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Fiction

Notes Joseph for having aroused it, determines to dismiss him from her service. She rings for Slipslop
and confers with her regarding Joseph’s character. They both agree that he is “a wild young
Fellow,” with Slipslop accusing him of all the usual vices, including that of having impregnated
the chambermaid. Lady Booby sends Slipslop out of the room with an order to dismiss Joseph;
she quickly calls Slipslop back, however, and reverses the order, then changes her mind a
couple more times before finally resolving “to see the Boy, and examine him herself” and then
send him away for good. While Lady Booby prepares for “this last View of Joseph (for that
she was most certainly resolved it should be).”

Did u know? Fielding apostrophizes Love, complaining of its power to make people deceive
themselves.

Chapter VIII

Fielding requests the reader’s sympathy on behalf of Lady Booby, pleading as an extenuating
circumstance the great physical beauty of Joseph Andrews, which Fielding now describes in
some detail. Joseph is now twenty-one years old and possessed of “an Air, which to those who
have not seen many Noblemen, would give an Idea of Nobility.”

Joseph appears in all his splendor before Lady Booby, who accuses him of all the vices Mrs.
Slipslop attributed to him. Joseph is taken aback and insists that he has “never offended more
than Kissing.” Lady Booby, having observed that kissing often leads to other activities, asks
him: “If I should admit you to such Freedom, what would you think of me?” When Joseph
resists all her insinuations, she demands to know what standing he has, as her social inferior,
to insist upon his own virtue when she has cast aside her own. Joseph replies that he cannot
see “why, because I am a Man, or because I am poor, my Virtue should be subservient to a
lady’s Pleasure.” Lady Booby finally loses all patience when Joseph makes reference to the
virtuous example of his sister, Pamela Andrews who has endured the lascivious attentions of
Sir Thomas’s nephew while a maid-servant in his household. She dismisses Joseph in a rage
and then rings for Mrs. Slipslop.

Chapter IX

Lady Booby orders Slipslop, who was listening at the door, to have the steward pay Joseph
his wages and send him away. Slipslop opines that if she had known how Lady Booby would
react, she would never have reported Joseph’s behavior. After sending Slipslop out of the
room and then calling her back again, Lady Booby censures her for impertinence, whereupon
Slipslop says darkly, “I know what I know.” Lady Booby promptly fires her, and Slipslop
departs the room, slamming the door behind her. Lady Booby then begins to worry about her
reputation, which she perceives is in the hands of Slipslop, who no longer has any incentive
to be discreet; after a time she calls Slipslop back again and reinstates her. She still regrets,
however, that “her dear Reputation was in the power of her Servants,” both Slipslop and
Joseph; worse still is the fact that “in reality she had not so entirely conquered her Passion,”
so that she still vacillates regarding whether or not to reinstate Joseph.

Chapter X

Joseph, who now understands “the Drift of his Mistress,” composes a letter to his sister
Pamela. In it he reflects on a lesson of Mr. Abraham Adams, “that Chastity is as great a Virtue

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