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Unit 3: Joseph Andrews-II: Detailed Study of the Text

Some sparring ensued between Horatio and Bellarmine concerning the role each occupied Notes
with respect to Leonora, but the lady’s Aunt soon entered and updated Horatio about “a small
Alteration in the Affections of Leonora.” The lawyer would have dueled the cavalier then and
there, had not the ladies prevented it. Horatio soon took his leave.
Leonora awoke the next morning to the news that “Bellarmine was run through the Body by
Horatio, and the Surgeons had declared the Wound mortal.” The Aunt advised Leonora to go
back to Horatio, but Leonora claimed that she must have time to grieve before strategizing;
she then argued that Horatio would never forgive her and that it was all the fault of the Aunt.
A cheerful note from Bellarmine, however, reconciled the ladies to each other and dispelled
all thoughts of returning to Horatio. Leonora’s passion for Horatio revived “with greater Force
after its small Relaxation than ever,” and she planned, against the advice of her Aunt, to visit
Bellarmine during his recovery.
Before the lady in the coach can finish her story, however, the coach arrives at an inn for
dinner, “sorely to the dissatisfaction of Mr. Adams,” who has been listening avidly.

Task Who was Horatio?

Chapter V
At the inn, Mr. Adams encounters Joseph, who is in the kitchen recovering from a riding
accident with the aid of the Hostess. The surly Host enters and, finding his wife tending to
a mere footman, curses at her and directs her to attend the more genteel guests. Mr. Adams
has sharp words with the Host, and Joseph intervenes to advise the Host to have more respect
for the socially superior Mr. Adams. A brawl ensues, and when the Host goes down for the
count, the Hostess dashes a pan of hog’s blood in Mr. Adams’s face. Mrs. Slipslop arrives and
assaults the Hostess, whose cries bring three more guests to the kitchen. The Host, recovering,
reproaches his wife for having wasted the hog’s blood and says that she deserved the beating
she received at the hands of Mrs. Slipslop. One of the other guests, who happen to be one of
the litigious gentlemen who gave an opinion of the Justice of the Peace in Chapter III, urges
the Host to bring legal action against Mr. Adams; the Host, however, has seen neighbors ruin
themselves through frivolous lawsuits. The other litigious gentleman, meanwhile, urges Mr.
Adams to bring legal action against the Host; Mr. Adams, however, admits to having struck
the first blow, and he recoils from the suggestion that Joseph, being the only bystander, could
support him in lying on this point. Mr. Adams asserts with some dignity the integrity of his
character and his office, and the two litigious gentlemen cease meddling to congratulate themselves
on having effected reconciliation between the two parties.

As the coach is preparing to leave again, Mrs. Grave-airs snobbishly resists admitting Joseph,
a mere footman but too injured to go on horseback, into the coach. Mrs. Slipslop advocates for
Joseph, and the argument continues until Mrs. Grave-airs notices her father, who has just
arrived and who invites her to ride on with him. The Coachman then reveals to Mr. Adams
that Mrs. Grave-airs’s father is now the steward in a prominent household and has servants
himself, but that he is low-born and once worked as a postillion. Mr. Adams passes this
information along to Mrs. Slipslop, expecting that it will please her, but she regrets having
antagonized a family of upper servants in the neighborhood and fears that the story might get
back to Lady Booby. Once the coach has departed, all the female passengers begin to disparage
Mrs. Grave-airs for trying to act above her station. Mrs. Slipslop speaks feelingly on behalf of
Joseph, wondering aloud how any “Christian Woman” could object to the sight of Joseph. The
other ladies grow anxious about the turn Slipslop’s conversation seems to be taking, so one
of them suggests that they hear the end of the story of Leonora.

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