veral Lives, and productive of the
designed noble Moral in _Clarissa_; and I think it may be fairly and
impartially said, The Web is wove so strongly, every Part so much
depending on and assisting each other, that to divide any of them, would
be to destroy the whole.

[D]_That many Things having full References
To one Consent, may work contrariously:
As many Arrows, loosed several Ways,
Come to one Mark, as many Ways meet in one Town,
As many fresh Streams meet in one salt Sea,
As many Lines close in the Dial's Center,
So may a thousand Actions once afoot
End in one Purpose, and be all well born
Without Defeat._

[D] See _Shakespear's Henry_ the Vth.

If what I have here said can be any Amusement to you, as it concerns
your favourite _Clarissa_, my End will be answered. I am,

_Madam,_

_Your's,_ &c.

BELLARIO.

_Miss_ GIBSON _to_ BELLARIO.

~_SIR,_~

Your Good-nature in sending me your Thoughts on _Clarissa_, with a
Design to give me Pleasure, I assure you is not thrown away; may
you have equal Success in every generous Purpose that fills your Heart,
and greater Happiness in this World, I am sure I cannot wish you.

Most truly, Sir, do you remark, that a Story told in this Manner can
move but slowly, that the Characters can be seen only by such as attend
strictly to the Whole; yet this Advantage the Author gains by writing in
the present Tense, as he himself calls it, and in the first Person, that
his Strokes penetrate immediately to the Heart, and we feel all the
Distresses he paints; we not only weep for, but with _Clarissa_, and
accompany her, step by step, through all her Distresses.

I see her from the Beginning, in her happy State, beloved by all around
her, studying to deserve that Love; obedient to her Parents, dependant
on their Will by her own voluntary Act, when her Grandfather had put it
in her Power to be otherwise; respectful and tender to her Brother and
Sister; firm in her Friendship to Miss _Howe_; grateful to good Mrs.
_Norton_, who had carefully watched over her Infant Years, and delighted
to form and instruct her Mind; kind to her Inferiors; beneficent to all
the Poor, Miserable, and Indigent; and above all, cultivating and
cherishing in her Heart t