Clarissa

penknife-scene. ↩

See Letter 402. ↩

1.	A letter from Miss Montague, dated	Aug. 1.
2.	A copy of my answer	Aug. 3.
3.	Mr. Belford’s Letter to me, which will show you what my request was to him, and his compliance with it; and the desired extracts from his friend’s letters	Aug. 3, 4.
4.	A copy of my answer, with thanks; and requesting him to undertake the executor-ship	Aug. 4.
5.	Mr. Belford’s acceptance of the trust	Aug. 4.
6.	Miss Montague’s letter, with a generous offer from Lord M. and the Ladies of that family	Aug. 7.
7.	Mr. Lovelace’s to me	Aug. 7.
8.	Copy of mine to Miss Montague, in answer to hers of the day before	Aug. 8.
9.	Copy of my answer to Mr. Lovelace	Aug. 11.

↩

See Letter 32. ↩

1.	A copy of mine to my sister, begging off my father’s malediction	dated July 21
2.	My sister’s answer	dated July 27
3.	Copy of my second letter to my sister	dated July 29
4.	My sister’s answer	dated Aug. 3
5.	Copy of my Letter to my mother	dated Aug. 5
6.	My uncle Harlowe’s letter	dated Aug. 7
7.	Copy of my answer to it	dated the 10th
8.	Letter from my uncle Antony	dated the 12th
9.	And lastly, the copy of my answer to it	dated the 13th

↩

She means that of making Mr. Belford her executor. ↩

For what these gentlemen mean by the Roman style, see Letter 31 in the first note. ↩

See Letter 399. ↩

Textual error: was shown in original as Aug. 15.

—⁠Editor

↩

Mr. Belford’s objections, That virtue ought not to suffer in a tragedy, is not well considered: Monimia in the Orphean, Belvidera in Venice Preserved, Athenais in Theodosius, Cordelia in Shakespeare’s King Lear, Desdemona in Othello, Hamlet, (to name no more), are instances that a tragedy could hardly be justly called a tragedy, if virtue did not temporarily suffer, and vice for a while triumph. But he recovers himself in the same paragraph; and leads us to look up to the future for the reward of virtue, and for the punishment of guilt: and observes not amiss, when he says, He knows not but that the virtue of such a woman as Clarissa is rewarded in missing such a man as Lovelace. ↩

See Letter 429. ↩

The Rev Mr. Norris, of Bremerton. ↩

Madam Maintenon was reported to have prevailed upon Louis XIV of France, in his old age, (sunk, as he was, by ill success in the field), to marry her, by way of compounding with his conscience for the freedoms of his past life, to which she attributed his public losses. ↩

This man came from her cousin Morden; as will be seen hereafter, Letters 455 and 459. ↩

Letter 429. ↩

Explained in Letter 431. ↩

The stiff visit this good divine was prevailed upon to make her, as mentioned in Letter 75 (of which, however, she was too generous to remind him) might warrant the lady to think that he had rather inclined to their party, as to the parental side, than to hers. ↩

See Letter 407. ↩

See Letter 317. ↩

Her letter, containing the reasons she refers to, was not asked for; and Dr. Lewen’s death, which fell out soon after he had received it, was the reason that it was not communicated to the family, till it was too late to do the service that might have been hoped for from it. ↩

See Letter 409. ↩

See Letter 429. ↩

The former housekeeper at Harlowe-place. ↩

See Letter 405. ↩

Mr. Belford has not yet sent him his last-written letter. His reason for which see Letter 426. ↩

See Letter 426. ↩

See Letter 173. ↩

See Otway’s Orphan. ↩

See Letters 282, 283, 284, 288. ↩

See Letter 282. ↩

See Letter 384. ↩

See Letter 397. ↩

See Letter 397. ↩

See Letter 399. ↩

See Letter 399. ↩

The Windmill, near Slough. ↩

See Letter 423. ↩

See Letter 443. ↩

See Letter 399. ↩

See Letter 440. ↩

It may not be amiss to observe, that Mr. Belford’s solicitude to get back his letters was owing to his desire of fulfilling the lady’s wishes that he would furnish Miss Howe with materials to vindicate her memory. ↩

See Letter 435. ↩

See Letter 426. ↩

See Letter 10. ↩

See Letter 177. ↩

See Letter 397. ↩

See Letter 401. ↩

These are the lines the lady refers to:

From death we rose to life: ’tis but the same,
Through life to pass again from whence we came.
With shame we see our passions can prevail,
Where reason, certainty, and virtue fail.
Honour, that empty name, can death despise;
Scorn’d Love to death, as to a refuge, flies;
And Sorrow waits for death with longing eyes.
Hope triumphs o’er the thoughts of death; and Fate
Cheats fools, and flatters the unfortunate.
We fear to lose, what a small time must waste,
Till life itself grows the disease at last.
Begging for life, we beg for more decay,
And to be