know. And here I am, attending your plea sure. My charmer owned afterwards her concern on my being so short. Whatever I shall mingle of her emotions, thou wilt easily guess I had afterwards. Sir, I hope no offence. I intend none. Sir, I have no interest in the affair I come about. I may appear officious; and, if I thought I should, I would decline any concern in it, after I have just hinted what it is. And pray, sir, what is it? May I ask you, sir, without offence, whether you wish to be reconciled, and to co-operate upon honourable terms, with one gentleman of the name of Harlowe; preparative, as it may be hoped, to a general reconciliation? O how my heart fluttered! cried my charmer. I can't tell, sir-[and then it fluttered still more, no doubt; The whole family have used me extremely ill. They have taken greater liberties with my character than are justifiable; and with my family too; which I can less forgive. Sir, sir, I have done. I beg pardon for this intrusion. My beloved was then ready to sink, and thought very hardly of me. But, pray, sir, to the immediate purpose of your present commission; since a commission it seems to be? It is a commission, sir; and such a one, as I thought would be agreeable to all parties, or I should not have given myself concern about it. Perhaps it may, sir, when known. But let me ask you one previous question-Do you know Colonel Morden, sir? No, sir. If you mean personally, I do not. But I have heard my good friend, Mr John Harlowe, talk of him with great respect; and as a co-trustee with him in a certain trust. Lovel. I thought it probable, sir, that the Colonel might be arrived; that you might be a gentleman of his acquaintance; and that something of an agreeable surprise might be intended. Capt. Had Colonel Morden been in England, Mr John Harlowe would have known it; and then I should not have been a stranger to it. Lovel. Well but, sir, have you then any commission to me from Mr John Harlowe ? Capt. Sir, I will tell you, as briefly as I can, the whole of what I have to say; but you'll excuse me also a previous question, for which curiosity is not my motive; but it is necessary to be answered before I can proceed; as you will judge when you hear it. Lovel. What, pray, sir, is your question? Capt. Briefly, whether you are actually, and bona fide, married to Miss Clarissa Harlowe ? I started, and, in a haughty tone, Is this, sir, a question that must be answered before you can proceed in the business you have undertaken? I mean no offence, Mr Lovelace. Mr Harlowe sought to me to undertake this office. I have daughters and nieces of my own. I thought it a good office, or I, who have many considerable affairs upon my hands, had not accepted of it. I know the world; and will take the liberty to say, that, if that young lady Captain Tomlinson, I think you are called? Why, then, Captain Tomlinson, no liberty, as you call it, will be taken well, that is not extremely delicate, when that lady is mentioned. When you had heard me out, Mr Lovelace, and had found I had so behaved as to make the caution necessary, it would have been just to have given it. Allow me to say, I know what is due to the character of a woman of virtue as well as any man alive. Why, sir,-why, Captain Tomlinson,-you seem warm. If you intend anything by this, [O how I trembled! said the lady, when she took notice of this part of our conversation afterwards, I will only say, that this is a privileged place. It is at present my home, and an asylum for any gentleman who thinks it worth his while to inquire after me, be the manner or end of his inquiry what it will. I know not, sir, that I have given occasion for this. I make no scruple to attend you elsewhere if I am troublesome here. I was told, I had a warm young gentleman to deal with ; but, as I knew my intention, and that my commission was an amicable one, I was the less concerned about that. I am twice your age, Mr Lovelace, I dare say; but I do assure you, that, if either my message or my manner give you offence, I can suspend the one or the other for a day, or for ever, as you like. And so, sir, any time before eight to-morrow morning you will let me know your further commands. And was going to tell me where he might be found. Captain Tomlinson, said I, you answer well. I love a man of spirit. Have you not been in the army? I have, sir; but have turned my sword into a ploughshare, as the Scripture has it,-There was a clever fellow, Jack! He was a good man with somebody, I warrant! O what a fine coat and cloak for an hypocrite will a text of Scripture, properly applied, make at any time in the eye of the pious! How easily are the good folks taken in!-and all my delight, added he, for some years past, has been in cultivating my paternal estate. I love a brave man, Mr Lovelace, as well as ever I did in my life; but let me tell you, sir, that, when you come to my time of life, you will be of opinion, that there is not so much true bravery in youthful choler as you may now think there is. A clever fellow again, Belford !