o^ t tr".

y
Patrick McEvov-Halston
English 376B_
Eric Miller
10 March 2005

Worthy Companions: AssuranceThrough Associationin Evelina and Young Werther

Evelina, in FrancesBurney's Evelina, andWerther,in Joharltwolfgang!/rtGoethe's

n
Young Werther,might easily be thought of as very different from one another,for they seemto

associatethemselveswith very different kinds of people. We note that Evelina is very careful to

associateherselfwith thosewho will help differentiateherself from the lowly, the base,while

Wertheractuallyseeksthemoutinaneffortffiseffromexactlythosesortsof
\....-
sensitivepeoplethat Evelina seeksto associateherselfwith. However,both charactersare similar

in that they both seekto distancethemselvesfrom those they gaugecoarseand to attach

themselvesto those they gaugesuperior, and we therefore have causeto think of them both as
.$r

equallyartful equalswhom we may havemuch to leam from. | 6o'"

1 qr\)e r5 r
After Evelina's first socialouting in London,Mrs. Mirvan relatesto Lovel, Lord Orville,
t\
of her behaviour. SinceEvelina,^ -o"tt u"-ttto. ItAi**,
and Sir Clement'sassessment glvcJ tv t
q,'n J

on them,we areprovidedwith evidenceherewhich suggeststhat Evelina's

essentiallyeavesdrops af
desireto know what othersthink ofher is suchthat it can overpowerher desireto appearwell
t\"
,_ \ou a\
-
bred-and this is safng a lot, since,aswe will explore,Evelina's desireto convinceherselfthat

sheis sensible,or well bred, is very strong indeed. Evelina attendsmost closely to how Lord
r hqs
OrvillerSjudged her. In the letter in which she informs Mr. Villars of their assessments
of her, she

ruminates(for the moment) only on thosewords Lord Orville usedto describeher-"'A poor

weak girl!' 'ignorant or mischievous!"'(40)-and for good reason,sinceLord Orville is

characterized as exactly the sort of gentlemanwhose good opinion most matteredin

eighteenth-century Engli sh society.

Paul Gordon Scott arguesthat the social order in eighteenth-centuryEngland required the

intimidating presenceof superior, singular gentlemenwho, along with ideal manners,possesseda

ul\r ),t (\ a. f^l f\ $ot [t ..Ll*.1

 2
c\lts.\J r1q
J
penetrating"voyeuristic gazethat disciplinessubjectsby observingthem" (88). Gordon argues

that the ideal gentlemanin eighteenth-centuryEnglish societywas, then, someonewho both

causedand soothedsocialunease.He was someonelike Lord Orville, whoseown judgmental gaze

is employed in ensuringthat bad behaviour-which according to Lord Orville requires

"immediate notice [. . .] for it encroacheswhen it is tolerated" (113Fis policed. Lord Orville's

gazeis ideal for this purpose;for his vision is informed by "the cold eye of unimpassioned

philosophy''which [allows him] to view, for example,women and art simultaneouslywithout

allowing "the heart t. . .] to interfereand make all objectsbut one (i.e. a beautiful woman) insipid

and uninteresting"(l 19).

of the prowessof Lord Orville's

Sir Clementf is the one who makesthis assessment

singularly disinterestedeye, and,in the scenewhere the threemen assessEvelina's character,we

of Evelina is the subjectof reproof by Lord Orville. Sir Clement

seehow his own assessment

insiststhat Evelina is an "angel" (38); Lord Orville, disliking an inflated assessment

of her

informed by Sir Clement's apparentdesirefor play/mischief,insiststhat sheis not a "Helen" (39)

but rather a"pretty modest-lookinggirl" (38). Lovel, having beenhumiliated by her preferenceof

Lord Orville, eagerlymakesuse of Sir Clemrnffiruggestion that Evelina might be a "parson's

ul
daughter"(39) so as to construeher as coarseand lowly. Sir Clement/ insiststhat sheis "too
J
sensibleto be ignorant" (39), but Lord Orville will not "play along" as he is not interestedin

recovering her characterso that she seemsfitting sport for libertine play. He knows she

