Hickman, as the man of whom the Ladies in general were likely to be very
fond. Had it been so, _Goodness of heart_, and _Gentleness of manners_,
_great Assiduity_, and _inviolable_ and _modest_ Love, would not of
themselves have been supposed sufficient recommendations. He would not
have been allowed the least share of _preciseness_ or _formality_,
altho' those defects might have been imputed to his reverence for the
object of his passion: But in his character it was designed to shew,
that the same man could not be every-thing; and to intimate to Ladies,
that in chusing companions for life, they should rather prefer the
honest heart of a Hickman, which would be all their own, than to risque
the chance of sharing, perhaps with scores, (and some of those probably
the most profligate of the Sex) the volatile mischievous one of a
Lovelace: In short, that they should chuse, if they wished for durable
happiness, for rectitude of mind, and not for speciousness of person or
address: Nor make a jest of a good man in favour of a bad one, who would
make a jest of them and of their whole Sex.
"Two Letters, however, by way of accommodation, are inserted in this
edition, which perhaps will give Mr. Hickman's character some
heightening with such Ladies, as love spirit in a man; and had rather
suffer by it, than not meet with it.--
_Women, born to be controul'd,
Stoop to the Forward and the Bold,_
Says Waller--And Lovelace too!
"Some have wished that the Story had been told in the usual narrative
way of telling Stories designed to amuse and divert, and not in Letters
written by the respective persons whose history is given in them. The
author thinks he ought not to prescribe to the taste of others; but
imagined himself at liberty to follow his own. He perhaps mistrusted his
talents for the narrative kind of writing. He had the good fortune to
succeed in the Epistolary way once before. A Story in which so many
persons were concerned either principally or collaterally, and of
characters and dispositions so various, carried on with tolerable
connexion and perspicuity, in a series of Letters from different
persons, without the aid of digressions and episodes foreign to the
principal end and design, he thought had novelty to be pleaded for it:
And that, in the present age, he supposed would not be a slight
recommendation.
"But besides what has been said above, and in the _Preface_, on this
head, the following opinion of an ingenious and candid Foreigner, on
this manner of writing, may not be improperly inserted here.
"'The method which the Author has pursued in the History of Clarissa, is
the same as in the Life of Pamela: Both are related in familiar Letters
by the parties themselves, at the very time in which the events
happened: And this method has given the author great advantages, which
he could not have drawn from any other species of narration. The minute
particulars of events, the sentiments and conversation of the parties,
are, upon this plan, exhibited with all the warmth and spirit, that the
passion supposed to be predominant at the very time, could produce, and
with all the distinguishing characteristics which memory can supply in a
History of recent transactions.
"'Romances in general, and Marivaux's amongst others, are wholly
improbable; because they suppose the History to be written after the
series of events is closed by the catastrophe: A circumstance which
implies a strength of memory beyond all example and probability in the
persons concerned, enabling them, at the distance of several years, to
relate all the particulars of a transient conversation: Or rather, it
implies a yet more improbable confidence and familiarity between all
these persons and the author.
"'There is, however, one difficulty attending the Epistolary method; for
it is necessary, that all the characters should have an uncommon taste
for this kind of conversation, and that they should suffer no event, nor
even a remarkable conversation, to pass, without immediately committing
it to writing. But for the preservation of the Letters _once written_,
the author has provided with great judgment, so as to render this
circumstance highly probable[60].'
"It is presumed that what this gentleman says of the difficulties
attending a Story thus given in the Epistolary manner of writing, will
not be found to reach the History before us. It is very well accounted
for in it, how the two principal Female characters come to take so great
a delight in writing. Their subjects are not merely subjects of
amusement; but greatly interesting to both: Yet many Ladies there are
who now laudably correspond, when at distance from each other, on
occasions that far less affect their mutual welfare and friendships,
than those treated of by these Ladies. The two principal gentlemen had
motives of gaiety and vain-glory for their inducements. It will
generally be found, that persons who have talents for familiar writeing,
as these correspondents are presumed to have, will not forbear amusing
themselves with their pens, on less arduous occasions than what offer to
these. These Four (whose Stories have a connexion with each other) out
of a great number of characters which are introduced in this History,
are only eminent in the Epistolary way: The rest appear but as
occasional writers, and as drawn in rather by necessity than choice,
from the different relations in which they stand with the four principal
persons."
The Length of the piece has been objected to by some, who perhaps looked
upon it as a mere _Novel_ or _Romance_; and yet of _these_ there are not
wanting works of equal length.
They were of opinion, that the Story moved too slowly, particularly in
the first and second Volumes, which are chiefly taken up with the
Altercations between Clarissa and the several persons of her Family.
But is it not true, that those Altercations are the Foundation of the
whole, and therefore a necessary part of the work? The Letters and
Conversations, where the Story makes the slowest progress, are presumed
to be _characteristic_. They give occasion likewise to suggest many
interesting _Personalities_, in which a good deal of the instruction
essential to a work of this nature is conveyed. And it will, moreover,
be remembered, that the Author, at his first setting out, apprised the
Reader, that the Story (interesting as it is generally allowed to be)
was to be principally looked upon as the Vehicle to the Instruction.