-Ear and heart, both at once, he took in my charmer!'Tis well, she says, there are some men who have wisdom in their anger. Well, captain, that is reproof for reproof; so we are upon a footing. And now give me the pleasure of hearing the import of your commission. Sir, you must first allow me to repeat my question, Are you really, and bona fide, married to Miss Clarissa Harlowe, or are you not yet married? Bluntly put, captain. But if I answer that I am, what then? Why then, sir, I shall say that you are a man of honour. That I hope I am, whether you say it or not, Captain Tomlinson. Sir, I will be very frank in all I have to say on this subject.-Mr John Harlowe has lately found out, that you and his niece are both in the same lodgings; that you have been long so; and that the lady was at the play with you yesterday was se'ennight; and he hopes that you are actually married. He has, indeed, heard that you are; but, as he knows your enterprizing temper, and that you have declared, that you disdain a relation to their family, he is willing, by me, to have your marriage confirmed from your own mouth, before he take the steps he is inclined to take in his niece's favour. You will allow me to say, Mr Lovelace, that he will not be satisfied with an answer that admits of the least doubt. Let me tell you, Captain Tomlinson, that it is a high degree of vileness for any man to sup pose Sir-Mr Lovelace-don't put yourself into a passion. The lady's relations are jealous of the honour of their family: they have prejudices to overcome as well as you. Advantage may have been taken, and the lady at the time not to blame. This lady, sir, could give no such advantages; and if she had, what must the man be, Captain Tomlinson, who could have taken them?-Do you know the lady, sir? I never had the honour to see her but once, and that was at church; and should not know her again. Not know her again, sir! I thought there was not a man living who had once seen her, and would not know her among a thousand. I remember, sir, that I thought I never saw a finer woman in my life. But, Mr Lovelace, I believe you will allow, that it is better that her relations should have wronged you, than you the lady. I hope, sir, you will permit me to repeat my question. Enter Dorcas, in a hurry. A gentleman, this minute, sir, desires to speak with your honour-[My lady, sir !—Aside.] Could the dear creature put Dorcas upon telling this fib, yet want to save me one? 1 Desire the gentleman to walk into one of the parlours. I will wait on him presently. [Exit Dorcas. The dear creature, I doubted not, wanted to instruct me how to answer the captain's homeput. I knew how I intended to answer itplumb, thou mayest be sure-but Dorcas's message staggered me. And yet I was upon one of my master-strokes-which was, to take advantage of the captain's inquiries, and to make her own her marriage before him, as she had done to the people below; and, if she had been brought to that, to induce her, for her uncle's satisfaction, to write him a letter of gratitude, which, of course, must have been signed Clarissa Lovelace. I was loath, therefore, thou mayest believe, to attend her sudden commands; and yet, afraid of pushing matters beyond recovery with her, I thought proper to lead him from the question, to account for himself and for Mr Harlowe's coming at the knowledge of where we are, and for other particulars, which I knew would engage her attention, and which might possibly convince her of the necessity there was for her to acquiesce in the affirmative I was disposed to give. And this for her own sake: for what, as I asked her afterwards, is it to me, whether I am ever reconciled to her family? A family, Jack, which I must for ever despise. You think, captain, that I have answered doubtfully to the question you put. You may think so. And you must know that I have a good deal of pride; and, only that you are a gentleman, and seem in this affair to be governed by generous motives, or I should ill brook being interrogated as to my honour to a lady so dear to me.-But, before I answer more directly to the point, pray, satisfy me in a question or two tha I shall ut to you. With all my heart, sir. Ask me what questions you please, I will answer them with sincerity and candour. You say, Mr Harlowe has found out that we were at a play together; and that we were both in the same lodgings. How, pray, came he at his knowledge? For let me tell you, that I have, for certain considerations, (not respecting myself, I will assure you,) condescended that our abode should be kept secret; and this has been so strictly observed, that even Miss Howe, though she and my beloved correspond, knows not directly where to send to us. Why, sir, the person who saw you at the play was a tenant of Mr John Harlowe. He watched all your motions. When the play was done, he followed your coach to your lodgings; and, early the next day, Sunday, he took horse, and acquainted his landlord with what he had observed. Lovel. How oddly things come about!