BIRDSONG, INSECTS HUM
'Once upon a time in merrie England, there lived an old gentleman
'who was as happy as the summer days were long.
'He was kind and wise and generous.
'And did I mention rich? Very rich.
'Everyone loved the squire. Even his servants.
'But no-one loved him better than a boy from nowhere.'
SERVANTS GIGGLE
'A boy without parents.
'A boy called Tom.'
My Tom Jones.
'The boy from nowhere and a girl from the other side of the world.
'They could just live happily ever after.
'But that would be no fun at all.
'For I would have no story to tell.
'To begin at the beginning
'is to begin before I crossed the wide ocean
'to make these green hills my home.
'So let's begin with that kind old gentleman,
'20 English summers ago.
'His name is Squire John Allworthy.
'And tonight, he'll make a choice that will change his life.
'A dark night falling at Paradise Hall,
'and the squire just home in time
'to the warmth and safety of his own domain.
'Where he's grown accustomed to a lonely bed after many sad losses.'
Welcome home to Paradise Hall, Squire.
It's late, away to bed with you all.
I'm sure you've worked long enough today.
Do as you're told!
Thank you, Lord, for the peace and quiet of Paradise Hall.
BABY COOS
And, Lord, in sorrow, I pray for the souls of my poor departed wife,
and our infant children.
And, er, I pray that one day... BABY FUSSES
..I shall be reunited with them in heaven.
BABY COOS
Amen.
Ah!
BELL JANGLING
"Away to bed with you all." Huh! Been on my feet all day.
Oh, my Lord. SHE GASPS
Oh, I'm so sorry, one moment.
Never in my life had to look at a gentleman without his britches.
Look, Deborah. A gift from God.
Oh! Good heavens!
Give the smelly article to me,
and I'll stick it in a basket and leave it at the church door.
In the morning, you will find my little one a nurse.
SHE GASPS You're never gonna keep it?
Sir! What will your sister say?
My dear brother... You're never going to keep him?
He was made in the image of God, just like we all were.
We, sir, are not bastards left in the beds of innocent gentlemen,
by strumpets.
Look at his little face.
The mother must be found, John.
Some poor girl betrayed by a wicked villain...
She left him with us, Bridget, for the chance of a better life.
Mrs Wilkins can go to the village and find his mother.
'She was found in no time.
'An unusually bookish girl,
'housemaid to the village school teacher.'
Of all the girls in the county,
of all the girls in Little Baddington,
you, Jenny Jones, the clever one, the Sunday School girl,
the one who is learning Latin.
Lock me away in the House Of Correction if you like.
You know, it is in my power as a magistrate to do exactly that.
Just don't ask me to tell you who his father is. I can't. I won't.
Mr Partridge, your employer, will certainly get the blame
unless you confess the truth.
I'm not sure who he was, sir. Could have been anybody.
THEY GASP Jenny Jones,
the villain who did this to you, whoever he was...
Tom's a nice name. Thomas Jones.
..must pay for his crimes.
Hm? Jenny?
Do you really have nothing more to say to me?
Omnia vincit amor.
'Love conquers all.'
That's what your poor mother said as she left, little Tom,
and there's a happy ending.
'Not yet.
'We've not heard the last of Jenny Jones.
'And she was not the only woman at Paradise Hall
'nursing a romantic secret.'
Oh, here comes trouble.
Deborah, the Lord asks us to think well of all His creation.
The Lord can ask all He likes.
Oh, Captain Blifil. An unexpected pleasure.
Mr Allworthy, your conduct is the talk of the county
and in the strongest possible terms, sir,
I object!
A fatherless nobody! He has acquired a father.
He has acquired me. I won't have it, by heaven!
With respect, Captain Blifil, we've only known each other five minutes
so I hardly think it's up to you.
Am I to have no say in the morals of the family into which
I intend to marry?
Marry?
She's past 40! And he's only after her fortune.
VICAR: Dearly beloved.
We are gathered here today in the sight of God...
WOMAN SCREAMING
It had better be a boy.
'And that's how little William Blifil acquired a country estate.
