These are two unlike essays published in one volume. _A Journey From This World to the Next_ is a satire on society in the form of a supposed travelogue of the afterlife. The protagonist discovers that some souls are damned and sent immediately to Hell, souls who have lived a good life are admitted to the Elysian Fields, and those who need to improve are given additional incarnations. The satire is provided by the account of Julian the Apostate, who incarnates repeatedly in every station of life. The commentary on the life of courtiers and rulers is particularly pointed, and the last life given, that of Anne Boleyn, makes the precarious nature of the favor of the great especially clear.

_The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon_ is an account of Fieldings last trip, an effort to regain his health by moving to the better climate afforded by Lisbon. Its main interest for the modern reader is to make clear the tedium, discomfort and unpredictability of travel by sailing ship. It takes the party over a month just to escape the coast of England. Part of this time is spent in lodgings on the Isle of Wight as they await favorable winds. Greedy landladies, supply boats determined to get the most out of every traveler and an impatient and unpredictable Captain make the voyage more than usually unpleasant for the dying Fielding--who nevertheless wrote to earn money for his family.