An unexpected visitor has turned the course of my thoughts, and changed
the subject I had intended to pursue. The only one for whom I would have
dispensed with my resolution not to see any body all the dedicated day:
a visiter, whom, according to Mr. Hickman's report from the expectations
of his libertine friends, I supposed to be in town.--Now, my dear, have
I saved myself the trouble of telling you, that it was you too-agreeable
rake. Our sex is said to love to trade in surprises: yet have I, by
my promptitude, surprised myself out of mine. I had intended, you must
know, to run twice the length, before I had suffered you to know so much
as to guess who, and whether man or woman, my visiter was: but since you
have the discovery at so cheap a rate, you are welcome to it.
The end of his coming was, to engage my interest with my charming
friend; and he was sure that I knew all your mind, to acquaint him what
he had to trust to.
He mentioned what had passed in the interview between you: but could not
be satisfied with the result of it, and with the little satisfaction he
had obtained from you: the malice of your family to him increasing, and
their cruelty to you not abating. His heart, he told me, was in tumults,
for fear you should be prevailed upon in favour of a man despised by
every body.
He gave me fresh instance of indignities cast upon himself by your
uncles and brother; and declared, that if you suffered yourself to
be forced into the arms of the man for whose sake he was loaded with
undeserved abuses, you should be one of the youngest, as you would be
one of the loveliest widows in England. And that he would moreover call
your brother to account for the liberties he takes with his character to
every one he meets with.
He proposed several schemes, for you to choose some one of them, in
order to enable you to avoid the persecutions you labour under: One
I will mention--That you will resume your estate; and if you find
difficulties that can be no otherwise surmounted, that you will, either
avowedly or privately, as he had proposed to you, accept of Lady Betty
Lawrance's or Lord M.'s assistance to instate you in it. He declared,
that if you did, he would leave absolutely to your own pleasure
afterwards, and to the advice which your cousin Morden on his arrival
should give you, whether to encourage his address, or not, as you should
be convinced of the sincerity of the reformation which his enemies make
him so much want.
I had now a good opportunity to sound him, as you wished Mr. Hickman
would Lord M. as to the continued or diminished favour of the ladies,
and of his Lordship, towards you, upon their being acquainted with the
animosity of your relations to them, as well as to their kinsman. I laid
hold of the opportunity, and he satisfied me, by reading some passages
of a letter he had about him, from Lord M. That an alliance with
you, and that on the foot of your own single merit, would be the most
desirable event to them that could happen: and so far to the purpose of
your wished inquiry does his Lordship go in this letter, that he assures
him, that whatever you suffer in fortune from the violence of your
relations on his account, he and Lady Sarah and Lady Betty will join to
make it up to him. And yet that the reputation of a family so splendid,
would, no doubt, in a case of such importance to the honour of both,
make them prefer a general consent.
I told him, as you yourself I knew had done, that you were extremely
averse to Mr. Solmes; and that, might you be left to your own choice,
it would be the single life. As to himself, I plainly said, That you had
great and just objections to him on the score of his careless morals:
that it was surprising, that men who gave themselves the liberties he
was said to take, should presume to think, that whenever they took it
into their heads to marry, the most virtuous and worthy of the sex
were to fall to their lot. That as to the resumption, it had been very
strongly urged by myself, and would be still further urged; though you
had been hitherto averse to that measure: that your chief reliance and
hopes were upon your cousin Morden; and that to suspend or gain time
till he arrived, was, as I believed, your principal aim.
I told him, That with regard to the mischief he threatened, neither the
act nor the menace could serve any end but theirs who persecuted you; as
it would give them a pretence for carrying into effect their compulsory
projects; and that with the approbation of all the world; since he must
not think the public would give its voice in favour of a violent young
man, of no extraordinary character as to morals, who should seek to rob
a family of eminence of a child so valuable; and who threatened, if he
could not obtain her in preference to a man chosen by themselves, that
he would avenge himself upon them all by acts of violence.
