Clarissa: Preface, Hints of Prefaces, and Postscript
Page 3
HINTS OF PREFACES FOR CLARISSA
_APPENDIX: Philip Skelton and Joseph Spence_
Philip Skelton (1707-1787) was an Irish divine who could well haveserved as a model for Parson Adams, for in his life he exhibited avigorous combination of good humour, physical bravery, quixoticgallantry and practical Christianity. The article in the DNB recordsthat 'he studied physic and prescribed for the poor, argued successfullywith profligates and sectaries, persuaded lunatics out of theirdelusions, fought and trounced a company of profane travelling tinkers,and chastised a military officer who persisted in swearing.' Duringfamine he gave liberally to sustain his poor parishioners, on oneoccasion selling his library to help them. _The Life of Philip Skelton_,by Samuel Burdy, first published in 1792, still makes entertaining andinteresting reading. Richardson met Skelton when he visited London in1748 to publish _Ophiomaches, or Deism Revealed_. On David Hume'srecommendation Andrew Millar published the work; and Richardson alsoseems to have played some part in getting the book accepted (ForsterMSS, XV, f 34).
The author of Spence's _Anecdotes_ needs no special introduction,although some aspects of his relationship with Richardson are ofinterest. He apparently first met the novelist late in 1747 or early in1748. Richardson sought his opinion on _Clarissa_ before the finalvolumes of the first edition had appeared: his letter discussing thenovel [_The Correspondence of Samuel Richardson_, edited by AnnaLaetitia Barbauld (London, 1804), Vol. II, 319-327], which emphasizesRichardson's truth to 'Nature' and lack of 'Art', makes an interestingcontrast with the more considered verdict delivered in his contributionto _Hints of Prefaces_. Before writing this he had almost certainly read_Tom Jones_. In a letter, dated April 15, 1749, he says: 'Tom Jones ismy old acquaintance, now; for I read it, before it was publisht: & readit with such rapidity, that I began & ended with in the compass of fourdays; tho' I took a Journey to St. Albans, in ye same time. He is to meextreamly entertaining....' He seems to have contemplated writing amemoir of Richardson after the novelist's death in 1760.
[See Austin Wright, _Joseph Spence: a critical Biography_ (Chicago,1950), 120-123, 232 n.]