Summary

Book 1, Chapter 1
Chapter 1 provides a rationale for writing this book, which is to instruct the public by providing an
example of an exemplary life. In comparing his work to others, the narrator, with his tongue in his
cheek, passes over biographies of famous people and points out two recent biographies of worthy
persons: Mr. Colley Cibber and Mrs. Pamela Andrews. Mr. Cibber exposes the emptiness of vanity,
while the essays and letters in subsequent additions of Pamela's biography have already explained
the value of her instructive text. The narrator himself now puts before the public the story of
Mr. Joseph Andrews, who follows the pattern of his sister and was able to "preserve his purity in the
midst of such great temptations."

Book 1, Chapter 2
Joseph Andrews, the son of Gaffar and Gammar Andrews, the brother of Pamela Andrews, has no
ancestors of repute. At 10 he is apprenticed to Sir Thomas Booby, uncle of Mr. Booby. Joseph first
works as a sort of human scarecrow to chase the birds, then as the huntsman's subordinate, and
finally as a jockey. At 17 he catches the attention of Lady Booby and becomes her footman.

Book 1, Chapter 3
Joseph Andrews is also noticed by Mr. Abraham Adams, the local parson, a scholar with mastery of
Greek and Latin as well as other languages: "He was, besides, a man of good sense, good parts,
and good nature; but was at the same time as entirely ignorant of the ways of this world as an infant
just entered into it could possibly be." Parson Adams is poor, with a wife and six children and an
income of 23 pounds a year.
When Adams questions Joseph on his knowledge of religion, he is pleasantly surprised to learn that
Joseph has read the Bible as well as other religious texts. Adams asks Mrs. Slipslop, Lady Booby's
gentlewoman-in-waiting, if she can recommend to her mistress that Joseph study Latin with him, but
she disregards his request.

Book 1, Chapter 4
In London, Joseph Andrews becomes more fashionable in appearance, although he remains
uncorrupted by new acquaintances he meets in town. He accompanies Lady Booby everywhere,
and she says he is the "handsomest and genteelest footman in the kingdom." Lady Booby's
affectionate behavior with Joseph raises some eyebrows, but he is affected neither by Lady Booby's
attentions nor by the gossip.

Book 1, Chapter 5
Sir Thomas Booby dies unexpectedly, and after a week has passed, Lady Booby orders Joseph
Andrews to bring her tea while she is in bed. She quizzes him about his love life and intimates that
she is open to sexual relations with him. When he doesn't respond, she says that she trusts him not
to try to take advantage of her, since she is naked in bed. He reassures her that he would never do
anything untoward, and she becomes angry and dismisses him.

Book 1, Chapter 6
Joseph Andrews writes to his sister Pamela, who is living as a servant to Squire Booby (the nephew
of Lady Booby), that he has been propositioned by Lady Booby and expects to soon lose his job
over his refusal. When he goes downstairs, he is accosted by 45-year-old Mrs. Slipslop, an
extremely ugly woman who has been slipping him treats to win his favor. She now asks him point
blank whether he intends to satisfy her passion. Joseph answers that he has always loved her as a
mother. Luckily for Joseph, Slipslop is summoned by Lady Booby's bell before she can throw herself
at him.

Book 1, Chapter 7
Lady Booby, still in her bed, berates herself mentally for her passion for Joseph Andrews and
despises him for not responding. When Slipslop arrives, Booby asks after Joseph, and the waiting
woman, equally miffed at him, begins berating him. She falsely accuses him of seducing the female
servants and even getting one particular girl pregnant. Booby demands that Slipslop fire her as well
as Joseph. But Booby calls Slipslop back a few more times, countermanding her orders each time,
since she is not sure she wants to part with Joseph. She finally says she will see him herself.

Book 1, Chapter 8
When Joseph Andrews appears in front of Lady Booby, the narrator describes him as a beautiful
young man with a noble bearing. Booby berates him for philandering and accuses him of fathering a
child with one of the maids. Joseph vehemently denies the accusation, admitting he has offered no
more than kissing. Booby grabs this opportunity to invite Joseph to kiss her, which he respectfully
declines. Further, he tells Booby that in matters of the heart, he'd never allow his passion to get
ahead of his virtue. This pronouncement incenses Booby, who cries, "Did ever mortal hear of a
man's virtue?" Lady Booby fires Joseph on the spot and feels humiliated: "Have I not exposed
myself to the refusal of my footman?" she thinks.

Book 1, Chapter 9
Since Mrs. Slipslop was listening at the door, she speaks to her mistress too freely, and Lady Booby
realizes that she knows more than she should. She smooths over the quarrel with Slipslop since she
fears for her reputation (if she offends her waiting woman, she might reveal her secrets). For her
part, Slipslop doesn't want to lose her place, so she readily accepts her mistress's olive branch.

Book 1, Chapter 10
Returning to his room, Joseph Andrews writes to his sister, telling her of his misfortune. "Mr. Adams
hath often told me, that chastity is as great a virtue in a man as in a woman," he says, vowing to
continue to preserve himself from sexual advances. Joseph applies to the estate steward, Peter
Pounce, for what little wages he is owed (since Pounce has loaned him money in advance at
exorbitant interest). He must return his livery (uniform) to Peter, so he borrows clothes from one of
the servants and then sets off at night on his journey

Book 1, Chapter 9
Since Mrs. Slipslop was listening at the door, she speaks to her mistress too freely, and Lady Booby
realizes that she knows more than she should. She smooths over the quarrel with Slipslop since she
fears for her reputation (if she offends her waiting woman, she might reveal her secrets). For her
part, Slipslop doesn't want to lose her place, so she readily accepts her mistress's olive branch.

