How mongrel Persius, in a vengeful Mood,
That outlaw’d Wretch, Rupilius King pursu’d,
With poisonous Filth, and Venom all his own
To Barbers and to blear-eyed Folk is known.
(Philip Francis, A Poetical Translation of
the Works of Horace, 2nd edn (1747)
3. we shall not be obliged to keep them: Bastard children became the responsibility of the parish in which they were born.
4. that this should rise up… against him: Cf. Genesis 4:10 and HF’s similar embellishment of this text in his potboiler of 1752, Examples of the Interposition of Providence in the Detection and Punishment of Murder: Cain’s murder of Abel was discovered, ‘as the sacred text tells us, by the “Crying of the blood of the slain for vengeance against the Murderer” ’ (in Enquiry, p. 180).
CHAPTER V.
1. Epicures: Literally, followers of the philosopher Epicurus (341–270 BC); popularly, votaries of pleasure. Cf. HF’s quotation elsewhere from Isaac Barrow (1630–77): ‘A Man may be virtuously voluptuous, and a laudable Epicure by doing much Good. For to receive Good, even in the Judgment of Epicurus himself (the great Patron of Pleasure) is no wise so pleasant as to do it’ (CGJ, p. 186 (No. 29, 11 April 1752)).
2. Enthusiasm: Evangelical zeal of the kind Parson Adams dislikes in the Methodist George Whitefield, who ‘began to call Nonsense and Enthusiasm to his Aid, and to set up the detestable Doctrine of Faith against good Works’ (JA, p. 113 (I. xvii)). See Companion, pp. 241–2.
CHAPTER VI.
1. a certain learned Author… an eternal Dissension between them: Battestin cites Sir Edward Coke’s Commentary upon Littleton (1628): ‘it might be a Cause of implacable Discord and Dissension between Husband and Wife’ (Wesleyan edn, p. 100 (citing the 11th edn (1719), I. i. 6); see also below, III. iii, n. 4.
2. an Order of Bastardy: The parents could be ordered by local justices to provide for a bastard child who would otherwise be a charge on the parish.
3. some late Writers… Offenders: Referring to newspaper debates of 1746 over whether the defeated Jacobite rebels should be pardoned or executed. ‘Finding, at this critical juncture, that mercy is so much the topick of discourse’, one representative writer insists that ‘this plea of mercy to the rebels is a complot of our enemies, to spare those sons of violence… that they may once again, with re-united efforts, aim at our destruction’ (Gentleman’s Magazine, XVI (August 1746), 416–17).
CHAPTER VII.
1. Hoadley: Benjamin Hoadly (1676–1761), the low-church bishop of Winchester, whom Parson Adams defends against both his high-church and his Methodist adversaries in Joseph Andrews, pp. 113–14 (I. xvii), and whom HF compliments in his poem ‘Of True Greatness’ (Miscellanies I, p. 28). See Companion, pp. 79–80.
2. the Moroseness of Aristotle himself: For representative passages, see Beverley Clack (ed.), Misogyny in the Western Philosophical Tradition: A Reader (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999), pp. 30–45. See also HF’s play The Mock Doctor (1732), I. i: ‘Aristotle never said a better thing in his Life, than when he told us, That a Wife is worse than a Devil.’
CHAPTER VIII.
1. Tu secanda… domos: Odes, II. xviii. 17–19.
CHAPTER IX.
1. Fever on the Spirits: A nervous or hysteric disorder from which the heroine of Amelia suffers (p. 120, III. vii), but which HF elsewhere jokes about as a vague all-purpose diagnosis. See XI. iii; also Miscellanies II, p. 17.
2. Disagreements in Opinion… between the most learned of the College: i.e. the Royal College of Physicians, founded in 1518. Here and in the preceding paragraphs HF resumes the theme of his pamphlet The Charge to the Jury; or, The Sum of the Evidence, on the Trial of A.B.C.D. and E.F. All M.D. for the Death of One Robert at Orfud (1745), a satire on the unseemly public controversy between rival physicians concerning the nature and treatment of the last illness of Sir Robert Walpole, the former Prime Minister, who died in March 1745. See Companion, pp. 123–4.
BOOK III.
CHAPTER II.
