Remarks on Clarissa (1749)

by Sarah Fielding

little time without any Answer. Miss _Gibson_ wassilent; and I saw by her Looks that she thought there was some Weight inher Objection. At last an old Lady, who had three Daughters marriagable,said, she wondered to hear Mr. _Hickman_ called insipid; for she thoughtthere could be no Reason for giving him that Appellation, unless youngWomen would confess what she should be very sorry to hear them confess,namely, that, in their Opinion, Sobriety intitles a Man to the Characterof Insipidity. Pray remember, continued the Lady, that there is noRidicule cast upon Mr. _Hickman_ throughout the whole Story, but by_Lovelace_ and Miss _Howe_. The former lov'd Ridicule so well, that hecould make Objects of it, by the Help of his gay Imagination, even wherehe found none: Besides, he hated any Man should have a fine Woman buthimself; for, in his Opinion, he alone deserved them. And I think Miss_Howe_ is very censurable for the Liberties she takes with a worthy Man,whom also it is plain she intends to make her Husband.

  Miss _Gibson_ agreed in censuring Miss _Howe_ for the Liberties shetakes with him; but at the same time said, she thought even his bearingthat Usage did lower his Character. Now you see, replied the Lady, howyou are taken in; that you can condemn Miss _Howe_ for her Contempt ofMr. _Hickman_, and yet at the same time let the lively Strokes that fallfrom her Pen have their full force against the abused worthy Man. YetMiss _Howe_ herself owns, as early as the second Volume, that Mr._Hickman_ is humane, benevolent, generous,--No Fox-hunter--NoGamester--That he is sober, modest, and virtuous; and has Qualities thatMothers would be fond of in a Husband for their Daughters; and forwhich, perhaps, their Daughters would be the happier, could they judgeas well for themselves as Experience may teach them to judge for theirfuture Daughters. In other Places he is represented as charitable,considerate to Inferiors, so obliging and respectful to hisMother-in-law, that she leaves him at her Death, in Acknowledgment ofit, all that was in her Power: And Miss _Howe_ owns he never disobligedher by Word or Look. What then is the Objection to Mr. _Hickman_? Whytruly, he has not _Lovelace's_ fine Person!--_Lovelace's_ fineAddress!--_Lovelace's_ impetuous Spirit; and yet he has shewn even_Lovelace_, that he wants not Courage. He is plain in his Dress!--HisGait shews him not to be so debonnaire in dancing a Minuit as_Lovelace_.--But, indeed, I am afraid whoever prefers a _Lovelace_ to a_Hickman_, will wish all her life-time she could have sooner found out,that tho' _Lovelace_ was the best Partner at a Ball; yet, when aCompanion for Life was to be chose, that Mr. _Hickman's_ Goodness ofHeart rendered him in all respects more essential to Happiness; muchmore eligible than all the gay, fluttering, and parading Spirit of a_Lovelace_ could possibly have done. And your Favourite _Clarissa_, Miss_Gibson_, says in a Letter to Miss _Howe_; 'Will you never, my Dear,give the Weight which you, and all our Sex ought to give to theQualities of Sobriety and Regularity of Life and Manners in thatSex?--Must bold Creatures and forward Spirits for ever, and by thewisest and best of us, as well as by the indiscretest, be the mostkindly used?--be best thought of'?

  Again, in her posthumous Letter--'Your Choice is fallen upon a sincere,an honest, a virtuous, and what is more than all, a _pious Man_.--A Manwho altho' he admires your Person, is still more in love with the Gracesof your Mind; and as those Graces are improvable with every added Yearof Life, which will impair the transitory ones of Person, what a firmBasis has Mr. _Hickman_ chosen to build his Love upon.'

  The same Man cannot be every thing: A _Hickman_ in Heart, to a_Lovelace_ in Vivacity and Address, perhaps, is almost impossible to bemet with; Time, Opportunities, and Inclinations are wanting.

  Nay, Madam, says Miss _Gibson_, I do not dispute Mr. _Hickman's_ beingpreferable for a Husband to Mr. _Lovelace_; the Heart is certainly thefirst thing to be considered in a Man to whose Government a Womanresigns herself; but I should not chuse either _Lovelace_ or _Hickman_.I must confess I should desire Humour and Spirit in a Man. A marriedLife, tho' it cannot be said to be miserable with an honest Husband; yetit must be very dull, when a Man has not the Power of diversifying hisIdeas enough to display trifling Incidents in various Lights; and 'tisimpossible where this is wanting, but that a Man and his Wife must oftendepend on other Company to keep them from sinking into Insipidity. Andfor my part, I cannot paint to myself any thing more disagreeable, thanto sit with a Husband and wish some-body would come in and relieve usfrom one another's Dulness. Trifles, Madam, become strong Entertainmentsto sprightly Minds!--

  Ah! Miss _Gibson_, replied the Lady, in every Word you speak, you provehow necessary the Author's Moral is to be strongly inculcated; when even_your_ serious and thoughtful Turn of Mind will not suffer you to seethrough the Glare of what you call Humour and Spirit with that Clearnesswhich would enable you to distinguish how very seldom that Humour andSpirit is bestowed on a Wife. Mr. _Hickman's_ whole Mind being at Home,would enliven him into a chearful Companion with his Wife; whilst a_Lovelace's_ Mind, engaged on foreign Objects, would often make him fallinto Peevishness and Ill-humour, instead of this so much dreaded_Insipidity_.

