![Light Novel -?=$public_r['add_site_name']?>](/static/content/img/logo.png){kind=logo}
Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady novel. A total of 426 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : Clarissa.Volume 1.by Samuel Richardson.PREFACE The following History is given in a serie
Clarissa.Volume 1.by Samuel Richardson.PREFACE The following History is given in a series of letters, written Princ.i.p.ally in a double yet separate correspondence; Between two young ladies of virtue and honor, bearing an inviolable friends.h.i.+p for ea
- 301 'O how light, how unaffected with the sense of its own crimes, is the heart that could dictate to the pen this libertine froth?'The paragraph which mentions the vile arrest affected her a good deal.In the next I omitted thy curse upon thy relations, who
- 302 He then withdrew to the window. And, after a short conference with the women, he turned to me, and to Mr. G.o.ddard, at the other window: We can do nothing here, (speaking low,) but by cordials and nourishment. What friends has the lady? She seems to be a
- 303 For early I saw that there was no credulity in her to graft upon: no pretending to whine myself into her confidence. She was proof against amorous persuasion. She had reason in her love. Her penetration and good sense made her hate all compliments that ha
- 304 The bearer promises to make so much dispatch as to attend you this very afternoon. May he return with good tidings to Your ever affectionate ANNA HOWE.LETTER XXV MISS CLARISSA HARLOWE, TO MISS HOWE THURSDAY AFTERNOON.You pain me, Miss Howe, by the ardour
- 305 Oh! that I had my life to come over again!--Confessing to the poor old woman, who cannot shrive them! Imaginary ghosts of deflowered virgins, and polluted matrons, flitting before their gla.s.sy eyes! And old Satan, to their apprehensions, grinning behind
- 306 Miss Howe has been very free with my character. I have never done her any harm. I take it very ill of her. And I hope, Sir, you come in her name to make excuses for it.Miss Howe, Sir, is a very polite young lady. She is not accustomed to treat any man's
- 307 I have not seen all she has written; but, by what I have heard, it is a very black affair--Excuse me, Sir.I do excuse you, Mr. Hickman: but, supposing it were so, do you think a lady was never imposed upon by wine, or so?--Do you not think the most cautio
- 308 Heard of him! Aye, Sir, we have all heard of him--But none of us care to be intimate with him--except this lady--and that, as I told you, in spite of me--his name, in short, is DEATH!--DEATH! Sir, stamping, and speaking loud, and full in his ears; which m
- 309 Mean time, you may let him know, said she, that I reject him with my whole heart:--yet, that although I say this with such a determination as shall leave no room for doubt, I say it not however with pa.s.sion. On the contrary, tell him, that I am trying t
- 310 'I was the joy of their hearts; and, with theirs and my father's, I had three houses to call my own; for they used to have me with them by turns, and almost kindly to quarrel for me; so that I was two months in the year with the one; two months with the
- 311 Excuse this freedom, occasioned by greater. I am, Miss, Your humble servant, ARABELLA HARLOWE.LETTER x.x.xV MISS HOWE [IN REPLY.]FRIDAY, JULY 21.MISS ARABELLA HARLOWE, If you had half as much sense as you have ill-nature, you would (notwithstanding the ex
- 312 MY DEAREST FRIEND, We are busy in preparing for our little journey and voyage: but I will be ill, I will be very ill, if I cannot hear you are better before I go.Rogers greatly afflicted me, by telling me the bad way you are in. But now you have been able
- 313 'Do you not already see me (pursuing the advice you give) with a downcast eye, appear before his friends, and before my own, (supposing the latter would at last condescend to own me,) divested of that n.o.ble confidence which arises from a mind unconscio
- 314 Your ever affectionate JUDITH NORTON.LETTER XLIV MISS CLARISSA HARLOWE, TO MRS. NORTON MONDAY NIGHT, JULY 24.MY DEAR MRS. NORTON, Had I not fallen into fresh troubles, which disabled me for several days from holding a pen, I should not have forborne inqui
- 315 Love is a child that talks in broken language; Yet then it speaks most plain.The like may be pleaded in behalf of that modest respect which made the humble offerer afraid to invade the awful eye, or the revered hand; but awkwardly to drop its incense behi
