THE HISTORY OF TOM JONES

THE HISTORY OF TOM JONES

Episode 1

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 or eleemosynary 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 of fare 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 Ihave named but one article. The tortise- 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 provokes and incites the most languid appetite, and the other turns and palls that which is the sharpest and keenest.

In like manner, the excellence of the mental entertainment consists less in the subject than in the author's skill in well dressing it up. How pleased, therefore, will the reader be to find that we have, in the following work, adhered closely to one of the highest principles of the best cook which the present age, or perhaps that of Heliogabalus, hath produced. This great man, as is well known to all lovers of polite eating, begins at first by setting plain things before his hungry guests, rising afterwards by degrees as their stomachs may be supposed to decrease, to the very quintessence of sauce and spices. In like manner, we shall represent human nature at first to the keen appetite of our reader, in that more plain and simple manner in which it is found in the country, and shall hereafter hash and ragoo it with all the high French and Italian seasoning of affectation and vice which courts and cities afford. By these means, we doubt not but our reader may be rendered desirous to read on for ever, as the great person just above-mentioned is supposed to have made some persons eat.

Having premised thus much, we will now detain those who like our bill of fare no longer from their diet, and shall proceed directly to serve up the first course of our history for their entertainment.

Episodes
1 Episode 1
2 Episode 2
3 Episode 3
4 Episode 4
5 Episode 5
6 Episode 6
7 Episode 7
8 Episode 8
9 Episode 9
10 Episode 10
11 Episode 11
12 Episode 12
13 Episode 13
14 Episode 14
15 Episode 15
16 Episode 16
17 Episode 17
18 Episode 18
19 Episode 19
20 Episode 20
21 Episode 21
22 Episode 22
23 Episode 23
24 Episode 24
25 Episode 25
26 Episode 26
27 Episode 27
28 Episode 28
29 Episode 29
30 Episode 30
31 Episode 31
32 Episode 32
33 Episode 33
34 Episode 34
35 Episode 35
36 Episode 36
37 Episode 37
38 Episode 38
39 Episode 39
40 Episode 40
41 Episode 41
42 Episode 42
43 Episode 43
44 Episode 44
45 Episode 45
46 Episode 46
47 Episode 47
48 Episode 48
49 Episode 49
50 Episode 50
51 Episode 51
52 Episode 52
53 Episode 53
54 Episode 54
55 Episode 55
56 Episode 56
57 Episode 57
58 Episode 58
59 Episode 59
60 Episode 60
61 Episode 61
62 Episode 62
63 Episode 63
64 Episode 64
65 Episode 65
66 Episode 66
67 Episode 67
68 Episode 68
69 Episode 69
70 Episode 70
71 Episode 71
72 Episode 72
73 Episode 73
74 Episode 74
75 Episode 75
76 Episode 76
77 Episode 77
78 Episode 78
79 Episode 79
80 Episode 80
81 Episode 81
82 Episode 82
83 Episode 83
84 Episode 84
85 Episode 85
86 Episode 86
87 Episode 87
88 Episode 88
89 Episode 89
90 Episode 90
91 Episode 91
92 Episode 92
93 Episode 93
94 Episode 94
95 Episode 95
96 Episode 96
97 Episode 97
98 Episode 98
99 Episode 99
100 Episode 100
101 Episode 101
102 Episode 102
103 Episode 103
104 Episode 104
105 Episode 105
106 Episode 106
107 Episode 107
108 Episode 108
109 Episode 109
110 Episode 110
111 Episode 111
112 Episode 112
113 Episode 113
114 Episode 114
115 Episode 115
116 Episode 116
117 Episode 117
118 Episode 118
119 Episode 119
120 Episode 120
121 Episode 121
122 Episode 122
123 Episode 123
124 Episode 124
125 Episode 125
126 Episode 126
127 Episode 127
128 Episode 128
129 Episode 129
130 Episode 130
131 Episode 131
132 Episode 132
133 Episode 133
134 Episode 134
135 Episode 135
136 Episode 136
137 Episode 137
138 Episode 138
139 Episode 139
140 Episode 140
141 Episode 141
142 Episode 142
143 Episode 143
144 Episode 144
145 Episode 145
146 Episode 146
147 Episode 147
148 Episode 148
149 Episode 149
150 Episode 150
151 Episode 151
152 Episode 152
153 Episode 153
154 Episode 154
155 Episode 155
156 Episode 156
157 Episode 157
158 Episode 158
159 Episode 159
160 Episode 160
161 Episode 161
162 Episode 162
163 Episode 163
