Part 1：Introduction 5
The life of Henry Fielding 5
Literary background to Tom Jones 6
A note on the text 7
Part 2：Summaries 8
A general summary 8
Detailed summaries 9
General glossary 91
Part 3：Commentary 95
Fielding's purpose 95
Fielding's morality:'good nature' 96
Eighteenth-century politics 98
Fielding's debt to the classics 100
Tom Jones and the theatre 103
Part 4：Hints for study 105
Points for detailed study 105
Selecting quotations and answering questions on Tom Jones 108
Specimen questions and answers 111
Part 5：Suggestions for further reading 114
The author of these notes 116