- 316 Mr. G.o.ddard took his leave; and I was going to do so too, when the maid came up, and told her a gentleman was below, who very earnestly inquired after her health, and desired to see her: his name Hickman.She was overjoyed; and bid the maid desire the ge
- 317 Pr'ythee tell me, thou vile Lovelace, if thou hast not a notion, even from these jejune descriptions of mine, that there must be a more exalted pleasure in intellectual friends.h.i.+p, than ever thou couldst taste in the gross fumes of sensuality? And wh
- 318 She would not have been here, replied my mother, had she known whom she had been to see.And is she here, then?--Thank Heaven!--he disengaged her hand, and stept forward into company.Dear Miss Lloyd, said he, with an air, (taking her hand as he quitted my
- 319 I have been telling Mr. Hickman, said he, how much I am concerned for the injuries I have done to the most excellent woman in the world: and yet, that she obtained such a glorious triumph over me the last time I had the honour to see her, as, with my peni
- 320 LETTER LII MR. LOVELACE, TO JOHN BELFORD, ESQ.FRIDAY, JULY 28.I have three letters of thine to take notice of:* but am divided in my mind, whether to quarrel with thee on thy unmerciful reflections, or to thank thee for thy acceptable particularity and di
- 321 'The first time Dryden's Alexander's Feast fell into his hands, he told me, he was prodigiously charmed with it: and, having never heard any body speak of it before, thought, as thou dost of the Bible, that he had made a new discovery.'He hastened to
- 322 --He sat upon his rump, His head like one in doleful dump: Betwixt his knees his hands apply'd Unto his cheeks, on either side: And by him, in another hole, Sat stupid Belford, cheek by jowl.I know thou wilt think me too ludicrous. I think myself so. It
- 323 --When at nine years old, and afterwards at eleven, you had a dangerous fever, how incessantly did we grieve, and pray, and put up our vows to the Throne of Grace, for your recovery!--For all our lives were bound up in your life--yet now, my dear, as it h
- 324 LETTER LIX MISS CLARISSA HARLOWE, TO MRS. JUDITH NORTON SAT. JULY 29.I congratulate you, my dear Mrs. Norton, with all my heart, on your son's recovery; which I pray to G.o.d, with all your own health, to perfect.I write in some hurry, being apprehensive
- 325 Had I been his but a month, he must have possessed the estate on which my relations had set their hearts; the more to their regret, as they hated him as much as he hated them.Have I not reason, these things considered, to think myself happier without Mr.
- 326 I must indeed own that I took the liberty to write to your mother, offering to enclose to her, if she gave me leave, your's of the 24th: by which I thought she would see what was the state of your mind; what the nature of your last troubles was from the
- 327 My cousin Charlotte, finding me writing on with too much earnestness to have any regard for politeness to her, and guessing at my subject, besought me to let her see what I had written.I obliged her. And she was so highly pleased on seeing me so much in e
- 328 SIR, You have frequently offered to oblige me in any thing that shall be within your power: and I have such an opinion of you, as to be willing to hope that, at the times you made these offers, you meant more than mere compliment.I have therefore two requ
- 329 'It will be an honour to my memory, with all those who shall know that I was so well satisfied of my innocence, that, having not time to write my own story, I could intrust it to the relation which the destroyer of my fame and fortunes has given of i
- 330 Your afflicted sister, ARABELLA HARLOWE.I send this by a particular hand, who undertakes to give it you or leave it for you by to-morrow night.LETTER LXXV MISS CLARISSA HARLOWE, TO HER MOTHER SAt.u.r.dAY, AUG. 5 HONOURED MADAM, No self-convicted criminal
- 331 ** Vol. VI. Letter x.x.xVI. in the pen-knife-scene.Yet in both these to find her power over me, and my love for her, and to hate, to despise, and to refuse me!--She might have done this with some show of justice, had the last-intended violation been perpe
- 332 I begin to pity thee heartily, now I see thee in earnest in the fruitless love thou expressest to this angel of a woman; and the rather, as, say what thou wilt, it is impossible she should get over her illness, and her friends' implacableness, of whi
- 333 I am glad, however, for her peace of mind's sake, that they begin to think it behoves them to inquire about her.LETTER Lx.x.xII MR. BELFORD, TO ROBERT LOVELACE, ESQ.FRIDAY, AUG. 11.[Mr. Belford acquaints his friend with the generosity of Lord M. and
- 334 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. When I looked for good, then evil came unto me; and when I waited for light, then came darkness. And where now is my hope?-- Yet all the days of my appointed time will I wait, ti
- 335 Clarissa, Or The History Of A Young Lady.Volume 8.by Samuel Richardson.LETTER I MISS HOWE, TO MISS CLARISSA HARLOWE YARMOUTH, ISLE OF WIGHT, MONDAY, AUG. 7.MY DEAREST CREATURE, I can write but just now a few lines. I cannot tell how to bear the sound of t
- 336 I am sure she would not have turned me over for an answer to a letter written with so contrite and fervent a spirit, as was mine to her, to a masculine spirit, had she been left to herself.But, my dear Mrs. Norton, might not, think you, the revered lady h
- 337 It is as suitable to my case, as to the lady's, as thou'lt observe, if thou readest it again.* At the pa.s.sage where it is said, That when a man is chastened for sin, his beauty consumes away, I stept to the gla.s.s: A poor figure, by Jupiter,
- 338 How then can the fall of such a one create a proper distress, when all the circ.u.mstances of it are considered? For does she not brazen out her crime, even after detection? Knowing her own guilt, she calls for Altamont's vengeance on his best friend
- 339 Colonel Morden, thou hast heard me say, is a man of honour and bravery:-- but Colonel Morden has had his girls, as well as you or I. And indeed, either openly or secretly, who has not? The devil always baits with a pretty wench, when he angles for a man,
- 340 I looked round me there, and went into two open-door bed-chambers; searched the closets, and the pa.s.sages, and peeped through the key-hole of another: no Miss Harlowe, by Jupiter! What shall I do!--what shall I do! as the girls say.--Now will she be gri
- 341 Great liberties I hope you would not say, Mrs. Smith?Indeed, Sir, I was going to say something like it.Well, then, I am glad I prevented you; for such words better become my mouth than yours. But I must lodge with you till the lady returns. I believe I mu
- 342 Well, with all my heart, said I: 'tis not for us tradesmen to be saucy-- Is it, Mrs. Smith?I put her sixpence in my pocket; and, seizing her hand, took notice to her of the crowd that had gathered about the door, and besought her to walk into the bac
- 343 So, old acquaintance, how do you now? I know my love is above.--Let her be acquainted that I am here, waiting for admission to her presence, and can take no denial. Tell her, that I will approach her with the most respectful duty, and in whose company she
- 344 By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin.I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I am like an owl of the desart.I watch; and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top.I have eaten ashes like bread; and mingled my drink with weeping:
- 345 I ever honoured a man that could weep for the distresses of others; and ever shall, said I; and such a one cannot be insensible of his own.However, I could not help being visibly moved at the poor fellow's emotion.Now, said the brutal Mowbray, do I t
- 346 Merely to die, no man of reason fears; For certainly we must, As we are born, return to dust; 'Tis the last point of many ling-ring years; But whither then we go, Whither, we fain would know; But human understanding cannot show.This makes US tremble-
- 347 SIR, I have good news to tell you. I am setting out with all diligence for my father's house, I am bid to hope that he will receive his poor penitent with a goodness peculiar to himself; for I am overjoyed with the a.s.surance of a thorough reconcili
- 348 LETTER XX MR. LOVELACE, TO JOHN BELFORD, ESQ.Well, but now my heart is a little at ease, I will condescend to take brief notice of some other pa.s.sages in thy letters.I find I am to thank thee, that the dear creature has avoided my visit.Things are now i