1. converted to the Use: Another deadpan deployment of courtroom jargon: to convert, in law, is ‘wrongfully or illegally to appropriate and apply to one’s own private use’ (OED2).
2. the Bannians in India… of certain Animals: A merchant caste from Gujarat (or by extension Hindus in general), whose vegetarianism was proverbial. ‘The Banians eat no flesh, accounting it Criminal; it being contrary to their Religion to kill any thing’ (Richard Head, The English Rogue, Part 2 (1668), ch. i); see also the ‘banyan days’ in Smollett’s Roderick Random (1748), ch. xxv, and HF’s extended allusion in the Champion, p. 244 (22 March 1740).
3. Fruges consumere nati: Epistles, I. ii. 27, describing Penelope’s suitors and the indolent entourage of King Alcinous in the Odyssey. HF also plays on this favourite phrase in Miscellanies III, p. 30 (I.viii), and An Enquiry into the Causes of the Late Increase of Robbers (1751), p. 80 (sect. i).
4. the Covey… Allworthy’s own Manor: Since neither Tom nor George possesses the property qualification required to hunt, they have violated the game laws as well as the laws of trespass, and their defence is irrelevant. For useful background on this and related legal technicalities in Tom Jones, see John Allen Stevenson, ‘Black George and the Black Act’, Eighteenth-Century Fiction, 8.3 (1996), pp. 355–82.
CHAPTER III.
1. a profest Platonist… an Aristotelian: On this issue, HF suspended his habitual admiration for Aristotle, who ‘hath left us a Treatise on the Soul… which will require some Degree of Genius to equal; since it will be no easy Task to pour forth so great a Profusion of incomprehensible Nonsense’ (CGJ, p. 374 (No. 70, 11 November 1752)).
2. the Opinion of Aristotle… as a Legislator: See Aristotle’s critique of Plato’s Republic and Laws in his Politics, II. i–vi passim.
3. natural Beauty of Virtue… divine Power of Grace: These phrases identify Square as a Shaftesburian deist (see below, V. ii, n. 1) and Thwackum as methodistically inclined. On ‘the unalterable Rule of Right’, compare the errors of Mr Wilson on falling among the ‘Rule of Right-men’ in JA, p. 222 (III. iii); see also, on Shaftesbury and Deism, Companion, pp. 132–3, 229–30.
4. Coke upon Littleton… with the Text: The standard abbreviation for the first part of Sir Edward Coke’s Institutes (1628), which contains Coke’s commentary on a classic text of English property law, Sir Thomas Littleton’s Tenures (c. 1480), and includes Littleton’s text in French with English translation. See above, II. vi, n. 1. HF may also play here on ‘Coke-upon-Littleton’ as a cant name for tent (a weak red wine) mixed with brandy, a usage traced back to 1743 in OED2.
5. it was impossible to discourse philosophically… uncertain Signification: Square pedantically echoes the third book of Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), which proposes remedies ‘to avoid the inconveniencies of obscurity or uncertainty in the signification of Words, without which, it is impossible to discourse with any clearness, or order, concerning Knowledge’ (III. i. 6).
CHAPTER IV.
1. well says a certain Author… Hours: Pliny the Younger, Natural History, VII. xl. 131. This familiar tag returns twice later in the original Latin (XII. xiii; XVI. v).
2. against all Form of Law… Affirmance of the Words: Burlesquing the rules of evidence: as a mere rehearsal of his original defence, Tom’s second rejoinder would be inadmissible in a court of law.
CHAPTER V.
1. It is easy to find a Stick, &c: Alluding to the ‘ancient proverb’ cited by Gloucester in 2 Henry VI, III. i. 171: ‘A staff is quickly found to beat a dog!’
CHAPTER VI.
1. as Shakespear… Conscience: Othello, I. ii. 2–3, where Iago claims to ‘hold it very stuff o’th’ conscience / To do no contrived murder’.
2. Expressum facit… what we please ourselves: Literally, ‘That which is expressed puts a stop to that which is silently thought.’
3. that Gentleman… in Bridewel: On Bridewell, see above, I. iii,
n. 4. The reference is to the sadistic jailer depicted in Plate 4 of Hogarth’s series, to which HF also alludes in II. iii (see n. 3; also I. ix, n. 1).