"affront[ed] [Lovell]," probably guessesright that her laughterbetrayedthat she"enjoy[ed] his

mortification" (40), and understandsthat regardlessof whether or not her behaviour was born out

of ignoranceor out of mischief it remainsinexcusablebehaviour. But simply becausethe nature

of the behaviouris so unacceptableto Lord Orville that he deemedit beyondredemptionby a close

examinationof her motives, doesnot meanthat we should facilely assumethat both possible
 J

explanationsfor her behaviourareequallydamning. They're not. That is, if her behaviourwas the

result of her being ignorant, sheis doomed: shehas no chanceof deemingherselfworthy of Lord

Orville. But, if sheis and was mischievous,the novel provides evidencewhich suggeststhat the

caseis in fact the opposite.

t,''a
5o
The exchangebetween Lovel and Sir Clement helps us understand"ignorance" as the
I e.r",
oppositeof sensible,the oppositeof genteel. For Evelina, to be ignorant would be to be lessthe 6€
country gentleman's daughterwhich Sir Clement prefers to seeher as, and more the country le< ^,,,J
,L;t
bumpkin that the likes of Lovel and Madame Duval (75) are convinced her ostensibly inadequate ofw,
upbringing have made her. Characterssuch as Madame Duval and those who composethe
t\ n'{t
of
Branghton family are not charactenzedas if there is any hope of them becoming sensible. For vt?

instance,Mr. Villars at one point expresseshis wish that he could changeMadameDuval's plans,
,^
but arguesthat "[h]{ characte}nd the violence of her disposition, intimidate me from making the
"H-/ tF
attempt: she is too ignorant for instruction, too obstinate for entreaty,and too weak for reason"
6i'
nn rc

(142). We also know that Evelina gaugesthe Branghtons as so obstinatethat she doesnot believe .[-
oof*
that their mannersmight be improved upon; in fact, sheguessesthat they probably alreadythink of )o
A,, )
themselvesas genteel(195). aee
)
'k7
Severalcharacterswho are characterizedas libertines (with the exception of Lord Merton),
tr,
er
on the other hand, are not only redeemable-witness what happensto Evelina's true father at the '1
,
end of the novel-but possesspositive qualities which make them fundamentally similar to rather

than fundamentallydifferent from the novel's most sensiblecharacters.Sir Clement/ possesses

/
qualities which make him somethingof a libertine. He, unlike Lord Orville, takespleasurein

hearing how Evelina humiliated Lovel, but he is also someonewhose own statusas genteelis not

u
compromisedin doing so. In this, Sir Clement bearsresemblanceto the restoration libertines who
*
engagedin "shaming rituals [which boar resemblanceto that] of non-urbaneand impolite society''
Y G\t
 4

(245),but which were employedin an effort to "enforce rather than dissolve socialhierarchy''

(JamesGrantham Turner 247.i And we note that throughout the novel, Sir Clement involves

himself in activities which help distinguish the genteel from the lowly, and which seemdesigned
/
t"-i"d th. t"*ly r If we understandSir Clement and Lord Orville as
: f^l"n
representingtwo different sorts of gentlemen,both of whom had their time as socially sanctioned
t rfl

embodimentsof moral righteousness,we have a way of understandingthem which makes ^n

"4 .5
Evelina's decisionto twice delineateexactly how their seeminglysimilar or evenidentical social \tn
,lr;'
behaviour differ seeman especially appropriatething for her to do.
*r(
v7
The very fact that Evelina comparesthe two men with eachother very likely servesto

establishtheir intrinsic similarity as much or more than it doestheir fundamental difference. For

according to Evelina, it is "unjust" (199) to comparepeople who are fundamentally different from

one another. Shewill not, for example,compareSir Clement and Mr. Smith, owing to the fact that

superior"addressandmanners"(199). Shewill howeverliken herself

Sir Clementalonepossesses

to Sir Clement. Though Evelina overtly refusesSir Clement's suggestionthat they possessa

similarly "frank t. . .] disposition" (49), wo note that in someways she establishesthe link she

(perhaps)more overtly avows shedoesnot want to effect. We note that Evelina is keenly awareof

every key word usedby the three men to assessher characterthe night of the private ball. Lord

Onrille's assessmentcommandedher keenestinterest,but she shows later in her letters a

renembrancefor a word used-"Noboily" (320Fby the leastof the tlree men (i.e., Lovel). We

- havereasonto conclude,therqthat sheknew that by calling Sir Clementa "genius" (52) in a letter
I v*-
/
V so soonafter Sir Clementusedthe sameword to describeher (40), that shewashelpingcernentin
"$
her own mind the connectionbetweenthe two of them that Sir Clernentattemptsto forge.