- 349 But, nevertheless, I must needs say, that gentlemen of the faculty should be more moderate in their fees, or take more pains to deserve them; for, generally, they only come into a room, feel the sick man's pulse, ask the nurse a few questions, inspec
- 350 How must I adore this charming creature! for I am ready to think my servant a happier fellow than myself, for having been within a pair of stairs and an apartment of her.Mowbray and I will drop a tear a-piece, as we ride along, to the memory of poor Belto
- 351 With what pleasing woe, said the Doctor, do you fill the minds of those who have the happiness to converse with you, and see the happy frame you are in! what you have undergone within a few days past has much hurt you: and should you have fresh troubles o
- 352 REVEREND AND DEAR SIR, I thought, till I received your affectionate and welcome letter, that I had neither father, uncle, brother left; nor hardly a friend among my former favourers of your s.e.x. Yet, knowing you so well, and having no reason to upbraid
- 353 LETTER XXVII MISS CL. HARLOWE, TO MISS ARAB. HARLOWE TUESDAY, AUG. 22.Write to me, my hard-hearted Sister, in what manner you please, I shall always be thankful to you for your notice. But (think what you will of me) I cannot see Mr. Ackland and the couns
- 354 'She wished to Heaven that you would accept of Mr. Lovelace, wicked as he has been, if he were now in earnest.'It had always,' she said, 'been matter of astonishment to her, that so weak a pride in her cousin James, of making himself t
- 355 P.S. Excuse me that I did not write before: it was owing to a little coasting voyage I was obliged to give into.LETTER x.x.xII MISS CLARISSA HARLOWE, TO MISS HOWE FRIDAY, AUG. 25.You are very obliging, my dear Miss Howe, to account to me for your silence.
- 356 You will be surprised to find renewed, at this distance of time, an address so positively though so politely discouraged: but, however it be received, I must renew it. Every body has heard that you have been vilely treated by a man who, to treat you ill,
- 357 Indeed, if I had not undoubted reason, as I said, to believe the continuance of their antipathy to me, and implacableness to her, I should be apt to think there might be some foundation for my Lord's conjecture; for there is a cursed deal of low cunn
- 358 I read it to myself--Indeed, Madam, I can find nothing but that you are going down to Harlowe-place to be reconciled to your father and other friends: and Mr. Lovelace presumed that a letter from your sister, which he saw brought when he was at Mr. Smith&
- 359 Now, Jack, will I give thee an account of what pa.s.sed 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 res
- 360 Lovel. (coolly) Come, come, Col. Morden, don't let this dispute, whatever you intend to make of it, go farther than with you and me. You deliver yourself in very high terms. Higher than ever I was talked to in my life. But here, beneath this roof, &#
- 361 Col. I accept your civility very cheerfully, Mr. Lovelace.Lord M. (interposing again, as we were both for going out,) And what will this do, gentlemen? Suppose you kill one another, will the matter be bettered or worsted by that? Will the lady be made hap
- 362 Turning over my papers, Here it is, Sir.* I will make no scruple to put it into your hands.This is very obliging, Mr. Lovelace.He read it. My charming cousin!--How strong her resentments!--Yet how charitable her wishes!--Good Heaven! that such an excellen
- 363 Returned without a letter!--This d----d fellow Will. is returned without a letter!--Yet the rascal tells me that he hears you have been writing to me these two days!Plague confound thee, who must know my impatience, and the reason for it!To send a man and
- 364 P.S. I shall give you 'farther hints' when I come down, (which will be in a few days;) and who my 'informants' were; but by 'these' you will see, that I have been very a.s.siduous (for the time) in the task you set me upon.Th
- 365 She as far from rejoicing, as I had done, at the disappointment her letter gave you when explained.She said, she meant only an innocent allegory, which might carry instruction and warning to you, when the meaning was taken, as well as answer her own hopes
- 366 Your ever grateful and affectionate CL. HARLOWE.LETTER XLVI MR. LOVELACE, TO JOHN BELFORD, ESQ.[IN ANSWER TO HIS LETTERS XXIII. x.x.xVII. OF THIS VOLUME.]THURSDAY, AUG. 31.I cannot but own that I am cut to the heart by this Miss Harlowe's interpretat
