natural Effectsof his own vile Actions, and her honest noble Simplicity; whilst shesteadily pursues the bright Path of Innocence, and proposes to herselfno other End, no not even in Thought, but to preserve untainted herspotless Mind, and diffuse Happiness to all around her.
I confess I was against the Story's ending unhappily, till I saw theConclusion; but I now think the different Deaths of the many Persons(for in this Point also the Difference is as essentially preserved, asin the Characters or Scenes) who fall in the winding up the Catastrophyin the seventh Volume, produce as noble a Moral as can be invented bythe Wit of Man.
The broken Spirit, the dejected Heart that pursue poor _Belton_ throughhis last Stage of Life (brought on by a lingering Illness, and ill Usagefrom an artful Woman to whom Vice had attached him, and increased by hisSoul's being startled and awaked from that thoughtless Lethargy in whichVice had so long lulled him) naturally break forth in those fearfulTremors, those agonizing pannic Terrors of the Mind, which follow him tothe End, and make a strong and lively Picture of the Terrors of Deathfirst thought on, when Life was flying, and could no longer supply theflowing Blood and vital Heat that animates the mortal Frame.
Mrs. _Sinclair's_ Death is very different; the Suddenness of herDeparture had not given Time for a regular Decay of her Strength, andthe same animal Spirits which used to support her in the noisy Roar of aprofligate Life, now like so many Vultures preyed on her own Bosom, andassisted to express the dreadful Horrors of an unexpected Death.
_Lovelace_, when he comes to die, is full of Rage and Disappointment;his uncontrouled Spirit, unused to be baffled, cannot quietly submit tothe great and universal Conqueror Death himself. On his Death-bed he isa lively Picture of the End of that worldly Wisdom which is Foolishnesswith God. His strong Imagination that assisted him to form and carry onthose _cunning_ Plots which he pursued to his own Destruction, nowassisted his Conscience to torment his Soul, and set before his Eyes theinjured Innocent who would have contributed to the utmost of her Powerthat he might have spent all his Days in Peace and Joy. In short, hefluttered like a gay Butterfly in the Sunshine of Prosperity; hewandered from the Path that leads to Happiness: In the Bloom of Youth hefell a Sacrifice to his own Folly: his Life was a Life of Violence, andhis Death was a Death of Rage.
Whilst the gentle _Clarissa's_ Death is the natural Consequence of herinnocent Life; her calm and prepared Spirit, like a soft smooth Stream,flows gently on, till it slides from her Misfortunes, and she leaves theWorld free from Fear, and animated only by a lively Hope.
She wished her closing Scene might be happy. _She had her Wish_, (saysthe Author in his Postscript) _it was happy._
Nothing ever made so strong a Contrast as the Deaths of _Lovelace_ and_Clarissa_. Wild was the Life of _Lovelace_, rapid was his Death; gentlewas _Clarissa's_ Life, softly flowed her latest Hours; the very Word_Death_ seems too harsh to describe her leaving Life, and her lastBreath was like the soft playing of a western Breeze, all calm! allPeace! all Quiet!
The true Difference between the Virtuous and the Vicious lies in theMind, where the Author of _Clarissa_ has placed it; _Lovelace_ sayswell, when he views the persecuted _Clarissa_ a-sleep.
'See the Difference in our Cases; she the charming Injured can sweetly sleep, whilst the varlet Injurer cannot close his Eyes, and has been trying to no purpose the whole Night to divert his Melancholy, and to fly from himself.'
Rightly I think in the Author's Postscript is it observed, that what iscalled poetical Justice is chimerical, or rather anti-providentialJustice; for God makes his Sun to shine alike on the Just and theUnjust. Why then should Man invent a kind of imaginary Justice, makingthe common Accidents of Life turn out favourable to the Virtuous only?Vain would be the Comforts spoken to the Virtuous in Affliction, in thesacred Writings, if Affliction could not be their Lot.
But the Author of _Clarissa_ has in his Postscript quoted such undoubtedAuthorities, and given so many Reasons on the Christian System for hisCatastrophy, that to say more on that Head would be but repeating hisWords. The Variety of Punishments also of those guilty Persons in thisWork who do not die, and the Rewards of those who are innocent, I couldgo through; had not that Postscript, and the Conclusion supposed to bewrit by Mr. _Belford_, already done it to my Hands. Only one thing Imust say, that I don't believe the most revengeful Person upon Earthcould wish their worst Enemy in a more deplorable Situation, than if_Lovelace_ in his Frenzy, in that charming picturesque Scene, where heis riding between _Uxbridge_ and _London_, when his impatient Spirit isin suspence; and also when he hears of _Clarissa's_ Death.
