o apt to entertain
for Rakes; and to shew them, that if they put themselves into the Power
of a Rake, they are sure of being ill used by him.

[10]

To this End the Author has chosen out a Story, which is as strong a
Proof of it as can well be. A Lady of particular good Sense, Breeding,
and Morals, is so ill used by her Family, in order to oblige her to
marry a Man she cannot like, that they drive her at last into the Hands
of a Rake, who professes the most honourable Passion for her. From the
Moment she is in his Hands, he is plotting how to ruin her: Her
Innocence is above all his Art and Temtations [sic]; so that he is
forced to use other, and yet viler Means. In spite/ /of all her
Virtue, her Person is abused. She resents it, as she ought; and escapes
from him: But, worn out with a continued Series of ill Usage (from her
own Family, as well as from the Villain, and his Adherents), she
continues languishing; and at last dies forgiving all her Enemies.

To give this the greater Strength, the Lady is represented as superior
to all her Sex; and the Rake of a mixt Character, and not so bad as
several of his. She likes the Man; but has no violent Passion for him:
He loves her above all Women; and yet is resolved most steadily to
pursue her Ruin. All her Calamities with him are occasioned, at
first,[34] by going scarce sensibly out of the Bounds of her Duty; and
afterwards, by being betrayed into an Action[35], which she did not
intend; and which, had she intended [it] [sic], under her Circumstances,
was scarce to be blamed. When in his Hands, her Virtue is invincible:
She is perpetually alarmed, and her Prudence is ever on the Watch. And
yet she falls a Prey to his Villainy; and from being the Glory of her
Sex, becomes an Object of our Compassion. If a Clarissa thus fell, what
must the rest of Women expect, if they give greater Encouragements to
yet more abandoned Men?

There are other Side-Morals (and particularly that very instructive one
to Parents, not to insist too rigidly on forcing their Childrens
Inclinations); but this is the direct Moral of the whole Story: "That a
Woman, even of the greatest Abilities, should not enter into any, even
the most guarded, Correspondence with a Rake; and that if she once falls
into his Power, she is undone."

To enforce this Moral, it was necessary to Paint out all the Distresses
of the Sufferer; and to make her suffer to the End: In doing which, the
Author, I dare say, has gi