Tess of the D'Urbervilles

John Durbeyfield, a ‘haggler’ and a drunk, is weaving his way one afternoon towards the pub when he meets the village priest, Parson Tringham. The priest informs him that his family have distinguished ancestry. They are descended from the d’Urbervilles, a wealthy, though now extinct, clan.

The baby is mortally ill. Because Tess’s father refuses to let him be baptised in a church, she is forced to perform the ceremony herself, calling him ‘Sorrow’. The baby dies. Tess pleads with Parson Tringham to allow the baby to be buried in the churchyard, but the parson says he cannot permit this, so Tess digs a small grave for Sorrow in a field next to the church, on unconsecrated ground.