"That _Clarissa_ positively did not intend to go off with _Lovelace_ when she met him, to me is very plain; nor could he have prevailed on her, had not the Terrors raised in her Mind, by apprehended Murder, almost robbed her of her Senses, and hurried her away, not knowing what she did. For the Truth of this, I appeal to that charming painted Scene, where the Reader's Mind shares _Clarissa's_ Terror, and is kept in one continued Tumult til.
[A]_The Steeds are smote, the rapid Chariot flies, The sudden Clouds of circuling Dust arise._
"She was vexed to her soul afterwards to find she was tricked, as she calls it, out of herself, when _Lovelace_, instead of comforting and assuring her Mind, begins such a Train of shufling artful Tricks, as no one but _Lovelace_ could have thought on: And altho' she did not know all his Design, for if she had, she would certainly have left him, yet she sees enough of his _crooked ways_, to be convinced that he acted ungenerously by her, because she was in _his Power_. Does not _Lovelace_, in a Letter to _Belford_, writ in four Days after she was with him, say?
_And do I not see, that I shall want nothing but Patience, in order to have all Power with me? For what shall we say, if all these Complaints of a Character Wounded, these Declarations of increasing Regrets of meeting me, of Resentments never to be got over for my seducing her away, these angry Commands to leave her,--what shall we say, if all were to mean nothing but Matrimony?--And what if my forbearing to enter upon that Subject comes out to be the true Cause of her Petulance and Uneasiness._
"And then he gives such an Account of his asking her Consent to marry him, and at the same Time artfully confusing her, so as to prevent her Consent, as perfectly paints his cunning vile Heart. How is her Behaviour altered to him from the Time she can write Miss _Howe_ word that her Prospects are mended, till his returning Shufling convinces her there is no Confidence to be placed in him! But if, Sir, you cannot think _Lovelace's_ Usage of _Clarissa_ a full Justification of her in this Point, I think the Author has a just Right to be heard out before his Heroine is condemned in so heavy a Charge, as that of being void of all Affection. You know enough of my Sentiments, Sir, to be convinced that I do think this the heaviest Charge a Woman can be accused of; for Love is the only Passion I should wish to be harboured in the gentle Bosom of a good Woman. Ambition, with all the Train of turbulent Passions the World is infested with, I would leave to Men: And could I make my whole Sex of my Opinion, they would be resigned without the least Grudge or Envy; for Peace and Harmony dwell not with them, but on the contrary, Discord, Perturbation and Misery are their constant Companions. But tho' I speak thus with the utmost Sincerity of Love; yet I cannot think a Woman greatly the Object of Esteem who, like _Serina_ in the _Orphan_, having such a Father as _Acasto_, and such Brothers, affectionate to her, however blameable in other Respects; while she saw her whole Family distressed and confused, and _Monimia_, the gentle Companion of her Infancy, involved in that Confusion, her Lover too behaving like a Mad-man, yet still, could cry out,