History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Chapter iv. – Chapter vii.

This section opens with the continuation of Mrs Fitzpatrick’s first-person narrative of her life history, delivered to her cousin Sophia Western at the Upton inn, after Sophia had earlier recounted her own recent experiences (which the narrator declines to repeat, as they were covered in prior chapters, and notes pointedly that Sophia makes no mention of Tom Jones anywhere in her recounting, a detail he offers without explicit judgment). Mrs Fitzpatrick begins by recalling her idyllic shared youth at her aunt Western’s household with Sophia, before shifting to her courtship and marriage to Mr Fitzpatrick, a handsome, gallant Irishman she met at Bath shortly after Sophia returned to her father’s estate. She explains that Fitzpatrick initially paid court to her wealthy, unmarried aunt to gain access to the household, before turning his affections to her, and the two married in secret. Their marriage quickly turned sour: Fitzpatrick proved a surly, domineering husband who concealed his cruel, ill-tempered nature from all but her, growing more morose the more jovial he was in public company. After moving to his dilapidated Irish estate, he grew angry at her friendship with a polite lieutenant’s wife, accusing her of drawing the man away from his company, and grew enraged when she refused to sign over a portion of her remaining fortune to fund his extravagant lifestyle. The final breaking point came when she discovered, via a letter from his draper, that he had already spent all her ready cash and was attempting to sell her last remaining estate to cover his debts. When she refused to sign over the property, he confined her to her room without books, writing materials, or company for two weeks. She escaped only when a stranger sent her gold to bribe her keeper, and fled to Dublin before sailing to England, intending to throw herself on the mercy of her aunt or Sophia’s father, before Fitzpatrick tracked her to the inn where she had stayed the night before arriving at Upton. She praises the Irish peer who had helped her escape her confinement, noting his rare marital fidelity for a man of his rank, and warning Sophia not to expect such constancy from any future husband.

The narrative is interrupted by a loud, chaotic altercation erupting from a downstairs inn room, as Mrs Honour bursts into the ladies’ chamber in a rage: the landlord had mistakenly identified Sophia as Jenny Cameron, the Jacobite associate of the Pretender, and insulted her as a “stinking whore.” The narrator explains that Mrs Honour’s fury stems from three interconnected causes: fierce personal loyalty to Sophia, pride in her mistress’s high social standing as the only daughter and heiress of wealthy Squire Western, and intoxication from the generous amount of punch she had consumed earlier. Upstairs tension eases once Mrs Honour exhausts her supply of insults, and the landlord, assured by a well-connected visitor of the ladies’ true high status, ascends to inform them a nobleman wishes to meet them. Sophia initially fears the visitor is her father, but he is revealed to be the same Irish peer who assisted Mrs Fitzpatrick’s escape, who offers the pair his coach and personal protection for their journey to London, an offer they readily accept.

Before departing, Sophia discovers she has lost the £100 bank bill her father had given her before she left home, which she realizes she likely dropped when she fell from her horse in the dark lane outside Upton. She is initially distressed but quickly recovers her usual composure, refusing to let the loss derail her journey. She gives the landlord a generous gift to compensate for the bruise he suffered during Mrs Honour’s attack. The ladies, accompanied by Mrs Honour and the peer’s servants, depart in the peer’s coach, and make excellent time traveling 90 miles in two days, arriving in London without incident. Sophia immediately repairs to the home of Lady Bellaston, a well-connected acquaintance of her aunt Western, who welcomes her warmly and promises her full protection, while Mrs Fitzpatrick secures her own lodging to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Sophia, meanwhile, begins to harbor private doubts about her cousin’s character, suspecting she plans to rely on the peer as a secret protector rather than a platonic friend, a suspicion she does not voice openly.

Concurrent with these events, Squire Western departed the Upton inn in a fury after learning Sophia had crossed the Severn River to evade him. At a crossway, he arbitrarily chooses the Worcester road for his pursuit, but within two miles begins to lament the loss of a prime scenting day for hunting, rather than the absence of his daughter. When a nearby pack of hounds begins to bay, both Western’s horse and he prick up their ears, and he immediately abandons his paternal chase to follow the hunt over hedge and ditch, with parson Supple trailing helplessly behind. The narrator compares this abrupt shift in priorities to the classical fable of Grimalkin, a cat transformed into a woman by Venus who leaps from her bridal bed to pursue a mouse, noting that Western’s deep love for Sophia is real, but overridden by his core identity as a squire and sportsman. After a spirited run, Western meets the owner of the hounds, a fellow squire, who invites him to dinner. Overwhelmed by fatigue of both mind and body from the chase and earlier emotional stress, Western drinks to excess, and Supple and their host take the opportunity to explain Sophia’s story and persuade him to abandon the pursuit and return to Somersetshire the next morning. Western agrees, motivated in large part by the broken frost making for ideal hunting conditions at home, dismisses his retinue still searching for Sophia with a volley of bitter curses, and sets off for home.

The section also follows Tom Jones, who departed the Upton inn minutes after Western, on foot with his companion Partridge, after learning no horses were available for hire. Distraught over Sophia’s flight and convinced he will never see her again, Jones initially declares he will join the army to fight for the Jacobite cause, before changing course after an encounter with a lame beggar who sells him Sophia’s lost pocket-book (containing her name and the £100 bank bill she misplaced) for a guinea. Jones and Partridge follow the beggar back to the spot where he found the book, but when the beggar demands a larger share of the bill’s value, Jones refuses, giving him his name and address instead before rushing to resume his search for Sophia. They stop for the night at a roadside inn, where they attend a solemn, moralizing puppet show of The Provoked Husband that Jones criticizes for excluding the popular comic character Punch, drawing the disapproval of the show’s master. A minor altercation breaks out when the landlady catches the puppet show’s Merry Andrew sleeping with her maid, prompting her to threaten to evict the troupe, before peace is restored and the group gathers in the kitchen that evening.