 of these, we shall, if rightly understood,
afford a very useful Lesson to those well-disposed Youths, who shall hereafter
be our Readers: For they may here find that Goodness of Heart, and Openness of
Temper, tho' these may give them great Comfort within, and administer to an
honest Pride in their own Minds, will by no Means, alas! do their Business in
the World. Prudence and Circumspection are necessary even to the best of Men.
They are indeed as it were a Guard to Virtue, without which she can never be
safe. It is not enough that your Designs, nay that your Actions are
intrinsically good, you must take Care they shall appear so. If your Inside be
never so beautiful, you must preserve a fair Outside also. This must be
constantly looked to, or Malice and Envy will take Care to blacken it so, that
the Sagacity and Goodness of an Allworthy will not be able to see through it,
and to discern the Beauties within. Let this, my young Readers, be your constant
Maxim, That no Man can be good enough to enable him to neglect the Rules of
Prudence; nor will Virtue herself look beautiful, unless she be bedecked with
the outward Ornaments of Decency and Decorum. And this Precept, my worthy
Disciples, if you read with due Attention, you will, I hope, find sufficiently
enforced by Examples in the following Pages.
    I ask Pardon for this short Appearance, by Way of Chorus on the Stage. It is
in Reality for my own Sake, that while I am discovering the Rocks on which
Innocence and Goodness often split, I may not be misunderstood to recommend the
very Means to my worthy Readers, by which I intend to shew them they will be
undone. And this, as I could not prevail on any of my Actors to speak, I myself
was obliged to declare.
 

                                  Chapter VIII

 A childish Incident, in which, however, is seen a good-natur'd Disposition in
                                   Tom Jones.
 
The Reader may remember, that Mr. Allworthy gave Tom Jones a little Horse, as a
kind of smart Money for the Punishment, which he imagined he had suffered
innocently.
    This Horse Tom kept above half a Year, and then rode him to a neighbouring
Fair, and sold him.
    At his Return, being questioned by Thwackum, what he had done with the Money
for which the Horse was sold, he frankly declared he would not tell him.
    »Oho!« says Thwackum, »you will not! then I will have it out of your Br-h;
