Chapter 39
letter thirty nine of clarissa harlowe or the history of a young lady vol i letter thirty nine mr lovelace to john belford esq i am preparing to leave this kingdom mowbray and tourville promised to give me their company in a month or two i'll give thee my route i shall first to paris and for some amusement and diversion sake try to renew some of my old friendships thence to some of the german courts thence perhaps to vienna thence descend through bavaria and the tyrol to venice where i shall keep the carnival thence to florence and turin thence again over mount senis to france and when i return again to paris shall expect to see my friend belford who by that time i doubt not will be all crusted and bearded over with penitence self-denial and mortification a very anchorite only an itinerant one journeying over in hope to cover a multitude of his own sins by proselyting his old companions but let me tell thee jack if stock rises on as it has done since i wrote my last letter i am afraid thou will find a difficult task in succeeding should such be thy purpose nor i verily think can thy own penitence and reformation hold
strong habits are not so easily rooted out old satan has had too much benefit from thy faithful services for a series of years to let thee so easily get out of his clutches he knows what we'll do with thee a fine strapping boner roba in the charter's taste but well-limbed clear complexion and turkish eyed thou the first man with her or made to believe so which is the same thing how will thy frosty face be illuminated by it a composition will be made between thee and the grand tempter thou wilt promise to do him suit and service till old age and inability come and then will he in all probability be sure of thee for ever for were thou to outlive thy present reigning appetites he will trump up some other darling sin or make in our secondary one darling in order to keep thee firmly attached to his infernal interests thou wilt continue resolving to amend but never amending till grown old before thou art aware a dozen years after thou art old with everybody else thy for time built tenement having lasted its allotted period he claps down upon thy grizzled head the universal trap-door and then all will be over with thee in his own way thou wilt think these hints uncharacteristic from me but yet i cannot help warning thee of the danger thou art actually in which is the greater as thou seemest not to know it a few words more therefore on this subject thou hast made good resolutions
if thou keepest them not thou wilt never be able to keep any but nevertheless if the devil in thy time of life are against thee and six to one thou failest were it only that thou hast resolved six to one thou failest and if thou dost thou wilt become the scoff of men and the triumph of devils then how will i laugh at thee for this warning is not from principle perhaps i wish it were but i never lied to man and hardly ever said truth to woman the first is what all free-livers cannot say the second what every one can i am mad again by jupiter but thank my stars not gloomily so farewell farewell farewell for the third or fourth time concludes thy lovelace i believe charlotte and you are in private league together letters i find have passed between her and you and lord m i have been kept strangely in the dark of late but will soon break upon you all as the sun upon a midnight thief remember that you never sent me the copy of my beloved's will letter thirty nine
