To Edward Moore

FC XV, ii, f. 21 and FC XIV, ii, ff. 76-7

[1748] Richardson answers Moore's letter on Clarissa, which is dated 23 December 1748. FC XV, ii, ff. 20-1. Moore praised the novel in extravagant terms but entered certain objections, which Richardson answered in this letter. In a letter to Richardson, Mrs. Delany refers to Moore's abortive plan to write a play based on Clarissa. Correspondence, iv, 37. ^†10

You have done me great Honour, and given me high Pleasure, by yours of the 23rd and I should have acknowledged the Favour sooner, had I not been a good deal indisposed, and had I not quarrelled with my Pen <and Ink>. Indeed we are hardly Friends yet. But I thought myself oblig'd in Gratitude to you to make the first Advances to the sullen Implement. Two sections of the letter are separated in the Forster Collection. The first paragraph is in FC XV, ii, f. 21; the remainder of the letter, in the form of a first draft, is in FC XIV, ii, ff. 76-7. The latter sheets are the most nearly illegible of all Richardson's letters. ^†11

Methinks I would be above justifying a Fault merely because it is past & irretrievable. But have not I dealt in Death & Terrors? Was it not time I shd. hasten to an end of my tedious Work? Was not Story, Story, Story the continual demand upon me. I did not desire* that the Reader sh'd pity Lovelace: But I w'd not punish more than was necessary in his person, a poor Wretch whom I had tortured in Conscience (the punishment I always chose for my punishable Characters).

You say, Sir, that 'Lovelace shd have given Belford an acct. of his own Remorses after the Duel, or, if that had been improper Morden might have visited him privately, and have written the acct. himself.' Run thro' the Body, delirious, vomiting Blood, the first was impossible: To the second I answer--Morden was wounded himself--They fought in the Austrian dominion: It was concerted that the survivor to avoid public animadversions shd. make off to the Venetian territories. de la Tour had actually some trouble from the magistrates on acct. of the Duel, tho' not the principal;

and the principal out of their reach--But suppose it had not been so--To whom must Morden have written?--To Belford?--expatiating upon the Death of his intimate Friend?--Would it have been natural for Morden to have done this?--He was too brave to insult over the fallen man --Must he have regretted the Action and pitied him?-- Would that have been right? Would not that have engaged for the unhappy man general pity, which I was solicitous to prevent?--Had Morden written (to whomsoever) he must in modesty have been brief--could not possibly have expatiated or triumphed. While every praise of Morden from a Servant of Lovelace was praise indeed to Morden; and every half hint to the disadvantage of Lovelace a whole one.

You wish, Sir, that 'this acct. had been given by any but a Servant.' Shall we suppose that Mowbray or Tourville had been sent abroad with him (Belford was too much engaged) Mowbray wd. have given a Brutal or Farcical acct., if I had respected* his Character, as he did of Lovelace's delirious behaviour on the first Communication of Clarissa's death-- and if we judge by his behaviour in the Interview between Col. Morden & Lovelace at Lord M.'s, he cou'd not have been a patient spectator of the Exit of a Man of whose skill & courage he had so high an opinion and whom he professed to Love; having also had high words with the Col: which Lord M's mediation prevented at the time going farther--Tourville was a Coxcomb, and had besides Mowbray's partialities in Lovelace's favour--who then but a Servant cou'd give this acct? and was not de la Tour intrusted with the whole Management and Knowlege of the affair? Was he not a Servant who had travelled with him before? A Servant whom he calls an ingenius and trusty fellow, and with whom he leaves all his orders in Case he shd. fall?

'The triumphant Death of Clarissa, (you say, Sir) needed a more particular contrast than in the Deaths of Belton & Sinclair.'--I have a few things to offer on this head, after I have observed that Lovelace's Remorses are so very strongly painted by himself in Letter CXI a very few days before the Duel, that there cou'd not be a necessity for any persons

