hat odious
broad-backed Mr. Jones carries off his beauty with scarce an
interval of remorse for his manifold errors and shortcomings... I
am angry with Jones. Too much of the plum cake and rewards of life
fall to that boisterous, swaggering young scapegrace."[1]

The "prodigal" to whom Thackeray refers is Captain Booth, the husband
of Amelia, and "Mr. Jones" is the hero of _Tom Jones_. Fielding's
wife, under the name of Sophia Western, is also the heroine of _Tom
Jones_. It is probable that in the characters of Captain Booth and Tom
Jones, Fielding drew a partial portrait of himself. He seems, however,
to have changed in middle life, for his biographer, Austin Dobson,
says of him: "He was a loving father and a kind husband; he exerted
his last energies in philanthropy and benevolence; he expended his
last ink in defence of Christianity."

Fielding shows the eighteenth-century love of satire. He hates that
hypocrisy which tries to conceal itself under a mask of morality. In
the evolution of the plots of his novels, he invariably puts such
characters in positions that tear away their mask. He displays almost
savage pleasure in making them ridiculous. Perhaps the lack of
spirituality of the age finds the most ample expression in his pages;
but Chaucer's Parish Priest and Fielding's Parson Adams are typical of
those persisting moral forces that have bequeathed a heritage of power
to England.

[Illustration: LAURENCE STERNE.]

[Illustration: UNCLE TOBY AND CORPORAL TRIM. _From a drawing by B.
Westmacott_.]

[Illustration: TOBIAS SMOLLETT.]

Sterne and Smollett.--With Richardson and Fielding it is customary
to associate two other mid-eighteenth century novelists, Lawrence
Sterne (1713-1768) and Tobias Smollett (1721-1771). Between 1759 and
1767 Sterne wrote his first novel, _The Life and Opinions of Tristram
Shandy, Gentleman_, which presents the delightfully comic and
eccentric members of the Shandy family, among whom Uncle Toby is the
masterpiece. In 1768 Sterne gave to the world that compound of
fiction, essays, and sketches of travel known as _A Sentimental
Journey through France and Italy_. The adjective "sentimental" in the
title should be specially noted, for it defines Sterne's attitude
toward everything in life. He is habitually sentimental in treating
not only those things fitted to awaken deep emotion, but also those
trivial incidents which ordinarily cause scarcely a ripple of feeling.
Although he