LETTER VI
MR. LOVELACE[IN CONTINUATION.]
The Ladies, instead of taking up the subject where we had laid it down,must needs touch upon passage in my fair accuser's letter, which I was inhopes they would have let rest, as we were in a tolerable way. But,truly, they must hear all they could hear of our story, and what I had tosay to those passages, that they might be better enabled to mediatebetween us, if I were really and indeed inclined to do her the hoped-forjustice.
These passages were, 1st, 'That, after I had compulsorily tricked herinto the act of going off with me, I carried her to one of the worsthouses in London.'
2nd, 'That I had made a wicked attempt upon her; in resentment of whichshe fled to Hampstead privately.'
3dly, Came the forgery, and personating charges again; and we were uponthe point of renewing out quarrel, before we could get to the nextcharge: which was still worse.
For that (4thly) was 'That having betrayed her back to the vile house, Ifirst robbed her of her senses, and then her honour; detaining herafterwards a prisoner there.'
Were I to tell thee the glosses I put upon these heavy charges, whatwould it be, but repeat many of the extenuating arguments I have used inmy letters to thee?--Suffice it, therefore, to say, that I insisted much,by way of palliation, on the lady's extreme niceness: on her diffidencein my honour: on Miss Howe's contriving spirit; plots on their partsbegetting plots on mine: on the high passions of the sex. I asserted,that my whole view, in gently restraining her, was to oblige her toforgive me, and to marry me; and this for the honour of both families.I boasted of my own good qualities; some of which none that knew me deny;and to which few libertines can lay claim.
They then fell into warm admirations and praises of the lady; all of thempreparatory, as I knew, to the grand question: and thus it was introducedby Lady Sarah.
We have said as much as I think we can say upon these letters of the poorlady. To dwell upon the mischiefs that may ensue from the abuse of aperson of her rank, if all the reparation be not made that now can bemade, would perhaps be to little purpose. But you seem, Sir, still tohave a just opinion of her, as well as affection for her. Her virtue isnot in the least questionable. She could not resent as she does, had sheany thing to reproach herself with. She is, by every body's account, afine woman; has a good estate in her own right; is of no contemptiblefamily; though I think, with regard to her, they have acted asimprudently as unworthily. For the excellency of her mind, for goodeconomy, the common speech of her, as the worthy Dr. Lewen once told me,is that her prudence would enrich a poor man, and her piety reclaim alicentious one. I, who have not been abroad twice this twelvemonth, camehither purposely, so did Lady Betty, to see if justice may not be doneher; and also whether we, and my Lord M. (your nearest relations, Sir,)have, or have not, any influence over you. And, for my own part, as yourdetermination shall be in this article, such shall be mine, with regardto the disposition of all that is within my power.
Lady Betty. And mine.
And mine, said my Lord: and valiantly he swore to it.
Lovel. Far be it from me to think slightly of favours you may any ofyou be glad I would deserve! but as far be it from me to enter intoconditions against my own liking, with sordid views!--As to futuremischiefs, let them come. I have not done with the Harlowes yet. Theywere the aggressors; and I should be glad they would let me hear fromthem, in the way they should hear from me in the like case. Perhaps Ishould not be sorry to be found, rather than be obliged to seek, on thisoccasion.
Miss Charlotte. [Reddening.] Spoke like a man of violence, rather thana man of reason! I hope you'll allow that, Cousin.
Lady Sarah. Well, but since what is done, and cannot be undone, let usthink of the next best, Have you any objection against marrying MissHarlowe, if she will have you?
Lovel. There can possibly be but one: That she is to every body, nodoubt, as well as to Lady Betty, pursuing that maxim peculiar to herself,(and let me tell you so it ought to be:) that what she cannot concealfrom herself, she will publish to the world.
Miss Patty. The lady, to be sure, writes this in the bitterness of hergrief, and in despair.----
Lovel. And so when her grief is allayed; when her despairing fit isover--and this from you, Cousin Patty!--Sweet girl! And would you, mydear, in the like case [whispering her] have yielded to entreaty--wouldyou have meant no more by the like exclamations?
I had a rap with her fan, and blush; and from Lord M. a reflection, ThatI turn'd into jest every thing they said.
I asked, if they thought the Harlowes deserved any consideration from me?And whether that family would not exult over me, were I to marry theirdaughter, as if I dared not to do otherwise?
Lady Sarah. Once I was angry with that family, as we all were. But nowI pity them; and think, that you have but too well justified the worsetreatment they gave you.
Lord M. Their family is of standing. All gentlemen of it, and rich,and reputable. Let me tell you, that many of our coronets would be gladthey could derive their descents from no worse a stem than theirs.
Lovel. The Harlowes are a narrow-souled and implacable family. I hatethem: and, though I revere the lady, scorn all relation to them.
Lady Betty. I wish no worse could be said of him, who is such a scornerof common failings in others.
Lord M. How would my sister Lovelace have reproached herself for allher indulgent folly to this favourite boy of her's, had she lived tillnow, and been present on this occasion!
Lady Sarah. Well, but, begging your Lordship's pardon, let us see ifany thing can be done for this poor lady.
Miss Ch. If Mr. Lovelace has nothing to object against the lady'scharacter, (and I presume to think he is not ashamed to do her justice,though it may make against himself,) I cannot but see her honour andgenerosity will compel from him all that we expect. If there be anylevities, any weaknesses, to be charged upon the lady, I should not openmy lips in her favour; though in private I would pity her, and deploreher hard hap. And yet, even then, there might not want arguments, fromhonour to gratitude, in so particular a case, to engage you, Sir, to makegood the vows it is plain you have broken.
Lady Betty. My niece Charlotte has called upon you so justly, and hasput the question to you so properly, that I cannot but wish you wouldspeak to it directly, and without evasion.
All in a breath then bespoke my seriousness, and my justice: and in thismanner I delivered myself, assuming an air sincerely solemn.
'I am very sensible that the performance of the task you have put me uponwill leave me without excuse: but I will not have recourse either toevasion or palliation.
'As my cousin Charlotte has severely observed, I am not ashamed to dojustice to Miss Harlowe's merit.
'I own to you all, and, what is more, with high regret, (if not withshame, cousin Charlotte,) that I have a great deal to answer for in myusage of this lady. The sex has not a nobler mind, nor a lovelier personof it. And, for virtue, I could not have believed (excuse me, Ladies)that there ever was a woman who gave, or could have given, suchillustrious, such uniform proofs of it: for, in her whole conduct, shehas shown herself to be equally above temptation and art; and, I hadalmost said, human frailty.
'The step she so freely blames herself for taking, was truly what shecalls compulsatory: for though she was provoked to think of going offwith me, she intended it not, nor was provided to do so: neither wouldshe ever have had the thought of it, had her relations left her free,upon her offered composition to renounce the man she did not hate, inorder to avoid the man she did.
'It piqued my pride, I own, that I could so little depend upon the forceof those impressions which I had the vanity to hope I had made in a heartso delicate; and, in my worst devices against her, I encouraged myselfthat I abused no confidence; for none had she in my honour.
'The evils she has suffered, it would have been more than a miracle hadshe avoided. Her watchfulness rendered more plots abortive than those
which contributed to her fall; and they were many and various. And allher greater trials and hardships were owing to her noble resistance andjust resentment.
'I know, proceeded I, how much I condemn myself in the justice I am doingto this excellent creature. But yet I will do her justice, and cannothelp it if I would. And I hope this shows that I am not so totallyabandoned as I have been thought to be.
'Indeed, with me, she has done more honour to her sex in her fall, if itbe to be called a fall, (in truth it ought not,) than ever any othercould do in her standing.
'When, at length, I had given her watchful virtue cause of suspicion, Iwas then indeed obliged to make use of power and art to prevent herescaping from me. She then formed contrivances to elude mine; but allher's were such as strict truth and punctilious honour would justify.She could not stoop to deceit and falsehood, no, not to save herself.More than once justly did she tell me, fired by conscious worthiness,that her soul was my soul's superior!--Forgive me, Ladies, for saying,that till I knew her, I questioned a soul in a sex, created, as I waswilling to suppose, only for temporary purposes.--It is not to beimagined into what absurdities men of free principle run in order tojustify to themselves their free practices; and to make a religion totheir minds: and yet, in this respect, I have not been so faulty as someothers.
'No wonder that such a noble creature as this looked upon every studiedartifice as a degree of baseness not to be forgiven: no wonder that shecould so easily become averse to the man (though once she beheld him withan eye not wholly indifferent) whom she thought capable of premeditatedguilt. Nor, give me leave, on the other hand, to say, is it to bewondered at, that the man who found it so difficult to be forgiven forthe slighter offences, and who had not the grace to recede or repent,(made desperate,) should be hurried on to the commission of the greater.
'In short, Ladies, in a word, my Lord, Miss Clarissa Harlowe is an angel;if ever there was or could be one in human nature: and is, and ever was,as pure as an angel in her will: and this justice I must do her, althoughthe question, I see by every glistening eye, is ready to be asked, Whatthen, Lovelace, art thou?'--
Lord M. A devil!--a d----d devil! I must answer. And may the curse ofGod follow you in all you undertake, if you do not make her the bestamends now in your power to make her!
Lovel. From you, my Lord, I could expect no other: but from the LadiesI hope for less violence from the ingenuousness of my confession.
The Ladies, elder and younger, had their handkerchiefs to their eyes, atthe just testimony which I bore to the merits of this exalted creature;and which I would make no scruple to bear at the bar of a court ofjustice, were I to be called to it.
Lady Betty. Well, Sir, this is a noble character. If you think as youspeak, surely you cannot refuse to do the lady all the justice now inyour power to do her.
They all joined in this demand.
I pleaded, that I was sure she would not have me: that, when she hadtaken a resolution, she was not to be moved. Unpersuadableness was anHarlowe sin: that, and her name, I told them, were all she had of theirs.
All were of opinion, that she might, in her present desolatecircumstances, be brought to forgive me. Lady Sarah said, that LadyBetty and she would endeavour to find out the noble sufferer, as theyjustly called her; and would take her into their protection, and beguarantees of the justice that I would do her; as well after marriage asbefore.
It was some pleasure to me, to observe the placability of these ladies ofmy own family, had they, any or either of them, met with a LOVELACE. But'twould be hard upon us honest fellows, Jack, if all women wereCLARISSAS.
Here I am obliged to break off.