[Page 3] THE HISTORY OF Clarissa Harlowe. VOL. VIII. LETTER I. Mr. Belford, To Robert Lovelace, Esq; Thursday Night. I may as well try to write; since, were I to go to bed, I shall not sleep. I never had such a weight of grief upon my mind in my life, as upon the demise of this admirable woman; whose soul is now rejoicing in the regions of light. You may be glad to know the particulars of her happy Exit. I will try to proceed; for all is hush and still; the family retired; but not one of them, and least of all her poor Cousin, I dare say, to rest. At Four o'clock, as I mentioned in my last, I was sent for down; and, as thou usedst to like my descriptions, [Page 4] I will give thee...
LETTER II. Mr. Belford, To Robert Lovelace , Esq; Nine, Friday Morn. I have no opportunity to write at length, having necessary orders to give on the melancholy occasion. [Page 9] Joel, who got to me by Six in the morning, and whom I dispatched instantly back with the Letter I had ready from last night, gives me but an indifferent account of the state of your mind. I wonder not at it; but Time (and nothing else can) will make it easier to you: If (that is to say) you have compounded with your conscience; else it may be heavier every day than other. Tourville tells me what a way you are in. I hope you will not think of coming hither. The Lady in her Will desires you may not see her. Four copies are...
LETTER III. Mrs. Norton, To Miss Clarissa Harlowe. Wednesday, Sept. 6. At length, my best beloved Miss Clary, every-thing is in the wished train: For all your relations are unanimous in your favour. Even your Brother and Sister are with the foremost to be reconciled to you. I knew it must end thus! By patience, and persevering sweetness, what a triumph have you gained! [Page 10] This happy change is owing to Letters received from your Physician, from your Cousin Morden, and from Mr. Brand. Colonel Morden will be with you no doubt before this can reach you, with his pocket-book filled with money-bills, that nothing may be wanting to make you easy. And now, all our hopes, all our prayers, are,...
LETTER IV. Miss Arab. Harlowe, To Miss Cl. Harlowe. Wedn. Morning, Sept. 6. Dear Sister, We have just heard that you are exceedingly ill. We all loved you as never young creature was loved: You are sensible of That, Sister Clary. And you have been very naughty---But we could not be angry always. We are indeed more afflicted with the news of your being so very ill than I can express: For I see not but, after this separation (as we understand that your misfortune has been greater than your fault, and that, however unhappy, you have demeaned yourself like the good young creature you used to be) we shall love you better, if possible, than ever. Take comfort therefore, Sister Clary; and don't be too much cast down---...
LETTER V. To his dear Niece Miss Clarissa Harlowe. Wedn. Sept. 6. We were greatly grieved, my beloved Miss Clary, at your fault; but we are still more, if possible, to hear you are so very ill; and we are sorry things have been carried so far. We know your talents, my dear, and how movingly you could write, whenever you pleased; so that nobody could ever deny you any-thing; and, believing you depended on your pen, and little thinking you were so ill, and that you had lived so regular a life, and were so truly penitent, are much troubled every one of us, your Brother and all, for being so severe. Forgive my part in it, my dearest Clary. I am your Second-Papa, you know. And you used to love me. I hope you'll soon be able...
LETTER VI. Mr. Belford, To Robert Lovelace, Esq; Friday Night, Sept. 8. past Ten. I will not take up the account of our proceedings from my Letter of last night, which contained the dying words of this incomparable Lady. As soon as we had seen the last scene closed (so blessedly for herself!) we left the body to the care of the good women, who, according to the orders she had given them that very night, removed her into that last house which she had display'd so much fortitude in providing. In the morning, between 7 and 8 o'clock, according to appointment, the Colonel came to me here. He was very much indisposed. We went together, accompanied by Mrs. Lovick and Mrs. Smith, into the deceased's chamber. We could not help...
LETTER VII. Mr. Belford, To Robert Lovelace, Esq; Sat. Ten o'Clock. Poor Mrs. Norton is come. She was set down at the door; and would have gone up-stairs directly. But Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Lovick being together and in tears, and the former hinting too suddenly to the truly-venerable woman the fatal news, she sunk down at her feet, in fits; so that they were forced to breathe a vein, to bring her to herself, and to a capacity of exclamation: And then she ran on to Mrs. Lovick and to me, who entered just as she recovered, in praise of the Lady, in lamentations for her, and invectives against you: But yet so circumscribed were her invectives, that I could observe in them the woman well educated, and in her lamentations the passion...