'And little Tom Jones acquired a playmate.'
Oh, no.
'Of sorts.'
My demand is simple enough. Husband, you know the answer.
Captain Blifil, once more, your son is my heir,
and will one day be Lord of Paradise Hall.
I want your further guarantee
that the bastard shall only ever be his servant.
Can we not let the boys be friends? Oh, boys, no!
CHILD CRYING
That's right, my son, show the little cuckoo who's in charge.
BIRD CUCKOOS Cuckoo! Ha-ha!
Cuck... Cuckoo. HE CHOKES
Oh, good Lord!
Captain, Captain Blifil, sir.
Captain. Captain. Captain.
Boys, from now on, you shall be friends as well as cousins.
William. Tom.
Let nothing on this Earth divide you.
Tom Jones... you're a rather... nasty...
wild... little... boy.
'Cruelty. Indifference.
'Poor little fellow. Think of him wandering through the woods.
'Is there any wonder he ended up
'making a highly unsuitable friendship?'
CHICKENS CLUCK
You ready for your lesson?
There. I can't see anything.
In the undergrowth there, do you see?
No.
Yes! Yeah.
Yes. Right, now, squeeze. Don't pull.
Gently... Gently.
ENORMOUS BOOM
BIRDS FLUTTERING You all right?
You call that gentle, do you?
'And that was Tom's whole world before I burst into it.
'Cold. Lost. Scared.'
Come, Sophia. Come here, I say.
'I arrive in to the welcoming arms of a stranger, of an aunt.
'Of a whole new life.'
You sailed thousands of miles to get here,
you could look more enthusiastic.
And those are your grandfather's sheep.
See, Sophia, the white fluffy things, hm?
If you are a good girl, he will give you a lamb to pet.
Now, do you even know what a good girl is?
A good English girl is polite and obedient
and most of all, a good girl is grateful.
Are you listening to me?
You're not supposed to be up there! Stop it. Come down.
DISTANT BELL RINGING Can't you hear the pigeons?
No.
You just hit my father's gravestone!
Tom pays no attention in class. I do my best, sir,
but I do prefer to teach boys who want to learn.
Bear with Tom, Mr Thwackum. He's not a bad boy, just...
Well, just a child of nature. You shall tame him.
Now you hit Mr Thwackum!
I'll tell!
Oh, good heavens!
What a welcome.
PIGEONS COO
PIGEONS SQUAWK
Father loves pigeon pie.
We're here. Western Manor.
Please remember to be good.
She never speaks. Perhaps she is deaf.
Say good afternoon to your grandfather, Sophia.
She's just like him.
Fancy that.
Just like my poor boy.
Every time I look at her,
I'll see the son who lies buried in a farm field.
Do you want to see my stone? It came down from heaven.
HE SOBS
Don't cry, Grandfather.
HE SOBS
Your go, Black George! Right.
MUTTERS TO HIMSELF
Ah, see that?
No, Tom!
No. That's Squire Western's land. Tom, that's off limits!
You get back here!
You do know they hang poachers?
My grandfather hates poachers.
Well, I'm not a poacher so it's not a problem.
Liars burn in hell, boy.
The gallows will be too good for you, you thieving little bastard.
Mercy. Leave him alone!
Mercy!
Oh, no. No. Oh! Oh! Oh!
Oh, no, no! HE LAUGHS
Oh, my Lord, I laughed at the pair of them
till the tears ran down my face.
Tom! Tom! Mr Western's dining out on you again.
I had to send her back to her aunt to learn some manners.
"Mercy! Mercy!"
I thought my last moments had come.
If I had strung you up that day,
I'd have broken the hearts of every maiden in the parish!
HE CHUCKLES
Never did get it out of him, though, did you, Mr Western?
The child never told who gave him the gun to shoot your pheasants.
Could it be more obvious, Uncle? It was Seagrim.
Black George Seagrim?
Blifil, hush, it was a long time ago.
Tom. You think we haven't always known it was Black George
you were protecting?
I'll wager Black George is the sneaking villain
what's been taking the pheasants out of my woods right now.
