The present author airs some cynical and skeptical views in religion and ethics which are not of great critical interest. His ideas about “sentimental unbelievers” and “political chastity,” his simulated disapproval of contemptuous references to the clergy, the attack on John Hill’s _Inspector_ to which he devotes his Postscript--these points are little to our purpose. As to literary opinions, he falls into the usual way of judging fiction by its supposed overt intellectual and moral effects. His admiration for _Clarissa_ is based on his acceptance of the complete idealization of the heroine, and of Richardson’s declared intention to show “the distresses that may attend the misconduct both of parents and children in relation to marriage.” In formal literary criticism he is pompous and scholastic. He approves the plot of _Clarissa_ in terms of the _Iliad_, but judges subtle and complex characters by an over-simplified standard of decorum and censures Lovelace as an intricate combination of Achilles and Ulysses! His unnecessary labors to show that Richardson is not really Homeric illustrate the sterile application of epic canons to the novel that vitiates much early criticism of fiction. In general, he represents the reader with pretensions to culture which make him feel superior to Richardson’s novels. He thinks they have been attracting too much attention, yet finds himself forced to attend to what he professes to despise. The stories are far too long, he complains, and Richardson pads them to increase the profits of authorship. (The _Candid Examination_ concurs on this point, and both writers agree that _Clarissa_ should have been in five volumes instead of eight.) The _Remarks_ echoes the common complaint that Richardson is responsible for the flood of new fiction, and prophesies that his novels will be merely the first in a succession of ephemeral best sellers. All in all, we have here a fairly common pattern of opinion: _Pamela_ is low and has no sound moral; _Grandison_ is tedious and excessively mannered; _Clarissa_ at its best must be admitted to be supreme, despite moralistic objections to the Mother Sinclair scenes and to the character of Lovelace. The pamphleteer’s silences are sometimes significant: Pamela is not condemned as a scheming little minx, and he does not seem to be much interested in her; despite his approval of Fielding and his preference of Allworthy to Grandison, he shows little interest in the Fielding-Richardson opposition, even omitting the Tom Jones-Grandison antithesis which seemed obvious to many; he passes over the admired Italian story, the madness of Clementina, and the issues raised by Sir Charles’ proposed marriage with a Catholic; nor does he offer the familiar comment, soon to become a _cliché_, on the excessive idealization of Sir Charles.