LETTER VIII. To the Ever-honoured James Harlowe sen. Esq; Most dear Sir! With exulting confidence now does your emboldened daughter come into your awful presence by these lines, who dared not but upon This occasion to look up to you with hopes of favour and forgiveness; since, when This comes to your hands, it will be out of her power ever to offend you more. And now let me bless you, my honoured Papa, and bless you, as I write, upon my knees, for all the benefits I have received from your indulgence: For your fond Love to me in the days of my prattling innocence: For the virtuous Education you gave me: And for, the Crown of all, the happy End, which, thro' Divine Grace, by means of that virtuous Education, I hope, by the...
LETTER IX. To the Ever-honoured Mrs. Harlowe. Honoured Madam, The last time I had the boldness to write to you, it was with all the consciousness of a self-convicted criminal, supplicating her offended judge for mercy and pardon. I now, by these lines, approach you with more assurance; but nevertheless with the highest degree of reverence, gratitude, and duty. The reason of my assurance, my Letter to my Papa will give: And as I humbly on my knees implored his pardon, so now, in the same dutiful manner, do I supplicate yours, for the grief and trouble I have given you. Every vein of my heart has bled for an unhappy rashness; which (altho' involuntary as to the act) from [Page 24] the moment it was committed,...
[Page 25] LETTER X. To James Harlowe jun. Esq; Sir, There was but one time, but one occasion, after the rash step I was precipitated upon, that I could hope to be excused looking up to you in the character of a Brother and a Friend. And NOW is that time, and THIS the occasion. Now, at reading This, will you pity your late unhappy Sister! NOW will you forgive her faults, both supposed and real! And NOW will you afford to her memory that kind concern which you refused to her before! I write, my Brother, in the first place, to beg your pardon for the offence my unhappy step gave to you and to the rest of a family so dear to me. Virgin purity should not so behave as to be suspected: Yet, when you come to know all my...
[Page 28] LETTER XI. To Miss Harlowe. Now may you, my dear Arabella, unrestrained by the severity of your virtue, let fall a pitying tear on the past faults and sufferings of your late unhappy Sister; since, Now, she can never offend you more. The Divine Mercy, which first inspired her with repentance (an early repentance it was; since it preceded her sufferings) for an error which she offers not to extenuate, altho' perhaps it were capable of some extenuation, has now, at the instant that you are reading This, as I humbly hope, blessed her with the fruits of it. Thus already, even while she writes, in imagination, purified and exalted, she the more fearlesly writes to her Sister; and NOW is assured of pardon for all...
[Page 29] LETTER XII. To John and Antony Harlowe, Esqrs. Honoured Sirs, When these lines reach your hands, your late unhappy Niece will have known the end of all her troubles; and, as she humbly hopes, will be rejoicing in the mercies of a gracious God, who has declared, that He will forgive the truly penitent of heart. I write, therefore, my dear Uncles, and to you Both in one Letter (since your fraternal Love has made you Both but as One person) to give you comfort, and not distress; for, however sharp my afflictions have been, they have been but of short duration; and I am betimes (happily as I hope) arrived at the end of a painful journey. At the same time, I write to thank you both, for all your kind...
LETTER XIII. Mr. Belford, To Robert Lovelace, Esq; Sat. Afternoon, Sept. 9. I understand, that thou breathest nothing but revenge against me, for treating thee with so much freedom; and against the accursed woman and her infernal crew. I am not at all concerned for thy menaces against myself. It is my design to make thee feel. It gives me pleasure to find my intention answered. And I congratulate thee, that thou hast not lost that sense. As to the cursed crew, well do they deserve the fire here that thou threatenest them with, and the fire hereafter [Page 34] after that seems to await them. But I have this moment received news which will, in all likelihood, save thee the guilt of punishing the old wretch for her...
LETTER XIV. Mr. Belford, To Robert Lovelace, Esq; Sat. Night. Your servant gives me a dreadful account of your raving unmanageableness. I wonder not at it. But as nothing violent is lasting, I dare say, that your habitual gaiety of heart will quickly get the better of your phrensy: And the rather do I judge so, as your fits are of the raving kind (suitable to your natural impetuosity) and not of that melancholy species which seizes flower souls. For this reason I will proceed in writing to you, that my narrative may not be broken by your discomposure; and that the contents of it may find you, and help you to reflection, when you shall be restored. Harry is returned from carrying the posthumous Letters to the family and...