Book 1, Chapter 10
Returning to his room, Joseph Andrews writes letter to his sister, telling her of his misfortune. "Mr.
Adams have often told me, that chastity is as great a virtue in a man as in a woman," he says,
vowing to continue to preserve himself from sexual advances. Joseph applies to the estate steward,
Peter Pounce, for what little wages he is owed (since Pounce has loaned him money in advance at
exorbitant interest). He must return his livery (uniform) to Peter, so he borrows clothes from one of
the servants and then sets off at night on his journey.

Book 1, Chapter 11
Instead of returning to his parents, Joseph makes haste to return to the Booby county seat, since the
woman he loves lives on a farm in that parish. Fanny Goodwill and Joseph Andrews have practically
grown up together, since Fanny was raised by the Boobys. But she has recently been let go by Mrs.
Slipslop, probably because of her remarkable beauty. Fanny and Joseph intend to marry but have
been waiting, on the advice of Priace Adams. The couple has shared kisses and embraces but not
more than that. They have been apart for months, and Joseph is anxious to see his fiancée.

Book 1, Chapter 12
Joseph Andrews is attacked by robbers on the road and tries to fight them off. But they get the best
of him, beating him mercilessly, robbing him of his clothes and money, and leaving him in a ditch. A
stagecoach stops when the postilion (the man who rides and guides the horses on a stagecoach)
hears Joseph's groans, but the lady tells the coachman to leave the naked man, and everyone
agrees except a lawyer, who says that they could be liable for his death now that they have stopped
in the first place. None of the fine people in the coach will give up a coat to the bleeding Joseph, but
the postilion offers his, and the narrator comments that later he was transported (sent as punishment
to work in America) for robbing a hen roost.

The coach is subsequently robbed by the same ruffians but finally arrives at an inn. The doctor is
awakened but told that the injured man is only a poor foot passenger, so he goes back to bed. In the
morning the innkeeper tells Betty, the maid, to get Joseph one of his shirts, but she is stopped by his
wife, Mrs. Tow-wouse, who faults him for trying to clothe "naked vagabonds." Betty gets a shirt from
the hostler (servant in charge of the horses), and the surgeon finally comes to dress Joseph's
wounds.

Book 1, Chapter 13
The doctor tells Joseph that there's a good chance he will die of an infection, and the innkeeper, Mr.
Tow-wouse, sends for Mr. Barnabas, the clergyman. Barnabas asks Joseph to repent his sins and
asks him if he has forgiven the thieves. Joseph asks Barnabas what forgiveness is, to which the
clergyman has no good answer. Joseph then says that he's forgiven them as much as he can.

Book 1, Chapter 14
A gentleman arrives at the inn, and the talk around the fireside is about the sick man. Mrs. Tow-
wouse is very annoyed that he has been brought to her inn, saying that if he dies the parish should
pick up the tab for his funeral expenses. Meanwhile, some young men in the neighborhood have
caught one of the thieves and find Joseph Andrews's broken piece of gold, a token from Fanny
Goodwill, which he keeps on a ribbon, as well as Joseph's clothes. The gentleman, who is Mr.
Abraham Adams, recognizes the Booby livery, so he goes upstairs to investigate and finds the
young man he has been mentoring.

Book 1, Chapter 15
After Mrs. Tow-wouse learns of Joseph's acquaintance with Adams, who appears to be a gentleman,
she is more kindly disposed toward the invalid. Adams tells Joseph that he is on his way to London
to publish three volumes of his sermons, which he is carrying, and offers to loan Joseph the money
in his pocket. The narrator takes an opportunity to write a short sermon on vanity at the end of the
chapter, in the context of the intellectual rivalry between Mr. Barnabas and the surgeon.

Book 1, Chapter 16
In the morning the thief cannot be brought to justice because he has escaped out the window the
previous night. The narrator intimates that Constable Suckbribe likely let the prisoner go in exchange
for money.

The surgeon and Mr. Barnabas ask Parson Adams to share a drink with them, and he tells them
about his plan to sell his sermons. Barnabas expresses doubt that he will be able to do so, since the
world has grown so wicked and people aren't interested in religious material. During this
conversation, the surgeon highly praises the sermons of Tillotson, an Anglican archbishop. Over the
next few days, Joseph makes a good recovery, and he and Adams pray together in thanksgiving.

Book 1, Chapter 17
A bookseller friend of Mr. Barnabas agrees to look at Parson Adams's manuscripts, though he
generally publishes only sermons of famous people. Barnabas harshly criticizes the famous
Whitefield (George Whitefield) for recommending poverty to all Christians. Adams agrees with
Whitefield that clergymen should not live luxuriously, but he cannot countenance his "doctrine of faith
against good works." God would not condemn virtuous people just because they were unorthodox in
their beliefs, he says. Further, he can't approve a villain saying, "Lord, it is true I never obeyed one of
thy commandments, yet punish me not, for I believe them all." This view scandalizes both the
bookseller, who withdraws his offer, and Barnabas, who thinks Adams might be the devil himself.
Their discussion is cut short by a commotion: Mrs. Tow-wouse finds Betty in bed with Mr. Tow-
wouse and throws her out of the house.

Book 1, Chapter 18
The next chapter gives some history of Betty the chambermaid, who has had more than one sexual
tryst. Mr. Tow-wouse has been pursuing her for a while, but she has fended him off. After Joseph
Andrews arrives, Betty becomes more and more smitten with him and finally embraces him
passionately. Joseph leaps away from her and chides her lack of modesty, which she responds to
with more advances until Joseph has to physically throw her out of his room. Betty, still sexually
aroused and perhaps in need of assuaging her pride, walks into Mr. Tow-wouse's bedroom on the
pretense of making his bed. Seeing her, the innkeeper renews his suit and this time is successful.

