MR. LOVELACE, TO JOHN BELFORD, ESQ.
TUESDAY MORN. AUG. 29.
Now, Jack, will I give thee an account of what passed on occasion of the
visit made us by Col. Morden.
He came on horseback, attended by one servant; and Lord M. received him
as a relation of Miss Harlowe's with the highest marks of civility and
respect.
After some general talk of the times, and of the weather, and such
nonsense as Englishmen generally make their introductory topics to
conversation, the Colonel addressed himself to Lord M. and to me, as
follows:
I need not, my Lord, and Mr. Lovelace, as you know the relation I bear to
the Harlowe family, make any apology for entering upon a subject, which,
on account of that relation, you must think is the principal reason of
the honour I have done myself in this visit.
Miss Harlowe, Miss Clarissa Harlowe's affair, said Lord M. with his usual
forward bluntness. That, Sir, is what you mean. She is, by all
accounts, the most excellent woman in the world.
I am glad to hear that is your Lordship's opinion of her. It is every
one's.
It is not only my opinion, Col. Morden (proceeded the prating Peer), but
it is the opinion of all my family. Of my sisters, of my nieces, and of
Mr. Lovelace himself.
Col. Would to Heaven it had been always Mr. Lovelace's opinion of her!
Lovel. You have been out of England, Colonel, a good many years.
Perhaps you are not yet fully apprized of all the particulars of this
case.
Col. I have been out of England, Sir, about seven years. My cousin
Clary was then about 12 years of age: but never was there at twenty so
discreet, so prudent, and so excellent a creature. All that knew her, or
saw her, admired her. Mind and person, never did I see such promises of
perfection in any young lady: and I am told, nor is it to be wondered at,
that, as she advanced to maturity, she more than justified and made good
those promises.--Then as to fortune--what her father, what her uncles,
and what I myself, intended to do for her, besides what her grandfather
had done--there is not a finer fortune in the country.
Lovel. All this, Colonel, and more than this, is Miss Clarissa Harlowe;
and had it not been for the implacableness and violence of her family
(all resolved to push her upon a match as unworthy of her as hateful to
her) she had still been happy.
Col. I own, Mr. Lovelace, the truth of what you observed just now, that
I am not thoroughly acquainted with all that has passed between you and
my cousin. But permit me to say, that when I first heard that you made
your addresses to her, I knew but of one objection against you; that,
indeed, a very great one: and upon a letter sent me, I gave her my free
opinion upon that subject.* But had it not been for that, I own, that,
in my private mind, there could not have been a more suitable match: for
you are a gallant gentleman, graceful in your person, easy and genteel in
your deportment, and in your family, fortunes, and expectations, happy as
a man can wish to be. Then the knowledge I had of you in Italy
(although, give me leave to say, your conduct there was not wholly
unexceptionable) convinces me that you are brave: and few gentlemen come
up to you in wit and vivacity. Your education has given you great
advantages; your manners are engaging, and you have travelled; and I
know, if you'll excuse me, you make better observations than you are
governed by. All these qualifications make it not at all surprising that
a young lady should love you: and that this love, joined to that
indiscreet warmth wherewith my cousin's friends would have forced her
inclinations in favour of men who are far your inferiors in the qualities
I have named, should throw herself upon your protection. But then, if
there were these two strong motives, the one to induce, the other to
impel, her, let me ask you, Sir, if she were not doubly entitled to
generous usage from a man whom she chose for her protector; and whom, let
me take the liberty to say, she could so amply reward for the protection
he was to afford her?
* See Vol. IV. Letter XIX.
Lovel. Miss Clarissa Harlowe was entitled, Sir, to have the best usage
that man could give her. I have no scruple to own it. I will always do
her the justice she so well deserves. I know what will be your inference;
and have only to say, that time past cannot be recalled; perhaps I wish
it could.