LETTER XV. Mr. Belford, To Robert Lovelace, Esq; Sunday Morn. 8 o'Clock, Sept. 10. I staid at Smith's till I saw the Last of all that is mortal of the divine Lady. As she has directed Rings by her Will to several persons, with her hair to be set in crystal, the afflicted Mrs. Norton cut off, before the coffin was closed, four charming ringlets; one of which the Colonel took for a locket, which, he says, he will cause to be made, and wear next his heart in memory of his beloved Cousin. Between Four and Five in the morning, the corpse was put into the herse; the coffin before being filled, as intended, with flowers and aromatic herbs, and proper care taken to prevent the corpse suffering (to the eye) from the jolting of...
LETTER XVI. Mr. Mowbray, To John Belford, Esq; Uxbridge, Sunday Morn. 9 o'Clock. Dear Jack, I send you inclosed a Letter from Mr. Lovelace; which, tho' written in the cursed Algebra, I know to be such a one as will shew what a queer way he is in; for he read it to us with the air of a Tragedian. You will see by it what the mad fellow had intended to do, if we had not all of us interposed. He was actually setting out with a Surgeon of this place, to have the Lady opened and embalmed. ---Rot me if it be not my full persuasion, that if he had, her heart would have been found to be either iron or marble. We have got Lord M. to him. His Lordship is also much afflicted at the Lady's death. His Sisters and Nieces, he says,...
[Page 44] LETTER XVII. Mr. Lovelace, To John Belford, Esq; Uxbridge, Sat. Sept. 9. Jack, I think it absolutely right that my ever-dear and beloved Lady should be opened and embalmed. It must be done out of hand---this very afternoon. Your acquaintance Tomkins and old Anderson of this place, whom I will bring with me, shall be the Surgeons. I have talked to the latter about it. I will see every-thing done with that decorum which the case, and the sacred person of my Beloved require. Every-thing that can be done to preserve the Charmer from decay, shall also be done. And when she will descend to her original dust, or cannot be kept longer, I will then have her laid in my family-vault between my own Father and...
LETTER XVIII. Mr. Belford, To Richard Mowbray, Esq; Sunday, Sept 10. 4 in the Afternoon. I have yours, with our unhappy friend's inclosed. I am glad my Lord is with him. As I presume that his phrensy will be but of short continuance, I most earnestly wish, that on his recovery he could be prevailed upon to go abroad. Mr. Morden, who is inconsolable, has seen by the Will (as indeed he suspected before he read it) that the case was more than a common seduction; and has dropt hints already, that he looks upon himself, on that account, as freed from his promises made to the dying Lady, which were, that he would not seek to avenge her death. You must make the recovery of his health the motive for urging him on this head; for...
LETTER XIX. Mr. Belford, To Robert Lovelace, Esq; O Lovelace! I have a scene to paint in relation to the wretched Sinclair, that, if I do it justice, will make thee seriously ponder and reflect, or nothing can. I will lead to it in order; and that in my usual hand, that thy compeers may be able to read it as well as thyself. When I had written the preceding Letter; not knowing what to do with myself; recollecting, and in vain wishing for that delightful and improving conversation, which I had now for ever lost; I thought I had as good begin the task, which I had for some time past resolved to begin; that is to say, To go to church; and see if I could not reap some benefit from what I should hear there. Accordingly I determined to...
[Page 64] LETTER XX. Colonel Morden, To John Belford, Esq; Sunday Night, Sept. 10. Dear Sir, According to my promise, I send you an account of matters here. Poor Mrs. Norton was so very ill upon the road, that, slowly as the herse moved, and the chariot followed, I was afraid we should not have got her to St. Alban's. We put up there as I had intended. I was in hopes that she would have been better for the stop: But I was forced to leave her behind me. I ordered the servant-maid you were so considerately kind as to send down with her, to be very careful of her; and left the chariot to attend her. She deserves all the regard that can be paid her; not only upon my Cousin's account, but on her own---She is an excellent...
LETTER XXI. Colonel Morden. In Continuation. When the unhappy mourners were all retired, I directed the lid of the coffin to be unscrewed, and caused some fresh aromatics and flowers to be put into it. [Page 74] The corpse was very little altered, notwithstanding the journey. The sweet smile remained. The maids who brought the flowers were ambitious of strewing them about it: They poured forth fresh lamentations over her; each wishing she had been so happy as to have been allowed to attend her in London. One of them particularly, who is, it seems, my Cousin Arabella's personal servant, was more clamorous in her grief than any of the rest; and the moment she turned her back, all the others allowed she had reason...
[Page 78] LETTER XXII. Colonel Morden. In Continuation. Monday Afternoon, Sept. 11. Sir, We are such bad company here to one another, that it is some relief to retire, and write. I was summoned to breakfast about half an hour after nine. Slowly did the mournful congress meet. Each, lifelessly and spiritless, took our places, with swoln eyes, enquiring, without expecting any tolerable account, how each had rested. The sorrowing Mother gave for answer, That she should never more know what Rest was. By the time we were well seated, the bell ringing, the outward gate opening, a chariot rattling over the pavement of the court-yard, put them into emotion. I left them; and was just time enough to give...