As magistrate, Uncle, surely your duty is to the landowner.
And to law and order.
Well said, young man!
I'll have the bugger arrested!
What does it matter about a few pheasants?
The pheasants belong to Squire Western.
And property must be respected or the world will end.
The world will end soon enough for Black George Seagrim
if he cannot feed his family.
Well, he should have thought of that before he did what he did.
We must all learn, Tom, to consider the consequences of our actions.
Molly. Back again?
Actually, it's your father I need to see. It's important.
So's this. Come here.
Molly, Molly, I mean it, I need to see Black George.
He's the one can wait.
MOANING AND KISSING
SHE GIGGLES
Molly!
PANTING
MOLLY LAUGHS
Do you truly love me, Tom?
Like the clouds love the sky. Like trumpets love heaven.
Save your charming notions
for when you end up with a lady in silks and satins.
Ladies in silks won't go for fellows like me.
So I'm the best you think you can get?
Fine compliment that is, from a gentleman.
Oh, I have missed this all so much.
BIRDSONG
Listen, you can hear the birdsong!
They do very well on a plate.
You're such a Londoner.
I like my comforts, miss. I like my clean, white linen!
Ideas above my station. SHE LAUGHS
Come on, then!
Maybe I've got better things to do.
Liar!
Sophie! Oh, my lovely girl.
Oh, well, I hope city life hasn't spoiled you.
I'm never leaving home again! HE CHUCKLES
SHE SIGHS The country.
We can have a little cottage just like my dad's.
He'll need someone to help him with the shooting and the fencing
and the manure and all that kind of men's business.
And I'll have babies and keep house just like my mother...
My dad will likely be home now.
CHILDREN LAUGH
You! They ought to string you up!
Rich folk messing with our families.
The constables came for her father.
But if YOU talk to Squire Western, Father, I'm sure he'll listen.
Don't you understand that I have a duty to uphold the law?
I do. But it seems so cruel.
We took you in. A wretched foundling.
I loved you and reared you and tried to be a father to you.
No man could have a better father.
And yet you still betray my trust with your constant wilfulness.
Black George could be hanged. Or transported.
His children will starve.
I merely stand for what is right.
Kindliness is right. Generosity of spirit.
You didn't have to tell.
Blifil, cousin, all these years, when I've tried to be friends...
You chose to make your friends among the lower classes.
If "friends" is the right word.
Yes, you are the heir, and I am the bastard, but...
There are no buts, Jones.
Your birth condemns you.
Brutish behaviour, you see?
Incapable of controlling your own animal instincts.
I pity you.
A city style.
Is it possibly too fine for breakfast?
Well you're not actually gonna be milking cows in it, miss.
I shall wear the pink linen.
Oh, where the devil is she?!
HE MUTTERS
SUCKS HIS TEETH
DOG WHINES
Ah, took your time, madam. A man could starve.
Grandfather, I'm sorry, you should have started without me.
Seems to me, I've been without you quite long enough.
Excuse me, I didn't send myself away to my aunt!
Don't be cross! How could I teach you to be a lady?
Well, how can I ever be cross with you?
You back home and hunting tomorrow... perfect!
Hunting.
It's just the worst thing about country life.
No. The worst thing about country life is having no friends.
I can't bear it. I feel sorry for the fox.
I feel sorry for the horses.
I just can't see the point in chasing things
that don't want to be caught. Hmm.
You'll change your mind
when all the handsome young country men come calling.
Honour, I've come home to look after my grandfather,
not chase after young fellows.
Has nobody seen to you, young man?
I'm waiting for Squire Western, miss.
He plans to hunt tomorrow, so I expect he's in the stables.
Let me call somebody. What is your name?
Tom Jones.
Miss Western.
Well, I'm sure I haven't changed
nearly half as much as you have, Mr Jones.
I heard you were living in... Bristol?
Bath. With my aunt.
Who, after some years of enormous effort,
deems me neither suddenly ready for the life of a lady,
or never going to be ready.
Either way, here I am, back home and very glad to be so.
I must have picked them for you.