giving an acct. of them after it was fought. I have shewn that there cou'd hardly naturally be any body by whom an acct: of the Duel cou'd be given, and of the behaviour of the two Gentlemen in it, but de la Tour, Lovelace's travelling valet. And if this be allowed me, let us observe whether that acct: be not given in Character, and tho' very brief, with circumstances of great Terror, if duly attended to, and which carry in them the marks of Signal and exemplary punishment--Did not Lovelace wish to live tho' triumphed over? Was Clarissa so mean? Did she wish for life after the infamous Outrage? Indeed I was afraid that Lovelace wd. have been thot. too mean in such his wishes after Morden had conquered him, by a skill superior to that on which he had valued himself. I have made Belford say, p. 399 'that he is confident that Col: Morden wd. not take his life at Lovelace's hand.'--Now what are Lovelace's words on receiving the mortal wound--'The Luck is yours Sir'--tho his characteristic pride makes him call it Luck, here is a Superiority acknowleged--again when the Col: takes leave of him--'You have well revenged the dear Creature!'--'I have sir says the heroic Col: and perhaps shall be sorry &c.'-- again the proud Lovelace yet succumbing, 'There is a fate in it--a cursed fate (see the Regret) or this had not been.' Then more explicitly he acknowleged (the however not ungenerously acknowleged) inferiority.--'But be ye all witnesses that I have provoked my Destiny and own that I fall by a man of Honour.'--Now behold the visible superiority in the Cols: behaviour as related by de la Tour.-- 'Sir, I believe you have enough'--this said on giving the first wound--After the mortal wound, behold Morden throwing down his own sword, and running to Lovelace, 'Ah Monsieur cries the hero, you are a dead man--Call to God for Mercy!' See Morden represented by this servant of Lovelace's 'as cool as if nothing so extraordinary had happened, and assisting the surgeons, tho his own wound bled much,' and not suffering that to be dressed till he saw Lovelace put into the voiture--giving a purse of gold to Lovelace's Servant to pay the Surgeons, and to reward that Servant for his Care of his dying Master, and see him also bountiful to the very footman of Mr. Lovelace--What Circumstances of noble & generous triumph all there!-- --And over whom?--over the proud and doubly mortified Lovelace--'Snatch these few fleeting Moments and commend yourself to God'--What further generosity in these Words! Then for Lovelace's Remorses, even as represented by his Servant at the moment he recd. his Death's Wound (convinced that it was his death's wound), 'O my Beloved Clarissa, says he, now art thou--inwardly speaking three or four words more' (his sword dropping from his hand, his Victor hastening to support him) was not this more expressive than if those three or four words had been given?-- Then may it not be seen that I have introduced a Ghost to terrify the departing Lovelace, tho' I had not intended any body but Lovelace shou'd see it--'Take her away!--Take her away! but named nobody says de la Tour.'--I leave it to the Reader to suppose it the ghost of Miss Betterton, of his French Countess, or of whom he pleases, or to attribute it to his delirium for the sake of...... Word illegible. ^†12 & probability.-- Hear Lovelace's farther Remorses in de la Tour's acct:-- 'And sometimes says the honest valet, praised some Lady (that Clarissa I suppose, whom he called upon when he received his death's wound) calling her sweet Excellence! Divine Creature! Fair Sufferer!--And once he said--Look down Blessed Spirit, look down--and there stopt his Lips however moving!'--What a Goddess does he make of the exalted Clarissa!--Yet how deplorably impious, hardly thinks of invoking the highest assistance and mercy!--

Now for his Sufferings--'the first wound followed by a great effusion of Blood'--After the mortal Wound, see him represented as 'fainting away two or three times running and vomiting blood--'--See him supposed speechless, and struggling against his Fate, at times, in these words.-- 'The Col: was concerned that my chevalier was between whiles (and when he could speak & struggle) extremely outrageous.' Is not this a strong contrast to the death of Clarissa? 'Poor gentleman!' adds the pitying valet, behold Lovelace the object of his own servant's pity! 'Poor Gentleman he had made quite sure of victory!'--again--'He little thought, poor Gentleman, his end was so near!'

But further as to his sufferings,--See the Voiture tho' moving slowly, by its motion getting his wounds bleeding afresh; and again, with difficulty stopt. See him giving Directions afterward for his last devoir to his Friend Belford. See him, contrary to all expectation, as de la Tour says, living over the night, but suffering much, as well from his Impatience and Disappointment as from his Wounds.--for, adds the honest valet, 'He seemed very unwilling to Die.'-- What a farther contrast this to the last Behaviour of the divine Clarissa!--See him in his following Delirium Spectres before his eyes! His lips moving, tho' speechless-- wanting therefore to speak--'See him in convulsions, and fainting away at nine in the morning.' A Quarter of an hour in them; yet recovering to more Terror. The Ultimate Composure mentioned by de la Tour, rather mentioned to comfort his surviving Friends than appearing to have reason to suppose it to be so, from his subsequent description of his last Agonies. Blessed, his word--interrupted by another strong Convulsion--Blessed again repeated, when he recovered from it rather to shew the Reader that he felt, than that he was so Ultimately Composed. 'Then seeming ejaculation, --then speaking inwardly but so as not to be understood --' how affecting such a circumstance in such a Man! And at last with his wonted haughtiness of spirit--LET THIS EXPIATE all his apparent Invocation and address to the SUPREME. Have I not then given rather a dreadful than a hopeful Exit, with respect to Futurity, to the unhappy Lovelace!--I protest I have been unable to reperuse the acct: of his Death with this great Circumstance in my Head, and to think of the triumphant one of my divine Clarissa, without pity--and I did hope that the contrast if attentively considered would be very striking.