To all which we may add, that there was frequently a necessity to be
very circumstantial and minute, in order to preserve and maintain that
Air of Probability, which is necessary to be maintained in a Story
designed to represent real Life; and which is rendered extremely busy
and active by the plots and contrivances formed and carried on by one of
the principal Characters.
'Some there are, and Ladies too! who have supposed that the excellencies
of the Heroine are carried to an improbable, and even to an
impracticable height, in this History. But the education of Clarissa
from _early childhood_ ought to be considered, as one of her very great
advantages; as, indeed, the foundation of _all_ her excellencies: And it
is hoped, for the sake of the doctrine designed to be inculcated by it,
that it will.
'She had a pious, a well-read, a not meanly descended woman for her
Nurse, who with her milk, as Mrs. Harlowe says[61], gave her that
nurture which no other Nurse could give her. She was very early happy in
the conversation-visits of her learned and worthy Dr. Lewen, and in her
correspondencies, not with him only, but with other Divines mentioned in
her last Will. Her Mother was, upon the whole, a good woman; who did
credit to her birth and her fortune, and was able to instruct her in her
early youth: Her Father was not a free-living, or free-principled man;
in the conversation-visits of her learned and worthy Dr. Lewen, and in
her correspondencies, not with him only, but with other Divines
mentioned in her lat Will. Her _Mother_ was, upon the whole, a good
woman, who did credit to her birth and her fortune; and _both_ delighted
in her for those improvements and attainments, which gave her, _and them
in her_, a distinction that caused it to be said, that when she was out
of the family, it was considered but as a common family[62]. She was
moreover a Country Lady; and, as we have seen in Miss Howe's character
of her[63], took great delight in rural and houshold employments; tho'
qualified to adorn the brightest circle.
'It must be confessed, that we are not to look for _Clarissa's_ among
the _constant frequenters_ of Ranelagh and Vaux-hall, nor among those
who may be called _Daughters of the Card-table_. If we do, the character
of our Heroine may then indeed be justly thought not only improbable,
but unattainable. But we have neither room in this place, nor
inclination, to pursue a subject so invidious. We quit it therefore,
after we have _repeated_, that we _know_ there are _some_, and we _hope_
there are _many_, in the British dominions [or they are hardly any-where
in the European world] who, as far as _occasion_ has called upon them to
exert the like _humble_ and _modest_, yet _steady_ and _useful_,
virtues, have reached the perfections of a Clarissa.
* * * * *
'Having thus briefly taken notice of the most material objections that
have been made to different parts of this History, it is hoped we may be
allowed to add, That had we thought ourselves at liberty to give copies
of some of the many Letters that have been written on the other side of
the question, that is to say, in approbation of the Catastrophe, and of
the general Conduct and Execution of the work, by some of the most
eminent judges of composition in every branch of Literature; most of
what has been written in this Postscript might have been spared.
'But as the principal objection with many has lain against the length of
the piece, we shall add to what we have said above on that subject, in
the words of one of those eminent writers: 'That, _If_, in the History
before us, it shall be found, that the Spirit is _duly diffused
throughout_; that the Characters are _various and natural_; _well
distinguished_ and _uniformly supported_ and _maintained_: _If_ there be
a _variety of incidents_ sufficient to excite Attention, and those so
conducted, as to keep the Reader always awake; the Length then must add
proportionably to the pleasure that every Person of Taste receives from
a well-drawn Picture of Nature. But where the contrary of all these
qualities shock the understanding, the extravagant performance will be
judged tedious, tho' no longer than a Fairy-Tale.'
Footnotes:
[34] Writing on to him.
[35] Her Flight.
[36] See Vol. III. p. 358.
[37] Spectator, Vol I. No XL.
[38] Yet in Tamerlane, two of the most amiable characters, Moneses and
Arpasia, suffer death.
[39] See Spect. Vol. VII. No 548.
[40] A caution that our Blessed Saviour himself gives in the case of the
Eighteen persons killed by the fall of the tower of Siloam, Luke xiii. 4.
[41]
_Vitiis nemo sine nascitur: optimus ille
Qui minimis urgetur----._
[42] Rapin, on Aristotle's Poetics.
[43] Psalm lxxiii.
[44] See Vol. VII. p. 301, 302.
[45] Ibid. p. 315.
[46] See Vol. VI. p. 268.
[47] And here it may not be amiss to remind the Reader, that so early in
the Work as Vol. II. p. 159, 160, the dispensations of Providence are
justified by herself. And thus she ends her Reflections--"I shall not
live always--May my Closing Scene be happy!"
She had her wish. It was happy.
[48] Vol. VII. p. 64, 65, of the First Edition; and Vol. VI. p. 305 of
this.
[49] Vol. IV. p. 122.
[50] Vol. VI. p. 10.
[51] Vol. VI. p. 14.
