Remarks on Clarissa (1749)

by Sarah Fielding

so many Forms, that we must judge of a Man upon thewhole, and not from any one single Action.

  A celebrated _French_ Critick says, that

  'An indifferent Wit may form a vast Design in his Imagination; but itmust be an EXTRAORDINARY GENIUS that can work his Design, and fashion itaccording to Justness and Proportion: For 'tis necessary that the sameSpirit _reign throughout_; that all contribute to the same _End_; andthat all the _Parts_ bear a secret _Relation_ to each other; all dependon this Relation and Alliance.'

  Let the nicest Critick examine the Story of _Clarissa_, and see if inany Point it fails of coming up exactly to the before-mentioned Rule.The Author had all Nature before him, and he has beautifully made use ofevery Labyrinth, in the several Minds of his Characters, to lead him tohis purposed End.

  The Obstinacy of old _Harlowe_, who never gave up a Point, unaccustomedto Contradiction, and mad with the Thoughts of his own Authority; thePride of the two old Batchelors, who had lived single, in order toaggrandize their Family; the overbearing impetuous _James Harlowe's_Envy, arising from Ambition; the two-fold Envy of _Arabella Harlowe_,springing from Rivalship in general Admiration, as well as in particularliking; the former more rough, the latter more sly, tho' full as keen inher Reproaches; the constant Submission of Mrs. _Harlowe_, and the madVanity of _Lovelace_, all conspire to the grand End of distressing anddestroying the poor _Clarissa_; whose Misfortune it was to be placedamongst a Set of Wretches, who were every one following the Bent oftheir own peculiar Madness, without any Consideration for the innocentVictim who was to fall a Sacrifice to their ungovernable Passions. Andhere I must observe, how artfully the Author has conducted the openingof his different Characters, as they became more interested in hisStory. The Correspondence between Miss _Howe_ and _Clarissa_, with somecharacteristical Letters of each of the _Harlowes_, as these were thenhis principal Actors, chiefly compose the two first Volumes.

  In the third, fourth and fifth Volumes, _Lovelace_ comes prancing beforethe Reader's Eye; gives an unrestrained Loose to his uncurbedImagination, and ripens into full-blown Baseness that Blackness of Mind,which had hitherto only shot forth in Buds but barely visible. Thestrong and lively Pen of _Lovelace_ was most proper to relate the mostactive Scenes. But when his mischievous Heart and plotting Head had lefthim no farther use for his wild Fancies, than to rave and curse his ownFolly, _Belford_ takes up the Pen, and carries on the Story; and in thesixth and seventh Volumes, Colonel _Morden_ (who has hitherto made but asmall Appearance) is brought upon the Stage, and his Character, as he isto be the Instrument of the Death of _Lovelace_, is as strongly painted,and as necessary to the Completion of the Story, as are any of theothers. It is astonishing to me how much the different Stile of eachWriter is in every Particular preserved; indeed so characteristicallypreserved, that when I read _Clarissa's_ Letters, where every Linespeaks the considerate and the pious Mind, I could almost think theAuthor had studied nothing but her Character. When Miss _Howe's_ livelyVein and flowing Wit entertains me, She appears to have been theprincipal Person in his Thoughts. When Mrs. _Harlowe_ writes, her brokenhalf-utter'd Sentences are so many Pictures of the broken timorousSpirit of Meekness tyrannised over, that dictates to her Pen. When Mr._Harlowe_ condescends to sign his much valued Name, the dictatorialSpirit of an indulged tyrannic Disposition indites every arbitraryCommand. When _John Harlowe_ writes, the Desire of proving himself ofConsequence from his Fortune, and being infected with the Idea of hisNiece's Disobedience, (a Word which continually resounded through hisFamily) plainly appear to be the only two Causes that make him insist onher Compliance. In _Anthony Harlowe's_ Roughness and Reproaches, 'TheSea prosper'd Gentleman, (as _Clarissa_ says) not used to any butelemental Controul, and even ready to buffet that, blusters as violentlyas the Winds he was accustomed to be angry at.' In _James Harlowe's_Letters, we see how the Mind infected with the complicated Distemper ofEnvy, Insolence and Malice, can blot the fair Paper, and poison it withits Venom. In _Arabella Harlowe_, the sly Insinuations of feminine Envybreak forth in every taunting Word, and she could "speak Daggers, tho'she dared not use them." But, to imitate our Author, in turning suddenlyfrom this detestable Picture, how does every Line of the good Mrs._Norton_ shew us a Mind inured to, and patiently submitting toAdversity, looking on Contempt as the unavoidable Consequence ofPoverty, and fixed in a firm and pious Resolution of going through allthe Vicissitudes of this transitory Life without repining.

