The History of Tom Jones - Book I - Chapter I and Chapter II

Aug 25, 2026

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Henry Fielding’s The History of Tom Jones (Book I) opens with an authorial preface framed as a “bill of fare,” explaining how the work will present human nature through successive “courses.” Chapter I outlines this guiding method and draws on metaphors of cooking, seasoning, and entertainment to argue that style and dressing—not just subject matter—shape the reader’s experience. Chapter II introduces the setting and key figures, focusing on Squire Allworthy and the fuller portrait of Miss Bridget Allworthy.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages663

Reading Time17 h 1 min

AccessFree to download

Book I

Chapter I - The introduction to the work

Chapter II - Description of Squire Allworthy and Miss Bridget Allworthy

THE HISTORY OF TOM JONES, A FOUNDLING By Henry Fielding BOOK I.—CONTAINING AS MUCH OF THE BIRTH OF THE FOUNDLING AS IS NECESSARY OR PROPER TO ACQUAINT THE READER WITH IN THE BEGINNING OF THIS HISTORY. Chapter i.—The introduction to the work, or bill of fare to the feast. An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a private oreleemosynary treat, but rather as one who keeps a public ordinary, at which all persons are welcome for their money. In the former case, it is well known that the entertainer provides what fare he pleases; and though this should be very indifferent, and utterly disagreeable to the taste of his company, they must not find any fault; nay, on the contrary, good breeding forces them outwardly to approve and to commend whatever is set before them. Now the contrary of this happens to the master of an ordinary. Men who pay for what they eat will insist on gratifying their palates, however nice and whimsical these may prove; and if everything is not agreeable to their taste, will challenge a right to censure, to abuse, and to d—n their dinner without controul. To prevent, therefore, giving offence to their customers by any such disappointment, it hath been usual with the honest and well-meaning host to provide a bill of fare which all persons may peruse at their first entrance into the house; and having thence acquainted themselves with the entertainment which they may expect, may either stay and regale with what is provided for them, or may depart to some other ordinary better accommodated to their taste. As we do not disdain to borrow wit or wisdom from any man who is capable of lending us either, we have condescended to take a hint from these honest victuallers, and shall prefix not only a general bill offare to our whole entertainment, but shall likewise give the reader particular bills to every course which is to be served up in this and the ensuing volumes. The provision, then, which we have here made is no other than Human Nature. Nor do I fear that my sensible reader, though most luxurious in his taste, will start, cavil, or be offended, because I have named but one article. The tortoise—as the alderman of Bristol, well learned in eating, knows by much experience—besides the delicious calipash and calipee, contains many different kinds of food; nor can the learned reader be ignorant, that in human nature, though here collected under one general name, is such prodigious variety, that a cook will have sooner gone through all the several species of animal and vegetable food in the world, than an author will be able to exhaust so extensive a subject. An objection may perhaps be apprehended from the more delicate, that this dish is too common and vulgar; for what else is the subject of all the romances, novels, plays, and poems, with which the stalls abound? Many exquisite viands might be rejected by the epicure, if it was a sufficient cause for his contemning of them as common and vulgar, that something was to be found in the most paltry alleys under the same name. In reality, true nature is as difficult to be met with in authors, as the Bayonne ham, or Bologna sausage, is to be found in the shops. But the whole, to continue the same metaphor, consists in the cookery of the author; for, as Mr Pope tells us— “True wit is nature to advantage drest; What oft was thought, but ne'er so well exprest.” The same animal which hath the honour to have some part of his flesh eaten at the table of a duke, may perhaps be degraded in another part, and some of his limbs gibbeted, as it were, in the vilest stall in town. Where, then, lies the difference between the food of the nobleman and the porter, if both are at dinner on the same ox or calf, but in the seasoning, the dressing, the garnishing, and the setting forth? Hence the one provokesand incites the most languid appetite, and the other turns and palls that which is the sharpest and keenest. In like manner, the excellen

FAQs

What framing does Fielding use to introduce The History of Tom Jones?

He presents the narrative like a public “ordinary” with a “bill of fare,” explaining that the work will offer an initial general course and then particular courses for each part of the story.

According to Chapter I, what makes the difference between ordinary and excellent writing?

The difference lies in the author’s “cookery”—the dressing, seasoning, and presentation of the subject—rather than merely the subject itself.

Who is introduced in Chapter II?

Chapter II begins by describing Squire Allworthy and then provides a fuller account of his sister, Miss Bridget Allworthy, in Somersetshire.

Aug 25, 2026

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