The Colonel then, in a very manly strain, set forth the wickedness of
attempting a woman of virtue and character. He said, that men had
generally too many advantages from the weakness, credulity, and
inexperience of the fair sex: that their early learning, which chiefly
consisted in inflaming novels, and idle and improbable romances,
contributed to enervate and weaken their minds: that his cousin, however,
he was sure, was above the reach of common seduction, and not to be
influenced to the rashness her parents accused her of, by weaker motives
than their violence, and the most solemn promises on my part: but,
nevertheless, having those motives, and her prudence (eminent as it was)
being rather the effect of constitution than experience, (a fine
advantage, however, he said, to ground an unblamable future life upon,)
she might not be apprehensive of bad designs in a man she loved: it was,
therefore, a very heinous thing to abuse the confidence of such a woman.
He was going on in this trite manner; when, interrupting him, I said,
These general observations, Colonel, suit not perhaps this particular
case. But you yourself are a man of gallantry; and, possibly, were you
to be put to the question, might not be able to vindicate every action of
your life, any more than I.
Col. You are welcome, Sir, to put what questions you please to me.
And, I thank God, I can both own and be ashamed of my errors.
Lord M. looked at me; but as the Colonel did not by his manner seem to
intend a reflection, I had no occasion to take it for one; especially as
I can as readily own my errors, as he, or any man, can his, whether
ashamed of them or not.
He proceeded. As you seem to call upon me, Mr. Lovelace, I will tell you
(without boasting of it) what has been my general practice, till lately,
that I hope I have reformed it a good deal.
I have taken liberties, which the laws of morality will by no means
justify; and once I should have thought myself warranted to cut the
throat of any young fellow who should make as free with a sister of mine
as I have made with the sisters and daughters of others. But then I took
care never to promise any thing I intended not to perform. A modest ear
should as soon have heard downright obscenity from my lips, as matrimony,
if I had not intended it. Young ladies are generally ready enough to
believe we mean honourably, if they love us; and it would look lie a
strange affront to their virtue and charms, that it should be supposed
needful to put the question whether in your address you mean a wife. But
when once a man make a promise, I think it ought to be performed; and a
woman is well warranted to appeal to every one against the perfidy of a
deceiver; and is always sure to have the world on her side.
Now, Sir, continued he, I believe you have so much honour as to own, that
you could not have made way to so eminent a virtue, without promising
marriage; and that very explicitly and solemnly--
I know very well, Colonel, interrupted I, all you would say. You will
excuse me, I am sure, that I break in upon you, when you find it is to
answer the end you drive at.
I own to you then that I have acted very unworthily by Miss Clarissa
Harlowe; and I'll tell you farther, that I heartily repent of my
ingratitude and baseness to her. Nay, I will say still farther, that I
am so grossly culpable as to her, that even to plead that the abuses and
affronts I daily received from her implacable relations were in any
manner a provocation to me to act vilely by her, would be a mean and low
attempt to excuse myself--so low and so mean, that it would doubly
condemn me. And if you can say worse, speak it.
He looked upon Lord M. and then upon me, two or three times. And my Lord
said, My kinsman speaks what he thinks, I'll answer for him.
Lovel. I do, Sir; and what can I say more? And what farther, in your
opinion, can be done?
Col. Done! Sir? Why, Sir, [in a haughty tone he spoke,] I need not
tell you that reparation follows repentance. And I hope you make no
scruple of justifying your sincerity as to the one or the other.
I hesitated, (for I relished not the manner of his speech, and his
haughty accent,) as undetermined whether to take proper notice of it or
not.
Col. Let me put this question to you, Mr. Lovelace: Is it true, as I
have heard it is, that you would marry my cousin, if she would have you?
--What say you, Sir?--
This wound me up a peg higher.
Lovel. Some questions, as they may be put, imply commands, Colonel. I
would be glad to know how I am to take your's? And what is to be the end
of your interrogatories?
Col. My questions are not meant by me as commands, Mr. Lovelace. The
end is, to prevail upon a gentleman to act like a gentleman, and a man of
honour.
Lovel. (briskly) And by what arguments, Sir, do you propose to prevail
upon me?
Col. By what arguments, Sir, prevail upon a gentleman to act like a
gentleman!--I am surprised at that question from Mr. Lovelace.
Lovel. Why so, Sir?