164 Episode 164
165 Episode 165
166 Episode 166
167 Episode 167
168 Episode 168
169 Episode 169
170 Episode 170
171 Episode 171
172 Episode 172
173 Episode 173
174 Episode 174
175 Episode 175
176 Episode 176
177 Episode 177
178 Episode 178
179 Episode 179
180 Episode 180
181 Episode 181
182 Episode 182
183 Episode 183
184 Episode 184
185 Episode 185
186 Episode 186
187 Episode 187
188 Episode 188
189 Episode 189
190 Episode 190
191 Episode 191
192 Episode 192
193 Episode 193
194 Episode 194
195 Episode 195
196 Episode 196
197 Episode 197
198 Episode 198
199 Episode 199
200 Episode 200
201 Episode 201
202 Episode 202
203 Episode 203
204 Episode 204
205 Episode 205
206 Episode 206
207 Episode 207
208 Episode 208
209 Episode 209
210 Episode 210
211 Episode 211
212 Episode 212
213 Episode 213
214 Episode 214
215 Episode 215
216 Episode 216
217 Episode 217
218 Episode 218
219 Episode 219
220 Episode 220
221 Episode 221
222 Episode 222
223 Episode 223
224 Episode 224
225 Episode 225
226 Episode 226
227 Episode 227
228 Episode 228
229 Episode 229
230 Episode 230
231 Episode 231
232 Episode 232
233 Episode 233
234 Episode 234
235 Episode 235
236 Episode 236
237 Episode 237
238 Episode 238
239 Episode 239
240 Episode 240
241 Episode 241
242 Episode 242
243 Episode 243
244 Episode 244
245 Episode 245
246 Episode 246
247 Episode 247
248 Episode 248
249 Episode 249
250 Episode 250
251 Episode 251
252 Episode 252
253 Episode 253
254 Episode 254
255 Episode 255
256 Episode 256
257 Episode 257
258 Episode 258
259 Episode 259
260 Episode 260
261 Episode 261
262 Episode 262
263 Episode 263
264 Episode 264
265 Episode 265
266 Episode 266
267 Episode 267
268 Episode 268
269 Episode 269
270 Episode 270
271 Episode 271
272 Episode 272
273 Episode 273
274 Episode 274
275 Episode 275
276 Episode 276
277 Episode 277
278 Episode 278
279 Episode 279
280 Episode 280
281 Episode 281
282 Episode 282
283 Episode 283
284 Episode 284
285 Episode 285
286 Episode 286
287 Episode 287
288 Episode 288
289 Episode 289
290 Episode 290
291 Episode 291
292 Episode 292
293 Episode 293
294 Episode 294
295 Episode 295
296 Episode 296
297 Episode 297
298 Episode 298
299 Episode 299
300 Episode 300
301 Episode 301
302 Episode 302
303 Episode 303
304 Episode 304
305 Episode 305
306 Episode 306
307 Episode 307
308 Episode 308
309 Episode 309
310 Episode 310
311 Episode 311
312 Episode 312
313 Episode 313
314 Episode 314
315 Episode 315
316 Episode 316
317 Episode 317
318 Episode 318
319 Episode 319
320 Episode 320
321 Episode 321
322 Episode 322
323 Episode 323
324 Episode 324
325 Episode 325
326 Episode 326
327 Episode 327
328 Episode 328
329 Episode 329
330 Episode 330
331 Episode 331
332 Episode 332
333 Episode 333
334 Episode 334
335 Episode 335
336 Episode 336
337 Episode 337
338 Episode 338
339 Episode 339
340 Episode 340
341 Episode 341
342 Episode 342
343 Episode 343
344 Episode 344
345 Episode 345
346 Episode 346
347 Episode 347
348 Episode 348
349 Episode 349
350 Episode 350
351 Episode 351
352 Episode 352
353 Episode 353
354 Episode 354
355 Episode 355
356 Episode 356
357 Episode 357
358 Episode 358
359 Episode 359
360 Episode 360
361 Episode 361
362 Episode 362
363 Episode 363
364 Episode 364
365 Episode 365
366 Episode 366
367 Episode 367
368 Episode 368
369 Episode 369
370 Episode 370
371 Episode 371
372 Episode 372
373 Episode 373
374 Episode 374
375 Episode 375
376 Episode 376
377 Episode 377
378 Episode 378
379 Episode 379
380 Episode 380
381 Episode 381
382 Episode 382
383 Episode 383
384 Episode 384
385 Episode 385
386 Episode 386
387 Episode 387
388 Episode 388
389 Episode 389
390 Episode 390
391 Episode 391
392 Episode 392
393 Episode 393
394 Episode 394
395 Episode 395
396 Episode 396
397 Episode 397
398 Episode 398
399 Episode 399
400 Episode 400
401 Episode 401
402 Episode 402
403 Episode 403
404 Episode 404
405 Episode 405
406 Episode 406
407 Episode 407
408 Episode 408
409 Episode 409
410 Episode 410
411 Episode 411
412 Episode 412
413 Episode 413
414 Episode 414
415 Episode 415
416 Episode 416
417 Episode 417
418 Episode 418
Episodes

Updated 418 Episodes

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