The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
The exact relationship between Fielding's "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling" and Richardson's "The History of Sir Charles Grandison" cannot be known, but the character Charles Grandison was designed as a morally "better" hero than the character Tom Jones. In 1749, a friend asked Richardson "to give the world his idea of a good man and fine gentleman combined". Richardson hesitated to begin such a project, and he did not work on it until he was prompted the next year (June 1750) by Mrs. Donnelland and Miss Sutton, who were "both very intimate with one Clarissa Harlowe: and both extremely earnest with him to give them a "good man"". Near the end of 1751, Richardson sent a draft of the novel to Mrs. Donnellan, and the novel was being finalised in the middle of 1752.