The Rise of the Novel
C. Knight
L2-3. Skip [Clarissa tells how Lovelace was first introduced as a suitor to Arabella Harlowe, took advantage of her ill temper to have her reject him, kept on good terms with the family, and presented himself as a suitor for Clarissa.]
L4. Read.
L5-6. Skip [Clarissa's family seems angry with her, but allows her to go visit Anna Howe.]
L7-9. Read.
L10. Read the first five and the last four paragraphs.
L11-12. Read.
L13. Read through page 78, paragraph 3, and pp. 82-83.
L14-15. Skip.
L16-17. Read.
L18-20. Skip [Two further interviews between Clarissa and her mother, in the second of which Clarissa learns her father has ordered the patterns for her wedding clothes; Clarissa reviews the general situation in response to a letter from Anna.]
L21-L24. Read.
L25 Skip [Clarissa writes letters to her mother and father in reaction to her brother's letter forbidding their company.]
L26-27. Read.
L28-29. Skip [Clarissa reflects on Anna's reflections, writes unsuccessful letters to her brother and sister.]
L30-31. Read.
L32. Skip. [Clarissa writes her uncles John and Antony Harlowe and receives discouraging answers.]
L33-39. Read.
L40-41. Skip. [Clarissa, continuing her answer to Anna, discusses the positive and negative qualities of Lovelace, as she knows them, to justify her attitude of "conditional liking." Mrs. Harlowe writes Clarissa a kind letter promising gifts and amnesty for past offenses if she agrees to marry Solmes; on Clarissa's refusal, her father writes that marriage will be performed in her uncle Antony's private chapel.]
L42. Optional--a feisty argument between Clary and Bella.
L44-45. Skip. [Clarissa has two conversations with her sister and her kind Aunt Hervey, a sympathetic figure powerless to advise anything but submission.]
L46. Read from p. 208 ("Hickman is a sort. . .").
L47. Skip. [Anna reflects on various points in Clarissa's recent letters.]
L48. Read.
L49. Skip. [Lovelace visits Anna, both impresses and frightens her. She advises Clarissa to become independent by resuming her grandfather's estate.]
L50. Read.
L51-52. Skip. [Clarissa's answer leads to further angry letters between her brother and herself.]
L53. Read.
L54 Skip. [Mrs. Harlowe successfully delays the departure to Antony's. Clarissa composes her mind by composing music to Mrs. Carter's platonic "Ode to Wisdom."]
L55. Read.
L56. Skip.
L57. Read pp. 243-44 (from "But notwithstanding").L58. Skip. [Clarissa and Anna continue to discuss principles, alternatives, and interpretations of Lovelace.]
L59-61. Read.
L62-63. Skip. [Clarissa gets further letters from John Harlowe and Lovelace; the family threatens to send her to her Uncle Antony's. She agrees to a meeting with Lovelace, but changes her mind. The expedition to Uncle Antony's is postponed. Clarissa agrees to meet with Solmes (in her Uncle John's company).]
L64. Read.
L65-68. Skip [Two letters--Anna speculates about Lovelace, contrasts Hickman.]
L69. Read.
L70-74. Skip. [Anna discovers that disturbing rumors about Lovelace's behavior with "Rosebud" are distinctly untrue; continued negotiations between Clarissa and her family make little progress. Anna has received Clarissa's parcels.]
L75. Read.
L76-77. Skip. [Further anticipations of Clarissa's meeting with Solmes.]
L78-80. Read.
L81-83. Skip. [Anna tells Clarissa she must flee to London with Anna, put herself in the protection of Lovelace's family, or marry Lovelace immediately; Clarissa finds none acceptable but flight to London by herself a possibility. Clarissa's aunt tells her that family fears of Lovelace's violence have cancelled the trip to Antony's; instead, Clarissa will be married to Solmes at Harlowe Place on Wednesday. She writes Lovelace promising to meet him on Monday.]
L84-86. Read.
