A foundling of mysterious parentage brought up by Mr. Allworthy on his country estate, Tom Jones is deeply in love with the seemingly unattainable Sophia Western, the beautiful daughter of the neighboring squireathough he sometimes succumbs to the charms of the local girls. When Tom is banished to make his own fortune and Sophia follows him to London to escape an arranged marriage, the adventure begins. A vivid Hogarthian panorama of eighteenth-century life, spiced with danger and intrigue, bawdy exuberance and good-natured authorial interjections, "Tom Jones" is one of the greatest and most ambitious comic novels in English literature.

Contents Include: Book 1: Of writing Lives in General, and Particularly of Pamela - Of Mr. Joseph Andrews, His Birth, Parentage, Education and Great Endowments - Of Mr. Abraham Adams the Curate, Mrs. Slipslop the Chambermaid and Others - What Happened after their Journey to London - The Death of Sir Thomas Booby - How Joseph Andrews writ a Letter to His Sister Pamela - A Dialogue Between the Lady and her Maid - The Interview Between the Lady and Joseph - What Passed Between the Lady and Mrs Slipslop - Joseph Writes another letter - Of Several New matters not Expected - Containing many Surprising Adventures - What happened to Joseph During his Sickness at the Inn - Being Very Full of Adventures which Succeeded each Other at the Inn - Showing how Mrs. Tow-Wouse was a Little Mollified - The Escape of the Thief, Mr. Adam's Disappointment - A Pleasant Discourse between the two Parsons and the Bookseller - The History of Betty the Chambermaid and an Account of what Occasioned the Violent Scene in the Preceding Chapter - Book II: Of Divisions in Authors - A Surprising Instance of Mr. Adam's Short memory - The Opinion of Two Lawyers Concerning the Same Gentleman - The History of Leonora, or the Unfortunate Jilt - A Dreadful Quarrel which Happened at the Inn - Conclusion of the Unfortunate Jilt - A Very Short Chapter in which Parson Adams went a Great Way - A Notable Dissertation by Mr. Abraham Adams - In Which the Gentleman Discants on Bravery - Giving an Account of the Strange Catastrophe preceding - What happened to them While Before the Justice - A Very Delightful Adventure - A Dissertation Concerning High People and Low People - An Interview Between Parson Adams and Parson Trulliber - AnAdventure, the Consequence of a new Instance which parson Adams gave of his Forgetfulness - In Which Mr. Adams gave a much Greater Instance of the Honest simplicity of his Heart, than of his Experience in the Ways of this World - A Dialogue Between Mr. Abraham Adams and his Host - Book III: Matter Prefatory in Praise of Biography - A Night Scene, Wherein Several Wonderful Adventures Befel Adams and his Fellow-Travellers - In Which the Gentleman Realtes the History of his Life - A Description of Mr. Wilson's Way of Living. The Tragical Adventure of the Dod and other Grave Matters - A Disputation on Schools held on the Road - Moral Reflections by Joseph Andrews - A Scene of Rosting, very Nicely Adapted to the Present taste and Times - Which some Readers will think too Short and others too Long - Containing as Surprising and Bloody Adventures as can Be found in this or Perhaps any other Authentic History - A Discourse Between the Poet and the Player - The Exhortations of Parson Adams to his Friend in Affliction - More Adventures which we Hope will Please the reader - A Dialogue Between Mr. Abraham Adams and Mr. Peter Pounce - Book IV: The Arrival of Lady Booby and the rest at Booby-Hall - A Dialogue Between Mr. Abraham Adams and the Lady Booby - What Passed Between the Lady and Lawyer Scout - The Arrival of Mr. Booby and his Lady - Containing Justice Business - Of Which you are Desired to Read no More than you Like - Philosophical Reflections - A Discourse between Mr. Adams, Mrs. Adams, Joseph and Fanny - A Visit which the Polite Lady Booby and Her Polite Friend Paid to the Parson - The History of the Two friends - In Which the History is Continued - Where the Good-Natured Reader will seeSomething which will Give him No Great Pleasure - The History Returns to the Lady Booby - Containing Several Curious Night-Adventures - The Arrival of Gaffar and Gammar Andrews - Being the last, in Which this True History is Brought to a happy Conclusion

The works of Henry Fielding, though written nearly three hundred years ago, retain their sense of comedy and innovation in the face of tradition, and they easily engage the twenty-first-century student with many aspects of eighteenth-century life: travel, inns, masquerades, political and religious factions, the '45, prisons and the legal system, gender ideals and realities, social class. Part 1 of this volume, "Materials," discusses the available editions of Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones, Shamela, Jonathan Wild, and Amelia; suggests useful critical and contextual works for teaching them; and recommends helpful audiovisual and electronic resources. The essays of part 2, "Approaches," demonstrate that many of the methods and models used for one novel-- the romance tradition, Fielding's legal and journalistic writing, his techniques as a playwright, the ideas of Machiavelli-- can be adapted to others.

A burlesque of Richardson's "Pamela", which was generally ascribed to Fielding at the time of its appearance and held by most authorities to be by him.--Cf. W.L. Cross' "The history of Henry Fielding", v. 1, p. 23, 303-308: Notes & queries, 12th ser. v. 1, p. 24-26.

'he carried Good-nature to that wonderful and uncommon Height, that he never did a single Injury to Man or Woman, by which he himself did not expect to reap some Advantage' The real-life Jonathan Wild, gangland godfather and self-styled 'Thieftaker General', controlled much of the London underworld until he was executed for his crimes in 1725. Even during his lifetime his achievements attracted attention; after his death balladeers sang of his exploits, and satirists made connectionsbetween his success and the triumph of corruption in high places. Henry Fielding built on these narratives to produce one of the greatest sustained satires in the English language. Published in 1743, at a time when the modern novel had yet to establish itself as a fixed literary form, Jonathan Wild is at the same time a brilliant black comedy, an incisive political satire, and a profoundly serious exploration of human 'greatness' and 'goodness'.