Summary

Book 2, Chapter 1
This chapter digresses to the subject of how authors divide their works. The narrator compares
chapter divisions to resting places, where the reader may stop and take refreshment. The chapter
titles are like inscriptions over the gates of inns to inform the reader about what type of entertainment
to expect. The narrator notes that Homer was the first to divide a work into books, although modern-
day publishers have perfected this system so that they can get more profit by publishing content in
pieces.

Book 2, Chapter 2
Parson Adams manages to borrow money from a former parishioner to pay the bill for himself
and Joseph Andrews and continue on to London. But when he checks his saddlebags, he learns that
his wife has replaced his sermons with extra shirts. Thus he decides to return home with Joseph.
Since Adams has a horse, they will take turns riding it, using the method of having the walker start
first. When the rider catches up to the walker, they switch places. The parson sets out on foot,
forgetting to pay for the horse's board, so when Joseph tries to retrieve the horse, the inn will not
release it. After Adams is walking a while, he begins to wonder what's delaying Joseph. He finally
sits down on a stile (set of steps over a fence or wall) to wait for him to catch up and pulls out his
Aeschylus to read.

Book 2, Chapter 3
Parson Adams finally steps into an alehouse for refreshment and overhears two people talking about
a man who was detained and realizes what happened to Joseph. He resolves to return to the inn but
must wait for the rain to pass. While waiting he listens to two lawyers give opposing views of a
neighborhood man, and the innkeeper says later that they are both lying. Out of self-love people
speak better of their friends than enemies, he says. Adams replies, "Out of love to yourself, you
should confine yourself to truth, ... for by doing otherwise you injure the noblest part of yourself, your
immortal soul."

A stagecoach drives up, and Adams learns that a gentlewoman in the coach has redeemed the
horse for Joseph Andrews. When Joseph arrives, the woman, Mrs. Slipslop, invites him to ride with
her, but he demurs, saying that the parson should ride in the coach. Once they set off, another
passenger begins to tell the story of the unfortunate Leonora, who lives in a house they happen to
pass by.

Book 2, Chapter 4
Leonora is a very attractive but shallow 18-year-old, much sought after by the gentlemen. She loves
to attend balls and is greedy for flattery and attention. A young, worthy suitor from a good family falls
in love with Leonora. Horatio courts her somewhat awkwardly, but they are finally engaged. About
two weeks before the impending marriage, Horatio, a young lawyer, is called to attend sessions. In
his absence, a seemingly rich fop named Bellarmine, decked out in the French fashion and driving a
coach with six horses, shows up at a town assembly and admires Leonora. Because all the women
envy Bellarmine's attention, she dances with him all night. The next day he proposes marriage, and
she agrees. The following day, Horatio returns unexpectedly and finds the interloper in his place.
Leonora pretends as if she hardly knows Horatio. He leaves, but later he stabs his rival with a sword
and almost kills him. Leonora responds by rushing to her new lover's side to tend his wounds,
against the advice of her aunt.

Book 2, Chapter 5
The story is interrupted when the party stops at an inn to eat. Parson Adams finds Joseph
Andrews in the kitchen with the innkeeper's wife, where she is nursing a contusion on his leg.
Adams's horse, borrowed from the pastor's clerk, has a nasty trick of kneeling down unexpectedly,
and Joseph fell off the horse and caught his leg under the animal. When the innkeeper comes in
behind Adams and sees his wife tending to Joseph, he chases his wife and makes rude remarks.
The parson steps up to defend his friend, striking the innkeeper and beginning a nasty brawl, which
ends up involving the innkeeper, his wife, Adams, and Mrs. Slipslop. Afterward, a few lawyers who
are present attempt to get Adams and the innkeeper to sue their assailants, but both men decline
the lawyers' services. Joseph now must ride in the coach, but one passenger, Mrs. Grave-airs,
objects to riding with a servant and begins arguing with Slipslop. Luckily, the father of Mrs. Grave-
airs passes by and gets her a place in one of his coaches.
Book 2, Chapter 6
The lady telling Leonora's story says she completely puts aside propriety, becoming Bellarmine's
nurse while she practically lived in his apartment. After Bellarmine recovers, he keeps his promise to
ask for Leonora's hand in marriage. He expects her father to settle a portion of his fortune on the
couple. The father refuses, and Bellarmine returns to France because he has no money of his own.
Leonora then retires as a recluse to the house the storyteller has already pointed out. Horatio ends
up doing very well in business and making a fortune, but he never marries.

Book 2, Chapter 7
Joseph Andrews puts his head out the coach window and sees that Parson Adams is walking along
with his crabstick, apparently having forgotten once again about his horse at the inn. When the
coachman tries to catch up with him, he goes faster and puts more distance between them as a lark.
Three miles ahead, he runs into a man who is hunting. As they begin talking, the man shows himself
to be patriotic in the extreme, saying anyone who would not die for his country should be hanged.

Book 2, Chapter 8
Parson Adams is impressed with the man's honorable nature and relays how he himself never
committed a dishonest act to advance in his profession. For example, he once lost his curacy
(position as a curate or clergy in charge of a parish) for refusing to encourage his nephew, an
alderman, to support the rector's candidate. Adams later encouraged his nephew to help Sir Thomas
Booby get elected, since he thought he was a good man. Sir Thomas offered Adams a living, but
then Lady Booby gave the post to a different man. Now that both Adams's nephew and Sir Thomas
are dead, the parson says he is no longer "a man of consequence."

Book 2, Chapter 9
The hunter picks up his original subject of valor, saying he disinherited his nephew because he
would not exchange his commission to fight in the West Indies. As they continue walking, they hear
a woman shrieking. Parson Adams, brandishing his crabstick, runs toward the sound while the
patriot holds back, in fear for his life. The parson finds a woman on the ground, struggling with her
would-be rapist. The two men begin boxing, and Adams knocks the man out. The woman tells
Adams she was on her way to London when the man offered to walk with her to the nearest inn. But
then he attacked her when she spurned his sexual advances.

