Remarks on Clarissa (1749)

  Produced by Chris Curnow, Meredith Bach, Joseph Cooper andthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttps://www.pgdp.net

  [Transcriber's Note:

  The use of tildes (~) around a word signifies that it was spaced out in the original l i k e t h i s.

  Spelling, grammar, and punctuation have been retained as in the original, with the exception of a few printer's errors. A full list of these can be found at the end of the text.]

  ~REMARKS~ ~ON~ ~_CLARISSA_,~

  Addressed to the AUTHOR.

  Occasioned by some critical Conversations on the CHARACTERS and CONDUCT of that Work.

  ~WITH~

  Some Reflections on the Character and Behaviour of PRIOR'S ~_EMMA_~.

  ~_LONDON:_~ Printed for _J. Robinson_ in _Ludgate-street_.

  M,DCC,XLIX.

  [Price One Shilling.]

  REMARKS ON _CLARISSA_, &c.

  ~_SIR_,~

  Perhaps an Address of this Nature may appear very unaccountable, andwhimsical; when I assure you, my Design is fairly to lay before you allthe Criticisms, as far as I can remember them, that I have heard on yourHistory of _Clarissa_; from the Appearance of the two first Volumes, tothe Close of the Work. I have not willingly omitted any one Objection Ihave heard made to your favourite Character, from her first Appearancein the World; nor, on the contrary, have I either diminished or added tothe favourable Construction put on her Words or Actions. If the Groundsfor the Objections are found to be deducible from the Story, I wouldhave them remain in their full Force; but if the Answers her Admirershave given to those Objections are found to result from an impartial andattentive perusal of the Story, I would not have her deny'd the Justicethey have done her. But tho' I seem here to speak only of _Clarissa_, asshe is your principal Character, yet I intend as well to take notice ofwhat has been said relating to your whole Story, as to her inparticular.

  In the first Conversation I heard on this Subject, the whole Book wasunanimously condemned, without the least Glimpse of Favour from any onepresent who sat in judgment on it. It was tedious stuff!--low!--Letterswrote between Misses about their Sweet-hearts!--There was an Uncle_Anthony_--a Brother _James_!--a Goody _Norton_!--and a Servant_Hannah_.--In short, _one_ had no Patience to read it, _another_ couldnot bear it, a _third_ did not like it, _&c._ Such general Censurers, Iknew, could be very little worth attending to; and this Judgment Ishould have formed had I been a Stranger to the Book thus unmercifullytreated; but as I had read _Clarissa_, and observed some Beauties in it,yet heard not one of them mentioned, I was determined to say nothing,and to make my Visit as short as possible.

  From hence I went to spend the Evening with a Family in whoseConversation I am always agreeably entertained. There happened, thatNight, to be a pretty large Assembly of mix'd Company. _Clarissa_immediately became the Subject of our Conversation, when, after a fewgeneral Remarks, one of the Gentlemen said, "His chief Objection was tothe Length of it, for that he was certain he could tell the whole Storycontained in the two first Volumes in a few Minutes; for Example,(continued he) There is a Family who live in the Country, consisting ofan old, positive, gouty Gentleman, two old Batchelors as positive astheir gouty Brother, a meek Wife, an ambitious Son, an envious elderSister, and a handsome younger Sister; who, having refused many offeredMatches, engages the Attention and Liking of one Mr. _Lovelace_, a youngGentleman of a noble Family; her Brother has an absolute Aversion tohim; a Rencounter follows between them; the Lady corresponds with_Lovelace_ to prevent farther Mischief; a disagreeable Man is proposedto her by all her Family; she will not consent; they all combine toinsist on her Compliance; she is lock'd up; forbid all Correspondenceout of the Family, but still persists in her Refusal; they call itObstinacy; she calls it Resolution; Mr. _Lovelace_ takes the Advantageof her Friends cruel Usage of her, and presses her to throw herself onhis Protection: at last, for fear of being forced to marry the Man shehates, she appoints to go off with _Lovelace_; but fearing theConsequence of such a rash Step, and thinking it a Breach of her Duty toleave her Father's House till urged by the last Necessity, she wouldhave retracted the Appointment, and waited yet a little longer, in hopesher Friends might be influenced to change their Mind; Mr. _Lovelace_does not take the Letter she puts in the usual Place for that purpose,and we see by her last Letter to her Friend, dated at St. _Albans_, thatshe is there with _Lovelace_. Now, how is it possible for this Story,without being exceeding tedious, to be spun out to two Volumes,containing each above 300 Pages?"