Although I didn't know it, obviously, at the time.
Just baby's-breath and... heartsease.
Um...
Can I ask a favour for an old friend?
It's about Black George Seagrim.
Oh.
A sad tale, Mr Jones.
We certainly can't have entire families thrown on the parish.
He's a fine shot, and a good man at heart.
And if Squire Western were to take him on as a gamekeeper,
then he'd never have to poach again and everyone would be happy.
What a splendidly kind suggestion.
I will pass it on.
This means so much. You have no idea.
Miss Western, I am so grateful.
This is the first thing I have done all week that has gone right.
Shall I see you at the hunt?
Oh... I love hunting!
Lost your heart, didn't even know it was in danger.
SHE LAUGHS
Well?
He is beautiful, Grandfather, I love him already.
Only as beautiful as his mistress. Oh, oh, look at you both.
The prettiest pair ever to ride to hunt. Yes. I knew it! Happy now?
One more kindness?
I start work with the squire tomorrow.
You're a good friend to this family, Tom.
Happy to help.
See you at the hunt tomorrow, old friend!
What?
You're growing out of that coat.
We will get you a new one, more suited to a young gentleman.
Aunt Bridget...
..can a man ever be a gentleman, who doesn't know who his father is?
Kindness and good conduct make a true gentleman.
And has Mr Allworthy not proved himself as good as any father?
No, I don't mean to be ungrateful. Just remember,
your mother did you a favour you can never repay,
when she left you in his care.
Look forward, dear nephew.
Not back.
# Jesus, thou art all compassion
# Pure unbounded love thou art
# Visit us with thy salvation
# Comfort every sinking heart... #
What, and you never did?
Out to here with me on the day you married my dad.
Exactly why you should have had more sense.
Thanking you kindly, Parson.
When the baby comes, I'm not helping. I've got enough to do.
Or me. You're just jealous, skinny cow.
Oh! Oi!
Ladies, ladies. The Lord's Day!
Mr Supple! Are you hurt, sir?
No, I think I'm all right. Thank you, Tom.
Oh, Tom! Take me home, do.
Are you all right, Parson?
Just got in the way of a little altercation.
THEY CONTINUE QUIETLY
You're a good man, Tom.
Hmm.
After what happened to your poor mother, you'd never abandon a girl.
Course not.
Molly...?
So you'll make an honest woman of me? Will you?
Cos you were my first love, Tom.
My only love.
Yes. Er...
Of course. Good Lord. How did that happen?
You do know how babies are made?
Well, I suppose I just thought...
Well, you gave me the impression that you...
It's the gentleman's job to take care of such things. I forgot.
You're no gentleman.
CHATTER AND BARKING DOGS OUTSIDE
BUGLE SOUNDS
HORSES NICKER, DOGS WHINE
HE CHUCKLES
Filled to the top this time.
A nice draw!
Grandfather, people are looking at me.
They're admiring your beauty, my love,
for you've come home the prettiest girl in the county.
And melted my old heart
so far as to give that villain Black George employment.
See! I know how to make you happy.
You've done me a good turn and I won't forget it.
You have Miss Western to thank for that, the old fellow dotes on her.
But Molly's secret is out.
She's off to the magistrates for a right telling off.
BUGLE SOUNDS
Are you quite well, my love? Aye, sir, I'm as happy as a bee.
Hunt's away!
BUGLE SOUNDS
You must name the father, Molly. For he must pay to keep you.
Not the good people of this parish.
The parish won't be troubled, for I shall be married,
I have his promise.
How many rooms you got here, Squire? I don't know. Why does it matter?
We've got three rooms at home, think ourselves pretty lucky.
And there's ten of us.
So far.
You must name him. You know who he is.
Molly! Tom?
Molly! Leave her alone, get off her. No. No.
Do not make this worse by violence! As if it isn't bad enough.
If anyone is guilty here, if anyone's a sinner, it's me.
Yes, you're right.
I'm ready do my duty. This is not a children's game, Tom!
I never thought the boy I have loved could disappoint me so much.
Constable, take the girl home.
