"And here I solemnly protest, I have no Intention to vilify or asperse any one: for tho' every thing is copied from the Book of Nature, and scarce a Character or Action produced which I have not taken from my own Observations and Experience, yet I have used the utmost Care to obscure the Persons by such different Circumstances, Degrees, and Colours, that it will be impossible to guess at them with any degree of Certainty; and if it ever happens otherwise, it is only where the Failure characterized is so minute, that it is Foible only which the Party himself may laugh at as well as any other." Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews, Preface, p. 8.

"In this Light I have always regarded those Biographers who have recorded the Actions of great and worthy Persons of both Sexes." Joseph Andrews, Book 1, Chapter 1, p. 14.

"What Riches, or Honours, or Pleasures...