...happy the whole time we were reading it, and we made that time as long as we could, too, for we only read it en famille, at set hours, and all the rest of the day we talked of it. One can scarcely persuade one's self that they are not real characters and living people." Even " Roderick...

...we were reading it, and we made that time as long as we could, too, for we only read it en famillc, at set hours, and all the rest of the day we talked of it. One can scarcely persuade one's self that they are not real characters and living people." Even " Roderick...

...of Catherine Talbot, who wrote of Clarissa's first instalment that 'we only read it en famille, and at set hours, and all the rest of the day we talked of it').39 Yet when Richardson spoke of leaving his readers 'something ... to make out or debate upon',...