ABSTRACT
William Empson's distinguished defence of Torn Jones will probably, and deservedly, remain a classic reappraisal of that novel. On one important matter, however, that of Tom's sexual morals, the essay seems to suffer from a misleading supererogation of critical method, of 'Empson's routine paradox' as he calls it. According to Empson, 'Fielding's opinions, which he seems to be expressing with bluff directness', leave the reader 'baffled to make out what [Fielding] really does think' about, among other things, 'the Christian command of chastity'. The passage, as Empson says, is more than just 'healthy'. It expresses a richly moral but hardly a simplifying view of sexual passion. It distinguishes firmly between the best love at one end, and 'Appe-tite alone' at the other, and allows for the full range of possibilities in between. As Empson says, there are 'plenty of firm assertions that Tom is doing wrong'.