LETTER XXIII. Colonel Morden. In Continuation. Tuesday Morning, Sept. 12. The good Mrs. Norton is arrived, a little amended in her spirits: Owing to the very posthumous Letters, as I may call them, which you, Mr. Belford, as well as I, apprehended would have had fatal effects upon her. I cannot but attribute this to the right turn of her mind. It seems she has been enured to afflictions; and has lived in a constant hope of a better life; and, having no acts of unkindness to the dear deceased to reproach herself with, is most considerately resolved to exert her utmost fortitude in order to comfort the sorrowing Mother. O Mr. Belford, how does the character of my dear departed Cousin rise upon me from every mouth! --- Had...
LETTER XXIV. Colonel Morden. In Continuation. Thursday Night, Sept. 14. We are just returned from the solemnization of the last mournful Rite. My Cousin James and his Sister, Mr. and Mrs. Hervey, and their daughter, a young Lady whose affection for my departed Cousin shall ever bind me to her; my Cousins John and Antony Harlowe, myself, and some other more distant [Page 86] relations of the names of Fuller and Allinson (who, to testify their respect to the memory of the dear deceased, had put themselves in mourning) self-invited, attended it. The Father and Mother would have joined in these last honours, had they been able: But they were both very much indisposed; and continue to be so. The inconsolable...
LETTER XXV. Mr. Belford, To William Morden, Esq; Saturday, Sept. 16. Dear Sir, I once had thoughts to go down privately, in order, disguised, to see the last solemnity performed. But there was no need to give myself this melancholy trouble, since your last Letter so naturally describes all that passed, that I have every scene before my eyes. You croud me, Sir, methinks, into the silent slow procession---Now with the sacred Bier do I enter the awful Porch: Now measure I, with solemn paces, the venerable Eyle: Now, ambitious of a relationship to her, placed in a near pew to the eye-attracting coffin, do I listen to the moving Eulogy: Now, thro' the buz of gaping, eye-swoln crouds, do I descend into the clammy vault, as a...
LETTER XXVI. Mr. James Harlowe, To John Belford, Esq; Harlowe-Place, Friday Night, Sept. 15. Sir, I hope from the character my worthy Cousin Morden gives you, that you will excuse the application I make to you, to oblige a whole family in an affair that much concerns their peace, and cannot equally concern any-body else. You will immediately judge, Sir, that This is the Executorship of which my Sister has given you the trouble by her Last Will. We shall all think ourselves extremely obliged to you, if you please to relinquish this Trust to our own family; the reasons which follow pleading for our expectation of this favour from you: First, Because she never would have had the thought of troubling you, Sir, if she...
LETTER XXVII. Mr. Belford, To James Harlowe jun. Esq; Saturday, Sept. 16. Sir, You will excuse my plain-dealing in turn: For I must observe, that if I had not the just opinion I have of the sacred nature of the office I have undertaken, some passages in the Letter you have favoured me with, would convince me that I ought not to excuse myself from acting in it. [Page 94] I need name only one of them. You are pleased to say, That your Uncles, if the Trust be relinquished to them, will treat with me, thro' Colonel Morden, as to the points they will undertake to perform. Permit me, Sir, to say, That it is the duty of an Executor to see every point performed, that can be performed. Nor will I leave the...
LETTER XXVIII. Colonel Morden, To John Belford, Esq; Sat. Sept. 16. I have been employed in a most melancholy task. In reading the Will of the dear deceased. The unhappy Mother and Mrs. Norton chose to be absent on the affecting occasion. But Mrs. Harlowe made it her earnest request, that every article of it should be fulfilled. [Page 114] They were all extremely touched with the preamble. The first words of the Will---'I Clarissa Harlowe, now by strange melancholy accidents, lodging,' &c. drew tears from some, sighs from all. The directions for her funeral, in case she were or were not permitted to be carried down; the mention of her orders having been given for the manner of her being...
LETTER XXIX. Mr. Belford, To the Right Honourable Lord M. London, Sept. 14. My Lord, I am very apprehensive, that the affair between Mr. Lovelace and the late excellent Miss Clarissa Harlowe will be attended with farther bad consequences, [Page 118] notwithstanding her dying injunctions to the contrary. I would therefore humbly propose, that your Lordship and his other relations will forward the purpose your kinsman lately had to go abroad; where I hope he will stay till all is blown over. But as he will not stir, if he know the true motives of your wishes, the avowed inducement, as I hinted once to Mr. Mowbray, may be such as respects his own health both of person and mind. To Mr. Mowbray and Mr. Tourville...