- 367 I was prevailed upon by Mrs. Smith and her nurse Shelburne (Mrs. Lovick being abroad with her) to go up and look at the devices. Mrs. Lovick has since shown me a copy of the draught by which all was ordered; and I will give thee a sketch of the symbols.Th
- 368 But what need the doctor to ask her leave to write to her friends? Could he not have done it without letting her know any thing of the matter?That was one of the likeliest means that could be thought of to bring some of them about her, since she is so des
- 369 I don't find, well as they all used to respect Colonel Morden, that he has influence enough upon them to bring them to any terms of reconciliation.What can they mean by it!--But your brother is come home, it seems: so, the honour of the house, the re
- 370 I cannot express how much your staggering lines and your conclusion affect me!LETTER LIV MR. BELFORD, TO ROBERT LOVELACE, ESQ.SUNDAY EVENING, SEPT. 3.I wonder not at the impatience your servant tells me you express to hear from me. I was designing to writ
- 371 * Meaning his meditated second violence (See Vol. VI. Letter x.x.xVI.) and his succeeding letters to her, supplicating for her pardon.Yet am I glad this violent spirit can thus creep; that, like a poisonous serpent, he can thus coil himself, and hide his
- 372 Then, Cousin James, interrupted the other gentleman, that which is your protection, it seems, is mine. I am not used to bear defiances thus-- you are my Cousin, Sir, and the son and nephew of persons as dear as near to me--There he paused-- Are we, said y
- 373 Join your prayers then to mine, that G.o.d will spare you to a world that wants you and your example; and, although your days may seem to have been numbered, who knows but that, with the good King Hezekiah, you may have them prolonged? Which G.o.d grant,
- 374 Will. engages to reach you with this (late as it will be) before you go to rest. He begs that I will testify for him the hour and the minute I shall give it him. It is just half an hour after ten.I pretend to be (now by use) the swiftest short-hand writer
- 375 LETTER LXI MR. BELFORD, TO ROBERT LOVELACE, ESQ.TUES. SEPT. 9 IN THE MORN. AT MR. SMITH'S.When I read yours of this morning, I could not help pitying you for the account you give of the dreadful anxiety and suspense you labour under.I wish from my he
- 376 O hasten, good G.o.d, if it be thy blessed will, the happy moment that I am to be decked out in his all-quieting garb! And sustain, comfort, bless, and protect with the all-shadowing wing of thy mercy, my dear parents, my uncles, my brother, my sister, my
- 377 LETTER LXV MR. BRAND, TO MR. JOHN WALTON SAT. NIGHT, SEPT. 2.DEAR MR. WALTON, I am obliged to you for the very 'handsomely penned', (and 'elegantly written,') letter which you have sent me on purpose to do 'justice' to the &#
- 378 '(Haurit aquam cribro, qui discere vult sine libro)''uninterrupted' by the 'noise' and 'vanities' that will mingle with 'personal conversation,' which (in the 'turbulent world') is not to be enjo
- 379 'Estque serena dies post longos gratior imbres, Et post triste malum gratior ipsa salus.'EIGHTHLY, That, in the words of Mantuan, her 'parents' and 'uncles' could not 'help loving her' all the time they were 'a
- 380 Your and their most ready and obedient as well as faithful servant, ELIAS BRAND.LETTER LXVII MR. LOVELACE, TO JOHN BELFORD, ESQ.[IN ANSWER TO LETTER LXIV. OF THIS VOLUME.]WEDN. MORN. SEPT. 6.And is she somewhat better?--Blessings upon thee without number
- 381 Reading over the above, I am ashamed of my ramblings; but what wouldest have me do?--Seest thou not that I am but seeking to run out of myself, in hope to lose myself; yet, that I am unable to do either?If ever thou lovedst but half so fervently as I love
- 382 Thy servant is just come; so I will close here. Thou art a merciless master. These two fellows are battered to death by thee, to use a female word; and all female words, though we are not sure of their derivation, have very significant meanings. I believe
- 383 Nothing can surprise me now, except my mamma were to favour me with her last blessing in person. That would be a welcome surprise to me, even yet. But did my cousin come purposely to town to see me?Yes, Madam, I took the liberty to let him know, by a line