  When the Gentleman ceased, a young Lady, whose Name was _Gibson_, took alittle Almanack out of her Pocket, and, turning to the Place where theBirths and Deaths of the Kings of _England_ were marked, gave it to theGentleman, and said, "that by his Rule of Writing, that was the bestHistory of _England_, and Almanack-makers were the best Historians".

  Mr. _Johnson_, another of the Company, said, he would engage to relatethe _Roman_ History, in that manner, in as little time as had beenexpended in the summing up the Story of _Clarissa_; and then, with aMonotony in his Voice that expressed more Humour than I can describe, hebegan as follows:

  "_Romulus_ the Son of _Apulius_, as some say, tho' according to othersthe Son of _Mars_ by one of the Vestal Virgins, built the City of_Rome_, and reign'd there 37 Years; after him reigned six Kingssuccessively (their Names are of no Consequence) but the Wickedness ofthe last King put an end to the regal State, and introduced theConsular, which we may say lasted about the Space of 427 Years, tho' itwas retrenched in Power by the Tribunes of the People, and had manyIntermissions by the Creation of Dictators, the Decemviri, and themilitary Tribuns; during all this time, sometimes there was War,sometimes there was Peace, foreign Wars in abundance, great Civil Wars,not a few Contentions for Power amongst all Degrees of Men, vastConquests, great Extent or Empire, till at last, in the famous Plains of_Pharsalia_, was fought a decisive Battel for the Empire, between twoambitious Men, namely, _Caesar_ and _Pompey_; the latter fled, and wastreacherously slain on the _Egyptian_ Shore, whilst the former remain'dMaster of the Field, and almost of the Universe."

  Here Mr. _Johnson_ changed the Tone of his Voice, and said, "I willpursue this no farther, for to the Death of _Pompey_ makes twentyVolumes in the History wrote by the Fathers _Catrou_ and _Rouille_,which is generally allowed to be a very good one, and, I think, one ofits chief Beauties depends on the Length; for to that we owe thedisplaying so many various Characters, and the diving into the Motivesof those great Mens Actions, who guided that extensive, powerful, I hadalmost said unmanagable Common-wealth.

  Mr. _Singleton_ laugh'd, and said, "He was surprised to hear a Man ofMr. _Johnson's_ Understanding display so much Eloquence to prove, (if heintended to prove any thing by it) that the knowing the Particulars ofthe Family at _Harlow-place_ was of as much Consequence, as the knowingthe Springs and Wheels on which turned the Affairs of the greatestCommonwealth that was ever heard of since the Creation of the World.

  "Indeed, Sir, replied the Lady of the House, (who has bred up three Sonsand three Daughters, who do Honour to her Education of them) I reallythink the penetrating into the Motives that actuate the Persons in aprivate Family, of much more general use to be known, than thoseconcerning the Management of any Kingdom or Empire whatsoever: Thelatter, Princes, Governors, and Politicians only can be the better for,whilst every Parent, every Child, every Sister, and every Brother, areconcerned in the former, and may take example by such who are in thesame Situation with themselves.

  Mr. _Clark_ said, "that he believed the whole Account of the Mind ofMan, were we only to mention the primary Passions, might be com
prised ina few Words; but (continued he) from those Fountains to trace theseveral Channels into which they flow, and to get a Clue to guide usthrough all the winding Labyrinths into which they turn themselves, isno such easy Matter; that

  _Life's but a walking Shadow, a poor Player, That struts and frets his Hour upon the Stage And then is heard no more,_

  perhaps gives us as strong an Image as it is possible to receive, of allthe great Transactions perform'd by Mankind for these 6000 Years; andyet the celebrated Author, who wrote those Words, has diversify'd anddisplay'd that strutting and fretting in as many various Lights as hehas drawn Characters throughout his immortal Writings.

  "In these two Volumes of _Clarissa_, it plainly appears, the Author'sIntention is to impress deeply on the Reader's Mind, the peculiarCharacter of each Person in that Family whence his Heroine is derived;and in this I think he has succeeded so well, that for my own part I amas