  Nor does the Author fail more in the preserving the characteristicalDifference of Stile in the Writings of _Mowbray_, _Belford_ and_Lovelace_.

  _Mowbray_, tho' he writes but two Letters in the whole, yet do those twoso strongly fix his Character, that every Reader may see of whatConsequence he made himself to Society; namely, to act the blustringPart in a Club of Rakes, to fill a Seat at the Table, and assist inkeeping up the Roar and Noise necessary to make the Life of suchAssemblies.

  Mr. _Belford's_ Letters prove, that he acts the second Part under Mr._Lovelace_; he follows the Paths the other beats through the thornyLabyrinths of wild Libertinism; he has not the lively Humour of_Lovelace_, altho' in Understanding I think he has rather the Advantage;and his not being quite so lively, is owing to his not giving such aloose to every unbridled Fancy; but he has less Pride, and consequentlymore Humanity: this appears in the many Arguments he makes use of to hisFriend in favour of _Clarissa_; but these Arguments, as they are onlythe Produce of sudden Starts of Compassion, and have no fixed Principlefor their Basis, could have no Weight with _Lovelace_; and thefluctuating of a Mind sometimes intruded upon by the Force ofGood-nature, and then again actuated by the Principles of Libertinism,is finely set before us by _Belford's_ Writings. And as there is a greatBeauty throughout the whole of _Clarissa_, in the specific Difference ofStile preserved by every Writer, so is there an inimitable Beauty in_Belford_ differing from himself, when he changes the State of his Mind;his Stile accompanies that Change, and he appears another Man. He wasalways more of the true Gentleman in his Stile than _Lovelace_, becausehis Will was not enough overbearing to break through all Bounds; butwhen his Mind is softned by the many different Deaths he is witness of,and he becomes animated by _Clarissa's_ Example to think in earned ofreforming his Life, the Gentleman and the Christian increase together,till he becomes at once the Executor of _Clarissa's_ Will, and, if I maybe allowed the Expression, the Heir to her Principles.

  In _Lovelace's_ Stile, his Humour, his Parts, his Pride, his wild Desireof throwing Difficulties in his own way, in order to conquer them, andexercise his own intriguing Spirit, break forth in every Line. Hisimpetuous Will, unrestrained from his Infancy, as he himself complains,by his Mother, and long accustomed to bear down all before it, destroysthe Gentleman, and equally every other amiable Qualification: For tho' aKnowledge of the Customs of the World may make a Man in Company, wherehe stays but a little while, appear polite; yet when that Man indulgeshimself in gratifying continually his own wild Humour, those who areintimate with him, must often have Cause to complain of hisUnpoliteness; as _Clarissa_ does of _Lovelace_. And by such Complaintsof _Clarissa_, I think it is very apparent, that the Author designed_Lovelace_ should be unpolite, notwithstanding his Station, in order toprove that indulged overbearing Passions will trample under Foot everyBar that would stop them in their raging Course. But now I am upon theSubject of the different Stiles in _Clarissa_, I must observe howstrictly the Author has kept up in all the Writings of his Rakes to whathe says of _Lovelace_ in his Preface.

  'That they preserve a Decency, as well in their Images, as in their Language, which is not always to be found in the Works of some of the most celebrated modern Writers, whose Subjects and Characters have less warranted the Liberties they have taken.'

  The various Stiles adapted to the many different Characters in_Clarissa_ make so great a Variety, as would, it attended to, in a greatMeasure, answer any Objection that might otherwise fairly be raised tothe Length of the Story.

  There is one Thing has almost astonished me in the Criticisms
I haveheard on _Clarissa's_ Character; namely, that they are in a Manner aCounterpart to the Reproaches cast on her in her Lifetime.

  She has been called perverse and obstinate by many of her Readers;_James Harlowe_ called her so before them. Some say she was romantic; sosaid _Bella_; disobedient; all the _Harlowes_ agree in that; a Prude; sosaid _Salley Martin_; had a Mind incapable of Love; Mr. _Lovelace's_Accusation; for he must found his Brutality on some Shadow of aPretence, tho' he confesses at last it was but a Shadow, for that heknew the contrary the whole Time. Others say, she was artful andcunning, had the Talent only to move the Passions; the haughty Brotherand spiteful Sister's Plea to banish her from her Parents Presence. Iverily think I have not heard _Clarissa_ condemned for any one Fault,but the Author has made some of the _Harlowes_, or some of Mrs._Sinclair's_