  Indeed, Madam, said Miss _Gibson_, I don't plead for Mr. _Lovelace_; forI detest him of all the Men I ever read of.

  That is true, replied the Lady; but that is because you have _read_ ofhim, and know the Villanies he was capable of. But yet, I think, youhave plainly proved, if a _Lovelace_ and a _Hickman_ contended for yourFavour, which would have the best Chance of succeeding.

  Miss _Gibson_ blushed, and was silent; when a sprightly Girl, of aboutSixteen, said, She loved Mr. _Hickman_ very much; he was a good, and agentle-hearted Man--But indeed she should not like him for her Husband.

  The Gentlemen, during this Debate, had all sat silent; but they oftensmiled to see how few Advocates Mr. _Hickman_ was likely to have amongstthe Ladies.

  At last _Bellario_ said, If I had not thought so before, I should now beconvinced by this Conversation, how judicious the Author of _Clarissa_was in setting forth so very strongly as he does, the Necessity ofSobriety and Goodness in a Husband, in order to render a married Statehappy. For you have shown clearly, Ladies, how difficult it is for a Manto be esteemed by you who has those Qualities, since I can see no oneObjection to Mr. _Hickman_, but that he has not that Gaiety ofDisposition which from a vast Flow of animal Spirits, without Restraintor Curb from either Principles of Religion or Good-nature, shines forthin _Lovelace's_ wild Fancies. And this Man you find such a Reluctance tospeak well of; tho' a reforming _Belford_ esteems; Colonel _Morden_highly values him; and says, he is respected by all the World!--And a_Clarissa_ for ever acknowledges his Merit.--And, in one of the lastActions of her Life, praises him as he deserves to be praised. Andearnestly recommends it to her best and dear Friend, to give both herHand and Heart to so worthy a Man. The steady Principles of Mr._Hickman_ was a firm Basis to depend on, for Protection and good Usage.

  Miss _Gibson_ was so much pleased with seeing _Bellario_ enter soheartily into the Design of the Author of _Clarissa_, that she dropp'dthe Argument, (tho' she did not seem quite convinc'd that Mr. _Hickman_could be an agreeable Husband) and with some Earnestness desired_Bellario_ to tell her, whether he was not now convinced that _Clarissa_was capable of the strongest Affection, could she but have found theleast Foundation to have built that Affection on: Yes, replied_Bellario_, I am convinced of it, and am surprised that I did not beforesee how much _Lovelace's_ base unmanly Behaviour justifies her in thisPoint; he himself, indeed, in the Letter he writes _Belford_ after heleft _England_, lays the whole Scene before us; to his own Condemnation,and _Clarissa's_ eternal Honour: He owns her meek and gentle Spirit;confesses he repeatedly, from the first, poured cold Water on her risingFlame, by meanly and ingratefully turning upon her the Injunctionswhich Virgin Delicacy, and filial Duty induced her to lay him underbefore he got her into his Power; he quotes her own Words: _That shecould not be guilty of Affectation or Tyranny to the Man she intended tomarry_; that from the Time he had got her from her Father's House, _hehad a plain Path before him_; that _he had held her Soul in suspense anHundred times_; that _she would have had no Reserves, had he not givenher Cause of Doubt_; that she owned to _Bel
ford_, that _once she couldhave loved him; and could she have made him Good would have made himHappy_.

  To this Letter, continued _Bellario_, and numerous other Places in theBook, would I refer all those, if any such there are, who yet doubt herbeing capable of Love. Surely we may fairly conclude with _Lovelace_,that well might she, who had been used to be courted and admired byevery desiring Eye, and worshipped by every respectful Heart--Well mightsuch a Woman be allowed to draw back, when she found herself kept insuspence, as to the great Question of all, by a designing and intriguingSpirit, pretending Awe and Distance, as Reasons for reining in aFervour, which, if real, cannot be reined in.

  _Clarissa_ seems indeed, as Colonel _Morden_ says, (added thenow-admiring _Bellario_) to have been, as much as Mortal could be, LOVEITSELF.

  Miss _Gibson_ was highly delighted with what