The Correspondence of Samuel Richardson, Author of Pamela, Clarissa, and Sir Charles Grandison: Selected from the Original Manuscripts, Bequeathed by Him to His Family, to which are Prefixed, a Biographical Account of that Author, and Observations on His Writings

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Richard Phillips, 1804

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Page ccxi - And shuts the scene. Ah! whither now are fled Those dreams of greatness? those unsolid hopes Of happiness ? those longings after fame ? Those restless cares? those busy bustling days?
Page xxxix - As a bashful and not forward boy, I was an early favourite with all the young women of taste and reading in the neighbourhood. Half a dozen of them, when met to work with their needles, used, when they got a book they liked, and thought I should, to borrow me to read to them ; their mothers sometimes with them ; and both mothers and daughters used to be pleased with the observations they put me upon making.
Page lxxiv - ... easy and natural manner, suitably to the simplicity of it, might possibly introduce a new species of writing, that might possibly turn young people into a course of reading different from the pomp and parade of romance-writing, and dismissing the improbable and marvellous, with which novels generally abound, might tend to promote the cause of religion and virtue. I therefore gave way to enlargement and so Pamela became as you see her.
Page cxx - Of all representations of madness, that of Clementina, in the ' History of Sir Charles Grandison,' is the most deeply interesting. I know not whether even the madness of Lear is wrought up, and expressed by so many little strictures of nature and genuine passion. Shall I say it is pedantry to prefer and compare the madness of Orestes in Euripides to this of Clementina ?" The year after the publication of this work, Richardson became master of the Stationers
Page cii - The real moral of Clarissa is, that virtue is triumphant in every situation ; that in circumstances the most painful and degrading, in a prison, in a brothel, in grief, in distraction, in despair, it is still lovely, still commanding, still the object of our veneration...
Page lxix - ... and particularly he asked who was the owner of a fine house, as it seemed to him, beautifully situated, which he had passed by (describing it) within a mile or two of the inn.
Page lxxvi - ... prefaces for it, but which were much too long and circumstantial, as I thought, made me resolve myself on writing a preface ; I therefore, spirited by the good opinion of these four, and knowing that the judgments of nine parts in ten of readers were but in hanging-sleeves, struck a bold stroke in the preface you see, having the umbrage of the editor's character * to screen myself behind. — And thus, sir, all is out.
Page xxx - ... for him having on the Duke's attempt on the crown, subjected him to be looked upon with a jealous eye, notwithstanding he was noted for a quiet and inoffensive man, he thought proper, on the decollation of the first-named unhappy nobleman, to quit his London business, and to retire to Derbyshire, though to his great detriment; and there I, and three other children out of nine, were born.
Page 121 - And few, very few are they who make it their study and their labour, to stem the tide of popular disapprobation or prejudice. Besides, I am of opinion that it is necessary for a genius to accommodate itself to the mode and taste of the world it is cast into, since works published in this age must take root in it to flourish in the next.
Page lxxii - The gentleman who told me this, added, that he had the curiosity to stay in the neighbourhood from Friday to Sunday, that he might see this happy couple at church, from which they never absented themselves : that, in short, he did see them ; that her deportment was all sweetness, ease, and dignity mingled; that he never saw a lovelier woman : that her husband was as fine a man, and seemed even proud of his choice ; and that she attracted the respects of the persons of rank present, and had the blessings...

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