Remarks on Clarissa (1749)

many contradictory Faults that she was at once accused of, isalmost incredible: So many, that those who had attended enough to herCharacter, to have an Inclination to justify her, found it difficult toknow where to begin to answer such a complicated Charge. But after ashort Silence, Miss _Gibson_ with her usual Penetration, said;

  "Whenever any Person is accused of a Variety of Faults, which areplainly impossible to dwell in the same Mind, I am immediately convincedthe Person so accused is innocent of them all. A Prude cannot, by anobserving Eye, be taken for a Coquet, nor a Coquet for a Prude, but agood Woman may be called either, or both, according to the Dispositionsof her resolved Censurers; and hence I believe we may trace the Cause,why the Characters even of those Persons who do not endeavour to wearany Disguise are so very liable to be mistaken; for Partiality orPrejudice generally sit as Judges: If the former mount theJudgment-seat, how many different Terms do we make use of to expressthat Goodness in another, which our own fluctuating Imaginations onlyhave erected? If the latter, how do we vary Expressions to paint thatWickedness which we are resolve to prove inhabits the Mind we thinkproper to condemn?" "Nay, but (said Mr. _Dellincourt_) how are weconcerned either to justify or accuse _Clarissa_? we cannot be eitherpartial to, or prejudised against her." "I know not how it is, (replyedMiss _Gibson_) but those who dread Censure, tho' Circumspection wait onevery Step, will be censured, till there no longer remains in the Worldany of those Dispositions that delight in inflicting that Punishment onothers they see they most fear. Now, tho' _Clarissa_ was not soblameably fearful of Censure, but that her first Care was to preservethe Innocence of her own Mind, and do no wrong; yet it is plain, shewould very gladly have avoided incurring, as well as deserving,Reproach; and that she is treated like an intimate Acquaintance by allher Readers, the Author may thank himself for. I dare say, the Authorsof _Cassandra_, _Clelia_, with numberless others I could name, werenever in any Danger of having their Heroines thought on, or treated likehuman Creatures."

  _Bellario_, who had hitherto been silent, said, "He thought _Clarissa_could not justly be accused of any material Fault, but that of wantingAffection for her Lover; for that he was sure, a Woman whose Mind wasincapable of Love, could not be amiable, nor have any of those gentleQualities which chiefly adorn the female Character. And as to herwhining after her Papa and Mamma, who had used her so cruelly, (addedhe) I think 'tis contemptible in her."

  "But, Sir, (said Miss _Gibson_) please only to consider, first,_Clarissa_ is accused of want of Love, and then in a Moment she iscondemned for not being able suddenly to tear from her Bosom anAffection that had been daily growing and improving from the Time of herBirth, and this built on the greatest paternal Indulgence imaginable.Affections that have taken such deep Root, are little Treasures hoardedup in the good Mind, and cannot be torn thence without causing thestrongest convulsive Pangs in the Heart, where they have been longnourished: And when they are so very easily given up as you now, Sir,seem to contend for, I confess I am very apt to suspect they have onlybeen talked of by the Persons who can part with them with so littlePain, either from Hypocrisy, or from another very obvious Cause, namely,the using Words we are accustomed to hear, without so much as thinkingof their Meaning. Such Hearts I think may be much more properly comparedto the Hardness of Marble, than could that of the gentle _Clarissa_.

  "There is in her Behaviour, I own, a good deal of apparent Indifferenceto _Lovelace_; but let her Situation and his manner of treating her beconsidered, and I fancy the whole will be seen in a different Light fromwhat it may appear on the first View. She has confessed to Miss _Howe_,that she could prefer him to all the Men she ever saw; and that Friendof her Heart, to whom her very inmost Thoughts were laid open all along,pronounces her to be in Love with him. It is not from Hypocrisy that shedoes not confess the Charge, but from the Reason Miss _Howe_ gives, whenshe says;

  _I believe you did not intend Reserve to me, for two Reasons, I believe you did not; first, because you say you did not: Next, because you have not as yet been able to convince yourself how it is to be with you; and, persecuted as you are, how so to separate the Effects that spring from the two Causes (Persecution and Love) as to give to each its particular Due._

  "That _Clarissa_ positively did not intend to go off with _Lovelace_when she met him, to me is very plain; nor could he have prevailed onher, had not the Terrors raised in her Mind, by apprehended Murder,almost robbed her of her Senses, and hurried her away, not knowing whatshe did. For the Truth of this, I appeal to that charming painted Scene,where the Reader's Mind shares _Clarissa's_ Terror, and is kept in onecontinued Tumult til.