Moreover,in the sameletter in which shedoesso, shesuggestsanotherway in which they seemto

complimenteachotherperfectly. Not only doessheliken herselfto Sir Clementin termsof

 5

character,she suggeststhat they seemdesignedfor one another,like lock and key perhaps. She

writes: "[a]nd thus was my deviation from truth punished;and thus did this man's determined

boldnessconquer" (48).

Evelina calls Sir Clementher "champion" (39), and it is appropriateto deemhim someone

sheneedsto help protect her senseof herself as different from her ignorant, baserelatives. Evelina

is often surroundedby coarserelatives throughout the novel, yet through this monstrouscrowd, Sir

Clement persistently seeksher out. And by doing so, he does her an enonnous favour.
1"1 t
( .rt\

Specific ally, though we might normally be preparedto deem his attentionsa threat to her *c ,\ dr
L onLt
reputationas a lady, sinceher biological and physical closenessto basefolk alreadyprovidesher
5 tn.r
with a reasonto suspectthat shetoo is lowly, they actuallywork to help to establishher senseof t."\
"(o
herselfassomeone--alady-who hassomethingpreciousto lose. Early in her associationwith
t" ,l
c.
MadameDuval and CaptainMirvan, Evelinasaysthat "the[ir] continualwrangling and
L\rl
ill-breeding [. . I made[her] [. . .] blushthat [she] [. . .] belongedto them" (65). Fortunatefor her,

therqthat Sir Clernent'spersistentinterestin her, andlack ofinterest in her companions,makesit

seemasif he is competingto haveherbelongexclusivelyto him. 'Sir Clementtakesinterestin the

Captain;he "stud[ies] all [his] [. . ] humours"(83); but only so asto ensurehis accessto Evelina.
'!a[id] courtto the grossCaptainMirvan, andthe virago MadameDuval" only
, He tells her that he
'
soasto "procure[for] [him]self'(381) her company.And thoughhe dealswith the coarseonly so

asto procurethe fine, at times,the natureof Sir Clement'sinvolvementv/ith her relativesalso

,
/
,/ helps procure for Evelina both difference, distance, and distinction from her relatives.

One obvious example of such a service occurs when Sir Clement helps Captain Mirvan

"sport" with Madame Duval. Madame Duval, being the "prey," endsup on the ground covered

with dirt, disassembled,and inarticulate, while Evelina remains both the particular subject of Sir

Clement's interest and (essentially) unharmed. Clementshelps separateher from Evelina,

establishesphysical distancebetweenthem, and partakesin an activity which literally brings

MadameDuval down to earth(i.e. lowly). That is, he helps createa memorablemoment for

Evelina which she can use to help understandherself as incomparably different from her horrid

grandmother. ,JV6 r ( r f q - t 1, . , ,\aB-

-
It is true that though itt one senseEvelina was not dirtied in this encounter,she was in \\
cstJ '^3
another.That is, her consciencemay not haverernainedclearandpure. For thoughshevoicesher S ,
\-t I tt
dissatisfactionwith the plot, we know that Evelinafailed to wam MadameDuval aboutthe danger :J
b\^./\t^tJ
shewasin. And we in fact havereasonto believethat Evelinaenjoyedthe sportbut would not cl
admit this to herself in her letters,becausewhen Sir Clement is involved in humiliating s ( q^l{
.f
someone-a non-farnilymember-whom Evelinamight feel more free to acknowledgeher ql ro-..,
trv\ !o ( r f
suspectchaxacter,that is, with Mr. Smith,
pleasurewithout makingherselffeel asif shepossesses \

shein fact does.