L87-88. Skip. [Anna urges Clarissa to escape with her and warns that if she goes with Lovelace, she must marry him immediately. Clarissa receives a letter from Lovelace outlining several alternatives.]
L89-94. Read.
L95-96. Skip. [Lovelace's letter of instructions to Joseph Leman; his response.]
L97-100. Read.
L101. Skip. [Clarissa's regrets on several counts.]
L102. Read.
L103-105. Skip. [Lovelace's version of the arrival at St. Alban's. His divided feelings towards Clarissa.]
L106-110. Read.
L111-115. Skip. [Exchange between Clarissa and Anna regarding Clarissa's needs, Anna's relations to her mother. Clarissa quizzes Lovelace about the elopement scene: he admits but palliates the role of Joseph Loman; his threats against her family frighten her. Lovelace writes Belford, mocking the Harlowes.]
L116-118. Read.
L119-129. Skip. [The Harlowes seem to have given up plans to follow Clarissa, She and Lovelace negotiate about where she will now go. He suggests Windsor, but can find no apartments available there. He reads her positive passages from his relatives and suggests she stay with them, but she wants to live by herself as a basis for negotiating a return to her family. His suggestion that she go to her Cousin Morden in Italy is not serious. She is interested in going to London; he pretends to be indifferent, but makes inquiries. Clarissa's former servant Hannah is ill and cannot attend her.]
L130-133. Read.
L134-136. Skip. [Clarissa again urges the case of Hickman; worries over corresponding with Anna.]
L137-138. Read.
L139-141. Skip. [Lovelace assures Joseph that he had not raped Miss Betterton, who died bearing his illegitimate child. Clarissa writes her Aunt.]
L142-143. Read.
L144-145. Skip. [Mrs. Hervey tells Clarissa that appearances are against her; no one in the family sympathizes. Clarissa comments to Anna, fears a family plot.]
L146-149. Read.
L150-151. Skip. [Anna encourages Clarissa, urges her to marry Lovelace, reconstructs the Harlowes' plans in confronting Clarissa.]
L152. Read.
L153. Skip. [Clarissa continues to be upset; Lovelace's sympathies are genuine, but he wants to live with her without marriage.]
L154-155. Read.
L156-158. Skip. [Clarissa becomes acquainted with the ladies of the house but tacitly passes as Mrs. Lovelace. Lovelace proposes and looks for a house to which they can move after marriage. He gives instructions to Belford and his other cronies on how to behave when they meet Clarissa.]
L159-162. Read.
L163-168. Skip. [Mrs. Howe forbids correspondence from Anna, but Clarissa will continue to write. Lovelace tells Belford that Clarissa did not like the cronies.]
L169-173. Read.
L174. Skip. [Clarissa feels unprotected, but her family must eventually yield; three further letters summarized.]
L175. Read.
L176-184. [A sailor, supposedly from Capt. Singleton, visits Anna; Anna praises Clarissa ("ADVERSITY is your SHINING-TIME"). Lovelace tells Clarissa that Mrs. Fretchville's will not be available for two weeks. Anna writes Mrs. Norton that Clarissa seeks reconciliation; Mrs. Harlowe writes Mrs. Norton on the family's disappointments in Clarissa. Anna urges Clarissa to marry Lovelace, despite his faults.]
L185-187. Read.
L188-193. Skip. [Anna urges Clarissa to marry; Belford, supported by Lord M., urges Lovelace. Belford tells him of their friend Belton's faithless mistress--further encouragement of marriage.]
L194. Read.
L195-199. Skip. [Anna suggests a further plot, involving a Mrs. Townsend; she sends a comic proposal to her mother from Antony Harlowe and a comic discussion of it with her mother. In Clarissa's absence, Dorcas and the others transcribe passages from Anna's letters, upon which Lovelace comments angrily and violently.]
L200-201. Read.
L202-209. Skip. [Clarissa's letter (unsent but copied by Dorcas) on marriage and her family somewhat softens Lovelace; letters he shows her from his family soften Clarissa. They discuss details of their marriage. He tells Belford he will pretend to be sick.]
