Common charity, a f-t! Says she, common charity teaches us to provide for ourselves, and our families; and….. I assure you.

Answer: These lines have been quoted from part XII of Joseph Andrews, an epic of the road. Here Henry Fielding has sought to highlight charity, as the most exulted aspect of the novel in an ironic treatment of the Tow-Wouse inn.

Charity is one of the recurrent themes of Joseph Andrews and in the above lines Fielding attempts to project this most vital aspect of Christianity. On their way to journey, Joseph is so seriously wounded by the robbers and is taken to Mr. Tow-Wouse by the assistant of the coachman. The innkeeper’s wife, Mrs. Tow-wouse proves to be a very heartless woman who forbids her husband to show any charity to the half-naked Joseph. However, the innkeeper himself as a sympathetic person declares that common charity does not allow that. His wife remains rigid in her decision and very furiously gives the wrong interpretation of charity. She considers that common charity is to be shown only for one’s family and not for the public.

Thus, the contrast between the actual Christian concepts of charity and the manner in which the Christian society acts is effectively brought out in the above-mentioned comment of Mrs. Tow-Wouse who gives the wrong interpretation of Christianity for their own interest.