Evelina doesnot laugh-a gesturewhich would revealthat shehasnot movedtoward

being akin to Orville--$ut shedoesadmit that she"could almosthavelaughedwhen [she] [. . .]

lookedat Mr. Smith' (225) after seeingthe resultsof what his suddenawarenessof Sir Clement's

interestin her had effecteduponhirn. As beforewith MadameDuval, Sir ClernentsmakesMr.

Smith decompose-"he seemedto loseat onceall his happyself-sufficiencyand conceit' Q25).

In a way, he alsomakesMr. Smithphpically lowly-'he [. . .] seemedhimself, with conscious

inferiority, to shrink into nothin{' (225las well asphysicallydistant: "[he] againretir[ed] to an

humbledistance"(227). Of cotxse,Sir Clementis frequentlydescribedassomeonewho, whenhe

closesthe distancebetweenhimself andEvelina.causesher real distress.But we notice that

Evelina seemsto soneedanddesirebeing likenetl to Sir Clementy'thatsheevenrisks likening Sir

Clernentto herselfphysically-and shedoessojust after Sir Clementhad discoveredher in a

situationwhich might serveto authorizeanevenmorcpredatorystancetowardher. After listening

to Mr. Smith lecture about a painting, she writes that she "saw Sir Clement bite his lips; and

indeed,so did I mine" (227).

Sir Clement also helps Evelina in that he provides her with good reasonsfor reproving him,

and, until shemeetsMr. Macartney, it is primarily her reproof of him which permits her to behave

in a fashion which likens her to Orville. But it is the fortuitous discovery of Mr. Macartney which

provides Evelina with the opportunity to behavein a way which might easily be construedby her

as angel-like. She saveshis life. It is an act which requiredcourage,somethingEvelina strivesto

possess,and it is not an lady-like behaviour-rather, it helps establishher as truly virtuous and

lady-like. For, accordingto Carolyn D. Williams, "couragewas not a masculineprerogativein the

early modern period [read I6-I8th century]" (72). Indeed,plays and literature of the time often

suggestedthat "courage [was] t. . .] a valuable quality that no truly virtuous character[could] t. . .]

be without it, regardlessof sex" (69).

But though Mr. McCartney servesto help elevateEvelina's character,she obtains the

meansby which to gaugeherself equal to Lord Orville in part by lowering his. Sheportrays her

involvement with both Sir Clement and Mr. Macartney asmaking Lord Orville jealous. He shows

signsof social unease-"he lookfs] away''(369) at a social gatheringwhen Evelina looked upon

him (the only time this event occursin the novelFand displays a lack of grace. Shewrites: "Lord

Orville's receptionof us was grave and cold: far from distinguishingme, as usual,by particular

civilities,Lady Louise herself could not have seenme enterthe room with more frigtd unconcern"

(372). In a sense,Evelinaportrays him here as de-evolvingin preciselythe way sheconstantly

feelsvulnerableto, that is, shedescribeshim so that he seemssimilarly susceptibleto be becoming

more closely akin to a severely flawed relative.

Evelina conceivesof herself, then, as someonewho manageswhat her own beloved,

Orville, doesnot: shedoesnot devolve, shenever allows her initial burst of laughterat Lovel's
 8

ridiculousnessto make herself seemakin to the lowly and "bumpkinish." Instead,sheportrays

herself so that she-much as an earth'boundangel might-ascends. In contrast, Werther

devolves. Though he doesnot considerthem "equal" (Goethe28) to him, he associateshimself

with the lowly, and he plots his narrative so that he moves from being (fairly) happy to being a

perpetually tormented person. Yet, since in his imagination the heavenly can be found as much

amongstthe lowly as they can amongstthosemore highly placed,devolution, finding himself /

amongstostensible"lowlifes," is his meansby which to make himself seema significant and I

l.Ft..1,5
I fto^.
I
worthy person. c\ *-1.