There'll be no need for the House Of Correction today.
Come along, miss.
Oh, Tom.
Have I not tried to teach you prudence?
Restraint. Just common sense!
Well, I try every day to become more like you.
Well, then you must learn to be a man, and not a boy.
I will. I promise.
Look, only forgive me, Father, please.
Look, I cannot bear to disappoint you.
You will promise me faithfully you will not see Molly Seagrim again.
But, sir, my obligations to her... Will be met by me.
I will make her family a generous offer.
Give them money?
I have loved you like a father, like a son, you will obey me.
Do I have your promise, boy?
Problem is, I don't want to stop.
And neither do you.
I promised my father. You promised me!
Molly, I have nothing.
No money, no parents, no standing.
All I have that's worth anything to me is the love of my father.
Come on.
Where is the harm?
You can't get me pregnant twice.
I'm sorry.
BUGLE SOUNDS
Please get out of the way!
Ah!
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Mr Jones. Miss Western.
Will you let me up, sir?
I should like to do so,
but unfortunately I think I may have broken my arm.
Oh, Tom!
It's nothing.
Set it true, mind, and none of your messing about.
It doesn't hurt, honestly. Surgeons. All murderers!
Will you stay?
Grandfather, he must stay until the break is mended!
Not broken. Bit of a sprain, is all.
Well, he must stay anyway.
The shock, and so on.
It's the least we can do.
Oh, eh. Yes. Capital idea!
SQUIRE ALLWORTHY: I know Tom to be an excellent boy at heart.
And I forgave him because his apologies was completely sincere.
And because he showed honour and nobility
in stepping up to take the blame.
No, no, no. Tom wants to do the right thing.
It pains me to say this... Then don't!
Will a young man, so addicted to vice
be capable of recognising "the right thing"
if it jumps up and bites him?
Mr Jones has always been very generous to the girl's family.
Exactly, Thwackum, exactly. Thank you.
But one has to wonder, now... was it just a trick?
Was Jones worming his way into the affections of the father,
to gain access to the...
notorious charms of the daughter?
I took him in. I brought him up.
I must have faith in him.
I owe Mr Allworthy everything. I was just a foundling.
A poor servant girl's child.
And a very fortunate one, to be taken in by kind people.
HE SNORTS AND MUMBLES
I never knew my mother.
Or anything about her, save that she did not survive my birth.
A common fate, for women like her. And, if you ask about my father...
..a smell of tobacco. Which I liked.
In his will, my father granted me my freedom.
Freedom?
I came into this world on a sugar plantation in Jamaica, Mr Jones.
No child there is born free.
To learn my own father was the man responsible
was more than painful.
I was six when I left the island.
Perhaps it's odd that all I remember is that it rained every day.
And there were goats.
Dear little goats with sticky-up tails.
SHE CHUCKLES
It almost sounds like you left part of yourself there.
No.
Home is right here.
With the grandfather that brought me across the ocean.
I know how fortunate that makes me. HE SNORES
Home is right here for me, too.
I never want to leave.
Well, then. Enough memories.
Good night... Mr Jones.
Good night, Miss Western.
You still here?
Mr Jones is staying with us, Grandfather. You invited him.
HONOUR: He's pretty enough. He's got good teeth, I'll grant you.
But, miss, I don't trust him. Nonsense.
I found myself telling him all sorts of things I never talk about.
Never even think about...
Miss, you ought to know that it's, um,
common knowledge that there's a village girl with child by him.
Mere gossip from the servants' hall.
Shame on you, Honour, for repeating it.
You, you don't want to be giving your heart to a bad boy, miss.
He doesn't seem at all bad to me. He seems kind.
And unlike everyone else round here,
he doesn't look at me as though I'm some kind of exotic flower.
FOOTSTEPS RETREATING
DOOR OPENS, CLOSES
A fine morning, Goody Seagrim. She's not here.
CHILDREN GIGGLE
I just need to talk to her. Talk, really?
You'll find out what men are like soon enough, Betty.
And you'll find they're not worth the trouble.
Molly?
I thought it was all over.
