The History of Tom Jones (Penguin Classics)

by Henry Fielding

  Upon this, Wilkins was immediately summoned, who having confirmed what the Captain had said, was by Mr. Allworthy, by and with the Captain’s Advice, dispatched to Little Baddington to inform herself of the Truth of the Fact: For the Captain exprest great Dislike at all hasty Proceedings in criminal Matters, and said he would by no means have Mr. Allworthy take any Resolution either to the Prejudice of the Child or its Father, before he was satisfied that the latter was guilty: For tho’ he had privately satisfied himself of this from one of Partridge’s Neighbours, yet he was too generous to give any such Evidence to Mr. Allworthy.

  CHAPTER VI.

  The Trial of Partridge, the Schoolmaster, for

  Incontinency; The Evidence of his Wife; A short

  Reflection on the Wisdom of our Law; with other

  grave Matters, which those will like best who

  understand them most.

  It may be wondered that a Story so well known, and which had furnished so much Matter of Conversation, should never have been mentioned to Mr. Allworthy himself, who was perhaps the only Person in that Country who had never heard of it.

  To account in some measure for this to the Reader, I think proper to inform him that there was no one in the Kingdom less interested in opposing that Doctrine concerning the Meaning of the Word Charity, which hath been seen in the preceding Chapter, than our good Man. Indeed, he was equally intitled to this Virtue in either Sense: For as no Man was ever more sensible of the Wants, or more ready to relieve the Distresses of others, so none could be more tender of their Characters, or slower to believe any thing to their Disadvantage.

  Scandal, therefore, never found any Access to his Table: For as it hath been long since observed, that you may know a Man by his Companions; so I will venture to say, that by attending to the Conversation at a great Man’s Table, you may satisfy yourself of his Religion, his Politics, his Taste, and indeed of his entire Disposition: For tho’ a few odd Fellows will utter their own Sentiments in all Places, yet much the greater Part of Mankind have enough of the Courtier to accommodate their Conversation to the Taste and Inclination of their Superiors.

  But to return to Mrs. Wilkins, who having executed her Commission with great Dispatch, tho’ at fifteen Miles Distance, brought back such a Confirmation of the Schoolmaster’s Guilt, that Mr. Allworthy determined to send for the Criminal, and examine him viva voce. Mr. Partridge, therefore, was summoned to attend, in order to his Defence (if he could make any) against this Accusation.

  At the Time appointed, before Mr. Allworthy himself, at Paradise-Hall, came as well the said Partridge, with Anne his Wife, as Mrs. Wilkins his Accuser.

  And now Mr. Allworthy being seated in the Chair of Justice, Mr. Partridge was brought before him. Having heard his Accusation from the Mouth of Mrs. Wilkins, he pleaded, Not guilty, making many vehement Protestations of his Innocence.

  Mrs. Partridge was then examined, who, after a modest Apology for being obliged to speak the Truth against her Husband, related all the Circumstances with which the Reader hath already been acquainted; and at last concluded with her Husband’s Confession of his Guilt.

  Whether she had forgiven him or no, I will not venture to determine: But it is certain, she was an unwilling Witness in this Cause; and it is probable, from certain other Reasons, would never have been brought to depose as she did, had not Mrs. Wilkins, with great Art, fished all out of her, at her own House, and had she not indeed made Promises in Mr. Allworthy’s Name, that the Punishment of her Husband should not be such as might any wise affect his Family.

  Partridge still persisted in asserting his Innocence, tho’ he admitted he had made the above-mentioned Confession; which he however endeavoured to account for, by protesting that he was forced into it by the continued Importunity she used, who vowed, that as she was sure of his Guilt, she would never leave tormenting him till he had owned it, and faithfully promised, that in such Case, she would never mention it to him more. Hence, he said, he had been induced falsely to confess himself guilty, tho’ he was innocent; and that he believed he should have confest a Murder from the same Motive.

