How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
It hath been a custom long established in the polite world, and that upon very solid and substantial reasons, that a husband shall never enter his wife's apartment without first knocking at the door. The many excellent uses of this custom need scarce be hinted to a reader who hath any knowledge of the world; for by this means the lady hath time to adjust herself, or to remove any disagreeable object out of the way; for there are some situations in which nice and delicate women would not be discovered by their husbands. (10.2.4)
"The polite world" is the high-society world, probably of the city. Fielding strongly implies that, in more sophisticated families the whole question of a wife cheating on her husband isn't so much a question as it is a foregone conclusion. Fielding plays on the idea that people who "[know] the world" are more likely to be lax about maintaining strict moral discipline. Do you think that sophistication and morality are somehow contradictory?
Quote #8
Now it happens to this sort of men, as to bad hounds, who never hit off a fault themselves; but no sooner doth a dog of sagacity open his mouth than they immediately do the same, and, without the guidance of any scent, run directly forwards as fast as they are able. […] Much kinder was [Fortune] to me, when she suggested that simile of the hounds, just before inserted; since the poor wife may, on these occasions, be so justly compared to a hunted hare. Like that little wretched animal, she pricks up her ears to listen after the voice of her pursuer; like her, flies away trembling when she hears it; and, like her, is generally overtaken and destroyed in the end. (10.6.16)
Fielding admits that there is something totally messed up about the power that Mr. Fitzpatrick has to hunt down Mrs. Fitzpatrick, who has run away for really excellent reasons. The fact that Mrs. Kirkpatrick doesn't seem to have any legal right either to protect her money from her husband's greed or to defend herself from his cruelty and jealousy are really stark reminders that the position of women in the eighteenth century British family was, legally, extremely vulnerable.
Quote #9
"This was a love-match, as they call it, on both sides; that is, a match between two beggars. I must, indeed, say, I never saw a fonder couple; but what is their fondness good for, but to torment each other?" "Indeed, mamma," cries Nancy, "I have always looked on my cousin Anderson" (for that was her name) "as one of the happiest of women." "I am sure," says Mrs Miller, "the case at present is much otherwise; for any one might have discerned that the tender consideration of each other's sufferings makes the most intolerable part of their calamity, both to the husband and wife. Compared to which, hunger and cold, as they affect their own persons only, are scarce evils." (13.8.5)
When Mrs. Millers describes the awful financial situation of her cousin Anderson, she points out that the love the family has for each other actually makes their current dire state worse. It pains them horribly to see one another suffering from all of this poverty. This example of the Andersons goes to show that sometimes, love just is not enough to make a family happy. You have to have something to live on, no matter how strong your feelings for each other are. This family is another cautionary tale, along with the story of Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick: if Tom and Sophia had eloped without any cash, this could have been them. They may love each other, but it's important to be practical when you are starting a family, too.