[52] Vol. VI. p. 71.
[53] Vol. VII. p. 244.
[54] See Vol. I. p. 314-319, and Vol. III. p. 44, 45.
[55] Vol. I. p. 363.
[56] Vol. VI. p. 1.
[57] Vol. VI. p. 71.
[58] Vol. VII. p. 197.
[59] Vol. IV. p. 302.
[60] This quotation is translated from a Critique on the History of
CLARISSA, written in French, and published at Amsterdam. The whole
Critique is rendered into English, and inserted in the Gentleman's
Magazine of June and August 1749. The author has done great honour in it
to the History of Clarissa; and as there are Remarks published with it,
answering several objections made to different passages by that candid
Foreigner, the Reader is referred to the aforesaid Magazines, for both.
[61] See Vol. III. p 287, 288.
[62] See Vol. VI. p. 274. See also her Mother's praises of her to Mrs.
Norton, Vol. I. p. 251.
[63] See Vol. VII. p. 278-280.
THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
_Publications in Print_
1948-1949
16. Nevil Payne's _Fatal Jealousy_ (1673).
17. Nicholas Rowe's _Some Account of the Life of Mr. William
Shakespeare_ (1709).
18. "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10 (1719); and
Aaron Hill's Preface to _The Creation_ (1720).
1949-1950
22. Samuel Johnson's _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749) and Two Rambler
papers (1750).
23. John Dryden's _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681).
1950-1951
26. Charles Macklin's _The Man of the World_ (1792).
1951-1952
31. Thomas Gray's _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard_ (1751); and
_The Eton College Manuscript_.
1952-1953
41. Bernard Mandeville's _A Letter to Dion_ (1732).
1953-1954
45. John Robert Scott's _Dissertation on the Progress of the Fine
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1954-1955
49. Two St. Cecilia's Day Sermons (1696-1697).
51. Lewis Maidwell's _An Essay upon the Necessity and Excellency of
Education_ (1705).
52. Pappity Stampoy's _A Collection of Scotch Proverbs_ (1663).
1958-1959
75. John Joyne, _A Journal_ (1679).
76. Andre Dacier, _Preface to Aristotle's Art of Poetry_ (1705).
1959-1960
80. [P. Whalley's] _An Essay on the Manner of Writing History_ (1746).
83. _Sawney and Colley (1742) and other Pope Pamphlets._
84. Richard Savage's _An Author to be lett_ (1729).
1960-1961
85-6. _Essays on the Theatre from Eighteenth-Century Periodicals._
87. Daniel Defoe, _Of Captain Mission and his Crew_ (1728).
90. Henry Needler, _Works_ (1728).
1961-1962
93. John Norris, _Cursory Reflections Upon a Book Call'd. An Essay
Concerning Human Understanding_ (1690).
94. An Collins, _Divine Songs and Meditacions_ (1653).
95. _An Essay on the New Species of Writing Founded by Mr. Fielding_
(1751).
96. _Hanoverian Ballads._
1962-1963
97. Myles Davies, _Athenae Britannicae_ (1716-1719).
98. _Select Hymns Taken Out of Mr. Herbert's Temple_ (1697).
99. Thomas Augustine Arne, _Artaxerxes_ (1761).
100. Simon Patrick, _A Brief Account of the New Sect of Latitude-Men_
(1662).
101-2. Richard Hurd, _Letters on Chivalry and Romance_ (1762).
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California, Los
Angeles
THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
GENERAL EDITORS
R. C. BOYS
University of Michigan
EARL MINER
University of California, Los Angeles
MAXIMILLIAN E. NOVAK
University of California, Los Angeles
LAWRENCE CLARK POWELL
Wm. Andrews Clark Memorial Library
_Corresponding Secretary:_ Mrs. Edna C. Davis, Wm. Andrews Clark
Memorial Library
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The publications for 1963-1964 are in part subsidized by funds
generously given to the Society in memory of the late Professor Edward
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Publications for 1963-1964
SAMUEL RICHARDSON, _Clarissa_: Preface, Hints of Prefaces, and
Postscript. Introduction by R. F. Brissenden.
THOMAS D'URFEY, _Wonders in the Sun, or the Kingdom of the Birds_
(1706). Introduction by William W. Appleton.
DANIEL DEFOE, _A Brief History of the Poor Palatine Refugees_ (1709).
Introduction by John Robert Moore.
BERNARD MANDEVILLE, _An Enquiry into the Causes of the Frequent
Executions at Tyburn_ (1725). Introduction by Malvin R. Zirker, Jr.
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Transcriber's Notes:
Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.
Passages in bold are indicated by =bold=.
Overstruck passages are indicated by ~overstrike~.
Long "s" has been modernized.
The following misprints have been corrected:
"Postcsript" corrected to "Postscript" (page iv)
"1947" corrected to "1747" (page x)
"were were" corrected to "were" (page 14)
The original text includes several blank spaces. These are represented by
_____ in this text version.
Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate
both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as
presented in the original text.