Excerpt from The History of Henry Fielding, Vol. 1 To the Shame of all who write and speak our mother tongue, no one has yet brought together the works of a great master who, like Shakespeare, was careless of his fame. Nor have the biographers given more than casual attention to anything beyond what a very mediocre jour nalist once selected for them; all the rest, except such stray pieces as they happened to read in the most cursory manner, they have in turn consigned to the land of matters forgot because they knew nothing of them. I have at tempted to discover what these secondary works are, to fix their dates, and to give some account of them in connection with the half-known plays and the famous novels. These rejected publications have been a primary source of this biography; they have let light in upon the long-prevailing darkness. Their number, their scope, their character, make absurd the dissipated Fielding of tradition; they are a monument to Fielding's energy and earnestness, which once established time cannot remove. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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

★ Publishers Weekly starred review A Best Book of 2018 in Religion, Publishers Weekly Reading great literature well has the power to cultivate virtue, says acclaimed author Karen Swallow Prior. In this book, she takes readers on a guided tour through works of great literature both ancient and modern, exploring twelve virtues that philosophers and theologians throughout history have identified as most essential for good character and the good life. Covering authors from Henry Fielding to Cormac McCarthy, Jane Austen to George Saunders, and Flannery O'Connor to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Prior explores some of the most compelling universal themes found in the pages of classic books, helping readers learn to love life, literature, and God through their encounters with great writing. The book includes end-of-chapter reflection questions geared toward book club discussions, original artwork throughout, and a foreword by Leland Ryken. The hardcover edition was named a Best Book of 2018 in Religion by Publishers Weekly. "[A] lively treatise on building character through books.'"--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The Real History of Tom Jones revivifies historical materials from which Henry Fielding constructed the greatest comic novel of the eighteenth century. This study recovers and explores the contexts necessary to understand Fielding's subtle art, such as the bloody conflict for the throne between Stuarts and Hanoverians, a contradictory class system, game laws that both protected and flouted individual property rights, and a justice system that proclaimed hanging for many crimes but let most criminals go. Drawing on evidence such as the peculiar appearance of eighteenth-century money, the fraudulent autobiography of a gypsy king, and a magical prayer book illustration, the book offers new readings of both Tom Jones and the political and legal landscape of Georgian England.

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.