CHAPTER VIII.
1. Smart-money: Payment made to soldiers in compensation for wounds (as again at VIII. vii).
CHAPTER IX.
1. some Man of much greater Reputation… single: Perhaps Shakespeare, in Hamlet, IV. v. 78 (‘When sorrows come, they come not single spies’), but the basic point is commonplace, as HF implies in the opening sentence of VI. vii later. For a contemporaneous example, see Francis Coventry, Pompey the Little (1751), II. vii: ‘’Tis well observed, that Misfortunes never come single, and what happened to Sir Thomas Frippery will confirm this ancient Maxim.’
2. Some People… no Book but their own: Proverbially said of the innocent or ignorant. Cf. Robert Venables, The Experienced Angler (1662), ch. vii (‘otherwise, through want of experience, he will be like the man that could read in no book but his own’); also Sir Charles Sedley, Bellamira (1687), I. iii. 16–17.
3. Buyers and Sellers… driven out of the Temple: Cf. Matthew 21:12, Mark 11:15, etc.
4. Tillotson’s Sermons: A popular and accessible collection first published in 1682 by John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the latitudinarian party in the Restoration Church. See Companion, p. 147.
CHAPTER X.
1. a Hare sitting in her Form… Laws of the Land: A form is the nest in which a hare crouches; Black George lacks the property qualification to hunt (see above, III. ii, n. 4).
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
1. an eminent Critic… Use of the Pastry-cook: The fate of remaindered pages ‘humbled to the ignoble Purpose of supporting a Tart or a Custard’ (CGJ, p. 49 (No. 6, 21 January 1752)) is a standard literary joke of the period, which HF elsewhere attributes to Addison (JVL, p. 11). No doubt he has the same ‘eminent Critic’ in mind at this point (see Addison’s Spectator, No. 85, 7 June 1711, and No. 304, 18 February 1712), but the reference specifically to romances is his own elaboration.
2. a celebrated Poet… tedious Tale: Adapting the 1728 version of Pope’s Dunciad, iii. 171–2: ‘While happier Hist’ry with her comrade Ale, / Sooths the sad series of her tedious tale.’ The second line is reworked again in XIII. i.
3. the Opinion of Butler… as it is writ: Combining an allusion to Part I (1663) of Samuel Butler’s Hudibras, which attributes the efforts of incompetent Puritan writers to ‘Ale, or viler Liquors’ (i. 639), with a punning echo of Pope’s Essay on Criticism (1711), lines 233–4: ‘A perfect Judge will read each work of Wit / With the same spirit that its author writ.’ The Hudibras allusion recurs later, VIII. i.
4. the famous Author of Hurlothrumbo… when he composed it: Samuel Johnson (1691–1773), a dancing-master from Cheshire, who wrote and performed as an actor, dancer and fiddler in this popular but nonsensical extravaganza of 1729, which HF satirizes in The Author’s Farce (1730), The Tragedy of Tragedies (1731), and elsewhere.
5. the everlasting Watchfulness… only to Jove himself: Cf. the Iliad in Pope’s translation (1715–20), ii. 3–4: ‘Th’Immortals slumber’d on their Thrones above; / All, but the ever-wakeful Eyes of Jove.’
6. Mr. Lock’s blind Man… Trumpet: In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke refers to a blind man defining the colour scarlet as ‘like the Sound of a Trumpet’ (III. iv. 11).
7. King Pyrrhus… in his Absence: The anecdote concerns Barton Booth (1681–1733), who was playing Pyrrhus in Ambrose Philips’ tragedy The Distrest Mother (1712) at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, which he later co-managed with Robert Wilks (c. 1665–1732) and Colley Cibber (see above, II. i, n. 1). For HF’s relations with Booth and Wilks, see Companion, pp. 32–3, 163.
8. my Lord Mayor… which precede his Pomp: On 28 October each year, the incoming Lord Mayor of London would process to Westminster, amid much pageantry, to take his oath of office. The dignity of the ceremony held shortly before publication of Tom Jones had been marred when ‘in returning from Blackfriers the pole of his lordship’s coach broke, which made it late before he came to Guildhall, where the lord chancellor, others of the lords justices, several of the nobility, judges, &c. were present at a grand entertainment’ (Gentleman’s Magazine 18 (October 1748), 474).