—But does any other of the Harlowes know where we are? Capt. It is an absolute secret to every other person of the family, and so it is intended to be kept. As also, that Mr John Harlowe is willing to enter into treaty with you by me, if his niece be actually married; for perhaps he is aware, that he shall have difficulty enough with some people to bring about the desirable reconciliation although he could give them this assurance. I doubt it not, captain. To James Harlowe is all the family folly owing.-Fine fools! [heroically stalking about, to be governed by one to whom malice, and not genius, gives the busy liveliness that distinguishes him from a natural. -But how long, pray, sir, has Mr John Harlowe been in this pacific disposition? I will tell you, Mr Lovelace, and the occasion; and be very explicit upon it, and upon all that concerns you to know of me, and of the commission I have undertaken to execute; and this the rather, as, when you have heard me out, you will be satisfied, that I am not an officious man in this my present address to you. I am all attention, Captain Tomlinson. And so I doubt not was my beloved. Capt. You must know, sir, that I have not been many months in Mr John Harlowe's neighbourhood. I removed from Northamptonshire, partly for the sake of better managing one of two executorships which I could not avoid engaging in, (the affairs of which frequently call me to town, and are part of my present business,) and partly for the sake of occupying a neglected farm which has lately fallen into my hands. But, though an acquaintance of no longer standing, and that commencing on the bowling-green, Uncle John is a great bowler, Belford, upon my decision of a point to every one's satisfaction which was appealed to me by all the gentlemen, and which might have been attended with bad consequences, no two brothers have a more cordial esteem for each other. You know, Mr Lovelace, that there is a consent, as I may call it, in some minds, which will unite them stronger together in a few hours than years can do with others, whom yet we see not with disgust. Lovel. Very true, captain. Capt. It was on the foot of this avowed friendship on both sides, that, on Monday the 15th, as I very well remember, Mr Harlowe invited himself home with me; and, when there, he acquainted me with the whole of the unhappy affair that had made them all so uneasy. Till then I knew it only by report; for, intimate as we were, I forebore to speak of what was so near his heart till he began first. And then he told me, that he had had an application made to him two or three days before, by a gentleman whom he named,* to induce him not only to be reconciled himself to his niece, but to forward for her a general reconciliation. A like application, he told me, had been made to his sister Harlowe, by a good woman whom everybody respected; who had intimated, that his niece, if encouraged, would again put herself into the protection of her friends, and leave you; but, if not, that she must unavoidably be yours. I hope, Mr Lovelace, I make no mischief.You look concerned-you sigh, sir. Proceed, Captain Tomlinson; pray, proceed. -And I sighed still more profoundly. Capt. They all thought it extremely particular, that a lady should decline marriage with a man she had so lately gone away with. Pray, captain-pray, Mr Tomlinson, no more of this subject. My beloved is an angel; in everything unblamable. Whatever faults there have been, have been theirs and mine.-What you would further say is, that the unforgiving family rejected her application; they did. She and I had had a misunderstanding the falling out of lovers you know, captain. We have been happier ever since.. Capt. Well, sir; but Mr John Harlowe could not but better consider the matter afterwards : and he desired my advice how to act in it. He told me, that no father ever loved a daughter as he loved this niece of his, whom, indeed, he used to call his daughter-niece. He said, she had really been unkindly treated by her brother and sister; and, as your alliance, sir, was far from being a discredit to their family, he would do his endeavour to reconcile all parties, if he could be sure that ye were actually man and wife. Lovel. And what, pray, captain, was your advice? Capt. I gave it as my opinion, that, if his niece were unworthily treated and in distress, as he apprehended from the application to him, he would soon hear of her again; but that it was likely, that this application was made without expecting it would succeed, and as a salvo only to herself for marrying without their consent. And the rather thought I so, as he had told me, that it came from a young lady, her friend, and not in a direct way from herself; which young lady was no favourite of the family, and therefore would hardly have been employed had success been expected. Lovel. Very well, Captain Tomlinson-pray, proceed. Capt. Here the matter rested till last Sunday evening, when Mr John Harlowe came