L210-214. Read.
215-218. Skip. [Lovelace continues to negotiate generously with Capt. Tomlinson (whom he identifies for Belford as a former forger and conman named Patrick McDonald). Clarissa is heartened by the possibility that Tomlinson will mediate with her uncle. Lovelace applies for a marriage license.]
L219-220. Read.
L221-223. Skip. [Clarissa continues to be touched by the possibility of reconciliation with her uncle. Lovelace is pressured by the expectations of Mrs. Sinclair's women. Belford urges him (at length) to marry Clarissa. (Lovelace responds at length.)]
L224-228. Read.
L229. Skip. [Because of her escape, Clarissa misses an important letter from Anna, which falls into Lovelace's hands: Anna has discovered that Mrs. Sinclair's house (so-called) is a house of ill-repute and that John Harlowe has no friend named Tomlinson. Lovelace forges a frantic answer from Clarissa.]
L230-233. Read.
L234-245. Skip. [Lovelace continues to befuddle the Hampstead ladies by painting Anna Howe as the villainous source of Clarissa's misplaced distress, and he continues (at times with their cooperation) to intercept letters between Anna and Clarissa and to forge substitutes. He continues to push the Tomlinson plot as a way of maintaining contact with Clarissa, and several meetings are described in detail (especially L243-244). Lovelace urges Clarissa to accept the mediation and protection of Lady Betty (his cousin). Clarissa's integrity in renouncing Lovelace moves McDonald (a.k.a. Tomlinson), who urges Lovelace to marry her.]
L246-248. Read.
L250-253. Skip. [While Clarissa is at Church in the afternoon, Lovelace, with the help of the stupid Widow Bevis, succeeds in intercepting a crucial letter from Anna to Clarissa. Lovelace reflects angrily on the letter and writes darkly of subjecting Clarissa to one further trial.]
L254-263. Read.
L264-277. Skip.. [Clarissa and Lovelace have five further conferences: she continues to renounce him, to complain at being held prisoner, and to demand immediate freedom; he pleads for immediate marriage. He becomes more desperate, in part because Lord M. has become gravely ill and Lovelace will have to attend him. He fantasizes a plot to abduct her to yet another house of ill fame, but the plot is foiled by her suspicions of Dorcas (to whom she has promised an annuity in return for help). Tomlinson announces that John Harlowe will come to London on Thursday to see them married, but Clarissa rejects this alternative and seeks only freedom and solitude. Lord M.'s health worsens.]
L278-282. Read.
L283-292. Skip. [Lovelace continues to write desperate but unanswered letters to Clarissa until McDonald (Tomlinson) and Mowbray send news that she has escaped.]
L293-306. Read.
L307-309. Skip. [Clarissa welcomes Mrs. Norton's kindness, as she is otherwise isolated. She does not tell her story but has been the victim of "a regular and preconcerted act of villainy."]
L310-315. Read.
L316-322. Skip. [Anna confirms that Lovelace forged her letters. She and her mother urge Clarissa to persecute him, but Clarissa refuses to do so unless he threatens to harm them. Anna and Clarissa arrange the details of their continuing correspondence. Lovelace writes Belford urging to find Clarissa. He entertains his recovering uncle and even his two cousins with his wild stories.]
L323-325. Read.
L326-328. Skip. [Lovelace is pleased at getting off so easily with his family. Anna reports the visit of his relatives and urges Clarissa to accept the protection of Lady Betty. Anna worries about Clarissa's health of body and mind.]
L329-336. Read.
L337-339. Skip. [Belford visits Clarissa at the Smiths, describes her circumstances to Lovelace. She is helped by the apothecary Mr. Goddard. Her hostile comments on Lovelace's letter (L330).]
L340. Read.
L341. Skip. [Lovelace is angry at Belford for reading Clarissa his letter; he hopes that Clarissa will look more kindly on him when she recovers.]
L342-343. Read.