Thus have I just hinted at the Heads of the Characters, the Differenceof the chief Scenes, and the Variety of the several Deaths, all thenatural Consequences of the several Lives, and productive of thedesigned noble Moral in _Clarissa_; and I think it may be fairly andimpartially said, The Web is wove so strongly, every Part so muchdepending on and assisting each other, that to divide any of them, wouldbe to destroy the whole.
[D]_That many Things having full References To one Consent, may work contrariously: As many Arrows, loosed several Ways, Come to one Mark, as many Ways meet in one Town, As many fresh Streams meet in one salt Sea, As many Lines close in the Dial's Center, So may a thousand Actions once afoot End in one Purpose, and be all well born Without Defeat._
[D] See _Shakespear's Henry_ the Vth.
If what I have here said can be any Amusement to you, as it concernsyour favourite _Clarissa_, my End will be answered. I am,
_Madam,_
_Your's,_ &c.
BELLARIO.
_Miss_ GIBSON _to_ BELLARIO.
~_SIR,_~
Your Good-nature in sending me your Thoughts on _Clarissa_, with aDesign to give me Pleasure, I assure you is not thrown away; mayyou have equal Success in every generous Purpose that fills your Heart,and greater Happiness in this World, I am sure I cannot wish you.
Most truly, Sir, do you remark, that a Story told in this Manner canmove but slowly, that the Characters can be seen only by such as attendstrictly to the Whole; yet this Advantage the Author gains by writing inthe present Tense, as he himself calls it, and in the first Person, thathis Strokes penetrate immediately to the Heart, and we feel all theDistresses he paints; we not only weep for, but with _Clarissa_, andaccompany her, step by step, through all her Distresses.
I see her from the Beginning, in her happy State, beloved by all aroundher, studying to deserve that Love; obedient to her Parents, dependanton their Will by her own voluntary Act, when her Grandfather had put itin her Power to be otherwise; respectful and tender to her Brother andSister; firm in her Friendship to Miss _Howe_; grateful to good Mrs._Norton_, who had carefully watched over her Infant Years, and delightedto form and instruct her Mind; kind to her Inferiors; beneficent to allthe Poor, Miserable, and Indigent; and above all, cultivating andcherishing in her Heart the true Spirit of Christianity, Meekness, andResignation; watchful over her own Conduct, and charitable to theFailings of others; unwilling to condemn, and rejoicing in everyOpportunity to praise. But as the Laws of God and Man have placed aWoman totally in the Power of her Husband, I believe it is utterlyimpossible for any young Woman, who has any Reflection, not to form inher Mind some kind of Picture of the Sort of Man in whose Power shewould chuse to place herself. That _Clarissa_ did so, I think, plainlyappears, from her steady Resolution to refuse any Man she could notobey with the utmost Chearfulness; and to whose Will she could notsubmit without Reluctance. She would have had her Husband a Man on whosePrinciples she could entirely depend; one in whom she might have placedsuch a Confidence, that she might have spoke her very Thoughts aloud;one from whom she might have gained Instruction, and from whoseSuperiority of Understanding she would have been pleased to have takenthe Rules of her own Actions. She desired no Reserves, no s
eparateInterest from her Husband; had no Plots, no Machinations to succeed in,and therefore wanted not a Man who by artful Flattery she could havecajoled madly to have worship'd her; a kind Indulgence, in what wasreasonable, was all her Desire, and that Indulgence to arise from herown Endeavour to deserve it, and not from any Blindness cast before herHusband's Eyes by dazzling Beauty, or cunning Dissimulation; but, fromher Infancy, having the Example daily before her of her Mother's beingtyrannized over, notwithstanding her great Humility and Meekness,perhaps tyrannized over for that very Humility and Meekness. She thoughta single Life, in all Probability, would be for her the happiest;cherishing in her Heart that Characteristic of a noble Mind, especiallyin a Woman, of wishing, as Miss _Howe_ says she did, to pass throughLife unnoted.
In this State of Mind did _Lovelace_ first find _Clarissa_. She likedhim; his Person and Conversation were agreeable, but the Libertinism ofhis Character terrified her; and her Disapprobation of
Remarks on Clarissa (1749) Page 9