must be an EXTRAORDINARY GENIUS that can work his Design, and fashion it
according to Justness and Proportion: For 'tis necessary that the same
Spirit _reign throughout_; that all contribute to the same _End_; and
that all the _Parts_ bear a secret _Relation_ to each other; all depend
on this Relation and Alliance.'

Let the nicest Critick examine the Story of _Clarissa_, and see if in
any Point it fails of coming up exactly to the before-mentioned Rule.
The Author had all Nature before him, and he has beautifully made use of
every Labyrinth, in the several Minds of his Characters, to lead him to
his purposed End.

The Obstinacy of old _Harlowe_, who never gave up a Point, unaccustomed
to Contradiction, and mad with the Thoughts of his own Authority; the
Pride of the two old Batchelors, who had lived single, in order to
aggrandize their Family; the overbearing impetuous _James Harlowe's_
Envy, arising from Ambition; the two-fold Envy of _Arabella Harlowe_,
springing from Rivalship in general Admiration, as well as in particular
liking; the former more rough, the latter more sly, tho' full as keen in
her Reproaches; the constant Submission of Mrs. _Harlowe_, and the mad
Vanity of _Lovelace_, all conspire to the grand End of distressing and
destroying the poor _Clarissa_; whose Misfortune it was to be placed
amongst a Set of Wretches, who were every one following the Bent of
their own peculiar Madness, without any Consideration for the innocent
Victim who was to fall a Sacrifice to their ungovernable Passions. And
here I must observe, how artfully the Author has conducted the opening
of his different Characters, as they became more interested in his
Story. The Correspondence between Miss _Howe_ and _Clarissa_, with some
characteristical Letters of each of the _Harlowes_, as these were then
his principal Actors, chiefly compose the two first Volumes.

In the third, fourth and fifth Volumes, _Lovelace_ comes prancing before
the Reader's Eye; gives an unrestrained Loose to his uncurbed
Imagination, and ripens into full-blown Baseness that Blackness of Mind,
which had hitherto only shot forth in Buds but barely visible. The
strong and lively Pen of _Lovelace_ was most proper to relate the most
active Scenes. But when his mischievous Heart and plotting Head had left
him no farther use for his wild Fancies, than to rave and curse his own
Folly, _Belford_ takes up the Pen, and carries on the Story; and in the
sixth and sevent