Tom, a foundling, is discovered one evening by the benevolent Squire
Allworthy and his sister Bridget and brought up as a son in their
household; when his sexual escapades and general misbehavior lead them to
banish him, he sets out in search of both his fortune and his true
identity. Amorous, high-spirited, and filled with what Fielding called “the
glorious lust of doing good,” but with a tendency toward dissolution, Tom
Jones is one of the first characters in English fiction whose human virtues
and vices are realistically depicted. This edition is set from the text of
the Wesleyan Edition of the Works of Henry Fielding.