LETTER XXX. Miss Montague, To John Belford, Esq; M. Hall, Friday, Sept. 15. Sir, My Lord having the gout in his right-hand, his Lordship, and Lady Sarah, and Lady Betty, have commanded me to inform you, that before your Letter came, Mr. Lovelace was preparing for a foreign Tour. We shall endeavour to hasten him away on the motives you suggest. We are all extremely affected with the dear Lady's death. Lady Betty and Lady Sarah have been indisposed ever since they heard of it. They had pleased themselves, as had my Sister and self, with the hopes of cultivating her acquaintance and friendship after he was gone abroad, upon her own terms. Her kind remembrance [Page 119] of each of us has renewed, tho' it could...
LETTER XXXI. Mr. Lovelace, To John Belford, Esq; M. Hall, Thursday, Sept. 14. Ever since the fatal seventh of this month, I have been lost to myself, and to all the joys of life. I might have gone farther back than that fatal seventh; which, for the future, I will never see anniversarily revolve but in sables; only till that cursed day I had some gleams of hope now-and-then darting in upon me. They tell me of an odd Letter I wrote to you (a) [Footnote a: 1Kb] . I remember I did write. But very little of the contents of what I wrote, do I remember. I have been in a cursed way. Methinks something has been working strangely retributive. I never was such a fool as to disbelieve a Providence: Yet am I not for resolving into...
LETTER XXXII. Mr. Lovelace, To John Belford, Esq; Wedn. Sept. 20. I write to demand back again my last Letter. I own it was my mind at the different times I wrote it; and, whatever ailed me, I could not help writing it. Such a gloomy impulse came upon me, and increased as I wrote, that, for my soul, I could not forbear running into the Miserable. 'Tis strange, very strange, that a man's conscience should be able to force his fingers to write whether he will or not; and to run him into a subject he more than once, at the very time, resolved not to think of.' Nor is it less strange, that (no new reason occurring) he should, in a day or two more, so totally change his mind; have his mind, I should rather say, so wholly...
LETTER XXXIII. Mr. Lovelace, To John Belford, Esq; I am preparing to leave this kingdom. Mowbray and Tourville promise to give me their company in a month or two. I'll give thee my route. I shall first to Paris; and, for amusement and diversion sake, try to renew some of my old friendships: Thence to some of the German courts: Thence, perhaps, to Vienna: Thence descend thro' Bavaria and the Tyrol to Venice, where I shall keep the carnival: Thence to Florence and Turin: Thence again over mount Cenis to France: And, when I return again to Paris, shall expect to see my friend Belford, who by that time, I doubt not, will be all crusted and bearded over with penitence, self-denial, and mortification; a very anchoret, only an...
LETTER XXXIV. Mr. Belford, To Robert Lovelace, Esq, Friday, Sept. 22. Just as I was sitting down to answer yours of the 14th to the 18th, in order to give you all the consolation in my power, came your revoking Letter of Wednesday. I am really concerned, and disappointed, that your first was so soon followed by one so contrary to it. The shocking Letter you mention, which your friends with-hold from you, is indeed from me. They may now, I see, shew you any-thing. Ask them, then, for that Letter, if you think it worth while to read aught about the true mother of your mind. I will suppose, that thou hast just read the Letter thou callest shocking, and which I intended to be so. And let me ask,...
[Page 142] LETTER XXXV. Mr.Lovelace, To John Belford, Esq; Tuesday, Sept. 26. Fate, I believe in my conscience, spins threads for Tragedies, on purpose for thee to weave with. ---Thy Watford Uncle, poor Belton, the fair Inimitable [Exalted creature! and is she to be found in such a lift!] the accursed woman, and Tomlinson, seem to have been all doomed to give thee a theme for the Dismal and the Horrible: ---And, by my soul, thou dost work it going, as Lord M. would phrase it. That's the horrid thing: A man cannot begin to think, but causes for thought croud in upon him: The gloomy takes place, and mirth and gaiety abandon his heart for ever! Poor M'Donald! ---I am really sorry for the fellow. --- He was an useful...
LETTER XXXVI. Mr. Lovelace, To John Belford, Esq; But what a pretty scheme of life hast thou drawn out for thyself, and thy old widow! By my soul, Jack, I am mightily taken with it. There is but one thing wanting in it; and that will come of course: Only to be in the Commission, and one of the Quorum. Thou art already provided with a Clerk, as good as thou'lt want, in the widow Lovick; for thou understandest Law, and she Conscience: A good Lord Chancellor between ye! ---I should take prodigious pleasure to hear thee decide in a bastard case, upon thy new notions, and old remembrances. But raillery apart [All gloom at heart, by Jupiter! altho' the pen and the countenance assume airs of levity!]: If, after all, thou canst so easily...