It is, yes.
But you know we have to talk.
You're all the same. Men.
Full of it until you've had your wicked way with us,
and then fling us aside.
I've come to say I can provide for you.
I will provide for you, and the child.
Money?
It's not about money!
I'm not your whore. I loved you.
The first man I've ever loved.
And now you've ruined me and left me with child...
Molly, please don't... Mr Thwackum.
It's not... how it looks?
Oh, for God's sake.
Don't hit me.
It's wrong to corrupt an innocent, I agree, but I didn't do that.
To be fair, neither did you.
Well, I was her first lo...
Molly!
You didn't really think the baby was yours?
Don't say, "You can do better." Don't say, "I'm no good for you."
Look, I'll just say you were my first love,
and I will never think of you without affection.
Oh. Go away, Tom.
I'll be fine here with my family.
Oh, and Tom...
Try to keep it in your britches.
Miss Western! Tom! I didn't see you there.
I didn't drop it on purpose. Of course not. The very idea.
I'd hate you to think... I don't. I wouldn't.
Sophia...
Good day to you, Mr Jones.
Oh. Oh, God! God! God! God!
KNOCKING
If I could keep it forever, I would.
You are a gentleman.
Thank you.
I have lots more.
'I saw the wretch with my own eyes.'
Marching about our neighbour's property as though he owns it,
goods and chattels.
Everything Jones does and everything he says betrays his bad blood.
The boy's birth was low, indeed, but he has a good heart.
And everyone makes excuses for him! Even you, Mother.
William...
My dear son, come here.
You had a real father, who, for all his faults,
gave you his name and a place in the world.
Tom Jones has nothing, and no-one.
So what is there to envy?
Hm?
And in to me. Arms down. SHE GIGGLES
Other way.
Two, three, four.
Stretch your arms out.
SHE CHUCKLES
Whoa! SHE LAUGHS
Well, don't just stand there!
That was really good. I know.
SHE LAUGHS
Oof! Concentrate, Tom!
Again!
Oh-ho-ho!
A pretty show this is.
I have, it is clear, arrived in the nick of time.
When I sent Sophia back to you, brother,
the child was a credit to her sex.
Pretty, well mannered, kind, and always tidy.
My little girl is perfect. Not a little girl any more.
Young gentlemen will flock. Flock? Flock?!
I'll kill the flocking lot of them!
You've just let one of them play cricket with her!
What, Tom?
Tom's no need to flock,
for he'll have any number of village girls happy to pull their skirts up.
Her background is against her. The mother a slave.
The father dead of tropical fever.
My girl is beautiful, and she is rich.
Who cares if she be Black? Huh! And a bastard, too!
Good Lord, brother, the world may care rather a lot.
She must be married without delay.
There must be someone who will take her,
among the good families hereabouts?
# Can love be controlled by advice?
# Will Cupid our mothers obey?
# Though my heart Were as frozen as ice
# At his flames Would have melted away... #
His fortune is not so big as hers.
It's big enough.
# Twas so sweet that I messed... # SHE FALTERS
# So I thought it both safe... #
You see the little flutterings? The missed note?
Hm? Oh, she blushes, sir. She is ahead of our plans.
And in love already!
# Can madness and reason agree?
# O Molly, who'd ever be wife
# If madness is loving of thee?
# Let sages pretend to despise
# The joys they want Spirits to taste
# Let me seize old Time as he flies
# And the blessings of life
# While they last. #
Lovely!
Watch your dress! Ugh! God!
He sits too close. He looms. Honour, he pants.
A marriage made in heaven, then!
I'm not marrying Mr Blifil!
My sister and I can think of no match we like better.
As long as Miss Western freely consents.
Who cares if she do or don't?
Well, in a modern world... What, marry for love?
Did any of us? Yes, actually. I did.
Send him over with a pretty proposal,
and we'll have a wedding by Michaelmas!
'Forced to marry a man I do not love.'
Will you be first to congratulate me on my marriage, Jones?
'My life's path chosen for me.'
She doesn't want you.
'Not in a million years.
'I know what I want.'
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