in the whole, yet do those two
so strongly fix his Character, that every Reader may see of what
Consequence he made himself to Society; namely, to act the blustring
Part in a Club of Rakes, to fill a Seat at the Table, and assist in
keeping up the Roar and Noise necessary to make the Life of such
Assemblies.

Mr. _Belford's_ Letters prove, that he acts the second Part under Mr.
_Lovelace_; he follows the Paths the other beats through the thorny
Labyrinths of wild Libertinism; he has not the lively Humour of
_Lovelace_, altho' in Understanding I think he has rather the Advantage;
and his not being quite so lively, is owing to his not giving such a
loose to every unbridled Fancy; but he has less Pride, and consequently
more Humanity: this appears in the many Arguments he makes use of to his
Friend in favour of _Clarissa_; but these Arguments, as they are only
the Produce of sudden Starts of Compassion, and have no fixed Principle
for their Basis, could have no Weight with _Lovelace_; and the
fluctuating of a Mind sometimes intruded upon by the Force of
Good-nature, and then again actuated by the Principles of Libertinism,
is finely set before us by _Belford's_ Writings. And as there is a great
Beauty throughout the whole of _Clarissa_, in the specific Difference of
Stile preserved by every Writer, so is there an inimitable Beauty in
_Belford_ differing from himself, when he changes the State of his Mind;
his Stile accompanies that Change, and he appears another Man. He was
always more of the true Gentleman in his Stile than _Lovelace_, because
his Will was not enough overbearing to break through all Bounds; but
when his Mind is softned by the many different Deaths he is witness of,
and he becomes animated by _Clarissa's_ Example to think in earned of
reforming his Life, the Gentleman and the Christian increase together,
till he becomes at once the Executor of _Clarissa's_ Will, and, if I may
be allowed the Expression, the Heir to her Principles.

In _Lovelace's_ Stile, his Humour, his Parts, his Pride, his wild Desire
of throwing Difficulties in his own way, in order to conquer them, and
exercise his own intriguing Spirit, break forth in every Line. His
impetuous Will, unrestrained from his Infancy, as he himself complains,
by his Mother, and long accustomed to bear down all before it, destroys
the Gentleman, and equally every other amiable Qualification: For tho' a
Knowledge of the Customs of the World may make a Man in