil, and of Twenty Other Such, Is Capable of Producing

Book VI.
Containing about Three Weeks

1. Of Love
2. The Character of Mrs. Western
3. Containing Two Defiances to the Critics
4. Containing Sundry Curious Matters
5. In Which is Related What Passed Between Sophia and Her Aunt
6. Containing a Dialogue Between Sophia and Mrs. Honour
7. A Picture of Formal Courtship in Miniature
8. The Meeting Between Jones and Sophia
9. Being of a Much More Tempestuous Kind Than the Former
10. In Which Mr. Western Visits Mr. Allworthy
11. A Short Chapter; but Which Contains Sufficient Matter to Affect the Good-Natured Reader
12. Containing Love-Letters, &c.
13. The Behaviour of Sophia on the Present Occasion
14. A Short Chapter, Containing a Short Dialogue Between Squire Western and His Sister

Book VII.
Containing Three Days

1. A Comparison Between the World and the Stage
2. Containing a Conversation Which Mr. Jones Had with Himself
3. Containing Several Dialogues
4. A Picture of a Country Gentlewoman Taken from the Life
5. The Generous Behaviour of Sophia Towards Her Aunt
6. Containing Great Variety of Matter
7. A Strange Resolution of Sophia
8. Containing Scenes of Altercation, of No Very Uncommon Kind
9. The Wise Demeanour of Mr. Western in the Character of a Magistrate
10. Containing Several Matters, Natural Enough Perhaps, but Low
11. The Adventure of a Company of Soldiers
12. The Adventure of a Company of Officers
13. Containing the Great Address of the Landlady
14. A Most Dreadful Chapter Indeed
15. The Conclusion of the Foregoing Adventure

Book VIII.
Containing about Two Days

1. A Wonderful Long Chapter Concerning the Marvellous
2. In Which the Landlady Pays a Visit to Mr. Jones
3. In Which the Surgeon Makes His Second Appearance
4. In Which Is Introduced One of the Pleasantest Barbers That Was Ever Recorded in History
5. A Dialogue Between Mr. Jones and the Barber
6. In Which More of the Talents of Mr. Benjamin Will Appear
7. Containing Better Reasons Than Any Which Have Yet Appeared for the Conduct of Partridge
8. Jones Arrives at Gloucester, and Goes to the Bell
9. Containing Several Dialogues Between Jones and Partridge
10. In Which Our Travellers Meet with a Very Extraordinary Adventure
11. In Which the Man of the Hill Begins to Relate His History
12. In Which the Man of the Hill Continues His History
13. In Which the Foregoing Story is Farther Continued
14. In Which the Man of the Hill Concludes His History