to me with the man who had seen you and your lady, as I presume she is, at the play, and who had assured him that you both lodged in the same house; and then, the application having been so lately-made, which implied that you were not then married, he was so uneasy for his See Letters LXXXIV. and XC. of this Volume. niece's honour, that I advised him to despatch to town some one in whom he could confide to make proper inquiries. Lovel. Very well, captain. And was such a person employed on such an errand by her uncle? Capt. A trusty and discreet person was accordingly sent; and, last Tuesday, I think it was, for he returned to us on the Wednesday, he made the inquiries among the neighbours first. [The very inquiry, Jack, that gave us all so much uneasiness. But, finding that none of them could give any satisfactory account, the lady's woman was come at, who declared that you were actually married; but, the inquirist keeping himself on the reserve as to his employers, the girl refused to tell the day, or to give him other particulars. Lovel. You give a very clear account of everything, Captain Tomlinson. Pray, proceed. Capt. The gentleman returned; and, on his report, Mr Harlowe, having still some doubts, and being willing to proceed on some grounds in so important a point, besought me, as my affairs called me frequently to town, to undertake this matter. "You, Mr Tomlinson," he was pleased to say, "have children of your own; you know the world; you know what I drive at. You will proceed, I am sure, with understanding and spirit; and whatever you are satisfied with shall satisfy me.' Enter Dorcas again, in a hurry. The captain then accounted for his not calling in person, when he had reason to think us here. He said, he had business of consequence a few miles out of town, whither he thought he must have gone yesterday; and, having been obliged to put off his little journey till this day, and understanding that we were within, not knowing whether he should have such another opportunity, he was willing to try his good fortune before he set out-and this made him come booted and spurred as I saw him. He dropped a hint in commendation of the people of the house; but it was in such a way as to give no room to suspect, that he thought it necessary to inquire after the character of persons who make so genteel an appearance, as he observed they do. And here let me remark, that my beloved might collect another circumstance in favour of the people below had she doubted their characters, from the silence of her uncle's inquirist on Tuesday among the neighbours. Capt. And now, sir, that I believe I have satisfied you in everything relating to my com mission, I hope you will permit me to repeat my question, which is Enter Dorcas again, out of breath. Sir, the gentleman will step up to you. [My lady is impatient. She wonders at your honour's delay.-Aside.] Excuse me, captain, for one moment. I have staid my full time, Mr Lovelace. What may result from my question and your answer, whatever it shall be, may take us up time, and you are engaged. Will you permit me to attend you in the morning, before I set out on my return? You will then breakfast with me, captain? It must be early if I do. I must reach my own house to-morrow night, or I shall make the best of wives unhappy; and I have two or three places to call at in my way. It shall be by seven o'clock, if you please, captain. We are early folks. And this I will tell you, that, if ever I am reconciled to a family so implacable as I have always found the Harlowes to be, it must be by the mediation of so. cool and so moderate a gentleman as yourself. And so, with the highest civilities on both sides, we parted. But, for the private satisfaction of so good a man, I left him out of doubt that we were man and wife, though I did not directly aver it. LETTER CXXII. MR LOVELACE TO JOHN belford, esq. Sunday Night. THIS Captain Tomlinson is one of the happiest as well as one of the best men in the world. What would I give to stand as high in my beloved's opinion as he does!-but yet I am as good a man as he, were I to tell my own story, and have equal credit given to it. But the devil should have had him before I had seen him on the account he came upon, had I thought I should not have answered my principal end in it. I hinted to thee in my last what that was. But to the particulars of the conference between my fair-one and me on her hasty messages, which I was loath to come to, because she has had an half triumph over me in it. After I had attended the captain down to the very passage, I returned to the dining-room, and put on a joyful air on my beloved's entrance into it-O my dearest creature, said I, let me congratulate you on a prospect so agreeable to your wishes! And I snatched her hand, and smothered it with kisses. I was going on; when, interrupting me, You see, Mr Lovelace, said she, how you have em See Letter CXI. of this Volume. barrassed yourself by your obliquities! You see that you have not been able