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Fiction

Notes The Surgeon returns and declares that Joseph is in fact not delirious but in command of his
senses. They send for Mr. Barnabas again, and the clergyman urges Joseph to repent of all his
sins and resign himself to leaving the world. Joseph is generally compliant but hedges when
it comes to Fanny Goodwill, saying that he will have difficulty resigning himself to the divine
will if the divine will proposes to separate him from his beloved. He agrees, however, to
“divest himself of all human Passion, and fix his Heart above,” if the clergyman will only help
him to do it. Mr. Barnabas recommends “Prayer and Faith.” He then urges Joseph to forgive
the Two Ruffians “as a Christian ought,” but he gives no further specifics as to what the
Christian manner of forgiveness entails. Mr. Barnabas soon wraps up the visit and returns to
the parlor, where the punch has been waiting for him. There he reports to Mrs. Tow-wouse
that Joseph has expressed a desire for tea; Mrs. Tow-wouse does not want to spare it, however,
so Betty the chambermaid goes out to buy some tea for Joseph herself.

Chapter XIV
In the evening, “a grave Person” arrives at the inn and sits down by the kitchen fire. There
he hears Mrs. Tow-wouse and Betty discussing their injured guest, whom Betty now believes
to be a gentleman on the basis of his fine skin. The grave person feels compassion for the
injured guest and questions the Surgeon about him. The Surgeon uses medical jargon to rebuff
the inquiries of the grave person, who claims to have some little expertise in surgery and
whom the Surgeon seems to consider impudent.
Meanwhile, some young men from the neighborhood arrive at the inn with one of the Ruffians.
Betty informs Joseph, who asks her to look out for a token he received from Fanny, a piece
of gold with a ribbon. A search of the Ruffian reveals the gold piece, which Betty conveys to
an ecstatic Joseph. Some other young men recover a bundle of Joseph’s clothes in a ditch, and
the grave person, recognizing the livery as that of the Booby household, goes upstairs to meet
the injured guest. A happy reunion thus takes place between Joseph and Mr. Abraham Adams.

Back in the kitchen, the mob that apprehended the Ruffian finds that it has no real evidence
to prove his involvement in the robberies. Mr. Barnabas and the Surgeon argue over whether
the recovered goods belong to the lord of the manor or to some other party. The Ruffian nearly
makes allies of Barnabas, the Surgeon, and Tow-wouse, but Betty intervenes to inform everyone
of the gold piece, which would seem to prove the Ruffian’s guilt. They resolve to keep the
Ruffian overnight and take him to the Justice in the morning.

Chapter XV

Betty tells Mrs. Tow-wouse that Joseph, who appears to be on familiar terms with Mr. Adams,
may be “a greater Man than they took him for”; as a result, Mrs. Tow-wouse begins to feel
better about having extended charity to him. Mr. Barnabas and the Surgeon approach Joseph,
wanting to use his gold piece as evidence against the Ruffian, but Joseph will not give it up
and Mr. Adams supports him.
Mr. Adams explains to Joseph that he is on his way to London to publish some volumes of
sermons. He encourages Joseph to take a light meal, which Joseph accordingly does. In the
morning Mr. Barnabas and the Surgeon come to the inn to help convey the Ruffian before the
Justice. They are both quite zealous in bringing the Ruffian to justice, and in order to account
for their zeal Fielding explains that these two gentlemen have long competed to perform the
function of lawyer in the parish, since there is no proper lawyer in it. Fielding concludes the
chapter with an apostrophe to vanity, eventually admitting that the reason for this passage is
merely “to lengthen out a short Chapter.”

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