History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

When the moment arrives, Sophia is found alone, reading the tragedy “The Fatal Marriage,” and weeping over the disposing of Isabella’s wedding-ring. Fellamar enters, makes bombastic declaration of his passion, and at length seizes her in his arms. She screams aloud, and at that very instant the whole house rings with the voice of Squire Western, drunk and raging, demanding his daughter. Western bursts into the room at the critical moment, preserving his daughter’s peace of mind from being for ever destroyed, though Fellamar has disordered her handkerchief and bruised her neck with his lips. Western, mistaking Fellamar for Blifil, insults him grossly, and Fellamar, hearing Sophia call upon her father, releases his prey.

The section then explains how Western discovered his daughter’s lodgings: Mrs Fitzpatrick, Sophia’s cousin, who had encountered both Sophia and Jones, had written to Mrs Western warning that Sophia was in danger of repeating her own fatal error and revealing that she was harboured by Lady Bellaston. Mrs Western receives the letter while doling out her daily portion of comfort to the squire. She advises a delicate approach, but Western, having consulted his parson on the road, dispenses with formalities and proceeds by direct assault.

Back at Mrs Miller’s, the newly-weds Mr and Mrs Nightingale are at supper when Mrs Honour arrives with news that Sophia has been carried off by her father, who swears she shall marry Blifil. Jones, in thanksgiving that no worse fate has befallen her, hides Honour behind the bed-curtains when Lady Bellaston unexpectedly arrives, intending to scold him for his pretended illness. The situation becomes ridiculous when Nightingale, dead drunk, mistakes Jones’s chamber for his own, forcing Jones to wrestle him out before Lady Bellaston can be seen, and Lady Bellaston, in her fright, retreats to her known hiding-place only to find it occupied by another. Honour bursts forth in a violent rage, but Lady Bellaston, with the magnificent dignity of a woman of quality, soon assumes the soft tone and secures Honour’s loyalty by promising future friendship. That same morning, Jones serves as father to Miss Nancy at a quiet wedding at Doctors’ Commons, his good offices to the Miller family at last brought to their happy conclusion. At dinner, Mrs Miller receives yet another letter, whose contents the narrative defers to the next book.

Chapter x. – Chapter iii.

This section of Henry Fielding’s History of Tom Jones, a Foundling opens with Chapter x., which Fielding explicitly frames as a blend of factual narrative and authorial observation, a structure he returns to repeatedly across the subsequent chapters. The inciting incident of Chapter x. is the arrival of a letter from the benevolent country gentleman Mr Allworthy, informing his London landlady Mrs Miller that he will arrive in the city immediately with his nephew Blifil, and requesting his usual first-floor lodgings, with the second floor reserved for Blifil. Mrs Miller faces an acute moral dilemma: turning out her new son-in-law, the recently married Mr Nightingale, would be a grossly ungrateful repayment for his union with her daughter, but denying Allworthy his long-held right to the lodgings would reject years of his unassuming generosity. Allworthy, a model of quiet charity in the novel, frames all his gifts as loans rather than handouts, including a £50 annual annuity he arranged for Mrs Miller under the pretense of paying for lodgings he rarely occupies, and would almost certainly have waived his request had he been able to provide a month’s notice as his usual courtesy required. Guided by a strict personal code of honor that exceeds legal or conventional moral standards, Mrs Miller cannot bear to wrong either party, and is only relieved when Tom Jones immediately offers to vacate his own rooms, and proposes that the Nightingales return to their earlier smaller lodgings until they can secure a permanent home. The couple agrees, resolving the crisis, and Mrs Miller’s gratitude for Jones is deepened when he casually refers to her daughter as “Mrs Nightingale” for the first time.

The next day, the household’s cheer is restored, but Jones remains tormented by two overlapping anxieties: grief over his separation from his love Sophia Western, and dread that Blifil’s journey to London is a deliberate bid to force Sophia into marriage against her will. His distress is compounded when his servant Mrs Honour, who had promised to report on Sophia’s status, fails to arrive as planned; a late, phonetically spelled letter from her explains she has accepted a position as lady’s maid to the manipulative Lady Bellaston, and will be unable to serve Jones further. Left to imagine Lady Bellaston’s unknown motives, Jones faces a fresh temptation when he receives a passionate love letter from the wealthy, recently widowed Mrs Arabella Hunt, who proposes marriage, noting she is aware of his existing romantic attachment but is willing to overlook it. Jones, who is nearly destitute (with only five guineas left from his prior entanglement with Lady Bellaston, and dunned by a tradesman that morning for twice that sum), is tempted by the match’s financial security, but ultimately refuses, writing to Mrs Hunt that his heart is irrevocably committed to Sophia, even if he can never possess her. He celebrates his fidelity by kissing a keepsake of Sophia’s (her muff) before retiring for the night.

The narrative then shifts to Sophia’s situation: she has been seized from Lady Bellaston’s care and held under close, but not unkind, confinement at her father Squire Western’s Piccadilly lodgings. The squire, though violent in his determination to force Sophia to marry Blifil, dotes on her deeply, sparing no expense for her comfort. During one meal delivery, the trusted gamekeeper Black George, a former servant of the Western family now employed by the squire in London, slips Sophia a letter from Jones hidden inside a pullet stuffed with her favorite eggs. Sophia reads Jones’s impassioned letter, in which he laments her suffering, begs her to flee to him if she can, and urges her to abandon him if he is the cause of her distress, prioritizing her happiness above his own desires.

That evening, Sophia hears a violent altercation downstairs: her father is quarreling with a messenger from Lord Fellamar, a wealthy nobleman obsessed with Sophia, who sent a challenge to Western after the squire refused his suit earlier that day. The squire, who despises all aristocrats as corrupt “Hanoverians,” refuses to apologize, leading the lord’s captain to strike him. Western’s furious cries terrify Sophia, who screams to check on his safety; once he returns to her room, he pleads with her to marry Blifil to spare him further trouble, but she refuses again, prompting him to lock her back in her chamber. The following morning, Western’s domineering sister, Mrs Western, arrives at the lodgings, having learned of her niece’s confinement. She immediately reprimands Western for his lack of decorum, threatening to disown him unless he cedes full control of Sophia to her. Western reluctantly agrees, and Mrs Western releases Sophia, announcing she will take her niece to her own more respectable lodgings to manage her courtship prospects.