This is a hit against
the ignorance and want of education among the people; for it is some time
before some one in the company thinks he saw such characters many years
ago when he was young, and that it may be Greek. The incident of Parson
Trulliber mistaking his fellow-priest for a pork-merchant, on account of
his coarse garments, is excellent, but will not bear abbreviation. Adams
is splattered by the huge, overfed swine, and ejaculates, "_Nil habeo cum
porcis_; I am a clergyman, sir, and am not come to buy hogs!" The
condition of a curate and the theology of the publican are set forth in
the conversation between Parson Adams and the innkeeper.
The works of Fielding may be justly accused of describing immoral scenes
and using lewd language; but even in this they are delineative of the
manners and conversation of an age in which such men lived, such scenes
occurred, such language was used. I liken the great realm of English prose
fiction to some famous museum of art. The instructor of the young may
carefully select what pictures to show them; but the student of English
literature moves through the rooms and galleries, gazing, judging,
approving, condemning, comparing.
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