- 384 Clarissa Harlowe.Volume 9.by Samuel Richardson.LETTER I MR. BELFORD [IN CONTINUATION.]SOHO, SIX O'CLOCK, SEPT. 7.The lady is still alive. The Colonel having just sent his servant to let me know that she inquired after me about an hour ago, I am dress
- 385 You may be glad to know the particulars of her happy exit. I will try to proceed; for all is hush and still; the family retired; but not one of them, and least of all her poor cousin, I dare say, to rest.At four o'clock, as I mentioned in my last, I
- 386 MRS. NORTON, TO MISS CLARISSA HARLOWE WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6.At length, my best beloved Miss Clary, every thing is in the wished train: for all your relations are unanimous in your favour. Even your brother and your sister are with the foremost to be reconcil
- 387 I broke it open accordingly, and found in it no less than eleven letters, each sealed with her own seal, and black wax, one of which was directed to me.I will enclose a copy of it.TO JOHN BELFORD, ESQ.SUNDAY EVENING, SEPT. 3.SIR, I take this last and sole
- 388 I could have shown to Mrs. Norton the copies of the two letters which she missed by coming up. But her grief wants not the heightenings which the reading of them would have given her.I have been dipping into the copies of the posthumous letters to the fam
- 389 LETTER XVII TO MISS HARLOWE Now may you, my dear Arabella, unrestrained by the severity of your virtue, let fall a pitying tear on the past faults and sufferings of your late unhappy sister; since, now, she can never offend you more.The Divine mercy, whic
- 390 She could forgive herself, she said, for every thing but her insults upon the admirable lady at Rowland's, since all the rest was but in pursuit of a livelihood, to which she had been reduced, as she boasted, from better expectations, and which hundr
- 391 Between four and five in the morning, the corpse was put into the hea.r.s.e; the coffin before being filled, as intended, with flowers and aromatic herbs, and proper care taken to prevent the corpse suffering (to the eye) from the jolting of the hea.r.s.e
- 392 I will take her papers. And, as no one can do her memory justice equal to myself, and I will not spare myself, who can better show the world what she was, and what a villain he that could use her ill? And the world shall also see what implacable and unwor
- 393 [clenching and unclenching her hands] am I to die thus miserably!--of a broken leg in my old age!--s.n.a.t.c.hed away by means of my own intemperance!Self-do! Self-undone!--No time for my affairs! No time to repent!--And in a few hours (Oh!--Oh!--with ano
- 394 To have done with so shocking a subject at once, we shall take notice, that Mr. Belford, in a future letter, writes, that the miserable woman, to the surprise of the operators themselves, (through hourly increasing tortures of body and mind,) held out so
- 395 It is natural for us, in every deep and sincere grief, to interest all we know in what is so concerning to ourselves. The servants of the family, it seems, had told their friends, and those their's, that though, living, their dear young lady could no
- 396 Miss Howe, by her messenger, desires she may not be taken any notice of.She shall not tarry six minutes, was the word. Her desire will be easily granted her.Her servant, who brought the request, if it were denied, was to return, and meet her; for she was
- 397 I am just returned from attending the afflicted parents, in an effort they made to see the corpse of their beloved child. They had requested my company, and that of the good Mrs. Norton. A last leave, the mother said, she must take.An effort, however, it
- 398 --And then Mr. Wyerley, unable to contain himself, was forced to quit the church, and we hear is very ill.It is said that Mr. Solmes was in a remote part of the church, wrapped round in a horseman's coat; and that he shed tears several times. But I s
- 399 Permit me, Sir, to say, that it is the duty of an executor to see every point performed, that can be performed.--Nor will I leave the performance of mine to any other persons, especially where a qualifying is so directly intimated, and where all the branc
- 400 My picture at full length, which is in my late grandfather's closet, (excepted in an article above from the family pictures,) drawn when I was near fourteen years of age; about which time my dear Miss Howe and I began to know, to distinguish, and to