ue, when thou tellest me, that I would rather marry than lose this
lady. And will she detest me for ever, thinkest thou, if I try her, and
succeed not?--Take care--take care, Jack!--Seest thou not that thou
warnest me that I do not try without resolving to conquer?

I must add, that I have for some time been convinced that I have done
wrong to scribble to thee so freely as I have done (and the more so, if I
make the lady legally mine); for has not every letter I have written to
thee been a bill of indictment against myself? I may partly curse my
vanity for it; and I think I will refrain for the future; for thou art
really very impertinent.

A good man, I own, might urge many of the things thou urgest; but, by my
soul, they come very awkwardly from thee. And thou must be sensible,
that I can answer every tittle of what you writest, upon the foot of the
maxims we have long held and pursued.--By the specimen above, thou wilt
see that I can.

And pr'ythee tell me, Jack, what but this that follows would have been
the epitome of mine and my beloved's story, after ten years'
cohabitation, had I never written to thee upon the subject, and had I not
been my own accuser?

'Robert Lovelace, a notorious woman-eater, makes his addresses in an
honourable way to Miss Clarissa Harlowe; a young lady of the highest
merit--fortunes on both sides out of the question.

'After encouragement given, he is insulted by her violent brother; who
thinks it his interest to discountenance the match; and who at last
challenging him, is obliged to take his worthless life at his hands.

'The family, as much enraged, as if he had taken the life he gave, insult
him personally, and find out an odious lover for the young lady.

'To avoid a forced marriage, she is prevailed upon to take a step which
throws her into Mr. Lovelace's protection.

'Yet, disclaiming any passion for him, she repeatedly offers to renounce
him for ever, if, on that condition, her relations will receive her, and
free her from the address of the man she hates.

'Mr. Lovelace, a man of strong passions, and, as some say, of great
pride, thinks himself under very little obligation to her on this
account; and not being naturally fond of marriage, and having so much
reason to hate her relations, endeavours to prevail upon her to live with
him what he calls the life of honour; and at last, by stratagem, art, and
contrivance, prevails.

'He resolves never to marry any other woma