Book 2, Chapter 10
By now it is dark, but Parson Adams spies some bird baiters (or trappers), and he calls them over to
get help. After he tells his story, the villain, who has been pretending to be unconscious, jumps up
and accuses the parson and the woman of robbing him. The young men are fooled and now decide
to carry the innocents off to the magistrate. As they argue over how they will apportion the reward for
catching robbers, the woman recognizes the parson and begins plying him with questions about
Joseph. She is Fanny Goodwill and has learned of her fiancé's misfortune from some servants who
were on the robbed coach. This is why she is on the road—having dropped everything to look for
Joseph, whom "she loved with inexpressible violence, though with the purest and most delicate
passion."

Book 2, Chapter 11
The justice immediately begins to scold the "robbers," before hearing any evidence, ordering the
clerk to draw up a warrant and put them in prison. Someone in the crowd recognizes the parson,
however, and asks him if he knows Lady Booby. The squire vouches for him before the judge, and
Parson Adams vouches for Fanny Goodwill. The judge now turns his wrath on the "witness," who
has slipped away, and he demands that the young men who brought in Adams and Fanny find the
miscreant who perjured himself. The judge and Parson Adams then begin to argue over a point of
law, but Fanny interrupts, since she has met a young man who can guide them to the inn where
Joseph's stagecoach will be put up. Thus she hurries the parson away.

Book 2, Chapter 12
Soon after they leave, the party has to stop at an alehouse to get out of a violent rainstorm. Parson
Adams is happy to sit by the fire with toast and ale, but Fanny Goodwill is impatient to get to Joseph
Andrews. The narrator describes Fanny as being a beautiful and buxom woman of 19 who draws
everyone's attention. The parson is lost in thought, thinking about a passage from Aeschylus, while
Fanny becomes transfixed when she hears a man with a beautiful voice singing a ballad and
realizes it is Joseph. Fanny falls out of her chair, and Adams gets up to help her, accidentally
throwing his Aeschylus in the fire. When the parson calls for help to rescue his book, Joseph
appears from a back room. Seeing Fanny, he kisses her passionately, despite being in a public
place. The parson is delighted at the reunion but sad that he has lost his precious book.

Book 2, Chapter 13
The narrator uses the occasion of Mrs. Slipslop ignoring Fanny Goodwill to digress and explain the
difference between high people and low people: "High people signify no other than people of
fashion, and low people those of no fashion." These two groups are in a fierce contention, which is
why they do not speak publicly to each other, although they may have quite a bit of interaction
privately. The narrator makes witty observations about how they segregate themselves in public
places and use special terms for the low people, such as "the creature," "wretches," "people one
does not know," and so forth. The narrator also notes that people may be of fashion in one context
and of no fashion in another.
Mrs. Slipslop refers to Fanny as a wench, and when Parson Adams vouches for her chastity and
tells Mrs. Slipslop about the attempted rape, she chastises him for fighting the rapist. She gets ready
to leave for home in a chaise (horse-drawn vehicle), since Lady Booby is shortly expected, and tries
to get Joseph to ride with her, but he refuses to leave Fanny. This puts Slipslop into a fury, since she
was hoping to corner Joseph for a sexual encounter. After she leaves, Fanny and Joseph share
some romantic time together while the parson naps in his chair, and when he awakes, Joseph asks
Adams to marry them. He refuses, saying they must either get a license or publish the banns (make
a public announcement of marriage in a church or town council meeting) three times, following the
forms of the Church. In the morning the parson finds he does not have enough money to pay the bill,
so he decides to visit the local parson to borrow some money.

Book 2, Chapter 14
Mr. Trulliber is a parson only on Sundays, and the rest of the time he runs a prosperous farm with
his wife. The narrator describes Mrs. Trulliber as having been cowed by the man to the point where
she "absolutely submitted, and now worshipped her husband, as Sarah did Abraham." Parson
Adams is offered breakfast, and after eating he asks to borrow 14 shillings. Trulliber is astonished by
this request and then angered, threatening to have Adams punished as a vagabond. Adams
remonstrates with Trulliber for his lack of charity: "If you trust to your knowledge for your justification,
you will find yourself deceived, though you should add faith to it, without good works." Adams says
any man "void of charity, I make no scruple of pronouncing that he is no Christian." Although
Trulliber threatens him physically, he walks away.

Book 2, Chapter 15
The hostess of the inn threatens to have Parson Adams and his party arrested if they leave without
paying. A peddler overhears this conversation and takes Adams aside, giving him all the money in
his pocket and promising to call on Adams to be repaid when he passes through his parish.

Book 2, Chapter 16
After about two miles of walking, the party passes a large house, and when they get to an alehouse,
the parson asks about the owner of the mansion. He happens to be that very man Adams questions,
who now invites him into the alehouse for a glass of beer. The man is very friendly and begins to
make several outlandish promises to Parson Adams—for example, that he will provide him with a
lucrative post in a prosperous parish. Adams believes everything the man says, even though it
becomes clear he is lying. Adams's party stays at the inn because the parson believes his new friend
is footing the bill, but that turns out to be another lie. The innkeeper is sympathetic, since he too has
been hoodwinked by this man, and he tells Adams he will let him go without paying.

Part 2, Chapter 17
The landlord continues to drink with Parson Adams, relating various stories of how people were
ruined by this trickster. He himself was a sea captain who lost his ship, and the trickster promised to
get him a lieutenancy in a large ship. When the sailor finally realized the trickster is a liar, he set up
an alehouse with his wife. Adams opines that although the trickster is base (ignoble), his
countenance (facial expression) reveals a sweetness of disposition. The innkeeper replies that if
Adams had seen as much of the world as himself, he would not put such trust in a man's
countenance. Adams retorts by bragging about traveling through books, and he notes that Socrates
was a great believer in physiognomy (relationship between character and outward appearance). The
two next begin arguing about the relative merits of men of trade and of the clergy, but before the
argument gets too hot, Fanny and Joseph return and urge Adams to leave immediately.

