Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 6
3
See Vol. I. Letters IX. XIV. and XIX. for what she herself says on that steadiness which Mr. Lovelace, though a deserved sufferer by it, cannot help admiring.
4
See Letter III. of this volume.
5
See Vol. V. Letter XX.
6
Ibid. See Letter XXI.
7
For the account of Mrs. Townsend, &c. see Vol. IV. Letter XLII.
8
See Vol. V. Letters XXI. and XXII.
9
He alludes here to the story of a pope, who, (once a poor fisherman,) through every preferment he rose to, even to that of the cardinalate, hung up in view of all his guests his net, as a token of humility. But, when he arrived at the pontificate, he took it down, saying, that there was no need of the net, when he had caught the fish.
10
Miss Howe, in Vol. III. Letter XIX. says, That she was always more afraid of Clarissa than of her mother; and, in Vol. III. Letter XLIV. That she fears her almost as much as she loves her; and in many other places, in her letters, verifies this observation of Lovelace.
11
See Vol. IV. Letter XXXI.
12
See Letter III. of this volume.
13
Eccles. xxvi. The whoredom of a woman may be known in her haughty looks and eye-lids. Watch over an impudent eye, and marvel not if it trespass against thee.
14
Vol. IV. Letter XLVIII.
15
See Vol. III. Letter XVIII.
16
Transcriber's note: Portions set off in square brackets [ ] are written at angles to the majority of the text, as if squeezed into margins.
17
Her cousin Morden's words to her in his letter from Florence. See Vol. IV. Letter XIX.
18
See Letter IX. of this volume.
19
See Vol. V. Letter XXI.
20
She tried to do this; but was prevented by the fellow's pretending to put his ankle out, by a slip down stairs—A trick, says his contriving master, in his omitted relation, I had taught him, on a like occasion, at Amiens.
21
See Vol. V. Letter XX.
22
See Vol. VI. Letter VII.
23
See Vol. VI. Letter VI.
24
The Lady, in her minutes, says, 'I fear Dorcas is a false one. May I not be able to prevail upon him to leave me at my liberty? Better to try than to trust to her. If I cannot prevail, but must meet him and my uncle, I hope I shall have fortitude enough to renounce him then. But I would fain avoid qualifying with the wretch, or to give him an expectation which I intend not to answer. If I am mistress of my own resolutions, my uncle himself shall not prevail with me to bind my soul in covenant with so vile a man.'
25
The Lady, in her minutes, owns the difficulty she lay under to keep her temper in this conference. 'But when I found,' says she, 'that all my entreaties were ineffectual, and that he was resolved to detain me, I could no longer withhold my impatience.'
26
The Lady mentions, in her memorandum-book, that she had no other way, as is apprehended, to save herself from instant dishonour, but by making this concession. Her only hope, now, she says, if she cannot escape by Dorcas's connivance, (whom, nevertheless she suspects,) is to find a way to engage the protection of her uncle, and even of the civil magistrate, on Thursday next, if necessary. 'He shall see,' says she, 'tame and timid as he thought me, what I dare to do, to avoid so hated a compulsion, and a man capable of a baseness so premeditatedly vile and inhuman.'
27
The lady had made an attempt to send away a letter.
28
See the preceding Letter.
29
See the next Letter.
30
See Vol. IV. Letter XXI.
31
See Vol. VI. Letter XVI.
32
See Vol. IV. Letter XVII.
33
Mrs. Norton, having only the family representation and invectives to form her judgment upon, knew not that Clarissa had determined against going off with Mr. Lovelace; nor how solicitous she had been to procure for herself any other protection than his, when she apprehended that, if she staid, she had no way to avoid being married to Mr. Solmes.
34
See Vol. V. Letter XX.
35
See Letter VII. of this volume.
36
See Letter XXX. of this volume.
37
See Vol. II. Letter IV.
38
The letter she encloses was Mr. Lovelace's forged one. See Vol. V. Letter XXX.
39
See Vol. V. Letter XXIX.
40
See Vol. V. Letter XXXI.
41
His forged letter. See Vol. V. Letter XXX.
42
It is proper to observe, that there was a more natural reason than this that the Lady gives for Mr. Lovelace's blushing. It was a blush of indignation, as he owned afterwards to his friend Belford, in conversation; for the pretended Lady Betty had mistaken her cue, in condemning the house; and he had much ado to recover the blunder; being obliged to follow her lead, and vary from his first design; which was to have the people of the house spoken well of, in order to induce her to return to it, were it but on pretence to direct her clothes to be carried to Hampstead.
43
The attentive reader need not be referred back for what the Lady nevertheless could not account for, as she knew not that Mr. Lovelace had come at Miss Howe's letters; particularly that in Vol. IV. Letter XXIX. which he comments upon in Letter XLIV. of the same volume.
44
See Vol. V. Letter XXX.
45
See Vol. V. Letter XX.
46
See Vol. VI. Letter VI.
47
Dr. Lewen, in Letter XXIV. of Vol. VIII. presses her to this public prosecution, by arguments worthy of his character; which she answers in a manner worthy of her's. See Letter XXV. of that volume.
48
See the note in Letter LXX. of this volume.