  Mrs. Partridge could not bear this Imputation with Patience; and having no other Remedy, in the present Place but Tears, she called forth a plentiful Assistance from them, and then addressing herself to Mr. Allworthy, she said, (or rather cried) ‘May it please your Worship, there never was any poor Woman so injured as I am by that base Man: For this is not the only Instance of his Falshood to me. No, may it please your Worship, he hath injured my Bed many’s the good time and often. I could have put up with his Drunkenness and Neglect of his Business, if he had not broke one of the sacred Commandiments. Besides, if it had been out of Doors I had not mattered it so much; but with my own Servant, in my own House, under my own Roof; to defile my own chaste Bed, which to be sure he hath with his beastly stinking Whores. Yes, you Villain, you have defiled my own Bed, you have; and then you have charged me with bullocking you into owning the Truth. It is very likely, an’t please your Worship, that I should bullock him.—I have Marks enow about my Body to shew of his Cruelty to me. If you had been a Man, you Villain, you would have scorned to injure a Woman in that Manner. But you an’t half a Man, you know it.—Nor have you been half a Husband to me. You need run after Whores, you need, when I’m sure———And since he provokes me, I am ready, an’t please your Worship, to take my bodily Oath, that I found them a bed together. What, you have forgot, I suppose, when you beat me into a Fit, and made the Blood run down my Forehead, because I only civilly taxed you with your Adultery! but I can prove it by all my Neighbours. You have almost broke my Heart, you have, you have.’

  Here Mr. Allworthy interrupted, and begged her to be pacified, promising her that she should have Justice; then turning to Partridge, who stood aghast, one half of his Wits being hurried away by Surprize and the other half by Fear, he said, he was sorry to see there was so wicked a Man in the World. He assured him, that his prevaricating and lying backward and forward was a great Aggravation of his Guilt: For which, the only Attonement he could make was by Confession and Repentance. He exhorted him, therefore, to begin by immediately confessing the Fact, and not to persist in denying what was so plainly proved against him, even by his own Wife.

  Here, Reader, I beg your Patience a Moment, while I make a just Compliment to the great Wisdom and Sagacity of our Law, which refuses to admit the Evidence of a Wife for or against her Husband. This, says a certain learned Author, who, I believe, was never quoted before in any but a Law-book, would be the Means of creating an eternal Dissension between them.1 It would, indeed, be the Means of much Perjury, and of much Whipping, Fining, Imprisoning, Transporting, and Hanging.

  Partridge stood a while silent, till being bid to speak, he said, he had already spoken the Truth, and appealed to Heaven for his Innocence, and lastly, to the Girl herself, whom he desired his Worship immediately to send for; for he was ignorant, or at least pretended to be so, that she had left that Part of the Country.

  Mr. Allworthy, whose natural Love of Justice, joined to his Coolness of Temper, made him always a most patient Magistrate in hearing all the Witnesses which an accused Person could produce in his Defence, agreed to defer his final Determination of this Matter, till the Arrival of Jenny, for whom he immediately dispatched a Messenger; and then having recommended Peace between Partridge and his Wife (tho’ he addressed himself chiefly to the wrong Person) he appointed them to attend again the third Day: For he had sent Jenny a whole Day’s Journey from his own House.

  At the appointed Time the Parties all assembled, when the Messenger returning brought word, that Jenny was not to be found: For that she had left her Habitation a few Days before, in company with a recruiting Officer.

  Mr. Allworthy then declared, that the Evidence of such a Slut as she appeared to be, would have deserved no Credit; but he said he could not help thinking that had she been present, and would have declared the Truth, she must have confirmed what so many Circumstances, together with hi
s own Confession, and the Declaration of his Wife, that she had caught her Husband in the Fact, did sufficiently prove. He therefore once more exhorted Partridge to confess; but he still avowing his Innocence, Mr. Allworthy declared himself satisfied of his Guilt, and that he was too bad a Man to receive any Encouragement from him. He therefore deprived him of his Annuity, and recommended Repentance to him, on account of another World, and Industry to maintain himself and his Wife in this.

  There were not, perhaps, many more unhappy Persons, than poor Partridge. He had lost the best Part of his Income by the Evidence of his Wife, and yet was daily upbraided by her for having, among other Things, been the Occasion of depriving her of that Benefit: But such was his Fortune, and he was obliged to submit to it.

  Tho’ I called him, poor Partridge, in the last Paragraph, I would have the Reader rather impute that Epithet to the Compassion of my Temper, than conceive it to be any Declaration of his Innocence. Whether he was innocent or not, will perhaps appear hereafter; but if the Historic-Muse hath entrusted me with any Secrets, I will by no means be guilty of discovering them till she shall give me leave.

  Here, therefore, the Reader must suspend his Curiosity. Certain it is, that whatever was the Truth of the Case, there was Evidence more than sufficient to convict him before Allworthy; indeed much less would have satisfied a Bench of Justices on an Order of Bastardy;2 and yet notwithstanding the Positiveness of Mrs. Partridge, who would have taken the Sacrament upon the Matter, there is a Possibility that the Schoolmaster was entirely innocent: For tho’ it appeared clear, on comparing the Time when Jenny departed from Little Baddington, with that of her Delivery, that she had there conceived this Infant, yet it by no means followed, of Necessity, that Partridge must have been its Father: For, to omit other Particulars, there was in the same House a Lad near Eighteen, between whom, and Jenny, there had subsisted sufficient Intimacy to found a reasonable Suspicion; and yet, so blind is Jealousy, this Circumstance never once entered into the Head of the enraged Wife.

  Whether Partridge repented or not, according to Mr. Allworthy’s Advice, is not so apparent. Certain it is, that his Wife repented heartily of the Evidence she had given against him; especially when she found Mrs. Deborah had deceived her, and refused to make any Application to Mr. Allworthy on her Behalf. She had, however, somewhat better Success with Mrs. Blifil, who was, as the Reader must have perceived, a much better-tempered Woman; and very kindly undertook to solicit her Brother to restore the Annuity. In which, tho’ Good-nature might have some Share, yet a stronger and more natural Motive will appear in the next Chapter.

  These Solicitations were nevertheless unsuccessful: For tho’ Mr. Allworthy did not think, with some late Writers, that Mercy consists only in punishing Offenders;3 yet he was as far from thinking that it is proper to this excellent Quality to pardon great Criminals wantonly, without any Reason whatever. Any Doubtfulness of the Fact, or any Circumstance of Mitigation was never disregarded; but the Petitions of an Offender, or the Intercessions of others, did not in the least affect him. In a word, he never pardoned, because the Offender himself, or his Friends, were unwilling that he should be punished.

  Partridge and his Wife were therefore both obliged to submit to their Fate; which was indeed severe enough: For so far was he from doubling his Industry on the account of his lessened Income, that he did in a manner abandon himself to Despair; and as he was by Nature indolent, that Vice now increased upon him, by which means he lost the little School he had; so that neither his Wife nor himself would have had any Bread to eat, had not the Charity of some good Christian interposed, and provided them with what was just sufficient for their Sustenance.

  As this Support was conveyed to them by an unknown Hand, they imagined, and so, I doubt not, will the Reader, that Mr. Allworthy himself was their secret Benefactor; who, though he would not openly encourage Vice, could yet privately relieve the Distresses of the Vicious themselves, when these became too exquisite and disproportionate to their Demerit. In which Light, their Wretchedness appeared now to Fortune herself; for she at length took pity on this miserable Couple, and considerably lessened the wretched State of Partridge, by putting a final End to that of his Wife, who soon after caught the Small-Pox, and died.

  The Justice which Mr. Allworthy had executed on Partridge, at first met with universal Approbation; but no sooner had he felt its Consequences, than his Neighbours began to relent, and to compassionate his Case; and presently after, to blame that as Rigour and Severity, which they before called Justice. They now exclaimed against punishing in cold Blood, and sang forth the Praises of Mercy and Forgiveness.

  These Cries were considerably increased by the Death of Mrs. Partridge, which, tho’ owing to the Distemper above mentioned which is no Consequence of Poverty or Distress, many were not ashamed to impute to Mr. Allworthy’s Severity, or, as they now termed it, Cruelty.

  Partridge, having now lost his Wife, his School, and his Annuity, and the unknown Person having now discontinued the last-mentioned Charity, resolved to change the Scene, and left the Country, where he was in Danger of starving with the universal Compassion of all his Neighbours.

  CHAPTER VII.

  A short Sketch of that Felicity which prudent

  Couples may extract from Hatred; with a short

  Apology for those People who over-look

  Imperfections in their Friends.

  Tho’ the Captain had effectually demolished poor Partridge, yet had he not reaped the Harvest he hoped for, which was to turn the Foundling out of Mr. Allworthy’s House.

  On the contrary, that Gentleman grew every Day fonder of little Tommy, as if he intended to counterbalance his Severity to the Father with extraordinary Fondness and Affection towards the Son.

  This a good deal soured the Captain’s Temper, as did all the other daily Instances of Mr. Allworthy’s Generosity: For he looked on all such Largesses to be Diminutions of his own Wealth.

  In this, we have said, he did not agree with his Wife; nor, indeed, in any Thing else: For tho’ an Affection placed on the Understanding is, by many wise Persons, thought more durable than that which is founded on Beauty, yet it happened otherwise in the present Case. Nay, the Understandings of this Couple were their principal Bone of Contention, and one great Cause of many Quarrels, which from time to time arose between them; and which at last ended, on the Side of the Lady, in a sovereign Contempt for her Husband; and on the Husband’s, in an utter Abhorrence of his Wife.

  As these had both exercised their Talents chiefly in the Study of Divinity, this was, from their first Acquaintance, the most common Topic of Conversation between them. The Captain, like a well-bred Man, had, before Marriage, always given up his Opinion to that of the Lady; and this, not in the clumsy aukward Manner of a conceited Blockhead, who, while he civilly yields to a Superior in an Argument, is desirous of being still known to think himself in the Right. The Captain, on the contrary, tho’ one of the proudest Fellows in the World, so absolutely yielded the Victory to his Antagonist, that she, who had not the least Doubt of his Sincerity, retired always from the Dispute, with an Admiration of her own Understanding, and a Love for his.

  But tho’ this Complaisance to one whom the Captain thoroughly despised, was not so uneasy to him, as it would have been, had any Hopes of Preferment made it necessary to shew the same Submission to a Hoadley,1 or to some other of great Reputation in the Science, yet even this cost him too much to be endured without some Motive. Matrimony, therefore, having removed all such Motives, he grew weary of this Condescension, and began to treat the Opinions of his Wife with that Haughtiness and Insolence, which none but those who deserve some Contempt themselves can bestow, and those only who deserve no Contempt can bear.

  When the first Torrent of Tenderness was over, and when, in the Calm and long Interval between the Fits, Reason began to open the Eyes of the Lady, and she saw this Alteration of Behaviour in the Captain, who, at length, answered all her Arguments only with Pish and Pshaw, she was far f
rom enduring the Indignity with a tame Submission. Indeed it at first so highly provoked her, that it might have produced some tragical Event, had it not taken a more harmless Turn, by filling her with the utmost Contempt for her Husband’s Understanding, which somewhat qualified her Hatred towards him; tho’ of this likewise she had a pretty moderate Share.

  The Captain’s Hatred to her was of a purer Kind: For as to any Imperfections in her Knowledge or Understanding, he no more despised her for them than for her not being six Feet high. In his Opinion of the female Sex, he exceeded the Moroseness of Aristotle himself:2 He looked on a Woman as on an Animal of domestic Use, of somewhat higher Consideration than a Cat, since her Offices were of rather more Importance; but the Difference between these two, was, in his Estimation, so small, that, in his Marriage contracted with Mr. Allworthy’s Lands and Tenements, it would have been pretty equal which of them he had taken into the Bargain. And yet so tender was his Pride, that it felt the Contempt which his Wife now began to express towards him; and this, added to the Surfeit he had before taken of her Love, created in him a Degree of Disgust and Abhorrence, perhaps, hardly to be exceeded.

  One Situation only of the married State is excluded from Pleasure; and that is, a State of Indifference; but as many of my Readers, I hope, know what an exquisite Delight there is in conveying Pleasure to a beloved Object, so some few, I am afraid, may have experienced the Satisfaction of tormenting one we hate. It is, I apprehend, to come at this latter Pleasure, that we see both Sexes often give up that Ease in Marriage, which they might otherwise possess, tho’ their Mate was never so disagreeable to them. Hence the Wife often puts on Fits of Love and Jealousy, nay, even denies herself any Pleasure, to disturb and prevent those of her Husband; and he again, in return, puts frequent Restraints on himself, and stays at home in Company which he dislikes, in order to confine his Wife to what she equally detests. Hence too must flow those Tears which a Widow sometimes so plentifully sheds over the Ashes of a Husband, with whom she led a Life of constant Disquiet and Turbulency, and whom now she can never hope to torment any more.