to return a direct answer to a plain and honest question, though upon it depends all the happiness on the prospect of which you congratulate me! You know, my best love, what my prudent, and, I will say, my kind motives were for giving out that we were married. You see that I have taken no advantage of it, and that no inconvenience has followed it. You see that your uncle wants only to be assured from ourselves that it is so Not another word on this subject, Mr Lovelace. I will not only risk, but I will forfeit, the reconciliation so near my heart, rather than I will go on to countenance a story so untrue. My dearest soul! would you have me ap pear I I would have you appear, sir, as you are. am resolved that I will appear to my uncle's friend, and to my uncle, as I am. For one week, my dearest life! Cannot you for one week-only till the settlements— Not for one hour, with my own consent. You don't know, sir, how much I have been afflicted that I have appeared to the people below what I am not. But my uncle, sir, shall never have it to upbraid me, nor will I to upbraid myself, that I have wilfully passed upon him in false lights. What, my dear, would you have me to say to the captain to-morrow morning? I have given him room to think Then put him right, Mr Lovelace. Tell the truth. Tell him what you please of the favour of your relations to me tell him what you will about the settlements; and if, when drawn, you will submit them to his perusal and approbation, it will shew him how much you are in earnest. My dearest life!-Do you think that he would disapprove of the terms I have offered ? No. Then may I be accursed, if I willingly submit to be trampled under foot by my enemies! And may I, Mr Lovelace, never be happy in this life, if I submit to the passing upon my uncle Harlowe a wilful and premeditated falsehood for truth! I have too long laboured under the affliction which the rejection of all my friends has given me, to purchase my reconciliation with them now at so dear a price as that of my veracity. The women below, my dear What are the women below to me? I want not to establish myself with them. Need they know all that passes between my relations and you and me? Neither are they anything to me, madam. Only that, when, for the sake of preventing the fatal mischiefs which might have attended your brother's projects, I have made them think us married, I would not appear to them in a light which you yourself think so shocking. By my soul, madam, I had rather die than contradict myself so flagrantly, after I have related to them so many circumstances of our marriage. Well, sir, the women may believe what they please. That I have given countenance to what you told them, is my error. The many circumstances which you own one untruth has drawn you in to relate, is a justification of my refusal in the present case. Don't you see, madam, that your uncle wishes to find that we are married? May not the ceremony be privately over, before his mediation can take place? Urge this point no further, Mr Lovelace. If you will not tell the truth, I will to-morrow morning (if I see Captain Tomlinson) tell it myself. Indeed I will. Will you, madam, consent that things pass as before with the people below? This mediation of Tomlinson may come to nothing. Your brother's schemes may be pursued, the rather that now he will know (perhaps from your uncle) that you are not under a legal protection. You will, at least, consent that things pass here as before? To permit this, is to go on in an error, Mr Lovelace; but, as the occasion for so doing (if there can be in your opinion an occasion that will warrant an untruth) will, as I presume, soon be over, I shall the less dispute that point with you. But a new error I will not be guilty of, if I can avoid it. Can I, do you think, madam, have any dishonourable view in the step I supposed you would not scruple to take towards a reconciliation with your own family? Not for my own sake, you know, did I wish you to take it; for what is it to me, if I am never reconciled to your family? I want no favours from them. I hope, Mr Lovelace, there is no occasion, in our present not disagreeable situation, to answer such a question. And let me say, that I shall think my prospects still more agreeable, if, to-morrow morning, you will not only own the very truth, but give my uncle's friend such an account of the steps you have taken, and are taking, as may keep up my uncle's favourable intentions towards me. This you may do under what restrictions of secrecy you please.Captain Tomlinson is a prudent man; a promoter of family peace, you find, and, I dare say, may be made a friend. I saw there was no help; I saw that the inflexible Harlowe spirit was all up in her.-A little witch!-A little-Forgive me, Love, for calling her names! And so I said, with an air, We have had too many misunderstandings, madam, for me to wish for new ones; I will obey you without reserve. Had I not thought I should have obliged you by the other method, (espe |