LETTER XXXVII. Mr. Belford, To Colonel Morden. Thursday, Sept. 21. Give me leave, dear Sir, to address myself to you in a very serious and solemn manner on a subject that I must not, cannot, dispense with; as I promised the divine Lady, that I would do every-thing in my power to prevent that further mischief of which she was so very apprehensive. I will not content myself with distant hints. It is with very great concern that I have just now heard of a declaration which you are said to have made to your relations at Harlowe-Place, That you will not rest till you have avenged your Cousin's wrongs upon Mr. Lovelace. Far be it from me to offer to defend the unhappy man, or even unduly to extenuate his crime! But yet I must...
[Page 157] LETTER XXXVIII. Superscribed, To my beloved Cousin William Morden, Esq; To be delivered after my death. My dearest Cousin, As it is uncertain, from my present weak state, whether, if living, I may be in a condition to receive as I ought the favour you intend me of a visit, when you come to London, I take this opportunity to return you, while able, the humble acknowlegements of a grateful heart, for all your goodness to me from childhood till now: And more particularly for your present kind interposition in my favour---God Almighty for ever bless you, dear Sir, for the kindness you endeavoured to procure for me! One principal end of my writing to you in this solemn manner, is, to beg of you, which...
LETTER XXXIX. Colonel Morden, To John Belford, Esq; Sat. Sept. 23. Dear Sir, I am very sorry that any-thing you have heard I have said should give you uneasiness. I am obliged to you for the Letters you have communicated to me; and still further for your promise to favour me with others occasionally. All that relates to my dear Cousin I shall be glad to see, be it from whom it will. I leave to your own discretion, what may or may not be proper for Miss Howe to see from a pen so free as mine. I admire her spirit. Were she a man, do you think, [Page 160] Sir, she, at this time, would have your advice to take upon such a subject as that upon which you write? Fear not, however,...
[Page 166] LETTER XL. Colonel Morden, To John Belford, Esq; Tuesday, Sept. 26. Dear Sir, I cannot help congratulating myself as well as you, that we have already got thro' with the Family every article of the Will, where they have any concern. You left me a discretional power, in many instances; and, in pursuance of it, I have had my dear Cousin's personal jewels valued; and will account to you for them, at the highest price, when I come to town, as well as for other matters that you were pleased to entrust to my management. These jewels I have presented to my Cousin Dolly Hervey, in acknowlegement of her love to the dear departed. I have told Miss Howe of this; and she is as well pleased with what I have...
LETTER XLI. Mr. Belford, To Miss Howe. Thursday, Sept. 28. Madam, I do myself the honour to send you with This, according to my promise (a) [Footnote a: 1Kb] , copies of the posthumous Letters written by your exalted friend. These will be accompanied with other Letters, particularly a copy of one from Mr. Lovelace, begun to be written on the 14th, and continued down to the 18th (b) [Footnote b: 1Kb] . You will see by it, Madam, the dreadful anguish that his spirits labour with, and his deep remorse. Mr. Lovelace sent for this Letter back. I complied; but I first took a copy of it. As I have not told him that I have done so, you will be pleased to forbear communicating of it to any-body but Mr. Hickman. That...
LETTER XLII. Miss Howe, To John Belford, Esq; Sat. Sept. 30. Sir, I little thought I ever could have owed so much obligation to any man, as you have laid me under. And yet what you have sent me has almost broken my heart, and ruined my eyes. I am surprised, tho' agreeably, that you have so soon, and so well, got over that part of the Trust you have engaged in, which relates to the family. It may be presumed, from the exits you mention of two of the infernal man's accomplices, that the thunder-bolt will not stop short of the principal. Indeed I have some pleasure to think it seems rolling along towards the devoted head that has plotted all the mischief. But let me, however, say, that altho' I think Mr. Morden not...
LETTER XLIII. Miss Howe, To John Belford, Esq; Monday, Oct. 2. When you question me, Sir, as you do, and on a subject so affecting to me, in the character of the representative of my best-beloved friend, and have in every particular hitherto acted up to that character, you are entitled to my regard: Especially as you are joined in your questioning of me by a gentleman whom I look upon as the dearest and nearest (because worthiest) relation of my dear friend: And who, it seems, has been so severe a censurer of my conduct, that your politeness will not permit you to send me his Letter, with others of his; but a copy only, in which the passages reflecting upon me are omitted. [Page 177] I presume, however, that...