L344-347. Skip. [Belford reports on Belton, whose long-term mistress was unfaithful to him and who is now dying. Lovelace reports an interview with Hickman, whom he confounds by asserting that he would marry Clarissa but she loves another--Death. Lovelace reflects on Belton's situation.]
348-350. Read.
L351-362. Skip. [Anna writes Arabella Harlowe, seeking forgiveness for Clarissa, but the exchange of letters becomes bitter and insulting. Anna and her mother plan to vacation soon on the Isle of Wight. Anna asks Clarissa for a response to the suggestion she marry Lovelace. Clarissa responds she would prefer death to such a man and explains her position at length. She chides Anna for her spirited exchange with Arabella. She informs Mrs. Norton of her present situation.]
L363. Read.
L364-365. Skip. [Clarissa spends her birthday (July 24) meditating; Belford records his repentant reflections. When he visits her the next day she looks worse. She gives him Lovelace's letters to her. Hickman visits and is shocked at her illness.]
L366. Read.
L367-377. Skip. [Anna tells Clarissa of meeting Lovelace at Colonel Ambrose's party: despite his somewhat outrageous behavior, he tells Anna that he wants to marry Clarissa. Clarissa formally tells Anna that she cannot marry Lovelace, on moral grounds. Lovelace--part mockingly, part seriously--responds to the material of Belford's letters; he suspects that Clarissa's sickness is due to pregnancy. Anna responds to Clarissa's recent letters and sends word of her rejection of Lovelace (along with quotations from her letters) along to the Misses Montague. Mrs. Norton tells Clarissa that her son has recovered; she writes Mrs. Harlowe that Clarissa is very ill and believes herself to be dying. Mrs. Harlowe replies that the family believes Clarissa is "working about to be forgiven and received."]
L378-390. Read.
L391. Skip.
L392-397. Read.
L398-400. Skip. [Clarissa thanks Lovelace's family but declines their "bounty." Belford reports Clarissa's doings (attending Church and writing letters); Mrs. Smith is visited by an officious clergyman (Mr. Brand) asking about Clarissa.]
L401. Read.
L402-407. Skip. [Anna is surprised that Belford should be Clarissa's executor, but Hickman speaks highly of him. John and Antony Harlowe ask Clarissa if she is pregnant; her response is ambiguous.]
L408. Read.
L409-413. Skip. [Clarissa sends a sheaf of materials to Mrs. Norton. Lovelace is ill, apparently seriously, but after the prayers of his family (which he mocks), he recovers. Belford is concerned at his illness, compares Clarissa's situation to Rowe's The Fair Penitent.]
L414. Read.
L415. Skip.
L416-418. Read.
L419-420. Skip. [Belford expresses his anger at Lovelace's attempted visits to Clarissa and describes his own visit to the sickbed of the repentant but despairing Belton.]
L421. Read.
L422-428. Skip. [Lovelace comments on news of Belton and congratulates himself on Clarissa's letter. Belford reports on the agonizing death of Belton. He visits Clarissa and describes her flight from Lovelace's visits. Her doctor fears that she will die in two or three weeks. She sells more clothes to buy a "house." Dr. Lewen urges her to prosecute Lovelace; she gives her reasons for not doing so.]
429-431. Read.
L432-438. Skip. [Mrs. Norton has been visited by Mrs. Hervey, who reveals that Clarissa's brother is the continuing source of her family's hardness. Clarissa urges Anna to marry Hickman. Mr. Wyerley, Clarissa's former suitor, writes of his continuing love and respect. She answers kindly (but negatively).]
L439-440. Read.
L441. Skip. [A conversation between Clarissa and her doctor.]
L442-443. Read.
L444-446. Skip. [Rev. Brand's pompous letter maliciously misinterprets Belford's visits to Clarissa. Belford discusses with Clarissa both Brand's letter and the Lovelace-Morden visit.]
L447-448. Read.
L449. Skip. [Lovelace is irked by the proper interpretation of "my father's house."]
L450-451. Read.
