Henry Fielding

Name: Amelia — Volume 3
Author: Henry Fielding

Biographical details

Henry Fielding (1707–1754), an English novelist, dramatist, and magistrate, is celebrated for his witty satire and pioneering role in shaping the English novel. Alongside Samuel Richardson, he is regarded as a founder of the traditional novel, exemplified by The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749), a picaresque masterpiece blending irony, social critique, and vivid characterisation.

His works, ranging from The Female Husband (1746) to Joseph Andrews (1742), explore morality, human folly, and the complexities of 18th-century society. Beyond literature, Fielding’s creation of London’s first professional police force, the Bow Street Runners, underscores his dual legacy as a literary innovator and reformer.

Quotes by Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding, History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

“ I know my cousin better than you, Mr Jones, and I must say, any woman who makes no return to such a passion, and such a person, is unworthy of both.”
“Sure, madam,” said Jones, “you can't mean——” “Mean!” cries Mrs Fitzpatrick, “I know not what I mean; there is something, I think, in true tenderness bewitching; few women ever meet with it in men, and fewer still know how to value it when they do. I never heard such truly noble sentiments, and I can't tell how it is, but you force one to believe you. Sure she must be the most contemptible of women who can overlook such merit.” ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Henry Fielding, Amelia — Complete

“ Booth is a very fine woman; and, if I had the honour to be her husband, I should not be angry with any man for liking her.”
“But you would be angry,” said Booth, “with a man, who should make use of stratagems and contrivances to seduce her virtue; especially if he did this under the colour of entertaining the highest friendship for yourself.”
“Not at all,” cries Trent. “It is human nature.”
“Perhaps it is,” cries Booth; “but it is human nature depraved, stript of all its worth, and loveliness, and dignity, and degraded down to a level with the vilest brutes.” ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Henry Fielding, The History of the Life of the Late Mr…

“ This is the injury never to be redressed, nor even to be with honour forgiven." "M—-in a bandbox!" answered Fireblood; "here is a noise about your honour! If the mischief done to your blood be all you complain of, I am sure you complain of nothing; for my blood is as good as yours." "You have no conception," replied Wild, "of the tenderness of honour; you know not how nice and delicate it is in both sexes; so delicate that the least breath of air which rudely blows on it destroys it." "I will prove from your own words," says Fireblood, "I have not wronged your honour. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Henry Fielding, The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and his Friend…

“ Did not the dear
creature prefer me to every woman in the assembly, when every she was
laying out for him? When was it in Horatio's power to give me such an
instance of affection? Can he give me an equipage, or any of those
things which Bellarmine will make me mistress of? How vast is the
difference between being the wife of a poor counsellor and the wife of
one of Bellarmine's fortune! If I marry Horatio, I shall triumph over no
more than one rival; but by marrying Bellarmine, I shall be the envy of
all my acquaintance. What happiness! But can I suffer Horatio to die? ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling… (1749)

“ Here, Honour, take all the money I have; take the rings from my fingers. Here, my watch: carry him all. Go find him immediately." "For Heaven's sake, ma'am," answered Mrs Honour, "do but consider, if my master should miss any of these things, I should be made to answer for them. Therefore let me beg your la'ship not to part with your watch and jewels. Besides, the money, I think, is enough of all conscience; and as for that, my master can never know anything of the matter." "Here, then," cries Sophia, "take every farthing I am worth, find him out immediately, and give it him. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Fielding, Amelia — Volume 2

“ Ellison; "I am sure I propose nothing but to serve him; and if you will do as much to serve him yourself, he will not be long a prisoner."
"I do!" cries Amelia: "O Heavens! is there a thing upon earth—"
"Yes, there is a thing upon earth," said Mrs. Ellison, "and a very easy thing too; and yet I will venture my life you start when I propose it. And yet, when I consider that you are a woman of understanding, I know not why I should think so; for sure you must have too much good sense to imagine that you can cry your husband out of prison. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Henry Fielding, History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

“ How can I possibly desert such a woman? and yet I must desert her, or be guilty of the blackest treachery to one who deserves infinitely better of me than she can; a woman, my Nightingale, for whom I have a passion which few can have an idea of. I am half distracted with doubts how to act.” “And is this other, pray, an honourable mistress?” cries Nightingale. “Honourable!” answered Jones; “no breath ever yet durst sully her reputation. The sweetest air is not purer, the limpid stream not clearer, than her honour. She is all over, both in mind and body, consummate perfection. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Henry Fielding, Amelia — Volume 1

“ If the world have extolled the firmness of soul in a man who can support the loss of fortune; of a general who can be composed after the loss of a victory; or of a king who can be contented with the loss of a crown; with what astonishment ought we to behold, with what praises to honour, a young lady, who can with patience and resignation submit to the loss of exquisite beauty, in other words to the loss of fortune, power, glory, everything which human nature is apt to court and rejoice in! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Henry Fielding, Amelia — Volume 3

“ In the first place then, can anything be more reasonable than for a wife to desire to attend her husband? It is, as my favourite child observes, no more than a desire to do her duty; and I make no doubt but that is one great reason of her insisting on it. And how can you yourself oppose it? Can love be its own enemy? or can a husband who is fond of his wife, content himself almost on any account with a long absence from her?"
"You speak like an angel, my dear Doctor Harrison," answered Amelia: "I am sure, if he loved as tenderly as I do, he could on no account submit to it." ”

Henry Fielding

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