LETTER XLIV. Mr. Belford, To Miss Howe. Thursday Night, Oct. 5. I return you, Madam, my most respectful thanks for your condescending hint, in relation to the pious wishes of your exalted friend for my thorough reformation. I will only say, that it shall be my earnest and unwearied endeavour to make those generous wishes effectual: And I hope for the Divine blessing upon such my endeavours, or else I know they will be in vain. I cannot, Madam, express how much I think myself obliged to you for your further condescension, in writing to me so frankly the state of your past and present mind, in relation to the Single and Matrimonial Life. If the Lady by whom, as the Executor of her inimitable Friend, I am thus honoured,...
LETTER XLV. Lord M. To John Belford, Esq; M. Hall, Friday, Sept. 29. Dear Sir, My kinsman Lovelace is now setting out for London; proposing to see you, and then to go to Dover, and so embark. God send him well out of the kingdom! On Monday he will be with you, I believe. Pray let me be favoured with an account of all your conversations; for Mr. Mowbray and Mr. Tourville are to be there too; and whether you think he is grown quite his own man again. What I mostly write for is, to wish you to keep Colonel Morden and him asunder; and so I give you notice of his going to town. I should be very loth there should be any mischief between them, as you gave me notice that the Colonel threatened my Nephew. But my kinsman would...
LETTER XLVI. Mr. Belford, To Lord M. London, Tuesday Night, Oct. 3. My Lord, I obey your Lordship's commands with great pleasure. Yesterday in the afternoon Mr. Lovelace made me a visit at my lodgings. As I was in expectation of one from Colonel Morden about the same time, I thought proper to carry him to a Tavern which neither of us frequented (on pretence of an half appointment); ordering notice to be sent me thither, if the Colonel came: And Mr. Lovelace sent to Mowbray, and Tourville, and Mr. Doleman of Uxbridge (who came to town to take leave of him) to let them know where to find us. Mr. Lovelace is too well recovered, I was going to say. I never saw him more gay, lively, and handsome. We had a good deal of...
LETTER XLVII. Mr. Belford, To Lord M. Wedn. Night, Oct. 4. My Lord, I am just returned from attending Mr. Lovelace as far as Gad's-Hill near Rochester. He was exceeding gay all the way. Mowbray and Tourville are gone on with him. They will see him embark, and under sail; and promise to follow him in a month or two; for they say, there is no living without him, now he is once more himself. [Page 191] He and I parted with great and even solemn tokens of affection; but yet not without gay intermixtures, as I will acquaint your Lordship. Taking me aside, and clasping his arms about me, 'Adieu, dear Belford! said he: May you proceed in the course you have entered upon! ---Whatever airs I give myself, this...
LETTER XLVIII. Mr. Belford, To Lord M. Thursday Morning, Oct. 5. It may be some satisfaction to your Lordship, to have a brief account of what has just now passed between Colonel Morden and me. We had a good deal of discourse about the Harlowe-family, and those parts of the Lady's Will which still remain unexecuted; after which the Colonel addressed himself to me in a manner which gave me some surprize. He flattered himself, he said, from my present happy turn, and from my good constitution, that I should live a great many years. It was therefore his request, that I would consent to be his Executor; since it was [Page 193] impossible for him to make a better choice, or pursue a better example, than his...
[Page 196] LETTER XLIX. Miss Howe, To John Belford, Esq; Thursday, Oct. 12. Sir, I am incapable of doing justice to the character of my beloved Friend; and that not only from want of talents, but from grief; which, I think, rather encreases than diminishes by time; and which will not let me sit down to a task that requires so much thought, and a greater degree of accuracy than I ever believed myself mistress of. And yet I so well approve of your motion, that I will throw into your hands a few materials, that may serve by way of supplement, as I may say, to those you will be able to collect from the papers themselves; from Col. Morden's Letters to you, particularly that of Sept. 23. (a) [Footnote a: 1Kb] ; and...
LETTER L. Mr. Lovelace, To John Belford, Esq; Paris, Octob. 14. ------------------Timor & minæ Scandunt eodem quo dominus: neque Decedit ærata triremi, & Post equitem sedet atra cura. In a language so expressive as the English, I hate the pedantry of tagging or prefacing what I write with Latin scraps; and ever was a censurer of the motto-mongers among our weekly and daily scribblers. But these verses of Horace are so applicable to my case, that, whether on shipboard, whether in my postchaise, or in my inn at night, I am not able to put them out of my head. Dryden once I thought said well in these bouncing lines: Man makes his...
