Clarissa, Volume 6 | Page 3

reflections on the distress she must be in;
and on his (Lovelace's) ungrateful usage of her. What he takes the sum
of religion.
LETTER XLIX. Lovelace to Belford.-- Runs into affected levity and
ridicule, yet at last owns all his gayety but counterfeit. Regrets his
baseness to the lady. Inveighs against the women for their instigations.
Will still marry her, if she can be found out. One misfortune seldom
comes alone; Lord M. is recovering. He had bespoken mourning for
him.
LETTER L. Clarissa to Miss Howe.-- Writes with incoherence, to
inquire after her health. Lets her know whither to direct to her. But
forgets, in her rambling, her private address. By which means her letter
falls into the hands of Miss Howe's mother.
LETTER LI. Mrs. Howe to Clarissa.-- Reproaches her for making all

her friends unhappy. Forbids her to write any more to her daughter.
LETTER LII. Clarissa's meek reply.
LETTER LIII. Clarissa to Hannah Burton.
LETTER LIV. Hannah Burton. In answer.
LETTER LV. Clarissa to Miss Norton.-- Excuses her long silence.
Asks her a question, with a view to detect Lovelace. Hints at his
ungrateful villany. Self-recrimination.
LETTER LVI. Mrs. Norton to Clarissa.-- Answers her question.
Inveighs against Lovelace. Hopes she has escaped with her honour.
Consoles her by a brief relation of her own case, and from motives
truly pious.
LETTER LVII. Clarissa to Lady Betty Lawrance.-- Requests an answer
to three questions, with a view farther to detect Lovelace.
LETTER LVIII. Lady Betty to Clarissa.-- Answers her questions. In
the kindest manner offers to mediate between her nephew and her.
LETTER LIX. LX. Clarissa to Mrs. Hodges, her uncle Harlowe's
housekeeper; with a view of still farther detecting Lovelace. --- Mrs.
Hodges's answer.
LETTER LXI. Clarissa to Lady Betty Lawrance.-- Acquaints her with
her nephew's baseness. Charitably wishes his reformation; but utterly,
and from principle, rejects him.
LETTER LXII. Clarissa to Mrs. Norton.-- Is comforted by her kind
soothings. Wishes she had been her child. Will not allow her to come
up to her; why. Some account of the people she is with; and of a worthy
woman, Mrs. Lovick, who lodges in the house. Briefly hints to her the
vile usage she has received from Lovelace.
LETTER LXIII. Mrs. Norton to Clarissa.-- Inveighs against Lovelace.
Wishes Miss Howe might be induced to refrain from freedoms that do
hurt, and can do no good. Farther piously consoles her.
LETTER LXIV. Clarissa to Mrs. Norton.-- A new trouble. An angry
letter from Miss Howe. The occasion. Her heart is broken. Shall be
uneasy, till she can get her father's curse revoked. Casts about to whom
she can apply for this purpose. At last resolves to write to her sister to
beg her mediation.
LETTER LXV. Miss Howe to Clarissa.-- Her angry and reproachful
letter above-mentioned; demands from her the clearing up of her
conduct.

LETTER LXVI. Clarissa to Miss Howe.-- Gently remonstrates upon
her severity. To this hour knows not all the methods taken to deceive
and ruin her. But will briefly, yet circumstantially, enter into the darker
part of her sad story, though her heart sinks under the thoughts of a
recollection so painful.
LETTER LXVII. LXVIII. LXIX. LXX. From the same.-- She gives the
promised particulars of her story. Begs that the blackest parts of it may
be kept secret; and why. Desires one friendly tear, and no more, may be
dropt from her gentle eye, on the happy day that shall shut up all her
sorrows.
LETTER LXXI. LXXII. Miss Howe to Clarissa.-- Execrates the
abandoned profligate. She must, she tells her, look to the world beyond
this for her reward. Unravels some of Lovelace's plots; and detects his
forgeries. Is apprehensive for her own as well as Clarissa's safety.
Advises her to pursue a legal vengeance. Laudable custom in the Isle of
Man. Offers personally to attend her in a court of justice.
LETTER LXXIII. Clarissa to Miss Howe.-- Cannot consent to a
prosecution. Discovers who it was that personated her at Hampstead.
She is quite sick of life, and of an earth in which innocent and
benevolent spirits are sure to be considered as aliens.

THE HISTORY
OF
CLARISSA HARLOWE

LETTER I
MR. LOVELACE, TO JOHN BELFORD, ESQ. SAT. MIDNIGHT.
No rest, says a text that I once heard preached upon, to the wicked--and
I cannot close my eyes (yet only wanted to compound for half an hour
in an elbow-chair)--so must scribble on.
I parted with the Captain after another strong debate with him in
relation to what is to be the fate of this lady. As the fellow has an
excellent head, and would have made an eminent figure in any station
of life, had not his early days been tainted with a deep crime, and he
detected in