  [A]_The Steeds are smote, the rapid Chariot flies, The sudden Clouds of circuling Dust arise._

  [A] _Pope's Homer._

  "She was vexed to her soul afterwards to find she was tricked, as shecalls it, out of herself, when _Lovelace_, instead of comforting andassuring her Mind, begins such a Train of shufling artful Tricks, as noone but _Lovelace_ could have thought on: And altho' she did not knowall his Design, for if she had, she would certainly have left him, yetshe sees enough of his _crooked ways_, to be convinced that he actedungenerously by her, because she was in _his Power_. Does not_Lovelace_, in a Letter to _Belford_, writ in four Days after she waswith him, say?

  _And do I not see, that I shall want nothing but Patience, in order to have all Power with me? For what shall we say, if all these Complaints of a Character Wounded, these Declarations of increasing Regrets of meeting me, of Resentments never to be got over for my seducing her away, these angry Commands to leave her,--what shall we say, if all were to mean nothing but Matrimony?--And what if my forbearing to enter upon that Subject comes out to be the true Cause of her Petulance and Uneasiness._

  "And then he gives such an Account of his asking her Consent to marryhim, and at the same Time artfully confusing her, so as to prevent herConsent, as perfectly paints his cunning vile Heart. How is herBehaviour altered to him from the Time she can write Miss _Howe_ wordthat her Prospects are mended, till his returning Shufling convinces herthere is no Confidence to be placed in him! But if, Sir, you cannotthink _Lovelace's_ Usage of _Clarissa_ a full Justification of her inthis Point, I think the Author has a just Right to be heard out beforehis Heroine is condemned in so heavy a Charge, as that of being void ofall Affection. You know enough of my Sentiments, Sir, to be convincedthat I do think this the heaviest Charge a Woman can be accused of; forLove is the only Passion I should wish to be harboured in the gentleBosom of a good Woman. Ambition, with all the Train of turbulentPassions the World is infested with, I would leave to Men: And could Imake my whole Sex of my Opinion, they would be resigned without theleast Grudge or Envy; for Peace and Harmony dwell not with them, but onthe contrary, Discord, Perturbation and Misery are their constantCompanions. But tho' I speak thus with the utmost Sincerity of Love; yetI cannot think a Woman greatly the Object of Esteem who, like _Serina_in the _Orphan_, having such a Father as _Acasto_, and such Brothers,affectionate to her, however blameable in other Respects; while she sawher whole Family distressed and confused, and _Monimia_, the gentleCompanion of her Infancy, involved in that Confusion, her Lover toobehaving like a Mad-man, yet still, could cry out,

  Chamont's _the dearest thing I have on Earth; Give me_ Chamont, _and let the World forsake me._

  "_Clarissa_ would have acted a different Part, I do confess; and yet, ifI can guess any Thing of the Author's Intention by what is alreadypublished, I fancy, when we have read the Conclusion of this Story, weshall be convinced that Love was the strongest Characteristic of_Clarissa's_ Mind."

  _Bellario_ answered, with that Candor, which is known to be one of themost distinguishing Marks of his Character by all who have the Pleasureof his Acquaintance, 'That if it proved so, he should have the greatestEsteem and highest Veneration for _Clarissa_, and would suspend hisJudgment till he saw the remaining Part of the Story.'

  But all the Company were not so candid, for Mr. _Dellincourt_ said, 'Hewas s
ure _Clarissa_ could not in the remaining Part of the Storyconvince him, that her Characteristic was Love; for nothing less thanthe lovely _Emma's_ Passion for _Henry_ would be any Satisfaction tohim, if he was a Lover.'--Miss _Gibson_ said. 'She had often been sorrythat the Poem of _Henry_ and _Emma_ had not been long ago buried inOblivion; for (continued she) it is one of those Things which, by theDress and Ornaments of fine Language and smooth Poetry, has imposed onMankind so strong a Fallacy, as to make a Character in itself mostdespicable, nay I may say most blameable, generally thought worthyAdmiration and Praise: For strip it of the dazzling Beauties of Poetry,and thus fairly may the Story be told.

  An old _English_ Baron retired in his Decline of Life to hisCountry-seat, where one only Daughter (left him by a Wife he fondlyloved) was the Care, the Joy, the Comfort of his declining Years: