The Lovers Assistant; Or, New Art of Love

First published anonymously in 1740, The Lovers Assistant; Or, New Art of Love is Henry Fielding's spirited verse adaptation of Ovid's Ars Amatoria — the notorious Roman handbook to courtship that scandalized antiquity and delighted readers for centuries. Writing in rolling heroic couplets, Fielding translates Ovid's playful instruction into the idiom of Augustan England, blending classical wit with the mock-heroic humor that would soon make Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones famous. This edition presents the complete, unabridged original text, newly introduced and accompanied by reader's notes that illuminate the poem's classical sources, its eighteenth-century context, and the scholarly case for Fielding's authorship. Whether you come as a student of the novel's great pioneer, a reader of Ovid, or simply a lover of literary curiosities, this volume offers a rare glimpse of a major writer testing his voice on a classical stage. Part of The Founding Texts Library.