Book 3, Chapter 1
The first chapter of Book 3 returns to the topic of genre. First, the author claims that little truth can be
found in histories, aside from geographical information, and that such works have much in common
with romance. Biographies, on the other hand, deliver true facts, even if the time and place of events
are mistaken. The author gives instances of both types of work to prove his point and then moves on
to discuss made-up stories, such as those found in romances and the modern novel. In his view, a
fictional work displays human genius and inventiveness and thus is a much superior art form. Miguel
Cervantes's Don Quixote is an example of a true history of the world, confined neither to time nor
nation. The author claims for his current work the same fictional genre, in which he presents types
and archetypes, not individuals. The author is not interested in exposing one pitiful individual; rather,
his job as a satirist is to "hold the glass to thousands in their closets, that they may contemplate their
deformity, and endeavor to reduce it, and thus by suffering private mortification may avoid public
shame."

Book 3, Chapter 2
Night falls after Joseph Andrews, Fanny Goodwill, and Parson Adams leave the alehouse. They
have not traveled far before they hear a group of men talking about murder, so they move away very
quickly. Soon the parson falls down a hill, and Joseph carefully follows after him, carrying Fanny.
After crossing a field, they arrive at a house and knock for hospitality because Fanny is exhausted. A
man kindly lets them in, and his wife settles them and offers refreshment. The party learns that the
murderers they heard were sheep stealers, who have been caught by the shepherds. The man is not
entirely sure that Adams is an honest clergyman and Fanny and Joseph his parishioners, so he asks
him about the Greek classics. The parson soon demonstrates he is quite learned. Satisfied, the man
asks Adams more about himself and the young people. The parson satisfies his curiosity and then
asks his new acquaintance to return the favor.

Book 3, Chapter 3
Mr. Wilson was born a gentleman and sent to a public school, where he learned Latin and Greek.
When Wilson is 16, his father dies, leaving him a good amount of money, which he wasn't supposed
to receive until he was 25. But acting on the bad advice of lawyers, he is able to get the money
sooner and leaves school, anxious to experience the world. He becomes a fashionable man about
town, but in a few years he has to move to avoid fighting a duel over a woman. Wilson continues to
lead a dissolute life among bad acquaintances and contracts venereal disease. During this time,
Wilson is running through his fortune. He loses his remaining money in a lawsuit, when he is
prosecuted for damages by the husband of his mistress.
Wilson next takes up with theatrical people and armchair philosophers with questionable morals. He
himself takes up playwriting, with little success. He works for a time as a translator for a bookseller,
and after he is let go, he buys a lottery ticket. After he is arrested for debt, he gives his lottery ticket
to a relation for some money to buy bread. In jail he finds out the ticket has won 3,000 pounds.
Wilson's relation dies around the same time, and the ticket passes to his daughter, Harriet Hearty,
who writes to Wilson and encloses 200 pounds in the letter. Wilson has admired Harriet from afar for
a long time. After he gets out of jail, he visits Harriet, who is willing to lend him additional money if he
wants to start a business. He is overwhelmed with gratitude, confessing his long-standing feelings.
To his surprise he learns she also has been harboring a secret passion for him. The two get married,
and Wilson attempts to carry on with Harriet's father's wine business without great success. The
couple finally decide to take what is left of Harriet's fortune and retire to the country. Wilson and his
wife now lead a happy life and have three daughters. One sorrow in their life is the loss of a baby
son, taken many years ago by the gypsies.

Book 3, Chapter 4
Parson Adams tries to comfort the man by saying his son may have ended up with good fortune and
may visit him someday. Mr. Wilson replies that he would know his son in any crowd because he has
a birthmark in the likeness of a strawberry on his left breast. It is now morning, and Mr. Wilson and
the parson take a turn around the garden. The family is quite self-sufficient, and the couple are
raising their daughters to be dutiful and affectionate. After breakfast, Parson Adams and the young
people take their leave of this exemplary family, which Adams says lives in the manner of the
Golden Age.

Book 3, Chapter 5
As the trio walks along, Parson Adams says to Joseph, who heard part of Mr. Wilson's story before
nodding off, that the cause of the man's calamities was public school: "Public schools are the
nurseries of all vice and immorality. All the wicked fellows whom I remember at the university were
bred at them," he says. Joseph respectfully demurs: his late master, Sir Thomas Booby, went to a
public school and was a fine gentleman. Joseph repeats Sir Thomas's opinion that a boy at a public
school will see "in epitome what he will afterwards find in the world at large." Many country
gentlemen educated close to home are wicked, and if a boy has a bad inclination, no school can
make him good. If he has a "righteous temper," he may be trusted anywhere and not be corrupted.
Adams does not like to be bested and says Joseph talks "like a jackanapes." The narrator adds that
if Adams had a blind side, it was that "he thought a schoolmaster the greatest character in the world,
and himself the greatest of all schoolmasters."

