Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

a position as the head of his family, John Evelyn falls
into dissipation and destruction, far away from the man
hired to provide the education and guidance he needed to
protect him from such things (14).
Additionally, the mistakes Villars makes with Evelyn
are about to be compounded on his daughter, as the
product of John Evelyn's marriage to a barmaid would not
be welcome in the Evelyn household. Caroline Evelyn
comes to Villars through the force of inheritance law.
Though Evelyn begs Villars to lay aside his resentment,
he knows that Villars may be the only one he can turn to
for his daughter's protection. No one wants the barmaid
mother to be in a position to use Caroline's fortune,
neither father nor family. Evelyn, however, has had to
leave England because of public, as well as family,
outcry against his marriage. There is no one left,
really, except for Villars, to care for the child.
Evelyn, also, though he feels Villars' resentment, still
reveres his mentor and trusts his judgment and friendship
to some degree, all of which is acknowledged through his
deathbed plea. Evelyn' s final words, however, do nothing
to establish Villars' appropriateness as his choice,
however. He writes, "0 Villars! Hear pity! And relieve
me!" (14).