Henry Fielding 
History of Tom Jones, A Foundling (Volume I and II) 

The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling is the greatest representative of Fielding. As for the breadth and depth of reality, the work can be called the prose epic of the British society in the eighteenth century.The book tells the story of Tom Jones, a bastard seeking true love.Allworthy, a kind and rich gentry, adopted Tom Jones, a foundling. His sister’s son, Brian, lived in the home and was the legal heir of the Allworthy property. Brian regarded Tom as an eyesore contending for his uncle’s heritage and tried every means to discredit Tom’s honor. Finally, Tom was rushed out of the house by Allworthy who did not know about the truth and began a series of adventures with grief and joy.The social background of the novel is very broad. The first six volumes describe the countryside, the middle six volumes describe the journey from country to London, and the last six volumes describe the life in London.The author portrays more than 50 characters from the landlords, the aristocrats to the soldiers and the hooligans. Through the words and feelings of different people and their thoughts and feelings, the author reveals the broad social reality and generalizes the full picture of the social life in Britain at that time. At the same time, the humanity is deeply displayed through the description of the fate and the relationship of various characters, to express the humanitarianism ideal that good will overcome evil.The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling has also made great achievements in art.Coleridge, a famous British poet, thought that the plot of this novel was one of the most perfect plots in all literature, and its structure was a paragon of English fiction.The book also contains a full collection of color and black-and-white illustrations painted by Lawrence Beall Smith, a famous American illustrator for the novel, which is of great collection value.