L452-460. Skip. [Belford reports that Clarissa's health continues to decline. Anna tells Clarissa that Col. Morden has visited her; Anna gives him extracts from her letters and defends Belford and his role. Clarissa writes in response. Mrs. Norton describes in detail a conference between Col. Morden and the Harlowes--an argument between Morden and James Harlowe that parallels Morden's meeting with Lovelace. Disgusted by the family's support of James, Morden leaves, declaring not only that he will restore her grandfather's estate to Clarissa but that he will make her his heir. Clarissa is so weak that she can hardly read the letter, and Belford must read her a letter from Col. Morden. She gives him her will and a packet of letters to be delivered after her death.]
L461-464. Read.
L465-473. Skip. [Clarissa writes Mrs. Norton that she will reach a goal more desirable than returning to her parents. The letter is, Belford tells Lovelace, the last she can write. Lovelace is miserable and restless, but Clarissa refuses to meet him even for a deathbed forgiveness. On the next day her sight grows dim; she trembles and faints. Anna's desperate letter is brought; Clarissa's answer--that she expects to die tomorrow--is dictated to Mrs. Lovick. Col. Morden arrives.]
L474-483. Read.
L484-485. Skip. [Similar letters from Arabella and John Harlowe.]
L486. Read.
L487-492. Skip. [Mrs. Norton arrives expecting to bring Clarissa home to her forgiving family, only to find her dead. Belford sends Lovelace Clarissa's posthumous letters to her mother and father, brother and sister, uncles, and other relations.]
L493-494. Read.
L495-496. Skip. [Mowbray's letter tells of Lovelace's madness.]
L497. Read.
L498-499. Optional. [Belford describes, at length and in grisly detail, the agonies of Mrs. Sinclair, whose broken leg led to fever and infection.]
L500. Read.
L501-504. Skip. [With similar melancholy detail, Morden describes the viewing of the body by the Harlowes and Anna; Clarissa is buried with universal grief. James Harlowe, Jr. wants Belford to withdraw as Clarissa's executor.]
L505-507. Read.
The Will. Skip. [Clarissa forgives everyone, makes many individual gifts, leaves her real property to her father, but uses most of the income for a fund for the poor.]
L508-509. Read.
L510-512. Skip. [Letters between Belford and Hickman; Belford sends Anna Clarissa's posthumous letter to Lovelace (forgiving him, admitting she once loved him, urging him to repent). Two letters from Lovelace shift between despair and lightheadedness.]
L513. Read.
L514-516. Skip. [Belford informs Lovelace of the death not only of Mrs. Sinclair but of Tomlinson. (Who will be next?) He describes his steps towards reformation and his future plans. Lovelace complains about the accusations of his family, commends Belford on his reformation, and compares their rakish roles in the past. He is preparing to leave England.
L517-518. Read.
L519-520. Skip. [Morden admits the strength of Clarissa's arguments against dueling, but he must contend with his sharp disappointment at the loss of Clarissa, with his strong sense of Lovelace's cruelties, and with the bitter sufferings of the bereaved family. He has visited Miss Howe; he praises her friendship for Clarissa but urges her to do justice to Hickman.]
L521-522. Read.
L523-524. Skip. [Anna defends her behavior towards Hickman.]
L525. Read.
L526. Skip. [Belford meets Lovelace in London: Lovelace is jolly and chides Belford on his reformation; Belford, knowing Morden is returning to Italy, urges Lovelace to go to Spain.]
L527. Read.
L528-529. Skip. [Belford and Morden cement their mutual regard by making each other their executors. Anna, at Belford's request, writes a long letter on how Clarissa usually apportioned her time.]
L530-531. Skip. [Lovelace, now in Paris, intends to go to Italy via Germany and Austria.]
L532-537. Read.
Conclusion and Postscript. Skip. [In the "Conclusion" Belford sketches the fates of the remaining characters. Anna does marry Hickman; Belford marries Charlotte Montague. The Harlowe family does not recover its loss. In the "Postscript" Richardson defends the novel as a means of inculcating Christian virtue and argues that he has observed appropriate poetic justice.]