heming little minx, and he does not seem
to be much interested in her; despite his approval of Fielding and his
preference of Allworthy to Grandison, he shows little interest in the
Fielding-Richardson opposition, even omitting the Tom Jones-Grandison
antithesis which seemed obvious to many; he passes over the admired
Italian story, the madness of Clementina, and the issues raised by Sir
Charles' proposed marriage with a Catholic; nor does he offer the
familiar comment, soon to become a _cliche_, on the excessive
idealization of Sir Charles.

His best points do not follow from his jejune critical principles,
but from close reading that forces him at times to admit that he is
interested even while he carps and cavils. His predictions about the
last volume of _Grandison_ show that the story has at least carried him
along. His admiration for the character of Clarissa, though based on his
approval of idealization, is really a tribute to Richardson's art,
and his qualification that Clarissa is "rather too good, at least too
methodically so," is fair enough, as is the comment about Grandison's
"showy and ostentatious" benevolence and his excessive variety of
accomplishments. The judgment about Richardson's incessant emphasis on
sex anticipates much later criticism, and is made at first hand, though
connected with the stock comment that modern tragedies dwell too
exclusively on the passion of love. There is truth in the observation
that Mr. B-- and Lovelace think nothing can be done with women except by
bribery, corruption, and terror, that Richardson is unable to describe a
plausible seducer. The author of the _Candid Examination_ seems to take
up this cue when he says of the same pair, "I am of Opinion, that
neither of the two Gentlemen conducted themselves so, as to overcome an
ordinary Share of Virtue" (p. 24). Nevertheless the discussion in the
_Critical Remarks_ is thrown out of balance by exaggerated talk about
the portrayal of licentious scenes.

One important observation is that _Grandison_ duplicates some of the
principal characters in _Clarissa_: Charlotte Grandison is Anna Howe;
her much-enduring husband Lord G-- is Mr. Hickman (the writer expands
G-- to "Goosecap" on the model of Fielding's Mr. Booby); Pollexfen is
Lovelace. This is self-evident, but may have been suggested by the
conversation in which Harriet Byron calls Charlotte "a very Miss Howe,"
while Charlotte refers to Lord G-- as "a very Mr. Hickman" (_G