Book 3, Chapter 6
While most of the moralizing up until now has been done by Parson Adams, Joseph Andrews takes
up the pulpit, offering his reflections on charity and goodness. He doesn't understand why there is so
little charity among people, since he would at least expect his fellow creatures to show charity for the
purpose of winning praise. In Joseph's view, being honored for charity would be greater than getting
kudos for acquiring material possessions. He finds it "strange that all men should consent in
commending goodness" but "no man endeavor[s] to deserve that commendation." Similarly, all rail
against wickedness yet seem eager to carry out wicked deeds. Fanny Goodwill asks Joseph if all
great people are wicked, to which he replies that there are some exceptions.
The walking party are resting during this interlude, and the parson is fast asleep. Soon their peace is
broken by a pack of running hounds, who kill and devour a hare very close to Fanny and Joseph.
The hounds mistake Adams for part of their quarry and begin tearing at his clothes. The parson
jumps up and gets the dogs off, but now the hunting master arrives and thinks it good sport to
encourage the hounds to pursue the clergyman. Joseph takes the cudgel he carries to defend his
mentor, and Adams joins in with his crabstick. Between the two of them, they defeat the dogs, doing
them bodily harm. By now the squire and his companions have arrived and are taken by Fanny's
beauty. The squire pretends to apologize for the behavior of his hunting master and invites the trio to
dinner with such courtesy that they find themselves unable to refuse

Book 3, Chapter 7
The squire attempts to get Fanny Goodwill to sit at his table, but she refuses, and Parson
Adams insists the couple eat in the kitchen. The narrator provides a character sketch of the 40-year-
old country gentleman of considerable fortune, who has been spoiled from an early age by his
mother and tutor and is altogether a vicious character. He amuses himself with hunting and riding
and surrounds himself with a group of "curs," misfits whose job it is to make other people look
ridiculous. These fellows did "no great honor to the canine kind." During dinner they begin playing
practical jokes on Parson Adams, which become progressively crueler and culminate in dunking him
in a tub of water. At the last, Adams finally realizes he is being ridiculed. He gets some revenge by
dunking the squire a few times before leaping from the tub. The parson collects Joseph and Fanny
and quickly leaves.

Book 3, Chapter 8
The squire had planned to get Joseph Andrews and Parson Adams drunk so that he could rape
Fanny Goodwill. He is furious about their escape and sends some of his curs out to retrieve Fanny.
The escaped trio stops at an inn to rest and eat because Adams thinks he still has the gold coin in
his pocket from Mrs. Wilson, which she had kindly slipped into their packed lunch.
A traveler who is a Roman Catholic priest in disguise opens a conversation with Adams and delivers
a sermon on the uselessness of riches, to which Parson Adams heartily agrees. The traveler now
asks Adams to pay his bill, and the parson is glad to oblige, except he finds his pocket is empty
since one of the curs at their last stop has robbed him.

Book 3, Chapter 9
The parson doesn't consider the problem of paying, which he will face in the morning, and retires to
bed. Close to morning, three of the squire's curs—whom the narrator identifies as the captain, the
poet, and the player—knock on the door of the inn, claiming that Fanny Goodwill has been abducted
by Joseph Andrews and Parson Adams. The ruffians come upstairs with three servants. Joseph and
Adams put up a good fight to defend Fanny, but they are two against six, and Joseph is knocked
unconscious. Fanny is dragged out, crying and tearing her hair, and the servants tie up Joseph and
the parson.

Book 3, Chapter 10
Chapter 10 provides a digression to divert the reader: a conversation between the poet and the
player (playwright and actor), two of the squire's kidnappers, in which they alternatively flatter each
other and disparage each other's profession. This culminates in an argument over a recent play both
were involved in, in which each blames the other for the work's failure.

Book 3, Chapter 11
When Joseph Andrews regains consciousness, he is beside himself, calling out his beloved's
name. Parson Adams says that he feels sympathy for his misfortune but that Joseph has a duty as
"a man and a Christian to summon reason as quickly as he can to his aid; and she will presently
teach him patience and submission." Joseph cries that he would tear his eyes out if his hands were
loose, and Adams replies that people are ignorant of God's divine plan. Joseph finally responds with
lines he heard in a play: "Yes, I will bear my sorrows like a man, / But I must also feel them as a
man," to which the parson responds that this is "nothing but heathenism."

Book 3, Chapter 12
The captain rides to the squire's house with a wailing Fanny Goodwill tied to a second horse. He
calls Joseph Andrews a pitiful fellow in livery and advises her that the squire will be much kinder "if
he enjoys you willingly than by force." Fanny continues to call for help, and when they pass a man
on horseback, the captain claims that Fanny is his adulterous wife. They pass two more horsemen,
armed with pistols, and when she yells out, one of them recognizes her. The chariot they are
guarding, which belongs to Lady Booby's steward, now arrives. Peter Pounce takes the captain into
custody and takes Fanny back to the inn. Pounce, known to the host of the inn, explains his mistake
(Book 3, Chapter 9), and Joseph and Fanny are reunited. When Joseph hears that the captain has
been taken prisoner, he beats him severely. Although the prisoner is supposed to be brought to the
magistrate, the servants feel sorry for him and let him go. Pounce invites Parson Adams to ride in his
chariot. The servants have retrieved Parson Adams's horse, but since he is difficult to ride, Fanny
and Joseph are put on another horse, and everyone heads back to the county seat.

Book 3, Chapter 13
Peter Pounce and Parson Adams begin discussing the notion of charity. The parson says it is "a
generous disposition to relieve the distressed," and Pounce opines that "the distresses of mankind
are mostly imaginary, and it would be rather folly than goodness to relieve them." Pounce continues
to make absurd remarks about the distresses of the poor, and Adams says he hears Pounce is
worth quite a bit of money, although he himself does not believe it. This statement enrages Pounce,
and he insults Parson Adams as a shabby fellow. Adam gets angry and jumps out of the chariot.

Book 4, Chapter 1
Lady Booby's coach arrives back at the county seat around the same time as the other travelers get
home, and she is taken aback when she sees Joseph. Everyone is overjoyed to see Parson Adams,
who is loved like a father. Lady Booby continues to be tortured by her feelings for Joseph. When she
attends church that Sunday, she hears the first posting of his marriage banns. She sends for Mrs.
Slipslop, who gives her an account of Joseph's adventures since he was cast out. Lady Booby then
summons Parson Adams.

