From hence I went to spend the Evening with a Family in whose Conversation I am always agreeably entertained. There happened, that Night, to be a pretty large Assembly of mix'd Company. _Clarissa_ immediately became the Subject of our Conversation, when, after a few general Remarks, one of the Gentlemen said, "His chief Objection was to the Length of it, for that he was certain he could tell the whole Story contained in the two first Volumes in a few Minutes; for Example, (continued he) There is a Family who live in the Country, consisting of an old, positive, gouty Gentleman, two old Batchelors as positive as their gouty Brother, a meek Wife, an ambitious Son, an envious elder Sister, and a handsome younger Sister; who, having refused many offered Matches, engages the Attention and Liking of one Mr. _Lovelace_, a young Gentleman of a noble Family; her Brother has an absolute Aversion to him; a Rencounter follows between them; the Lady corresponds with _Lovelace_ to prevent farther Mischief; a disagreeable Man is proposed to her by all her Family; she will not consent; they all combine to insist on her Compliance; she is lock'd up; forbid all Correspondence out of the Family, but still persists in her Refusal; they call it Obstinacy; she calls it Resolution; Mr. _Lovelace_ takes the Advantage of her Friends cruel Usage of her, and presses her to throw herself on his Protection: at last, for fear of being forced to marry the Man she hates, she appoints to go off with _Lovelace_; but fearing the Consequence of such a rash Step, and thinking it a Breach of her Duty to leave her Father's House till urged by the last Necessity, she would have retracted the Appointment, and waited yet a little longer, in hopes her Friends might be influenced to change their Mind; Mr. _Lovelace_ does not take the Letter she puts in the usual Place for that purpose, and we see by her last Letter to her Friend, dated at St. _Albans_, that she is there with _Lovelace_. Now, how is it possible for this Story, without being exceeding tedious, to be spun out to two Volumes, containing each above 300 Pages?" When the Gentleman ceased, a young Lady, whose Name was _Gibson_, took a little Almanack out of her Pocket, and, turning to the Place where the Births and Deaths of the Kings of _England_ were marked, gave it to the Gentleman, and said, "that by his Rule of Writing, that was the best History of _England_, and Almanack-makers were the best Historians". Mr. _Johnson_, another of the Company, said, he would engage to relate the _Roman_ History, in that manner, in as little time as had been expended in the summing up the Story of _Clarissa_; and then, with a Monotony in his Voice that expressed more Humour than I can describe, he began as follows: