Notwithstanding this little Restraint, he was so pleased with the Chearfulness and Good-Humour of the Company, that he insisted on their meeting the next Day at his Lodgings. They all did so; and the lovely Sophia, who was now in private become a Bride too, officiated as the Mistress of the Ceremonies, or, in the polite Phrase, did the Honours of the Table. She had that Morning given her Hand to Jones, in the Chapel at Doctors Commons, where Mr. Allworthy, Mr. Western, and Mrs. Miller were the only Persons present.
Sophia had earnestly desired her Father, that no others of the Company, who were that Day to dine with him, should be acquainted with her Marriage. The same Secrecy was enjoined to Mrs. Miller, and Jones undertook for Allworthy: This somewhat reconciled the Delicacy of Sophia to the publick Entertainment, which, in Compliance with her Father’s Will, she was obliged to go to, greatly against her own Inclinations. In Confidence of this Secrecy, she went through the Day pretty well, till the Squire, who was now advanced into the second Bottle, could contain his Joy no longer, but, filling out a Bumper, drank a Health to the Bride. The Health was immediately pledged by all present, to the great Confusion of our poor blushing Sophia, and the great Concern of Jones upon her Account. To say Truth, there was not a Person present made wiser by this Discovery; for Mrs. Miller had whispered it to her Daughter, her Daughter to her Husband, her Husband to his Sister, and she to all the rest.
Sophia now took the first Opportunity of withdrawing with the Ladies, and the Squire sat in to his Cups, in which he was, by Degrees, deserted by all the Company, except the Uncle of young Nightingale, who loved his Bottle as well as Western himself. These two therefore sat stoutly to it, during the whole Evening, and long after that happy Hour which had surrendered the charming Sophia to the eager Arms of her enraptured Jones.
Thus, Reader, we have at length brought our History to a Conclusion, in which, to our great Pleasure, tho’ contrary perhaps to thy Expectation, Mr. Jones appears to be the happiest of all human Kind: For what Happiness this World affords equal to the Possession of such a Woman as Sophia, I sincerely own I have never yet discovered.
As to the other Persons who have made any considerable Figure in this History, as some may desire to know a little more concerning them, we will proceed in as few Words as possible, to satisfy their Curiosity.
Allworthy hath never yet been prevailed upon to see Blifil, but he hath yielded to the Importunity of Jones, backed by Sophia, to settle 200l. a Year upon him; to which Jones hath privately added a third. Upon this Income he lives in one of the northern Counties, about 200 Miles distant from London, and lays up 200l. a Year out of it, in order to purchase a Seat in the next Parliament from a neighbouring Borough, which he has bargained for with an Attorney there.1 He is also lately turned Methodist, in hopes of marrying a very rich Widow of that Sect, whose Estate lies in that Part of the Kingdom.
Square died soon after he writ the before-mentioned Letter; and as to Thwackum, he continues at his Vicarage. He hath made many fruitless Attempts to regain the Confidence of Allworthy, or to ingratiate himself with Jones, both of whom he flatters to their Faces, and abuses behind their Backs. But in his stead, Mr. Allworthy hath lately taken Mr. Abraham Adams2 into his House, of whom Sophia is grown immoderately fond, and declares he shall have the Tuition of her Children.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick is separated from her Husband, and retains the little Remains of her Fortune. She lives in Reputation at the polite End of the Town, and is so good an Œconomist, that she spends three Times the Income of her Fortune, without running in Debt. She maintains a perfect Intimacy with the Lady of the Irish Peer; and in Acts of Friendship to her repays all the Obligations she owes to her Husband.
Mrs. Western was soon reconciled to her Niece Sophia, and hath spent two Months together with her in the Country. Lady Bellaston made the latter a formal Visit at her Return to Town, where she behaved to Jones, as to a perfect Stranger, and with great Civility, wished him Joy on his Marriage.
Mr. Nightingale hath purchased an Estate for his Son in the Neighbourhood of Jones, where the young Gentleman, his Lady, Mrs. Miller, and her little Daughter reside, and the most agreeable Intercourse subsists between the two Families.
As to those of lower Account, Mrs. Waters returned into the Country, had a Pension of 60l. a Year settled upon her by Mr. Allworthy, and is married to Parson Supple, on whom, at the Instance of Sophia, Western hath bestowed a considerable Living.
Black George hearing the Discovery that had been made, run away, and was never since heard of; and Jones bestowed the Money on his Family, but not in equal Proportions, for Molly had much the greatest Share.
As for Partridge, Jones hath settled 50 l. a Year on him; and he hath again set up a School, in which he meets with much better Encouragement than formerly; and there is now a Treaty of Marriage on Foot, between him and Miss Molly Seagrim, which, through the Mediation of Sophia, is likely to take Effect.
We now return to take Leave of Mr. Jones and Sophia, who, within two Days after their Marriage, attended Mr. Western and Mr. Allworthy into the Country. Western hath resigned his Family Seat, and the greater Part of his Estate to his Son-in-law, and hath retired to a lesser House of his, in another Part of the Country, which is better for Hunting. Indeed he is often as a Visitant with Mr. Jones, who as well as his Daughter, hath an infinite Delight in doing every Thing in their Power to please him. And this Desire of theirs is attended with such Success, that the old Gentleman declares he was never happy in his Life till now. He hath here a Parlour and Anti-chamber to himself, where he gets drunk with whom he pleases; and his Daughter is still as ready as formerly to play to him whenever he desires it; for Jones hath assured her, that as next to pleasing her, one of his highest Satisfactions is to contribute to the Happiness of the old Man; so the great Duty which she expresses and performs to her Father renders her almost equally dear to him, with the Love which she bestows on himself.
Sophia hath already produced him two fine Children, a Boy and a Girl, of whom the old Gentleman is so fond, that he spends much of his Time in the Nursery, where he declares the tattling of his little Grand-Daughter, who is above a Year and half old, is sweeter music than the finest Cry of Dogs in England.
Allworthy was likewise greatly liberal to Jones on the Marriage, and hath omitted no Instance of shewing his Affection to him and his Lady, who love him as a Father. Whatever in the Nature of Jones had a Tendency to Vice, has been corrected by continual Conversation with this good Man, and by his Union with the lovely and virtuous Sophia. He hath also, by Reflexion on his past Follies, acquired a Discretion and Prudence very uncommon in one of his lively Parts.
To conclude, as there are not to be found a worthier Man and Woman, than this fond Couple, so neither can any be imagined more happy. They preserve the purest and tenderest Affection for each other, an Affection daily encreased and confirmed by mutual Endearments, and mutual Esteem. Nor is their Conduct towards their Relations and Friends less amiable, than towards one another. And such is their Condescension, their Indulgence, and their Beneficence to those below them, that there is not a Neighbour, a Tenant or a Servant who doth not most gratefully bless the Day when Mr. Jones was married to his Sophia.
FINIS.
Appendix:
The Man of the Hill
In the third edition of Tom Jones (12 April 1749), new versions appear of two substantial passages from the ‘Man of the Hill’ interlude in Book VIII. As Hugh Amory summarizes the change in his account of this textual crux, ‘the outburst against the Jacobites is more intense, didactic, and prolonged; three paragraphs in which the Man-of-the-Hill retails the failings of European man are absent; and there are stylistic changes throughout.’1 The passages concerned fall in Chapters xiv and xv, and are reprinted below in their variant third-edition form. In the fourth edition of 11 December 1749, from which the Penguin text is derived, both passages are restored to their original form.
Amory’s persuasive conjecture is that the variant third-edition text, far
from being a true revision, accidentally preserves the original form of Chapters xiv and xv, which Fielding had cancelled in favour of a less tendentious version while his first edition was in press. The likelihood is that the third edition was then reset from a copy of the first in which the sheet of type concerned (containing the end of Chapter xiii, all of Chapter xiv, and most of Chapter xv) had not been replaced. The error was only detected as Fielding revised the novel for its fourth edition, which restores the text of the cancellans and removes, in effect for the second time, the version printed on the original unwanted cancellandum.
No defective copy of the first edition has yet been found to confirm Amory’s hypothesis, but the third-edition variants make much more sense when read as evidence not of post-publication revision but of a discarded original version. In Chapter xiv of the third edition, the political material is clumsily integrated, and has more in common tonally with the virulent journalism that Fielding produced during and immediately after the Jacobite rebellion2 than with the conciliatory satire that predominates by the time of Tom Jones. By muting the Man of the Hill’s political diatribe, and by expanding Chapter xv in such a way as to make humanity in general, and not Jacobitism in particular, the culminating cause of his misanthropy, Fielding could further reinforce his novel’s transcendence of aggressive partisanship.
The third-edition text runs as follows between the points indicated below by page- and line-reference to the Penguin edition.
[p. 419, l. 3 to p. 420, l. 20] ‘For my own Part… acquainted with as myself’:
‘For my own Part, I had been for some Time very seriously affected with the Danger to which the Protestant Religion was so visibly exposed, that nothing but the immediate Interposition of Providence seemed capable of preserving it: For King James had indeed declared War against the Protestant Cause. He had brought known Papists into the Army, and attempted to bring them into the Church, and into the University. Popish Priests swarmed thro’ the Nation, appeared publickly in their Habits, and boasted that they should shortly walk in Procession through the Streets. Our own Clergy were forbid to preach against Popery, and Bishops were ordered to suspend those who did; and to do the Business at once, an illegal ecclesiastical Commission was erected, little inferior to an Inquisition, of which, probably, it was intended to be the Ring-leader. Thus, as our Duty to the King can never be called more than our second Duty, he had discharged us from this, by making it incompatible with our preserving the first, which is surely to Heaven. Besides this, he had dissolved his Subjects from their Allegiance by breaking his Coronation Oath, to which their Allegiance is annexed; for he had imprisoned Bishops, because they would not give up their Religion; and turned out Judges, because they would not absolutely surrender the Law into his Hands; nay, he seized this himself; and when he claimed a dispensing Power, he declared himself, in fact, as absolute as any Tyrant ever was or can be. I have recapitulated these Matters in full, lest some of them should have been omitted in History; and I think nothing less than such Provocations as I have here mentioned, nothing less than certain and imminent Danger to their Religion and Liberties, can justify, or even mitigate, the dreadful Sin of Rebellion in any People.’
‘I promise you, Sir,’ says Jones, ‘all these Facts, and more, I have read in History; but I will tell you a Fact which is not yet recorded, and of which I suppose you are ignorant. There is actually now a Rebellion on Foot in this Kingdom, in Favour of the Son of that very King James, a profest Papist, more bigotted, if possible, than his Father, and this carried on by Protestants, against a King who hath never, in one single Instance, made the least Invasion on our Liberties.’
‘Prodigious indeed!’ answered the Stranger, ‘you tell me what would be incredible of a Nation which did not deserve the Character that Virgil gives of a Woman, Varium & Mutabile semper. Surely this is to be unworthy of the Care which Providence seems to have taken of us, in the Preservation of our Religion against the powerful Designs and constant Machinations of Popery. A Preservation so strange and unaccountable, that I almost think we may appeal to it, as to a Miracle for the Proof of its Holiness. Prodigious indeed! a Protestant Rebellion in favour of a Popish Prince! The Folly of Mankind is as wonderful as their Knavery — But to conclude my Story; I resolved to take Arms in Defence of my Country, of my Religion, and my Liberty; and Mr. Watson joined in the same Resolution. We soon provided ourselves with all Necessaries, and joined the Duke at Bridgewater.
‘The unfortunate Event of this Enterprize you are perhaps better acquainted with than myself…’
[p. 422, ll. 23–4 to p. 424, l. 20] ‘These, Sir, are the Observations… Jones thanked the Stranger’:
‘These, Sir, are the Observations on Men which I made in my Travels. My Design, when I went abroad, was to divert myself by seeing the great Variety with which God hath been pleased to enrich the several Parts of this Globe. A Variety, which as it must give great Pleasure to a contemplative Beholder, so doth it greatly display the vast Powers of its omnipotent Author. Indeed, to say the Truth, there is but one Work in his whole Creation that doth him any Dishonour, and with that I have long since avoided holding any Conversation.’
‘You will pardon me,’ cries Jones, ‘but I have always imagined, that there is in this very Work you mention, as great Variety as in all the rest; for besides the Difference of Inclination, Customs and Climates have, I am told, introduced the utmost Diversity into Human Nature.’ ‘Very little indeed,’ answered the other; ‘those who travel in order to acquaint themselves with the different Manners of Men, might spare themselves much Pains, by going to a Carnival at Venice; for here they will see at once all which they can discover in the several Courts of Europe. The same Hypocrisy, the same Fraud; in short, the same Follies and Vices, dressed in different Habits. In Spain these are equipped with much Gravity; and in Italy, with vast Splendor. In France, a Knave is dressed like a Fop; and in the Northern Countries, like a Sloven. But Human Nature is every where the same, every where the Object of Detestation and Avoidance.
‘Thus, Sir, I have ended the History of my Life; for as to all that Series of Years in which I have retired here, they afford no Variety to entertain you, and may almost be considered as one Day.’
Jones thanked the Stranger…
NOTES
1. Hugh Amory, ‘Tom Jones Plus and Minus: Towards a Practical Text’, Harvard Library Bulletin, 25 (1977), pp. 101–13 (at p. 109).
2. For comparable passages see, in particular, Fielding’s more extended review of James II’s reign in his tract of 1745, A Serious Address to the People of Great Britain (in The True Patriot and Related Writings, ed. W. B. Coley (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987), pp. 5–11); also The Jacobite’s Journal and Related Writings, ed. W. B. Coley (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975), pp. 106–8 (No. 3, 19 December 1747).
Notes
Fielding’s masterpiece remains superbly accessible as it stands, and many readers will prefer not to let frequent resort to editorial matter disrupt the rhythm of reading. That said, certain features of Tom Jones – its playful literariness, its topical allusions – demand heavier annotation than is usual in editions of this kind. For further detail, consult Martin Battestin’s magisterial commentary in the standard Wesleyan edition (1975), to which we are indebted at many points; we have also supplemented Battestin’s researches with new contextual and intertextual evidence throughout. In order to minimize intrusions in the text, we have not normally annotated the novel’s minor discrepancies of chronology, naming and plot; the malapropisms and regionalisms of its low-life and/or west-country characters, which tend to be self-explanatory; and the jargon of its doctors and lawyers, whose incomprehensibility is Fielding’s point: ‘every particular Profession seems to have laid violent Hands on some certain Syllables which they use ad Libitum without conveying any Idea whatsoever’, as he puts it in his journal the Champion for 17 January 1740 (p. 133). Many of the novel’s classical quotations – which Fielding jestingly affects not to identify in compliment to
his reader’s erudition – invite consideration of their sources and contexts, and we have annotated these accordingly. Others are commonplace tags, and in the case of the many ‘Scraps of Latin’ (VIII. v) given to characters such as Partridge they signify little more than the pomposity and ignorance of the speaker. In this case no note has been inserted, and the phrase is instead alphabetically listed, with translation, in a separate glossary below. Biblical references are to the Authorized Version, and Shakespeare references are to the Arden edition. The following abbreviations are used:
Amelia
Henry Fielding, Amelia, ed. Martin C. Battestin (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983)
The History of Tom Jones (Penguin Classics) Page 111