Book 4, Chapter 2
Lady Booby begins by scolding Parson Adams, who has obligations to her family, for aiding and
abetting a man who has been fired by her. Adams respectfully defends the character of both Joseph
Andrews and Fanny Goodwill and explains that they have already waited long enough, upon his
advice, to marry. Lady Booby argues that Joseph is a vagabond and will "bring a nest of beggars in
the parish." Adams counters that since Joseph has worked for more than a year in the parish and
has therefore gained a settlement, he cannot be labeled a vagrant. Booby now orders Adams to stop
publishing the banns or she will have him thrown out of his curacy. Adams says he answers to God,
not man.

Book 4, Chapter 3
Lady Booby now summons Lawyer Scout, who has given Parson Adams the information about
gaining a settlement. The lawyer says he will fall in with her plan to stop the banns. He will see that
the case comes before Justice Frolick, who is sure to take the side of a lady against a nonentity such
as Joseph Andrews. The judge is known for taking poor people off the hands of the parish and
sending them to Bridewell, a workhouse where they are "either starved or eat up by vermin in a
month's time."

Book 4, Chapter 4
Lady Booby continues to suffer over Joseph's impending marriage: "She loved, hated, pitied,
scorned, admired, despised the same person by fits, which changed in a very short interval." On
Tuesday she goes to church and hears the banns announced a second time. When she gets back
home, she learns from Mrs. Slipslop that Joseph Andrews and Fanny Goodwill have been brought
before the law. Before she can respond, her nephew, Squire Booby, and his new wife arrive and are
conducted into the drawing room, and Lady Booby is polite when Pamela Andrews Booby is
introduced as Joseph's sister.

Book 5, Chapter 5
The servants tell Squire Booby that Joseph Andrews and Fanny Goodwill have been hauled off. He
immediately visits Justice Frolick, an acquaintance. The couple have been sentenced to "stripping
and whipping" for a trumped-up larceny charge—cutting a twig from a tree in a field belonging to
Lawyer Scout. The judge is also sending them to Bridewell for a month. The squire is aghast at the
harsh punishment, to which Scout responds that if the tree had been young, they would have been
sentenced to hanging. The judge takes Squire Booby aside and explains that the constable has
been given orders to let them run away. Lady Booby has no other way to get rid of them because
they are legally settled in the parish. Nonetheless, the judge agrees to release Joseph and Fanny
into his custody. The party meet Parson Adams on the way out, and when everyone is in the coach,
the squire announces his marriage to Pamela Andrews, now his Mrs. Booby. Fanny returns to
Parson Adams's house, and Joseph returns to the manor, where he has been staying since he was
reunited with his sister. The squire tells his aunt he must honor Joseph like a brother now that he is
married to Pamela.

Book 4, Chapter 6
Joseph Andrews and Pamela Andrews Booby have a tearful and joyous reunion. Lady Booby and
Mrs. Slipslop tear Pamela to pieces behind her back and are even more ferocious about Fanny.
They agree that Joseph is a prize, but as a person of fashion, Lady Booby cannot act on her
impulses. The two women have an inane "what if" conversation about whether either of them would
marry Joseph, but the upshot is that Slipslop encourages her mistress to pursue him.

Book 4, Chapter 7
The narrator pauses to explain that when a person practices deceit for a long time with others, they
begin believing the lies they have told about themselves. He applies this precept to women's view of
men and sex. From an early age they are instructed that men are monstrous, so women develop an
aversion to the opposite sex. But even after they learn men are not monsters and are attracted to
them, they continue to feign antipathy. This happens to Lady Booby, who loves Joseph Andrews
more than she realizes. To this end, she asks her nephew to persuade Joseph to break off the
engagement with Fanny, since marrying her will prevent him from rising in social class—which he
can do now that he is attached to the Boobys. Both the squire and Joseph's sister put the case
before him, but he cannot be persuaded to part from Fanny Goodwill.
Meanwhile, Fanny is out walking and is accosted by a gentleman who insists on kissing her, to
which she submits, begging him not to be rude, but he launches an aggressive attack. She
vigorously resists him, so he leaves a servant behind, hoping he can persuade her to change her
mind. The servant doesn't get anywhere with Fanny on behalf of his master, so he propositions her
on his own behalf. When she refuses, he attacks Fanny with great force. Luckily, Joseph comes
along and furiously fights off her attacker.

Book 4, Chapter 8
Mrs. Adams is not happy her husband has put the family in jeopardy by going up against Lady
Booby, but the parson disregards his wife's protests. When Joseph Andrews comes to the house, he
asks Parson Adams to hasten the marriage, but the parson says to wait for the third banns. He
warns Joseph that he shouldn't be getting married merely to satisfy his carnal appetites. "All
passions are criminal in their excess, even love itself, if it is not subservient to duty," he says. He
cites the biblical story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, saying that Joseph ought
to be willing to sacrifice his fiancée if Divine Providence required it.
At that moment, the parson hears that his young son has drowned in the river and responds with
swooning and gnashing of teeth. When Joseph repeats his own arguments to him in an effort to
comfort him, the parson is not moved. Just then, he sees his son, wet but alive. He has been saved
from the river by the peddler who loaned him money earlier in the story and who has come to pay
him a visit. Once Adams gains his equilibrium, he begins lecturing Joseph again, who interrupts,
saying advice is easier to give than to follow. The parson tells Joseph he is ignorant about fatherly
affection and cannot judge, but Joseph insists that their cases are similar and that it is not sinful to
love his wife to distraction. At this point, Mrs. Adams jumps in and defends Joseph's position. "A wife
has a right to insist on her husband loving her as much as he can: and he is a sinful villain who doth
not," she says. She notes that her husband has not been wanting in this regard.

