hou art: for I cannot trust to temporary remorse; which
brought on by disappointment too, and not by principle, and the like of
which thou hast so often got over.

If thou canst convince me time enough for the day, that thou meanest to
do honourably by her, in her own sense of the word; or, if not time
enough, wilt fix some other day, (which thou oughtest to leave to her
option, and not bind her down for the Thursday; and the rather, as thy
pretence for so doing is founded on an absolute fiction;) I will then
most cheerfully undertake thy cause; by person, if she will admit me to
her presence; if she will not, by pen. But, in this case, thou must
allow me to be guarantee for thy family. And, if so, so much as I value
thee, and respect thy skill in all the qualifications of a gentleman,
thou mayest depend upon it, that I will act up to the character of a
guarantee, with more honour than the princes of our day usually do----to
their shame be it spoken.

Mean time let me tell thee, that my heart bleeds for the wrong this
angelic lady has received: and if thou dost not marry her, if she will
have thee, and, when married, make her the best and tenderest of
husbands, I would rather be a dog, a monkey, a bear, a viper, or a toad,
than thee.

Command me with honour, and thou shalt find none readier to oblige thee
than

Thy sincere friend,
JOHN BELFORD.

LETTER XLII

MR. LOVELACE, TO JOHN BELFORD, ESQ.
M. HALL, JUNE 27. TUESDAY NIGHT, NEAR 12.

Your's reached me this moment, by an extraordinary push in the
messengers.

What a man of honour thou of a sudden!----

And so, in the imaginary shape of a guarantee, thou threatenest me!

Had I not been in earnest as to the lady, I should not have offered to
employ thee in the affair. But, let me say, that hadst thou undertaken
the task, and I hadst afterwards thought fit to change my mind, I should
have contented myself to tell thee, that that was my mind when thou
engagedst for me, and to have given thee the reasons for the change, and
then left thee to thy own discretion: for never knew I what fear of man
was--nor fear of woman neither, till I became acquainted with Miss
Clarissa Harlowe, nay, what is most surprising, till I came to have her
in my power.

And so thou wilt not wait upon the charmer of my heart, but upon terms
and conditions!--Let it alone and be curs'd; I care not.--But so much
credit did I give to the value thou expressedst for her, that I th