CHAPTER II.
1. Boreas… Eurus… Zephyrus: Respectively the north, east and west winds; cf. a comparable mock-heroic passage in Amelia, pp. 45–6 (I. vi).
2. not even Handel can excell: One of HF’s many compliments to the composer George Friederic Handel (1685–1759): see below, IV. v, n. 6; also Companion, p. 71.
3. the Statue of the Venus de Medicis: Celebrated Greek statue of the goddess Venus, housed in the Medici Palace in Rome during HF’s time (now in the Uffizi in Florence), and widely reproduced in contemporary prints; cf. Amelia, p. 17 (I. i).
4. the Gallery of Beauties at Hampton-Court: A set of eight portraits by Godfrey Kneller of famous beauties at the court of William and Mary, completed in 1691, and displayed in Hampton Court Palace.
5. each bright Churchill of the Galaxy: The four daughters of John and Sarah Churchill, Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, all of whom were celebrated beauties. The wording alludes to Samuel Garth’s compliment to them in The Dispensary (1699), iv. 281.
6. all the Toasts of the Kit-cat: The Kit-Cat Club (c. 1700–1720), a social gathering of prominent Whig statesmen and wits who originally met at the pie-house of Christopher Cat, used to toast beautiful women of their acquaintance (including the Churchills) using glasses inscribed with appropriate verses. Examples by Addison and Garth survive; cf. also Pope’s epigram ‘On the Toasts of the Kit-Cat Club, Anno 1716’.
7. the rude Answer… many Things: ‘If you have seen all this, then kiss mine Arse’ (‘To all curious Criticks and Admirers of Meeter’, line 16). This poem was included in Rochester’s Poems on Several Occasions (1680), but the attribution is now in question.
8. the Picture of Lady Ranelagh… Duchess of Mazarine: Margaret Cecil, Countess of Ranelagh, one of Kneller’s ‘Hampton Court Beauties’ (see above, n. 4); Hortense Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin, a famous beauty at the court of Charles II, whose portrait was painted several times by Sir Peter Lely.
9. one whose Image never can depart from my Breast: HF’s first wife, Charlotte Cradock (d. November 1744), who is referred to again by name later (XIII. i, at n. 2; see also Companion, pp. 9–10).
10. Sir John Suckling’s Description… stung it newly: John Suckling (1609–42), ‘A Ballad, Upon a Wedding’, lines 61–3.
11. the celebrated Dr. Donne… her Body thought: John Donne, ‘Of the Progress of the Soul: The Second Anniversary’, lines 244–6.
12. Nitor splendens… Parian Marble: Adapting Horace, Odes, I. xix. 5–6.
13. the French… they know not what it is: ‘Je ne sais quoi’, a phrase used to denote the ineffable quality of human or artistic grace, probably imported by Shaftesbury (Characteristics, p. 63 and elsewhere). Cf. also Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), III. xxii (‘In this ease, this roundness, this delicacy of attitude and motion, it is that all the magic of grace consists, and what is called its je ne sais quoi; as will be obvious to any observer who considers attentively the Venus de Medicis’); also HF’s comedy The Miser (1733), III. iv.
CHAPTER III.
1. the inmost Recesses of his Mind: Probably a sideswipe at HF’s rival novelist Samuel Richardson, to whose techniques of psychological representation this phrase was often applied. See William Webster’s commendatory letter in Pamela, p. 8 (‘one may judge of, nay, almost see, the inmost Recesses of her Mind’), which HF had parodied in Shamela (1741); also William Warburton’s Preface to the second instalment of Clarissa in April 1748 (‘the recesses of the Human Mind’).
CHAPTER IV.
1. the elder or the younger Brutus: According to tradition, Lucius Junius Brutus laid the foundation of the Roman republic by overthrowing the tyranny of t
he Tarquins (c. 510 bc) and condemning his sons to death when they plotted to restore the old regime. Marcus Junius Brutus assassinated his friend Julius Caesar in order to restore the republic (44 BC).
The History of Tom Jones (Penguin Classics) Page 113