Book 4, Chapter 9
The first gentleman who attacked Fanny Goodwill on the road, Mr. Beau Didapper, is a guest
at Lady Booby's. When he talks about meeting a beauty nearby, Lady Booby knows he's talking
about Fanny and thinks she might hatch a plot to bring them together. Thus she slyly arranges for
her household to casually call at Parson Adams's house. Didapper is exceedingly short at 4 feet 5
inches and rather unattractive. When they get to the house and are invited in, Didapper is delighted
to see Fanny. Lady Booby pretends to be interested in the parson's son Dick, who begins reading
the company a story.

Book 4, Chapter 10
Dick reads about two friends who lose touch with each other but then are reunited by chance when
Paul, an army officer, is stationed in Leonard's town. Leonard is married and asks his friend to come
to his house and visit for a month. While he is there, Paul observes the couple fighting constantly
over trifles. At first Paul doesn't interfere, but each half of the couple begins taking him aside and
asking his opinion. He counsels both husband and wife to submit to the other for the sake of love.
Although he preaches the doctrine of submission, he also assures both of them, privately, that they
are in the right. This works for a while until the husband and wife begin comparing notes on their
private conversations with Paul, and now they turn on him, blaming him for their quarrels. The story
is interrupted.
Book 4, Chapter 11
Joseph has been watching Beau Didapper proposition his fiancée, and he has restrained himself for
the sake of the company, but when the man puts his hands on Fanny Goodwill when he thinks no
one is looking, he boxes his ear and sends him flying. Didapper draws his sword, and Adams takes
up a pot lid as a shield to defend his parishioner. Joseph begs him to step aside and let him handle
the interloper. Squire Booby asks Didapper to put his weapon away, and Lady Booby chides Joseph
for defending Fanny over Didapper's minor offense. Fanny begins crying, and Joseph walks out with
her, with the Booby party following shortly thereafter. Parson Adams is then berated by his wife and
eldest daughter for his excessive love for his parishioners, which is ruining the family. When Joseph
returns with Fanny and the peddler, he invites the Adams family out to dinner at a local alehouse.

Book 4, Chapter 12
The peddler has been asking questions about the Booby family and learns that Sir Thomas bought
Fanny Goodwill at age three or four from a traveling woman. After the party finishes eating, he tells
Fanny he knows who her parents are. In his younger days, the peddler was a drummer in an Irish
infantry regiment, and he began a long-term relationship with a camp follower, with whom he lived
with as man and wife until she died. On her deathbed she confessed she had previously traveled
with a band of gypsies who were in the habit of stealing children. She herself stole one very beautiful
child, who the gypsies kept about two years, until the woman sold her to Sir Thomas Booby when
she was about four. The family the child belonged to was named Andrews, and they had another
daughter named Pamela. At this news, Fanny faints, and Joseph Andrews becomes very pale, while
Parson Adams falls on his knees to thank God the sin of incest has been avoided.

Book 4, Chapter 13
Mrs. Slipslop brings Lady Booby the news that Fanny Goodwill and Joseph Andrews are siblings.
Pamela Andrews Booby has her doubts about this revelation, and the squire suggests that his aunt
invite everybody to the house, including Fanny, to sort out the matter. Mr. and Mrs. Andrews are
arriving the next morning, so they will find out from them whether there is any truth to the story.
Because of bad weather, the entire party stays overnight.

Book 4, Chapter 14
Beau Didapper waits about an hour after everyone has gone to bed to execute a plan to steal into
Fanny Goodwill's room and satisfy his desires. He accidently sneaks into Mrs. Slipslop's bed,
pretending to be Joseph Andrews. Didapper soon realizes his mistake, as does Slipslop, but she will
not allow him to escape, yelling, "Murder! murder! rape! robbery! ruin!" Parson Adams hears the
alarm and runs without putting his clothes on into Slipslop's room, mistaking Didapper for a maiden,
since his skin is soft, thus helping him get away. Since Slipslop's skin is rough, he attacks her
instead, thinking she is a man. Lady Booby comes into Slipslop's chamber to find the naked Adams,
and after some accusations and explanations, the three of them sort out the confusion. Adams now
attempts to return to his bed but ends up in Fanny's room and lies down next to the soundly sleeping
female. Joseph and Fanny have secretly planned to meet before dawn to discuss their predicament,
so when Joseph knocks on the door and Adams answers, Joseph finds his mentor in bed with his
fiancée. This mix-up is also sorted out without mishap, and the two men return to their rooms.

Book 4, Chapter 15
After Fanny Goodwill dresses, Joseph returns to her room, and they decide to live together in
celibacy, maintaining a platonic friendship. When the Andrews parents arrive, everyone assembles
to hear their story. Mr. Andrews was in the army when Mrs. Andrews gave birth to Fanny. When she
was about 18 months old, two gypsies came to the door, one carrying a child, and offered to tell her
fortune. While Mrs. Andrews left to get refreshment, the women switched the plump, healthy girl with
a sickly boy and then disappeared. Mrs. Andrews briefly went mad with grief but grew to love
Joseph. When her husband returned, she saw no reason to tell him the story, in case he would love
the child less. Mrs. Andrews also confirms that Joseph has a strawberry birthmark on his left breast.
The peddler tells Joseph that he was also stolen, by his common-law wife's account, from a family of
greater means, and that he has an idea about where they live. By fortuitous circumstance, Mr.
Wilson is passing through the parish to see Mr. Adams, and when he hears about the story of the
stolen children, he bursts in on the company to find Joseph (his son). The two have a joyful reunion.

Book 4, Chapter 16
Lady Booby leaves abruptly, sending her nephew best wishes for a good journey. Squire Booby
invites everyone to his country estate. On Sunday, Joseph Andrews and Fanny Goodwill marry, and
the happy couple returns to Joseph's family home. Mr. Booby provides a gift of 2,000 pounds to
Fanny, which Joseph uses to build his own small estate in his father's parish. Squire Booby provides
Parson Adams with a lucrative living. Soon Fanny is pregnant with her first child. Lady Booby returns
to London and takes up with a young captain of dragoons.