Clarissa, Volume 6 - The History Of A Young Lady

Clarissa, Volume 6 − The History Of A Young Lady 28
uneasiness and regret for half, may she not as well repine and mourn for the whole?
Nor, let me tell thee, will her own scheme or penitence, in this case, be half so perfect, if she do not fall, as if
she does: for what a foolish penitent will she make, who has nothing to repent of!−−She piques herself, thou
knowest, and makes it matter of reproach to me, that she went not off with me by her own consent; but was
tricked out of herself.
Nor upbraid thou me upon the meditated breach of vows so repeatedly made. She will not, thou seest, permit
me to fulfil them. And if she would, this I have to say, that, at the time I made the most solemn of them, I was
fully determined to keep them. But what prince thinks himself obliged any longer to observe the articles of
treaties, the most sacredly sworn to, than suits with his interest or inclination; although the consequence of the
infraction must be, as he knows, the destruction of thousands.
Is not this then the result of all, that Miss Clarissa Harlowe, if it be not her own fault, may be as virtuous after
she has lost her honour, as it is called, as she was before? She may be a more eminent example to her sex; and
if she yield (a little yield) in the trial, may be a completer penitent. Nor can she, but by her own wilfulness, be
reduced to low fortunes.
And thus may her old nurse and she; an old coachman; and a pair of old coach−horses; and two or three old
maid−servants, and perhaps a very old footman or two, (for every thing will be old and penitential about her,)
live very comfortably together; reading old sermons, and old prayer−books; and relieving old men and old
women; and giving old lessons, and old warnings, upon new subjects, as well as old ones, to the young ladies
of her neighbourhood; and so pass on to a good old age, doing a great deal of good both by precept and
example in her generation.
And is a woman who can live thus prettily without controul; who ever did prefer, and who still prefers, the
single to the married life; and who will be enabled to do every thing that the plan she had formed will direct
her to do; to be said to be ruined, undone, and such sort of stuff?−−I have no patience with the pretty fools,
who use those strong words, to describe a transitory evil; an evil which a mere church−form makes none?
At this rate of romancing, how many flourishing ruins dost thou, as well as I, know? Let us but look about us,
and we shall see some of the haughtiest and most censorious spirits among out acquaintance of that sex now
passing for chaste wives, of whom strange stories might be told; and others, whose husbands' hearts have been
made to ache for their gaieties, both before and after marriage; and yet know not half so much of them, as
some of us honest fellows could tell them.
But, having thus satisfied myself in relation to the worst that can happen to this charming creature; and that it
will be her own fault, if she be unhappy; I have not at all reflected upon what is likely to be my own lot.
This has always been my notion, though Miss Howe grudges us rakes the best of the sex, and says, that the
worst is too good for us,* that the wife of a libertine ought to be pure, spotless, uncontaminated. To what
purpose has such a one lived a free life, but to know the world, and to make his advantages of it!−−And, to be
very serious, it would be a misfortune to the public for two persons, heads of a family, to be both bad; since,
between two such, a race of varlets might be propagated (Lovelaces and Belfords, if thou wilt) who might do
great mischief in the world.
Thou seest at bottom that I am not an abandoned fellow; and that there is a mixture of gravity in me. This, as I
grow older, may increase; and when my active capacity begins to abate, I may sit down with the preacher, and
resolve all my past life into vanity and vexation of spirit.
This is certain, that I shall never find a woman so well suited to my taste as Miss Clarissa Harlowe. I only
wish that I may have such a lady as her to comfort and adorn my setting sun. I have often thought it very