History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Soon after, Squire Western brings a legal action against Black George for poaching a hare, threatening to ruin the gamekeeper and his family. Tom, who has ingratiated himself with Squire Western through his hunting prowess, begs Squire Western’s 17-year-old daughter Sophia to intervene on Black George’s behalf. Sophia agrees immediately, and also asks her father to appoint Black George to the vacant gamekeeper position on Allworthy’s estate, a request Squire Western grants after Sophia plays his favorite rustic tunes for him. The narrative introduces Sophia with a grand, mock-heroic flourish, calling on the winds and songbirds to honor her arrival, and comparing her to famed beauties like the Venus de Medicis, Hampton Court’s gallery of beauties, Lady Ranelagh, and the Duchess of Mazarin, while insisting she is uniquely perfect. The narrator meticulously details her physical charms: thick, luxuriant black hair that reaches her waist, full arched eyebrows, sparkling black eyes, a regular nose, lips compared to a line from Sir John Suckling, oval cheeks with a single dimple, a lily-pale complexion that blushes more vividly than vermilion, a long elegant neck, and a bosom whiter than Parian marble. He notes her mind matches her beauty, cultivated by an aunt who lived at the English court, making her perfectly well-bred, though her natural innocence and gentility make up for any lack of polished ease from her rural upbringing. A recalled childhood incident illustrates her early preference for Tom over Blifil: when they were children, Blifil set Sophia’s pet bird free to prove his belief in natural liberty, Tom climbed a tree to retrieve it, fell into a canal, and was praised by Squire Western for his gallantry. Sophia began to favor Tom after that, noticing Blifil’s cruelty and Tom’s kind nature. When Tom asks her to help Black George, she agrees eagerly, and also asks Tom to be less reckless when hunting with her father, for fear he will be injured. Tom promises, and Sophia secures her father’s agreement to appoint Black George, to Tom’s great joy.

Tom, however, is completely oblivious to Sophia’s growing secret affection for him, because his heart belongs to Molly Seagrim, Black George’s beautiful, bold, unrefined teenage daughter. Tom had tried to resist his attraction to Molly out of principle, but she pursued him, and he now feels deeply responsible for her and her family, leaving no room in his heart for Sophia. The section culminates in a mock-heroic, Homeric-style description of a churchyard battle: Molly wears the fine gown Sophia donated to her mother to Sunday service, arousing the envy of the parish women, who taunt and pelt her with dirt and rubbish after the service. Molly fights back fiercely, felling her attackers with a skull and a thighbone, until the formidable Goody Brown engages her in a fight that leaves both women half-naked and bleeding. Tom, who was riding with Square, Blifil, and Sophia, hears the commotion, returns, disperses the mob with his horsewhip, and takes Molly home, comforting her. When Molly returns to her family’s cottage, her mother and sisters attack her for wearing Sophia’s gown and bringing shame on the family; Black George calms the chaos with a switch, and the family decides to send their eldest daughter to take the service position Sophia offered Molly, since Molly refuses to go.

The next day, Tom hunts with Squire Western, and the curate Mr Supple visits for dinner, revealing that Molly was arrested the previous day for being pregnant, refused to name the father, and was about to be sent to the house of correction when he left. Squire Western immediately guesses Tom is the father, jokes about it, and asks Sophia if she thinks less of Tom. Sophia, who has only just realized her own secret love for Tom, is devastated, leaves the room, and later refuses to play music for her father that evening. That night, Tom runs home to find the constable taking Molly to be punished; he throws himself at Allworthy’s feet, confesses he is the father of Molly’s unborn child, and begs Allworthy to spare her. Allworthy is furious at Tom’s incontinence, but admires his honesty and willingness to take responsibility, so he pardons Molly, tells Tom he hopes he will not transgress again, and refuses to punish him further at Thwackum’s urging. Square, however, sows the first seeds of distrust in Allworthy’s mind by suggesting that all Tom’s previous good deeds (helping the Seagrim family, selling the horse and Bible) were not acts of genuine friendship, but manipulative schemes to seduce Molly, a claim that lingers in Allworthy’s mind. Sophia, meanwhile, is forced to confront her secret affection for Tom when she hears the gossip about his relationship with Molly; the shock initially makes her resolve to avoid him entirely to cure her feelings, and she plans to visit her aunt to remove herself from his presence, setting up future conflict between her duty to her father and her love for Tom.