SOURCE: "Fielding's Definition of Wisdom: Some Functions of Ambiguity and Emblem in Tom Jones," in Henry Fielding: "Tom Jones": The Authoritative Text, Contemporary Reactions, Criticism, 2d ed., edited by Sheridan Baker, Norton Critical Edition, W.W. Norton, 1995, pp. 733-49. Originally published in ELH, Vol. 35, 1968, pp. 188-217.

In the following excerpt, originally published in 1968 and reprinted in 1995, Battestin, one of Fielding's most important modern biographers and critics, examines Fielding's treatment of the virtues of prudence and wisdom in Tom Jones. Battestin focuses on the character of Sophia, arguing that the novel's heroine and protagonit's love interest both embodies and portrays an idealized representation of Fielding's complex moral vision.

To alter the terms of his own simile for the ancient authors, Fielding's novels may be considered as a rich common, where every critic has a free right to fatten his bibliography. As the number of commentaries in recent years attests...