r.

I confess I was against the Story's ending unhappily, till I saw the
Conclusion; but I now think the different Deaths of the many Persons
(for in this Point also the Difference is as essentially preserved, as
in the Characters or Scenes) who fall in the winding up the Catastrophy
in the seventh Volume, produce as noble a Moral as can be invented by
the Wit of Man.

The broken Spirit, the dejected Heart that pursue poor _Belton_ through
his last Stage of Life (brought on by a lingering Illness, and ill Usage
from an artful Woman to whom Vice had attached him, and increased by his
Soul's being startled and awaked from that thoughtless Lethargy in which
Vice had so long lulled him) naturally break forth in those fearful
Tremors, those agonizing pannic Terrors of the Mind, which follow him to
the End, and make a strong and lively Picture of the Terrors of Death
first thought on, when Life was flying, and could no longer supply the
flowing Blood and vital Heat that animates the mortal Frame.

Mrs. _Sinclair's_ Death is very different; the Suddenness of her
Departure had not given Time for a regular Decay of her Strength, and
the same animal Spirits which used to support her in the noisy Roar of a
profligate Life, now like so many Vultures preyed on her own Bosom, and
assisted to express the dreadful Horrors of an unexpected Death.

_Lovelace_, when he comes to die, is full of Rage and Disappointment;
his uncontrouled Spirit, unused to be baffled, cannot quietly submit to
the great and universal Conqueror Death himself. On his Death-bed he is
a lively Picture of the End of that worldly Wisdom which is Foolishness
with God. His strong Imagination that assisted him to form and carry on
those _cunning_ Plots which he pursued to his own Destruction, now
assisted his Conscience to torment his Soul, and set before his Eyes the
injured Innocent who would have contributed to the utmost of her Power
that he might have spent all his Days in Peace and Joy. In short, he
fluttered like a gay Butterfly in the Sunshine of Prosperity; he
wandered from the Path that leads to Happiness: In the Bloom of Youth he
fell a Sacrifice to his own Folly: his Life was a Life of Violence, and
his Death was a Death of Rage.

Whilst the gentle _Clarissa's_ Death is the natural Consequence of her
innocent Life; her calm and prepared Spirit, like a soft smooth Stream,
flows gently on, till it slides from her Misfortunes, and she leaves the
World fre