I added, That he was very much mistaken, if he thought to intimidate you
by such menaces: for that, though your disposition was all sweetness,
yet I knew not a steadier temper in the world than yours; nor one more
inflexible, (as your friends had found, and would still further find, if
they continued to give occasion for its exertion,) whenever you thought
yourself in the right; and that you were ungenerously dealt with in
matters of too much moment to be indifferent about. Miss Clarissa
Harlowe, Mr. Lovelace, let me tell you, said I, timid as her foresight
and prudence may make her in some cases, where she apprehends dangers to
those she loves, is above fear, in points where her honour, and the true
dignity of her sex, are concerned.--In short, Sir, you must not think to
frighten Miss Clarissa Harlowe into such a mean or unworthy conduct as
only a weak or unsteady mind can be guilty of.
He was so very far from intending to intimidate you, he said, that he
besought me not to mention one word to you of what had passed between
us: that what he had hinted at, which carried the air of menace, was
owing to the fervour of his spirits, raised by his apprehensions of
losing all hope of you for ever; and on a supposition, that you were to
be actually forced into the arms of a man you hated: that were this to
be the case, he must own, that he should pay very little regard to the
world, or its censures: especially as the menaces of some of your family
now, and their triumph over him afterwards, would both provoke and
warrant all the vengeance he could take.
He added, that all the countries in the world were alike to him, but on
your account: so that, whatever he should think fit to do, were you lost
to him, he should have noting to apprehend from the laws of this.
I did not like the determined air he spoke this with: he is certainly
capable of great rashness.
He palliated a little this fierceness (which by the way I warmly
censured) by saying, That while you remain single, he will bear all the
indignities that shall be cast upon him by your family. But would
you throw yourself, if you were still farther driven, into any other
protection, if not Lord M.'s, or that of the ladies of his family, into
my mother's,* suppose; or would you go to London to private lodgings,
where he would never visit you, unless he had your leave (and from
whence you might make your own terms with your relations); he would be
entirely satisfied; and would, as he had said before, wait the effect of
your cousin's arrival, and your free determination as to his own fate.
Adding, that he knew the family so well, and how much fixed they were
upon their measures, as well as the absolute dependence they had upon
your temper and principles, that he could not but apprehend the worst,
while you remained in their power, and under the influence of their
persuasions and menaces.
* Perhaps it will be unnecessary to remind the reader, that
although Mr. Lovelace proposes (as above) to Miss Howe, that
her fair friend should have recourse to the protection of
Mrs. Howe, if farther driven; yet he had artfully taken
care, by means of his agent in the Harlowe family, not only
to inflame the family against her, but to deprive her of
Mrs. Howe's, and of every other protection, being from the
first resolved to reduce her to an absolute dependence upon
himself. See Vol. I. Letter XXXI.
We had a great deal of other discourse: but as the reciting of the rest
would be but a repetition of many of the things that passed between you
and him in the interview between you in the wood-house, I refer myself
to your memory on that occasion.*
* See Vol. I. Letter XXXVI.
And now, my dear, upon the whole, I think it behoves you to make
yourself independent: all then will fall right. This man is a violent
man. I should wish, methinks, that you should not have either him or
Solmes. You will find, if you get out of your brother's and sister's
way, what you can or cannot do, with regard to either.
If your relations persist in their foolish scheme, I think I will take
his hint, and, at a proper opportunity, sound my mother. Mean time, let
me have your clear opinion of the resumption, which I join with Lovelace
in advising. You can but see how your demand will work. To demand, is
not to litigate. But be your resolution what it will, do not by any
means repeat to them, that you will not assert your right. If they go on
to give you provocation, you may have sufficient reason to change your
mind: and let them expect that you will change it. They have not the
generosity to treat you the better for disclaiming the power they know
you have. That, I think, need not now be told you. I am, my dearest
friend, and ever will be,
Your most affectionate and faithful ANNA HOWE.