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| 2/27/1749 |
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Tom Jones, for "such Gentlemen and Ladies as please"
On this day in 1749 the publication of Henry Fielding's Tom Jones was announced in "The General Advertiser," along with an apology: "It being impossible to get Sets bound fast enough to answer Demand for them, such Gentlemen and Ladies as please, may have them sew'd in Blue Paper and Boards, at the Price of 16s. a Set, of A. Millar over against Catharine-street in the Strand." |
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| 3/17/1740 |
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Fielding & Cibber
On this day in 1740, writing as Captain Hercules Vinegar, Henry Fielding summoned poet laureate Colley Cibber (portrait) to court, charged with the murder of the English language. Fielding was a lawyer (soon, a Justice of the Peace) and a notorious wag; Cibber was a joke to many, not least for his rewrite of Shakespeare's Richard III: the murder charge would have been popular. |
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| 8/2/1740 |
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"Rule, Britannia!" & Tom Thumb
On this day in 1740 James Thomson's masque, Alfred the Great was first produced, in an open-air performance before the Prince and Princess of Wales. Amid the lessons on Alfred's greatness and the prophetic visions of future glory were seven songs; one of them, "Rule, Britannia!," was immediately popular, and is still the unofficial national anthem. |
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| 8/4/1749 |
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Tom Jones, Henry Fielding, Samuel Richardson
On this day in 1749 Samuel Richardson fired another volley in his feud with Henry Fielding, in this instance the opinion that Fielding's popular hit, The History of Tom Jones, could only have been written by one "too prescribing, too impetuous, too immoral, I will venture to say, to take any other Byass than that a perverse and crooked Nature has given him; or Evil Habits, at least, have confirm'd in him." |
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English-literature.org
An essay that explores the theme of morality in Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones, Shamela, and Amelia.
"... it would seem that Fielding's basic moral messages remained the same throughout these works. His main message is that marriage should always be for love, and this remains constant throughout. He also proclaims the benefits of chastity, but appears to attach less importance to this as his work progresses, and begins to believe repentance to be more important. He appears to become more tolerant of people's weaknesses and more willing to accept that people are sometimes ruled by their passions, which causes them to act in a way which is contrary to their basic moral code. Overall, Fielding conveys his moral messages in a subtle, entertaining and mainly consistent manner." |  | Online Books Page
Find electronic texts of Amelia, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, A Journey From This World to the Next, and The History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great. | |
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The TinL masthead features photography by
Natasha D'Schommer
, and the book art featured is by Jim Rosenau.
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