LETTER LI. Mr. Belford, To Robert Lovelace, Esq; London, Oct. 25. I write, to shew you, that I am incapable of slighting even the minutest requests of an absent and distant friend. Yet you may believe, that there cannot be any great alterations in the little time that you have been out of England, with respect to the subjects of your enquiry. Nevertheless I will answer to each for the reason above given; and for the reason you mention, that even trifles and chit-chat are agreeable from friend to friend, and of friends, and even of those to [Page 226] whom we give the importance of deeming them our foes, when we are abroad. First, then, as to my Reformation-scheme, as you call it, I hope I go on very well. I wish...
[Page 228] LETTER LII. Mr. Lovelace, To John Belford, Esq; Paris, Oct. 16-17. I follow my last of the [Figure: 1Kb] , on occasion of a Letter just now come to hand from Joseph Leman. The fellow is Conscience-ridden, Jack; and tells me, 'That he cannot rest either day or night for the mischiefs which he fears he has been, and may still further be the means of doing.' He wishes, 'if it please God, and if it please me, that he had never seen my Honour's face.' And what is the cause of his present concern, as to his own particular? What, but 'the slights and contempts which he receives from every one of the Harlowes; from those particularly, he says, whom he has endeavoured to serve as faithfully as his engagements...
LETTER LIII. Mr. Belford, To Robert Lovelace, Esq; London, Oct. 26. I cannot think, my dear Lovelace, that Colonel Morden has either threatened you in those gross terms mentioned by the vile, hypocritical, and ignorant Joseph Leman, or intends to follow you. They are the words of people of that fellow's class; and not of a gentleman: Not of Colonel Morden, I am sure. You'll observe, that Joseph pretends not to say that he heard him speak them. I have been very solicitous to found the Colonel, for your sake, and for his own, and for the sake of the injunctions of the excellent Lady to me, as well as to him, on that subject. He is (and you will not wonder that he should be) extremely affected; and owns, that he has expressed...
[Page 233] LETTER LIV. Mr. Lovelace, To John Belford, Esq; Munich, Nov. 11-22. I received yours this moment, just as I was setting out for Vienna. As to going to Madrid, or one single step out of the way, to avoid Colonel Morden, let me perish, if I do! You cannot think me so mean a wretch. And so you own, that he has threatened me; but not in gross and ungentlemanly terms, you say. If he has threatened me like a gentleman, I will resent his threats like a gentleman. But he has not done as a man of honour, if he has threatened me at all behind my back. I would scorn to threaten any man to whom I knew how to address myself either personally, or by pen and ink. As to what you mention of my guilt; of the...
LETTER LV. Mr. Lovelace, To John Belford, Esq; Lintz, Nov. 28. / Dec. 9. I am now on my way to Trent, in order to meet Colonel Morden, in pursuance of his Answer to my Letter inclosed in my last. I had been at Presburgh, and had intended to visit some other cities of Hungary: But having obliged myself to return first to Vienna, I there met with his Letter: Which follows. Munich, Nov. 21. / Dec. 2. Sir, Your Letter was at Florence Four days before I arrived there. That I might not appear unworthy of your favour, I set out for this city the very next morning. I knew not but that the politeness of this Court might have engaged, beyond his intention, a gentleman who has only his pleasures to pursue....
LETTER LVI. Mr. Lovelace, To John Belford, Esq; Trent, Dec. 3-14. To-morrow is to be the Day, that will, in all probability, send either one or two ghosts to attend the Manes of my Clarissa. I arrived here yesterday; and enquiring for an English gentleman of the name of Morden, soon found out the Colonel's lodgings. He had been in town two days; and left his name at every probable place. He was gone to ride out; and I left my name, and where to be found: And in the evening he made me a visit. He was plaguy gloomy. That was not I. But yet he told me, that I had acted like a man of true spirit in my first Letter; and with honour, in giving him so readily this meeting. He wished I had in other respects; and then we...
LETTER LVII. Translation of a Letter from F. J. De la Tour. To John Belford, Esq; near Soho-Square, London. Trent, Dec. 18. N. S. Sir, I have melancholy news to inform you of, by order of the Chevalier Lovelace. He shewed me his Letter to you before he sealed it; signifying, that he was to meet the Chevalier Morden on the 15th. Wherefore, as the occasion of the meeting is so well known to you, I shall say nothing of it here. I had taken care to have ready, within a little distance, a Surgeon and his assistant, to whom, under an oath of secrecy, I had revealed the matter (tho' I did not own it to the two gentlemen); so that they were prepared with bandages, and all things proper. For well was I acquainted...