The question of the extent to which Fielding's works present a consistent view of human nature may in part be answered by a study of his frequent use of educational theory. Fielding was familiar with the major issues and theories treated in the educational literature of his day and also recognized that various theories of education found their basis in various theories of human nature, the raw material with which education deals. In The Fathers, one of Fielding's lesser-known plays, he seems to assume that education is allpowerful in forming character, but in Joseph Andrews the entire question of education and human nature is treated with ironic ambivalence. In Tom Jones education is irrelevant to character development, and the Nightingale episode reads like a specific reversal of the theme of The Fathers. In the course of these three works Fielding apparently reverses his position, beginning with the assumption that human nature may be defined as a tabula rasa and concluding that human character is predetermined. In Amelia Fielding compromises between these extremes in a manner reminiscent of Locke's position in his Some Thoughts concerning Education.