The sort of people Werther doesn't want to be associatedwith are thosewho in some
*f'cJ,5

fashionresembleEvelina-that is, the "sensible" (61) people"who devotetheir creativeenergies

t. . .] to moving one place higher up a table" (77). Werther suggeststhat sensiblepeoplepossess

exactly the safety, the senseof security, which Evelina likely imaginesbeing married to Lord

Orville will provide her with. But he also believesthat suchpeople,sincethey are interested

primarily in placement and not in love, "will be done for" (33). He draws our attention to the fate

of a wealthy woman who, like Evelina, was powerfully concernedwith barricading herself from

the influence of barbarians: shehad'ho pleasureapartfrom looking down on middle-class

citizens from the heights of an upper-storeywindow" (76).

I "/J o
I
W..fl*,
Werther would likely even question the soundnessof Evelina's judgement that Lord (.rt(j

Orville is the best of men. For in somerespectsArthur is describedso that he seemsto possess
J, w,,
t\*. n
similar charactertraits to Lord Orville's, only they aren't any where near as flatteringly portrayed.
t"I
Admittedly, just as Evelina judges Lord Orville as "the most amiable man in the world" (Evelina |
"oQ
)nu
41), Werther actually writes that Albert is "the best fellow on earth" (59). However, Werther is

quite ready to doom him in his own estimation by associatinghim with all other "sensible people"

(61). In the letter in which he does so, Albert makes an declarationconcerning bad behaviour
 9

which we know it is very easyto imagine Lord Orville making. Albert says,"[b]ut you will grant

that certainactionsarewrongful I. . .] no matterwhat their motives" (60). Werthertries,just as Sir

Clementsonce did with Lord Orville, to suggestthat motives do matter and can and should affect

whether we deem a behaviour wrongful or not, but Albert won't budge. Indeed, Werther portrays

Albert so that he seemsto be inflexible and unimaginative,someonewhose coldness,someone

whose fundamentalbelief in the rightnessof his opinion along with his desireto preach,make him

worthy of mockery not praise (61). (Werther agunmocks "cool, respectablegentlemen"[33]

elsewherein his letters.)

Other than Albert, most of thosewhom Werther identifies as sensibleostensiblydo him a

favour by treating him with disdain. For instance,he describesa doctor who "considered [his]

would be embracedby
t. . .] conductbeneaththe dignity of sensiblepeople" (45). This assessment

Werther, however, for he despisesthe ostensibly dignified and finds fabulous things when he

"lie[s] t. . .] closeto the earth" (27). He saysthat he prefersto associatewith thosemost frequently

accusedof lacking dignity: the "rabble," "[t]he commonpeople" (28). Though there are

exceptions-e.g., foul youth who ruin others' moods, the grumpy lady who cut down the walnut

tree (mind you, she is one with pretensionsto be respectable[94]Fit is clear to Werther that the

common people are in fact avery fine lot. They have not lost their capacity to love, somethingthe

sensiblehave in fact done, ffid, as English Tories like to imagine them, they possessan intrinsic

awarenessof and attractionto those who are truly noble (they can't help but love Werther). "The

conrmonpeople," he says, "already know and love [him], the children in particular" (28). He is

particularly apt to identify himself with children-those who are, in one senseat least, the lowest

of the low. He describeshis encounterswith children or youth in some detail, and in eachcase

they are describedas possessingan inherent"harmony''(35) and soulfulness-that is, as if they

sharethe samepassion and "aliveness" that he ostensiblypossesses(and which he draws attention

 l0

to in his lettersin part by likening himself to a child).

Sinceassociatinghimself with the lowly is a meansby which he believeshe can

demonstratehis gentility, wo have reasonto wonder if he thinks that being "interred in the cold

earth" (L27) would somehowdemonstratejust how greathe really is/was. Consideti.tgthat he

conceivesof Nature as somethingwhich is always grand and noble (if not always beneficent), and

that he longs to mergehimself with its oneness,perhapshe imagineshis decomposition,i.e, his

movement,his descentfrom being someonewho is healthy and reasonablyhappy to someonewho

is constantly despondent,as a processwhich prepareshim for atomic integration with Nature. But

we shouldnote that, for the most part, Werther imagineshimself in his after-life as, so-to-speak,

"in the clouds," along side God. And we must not fail to suspectthat Werther might well be
A
making somethingout of his associationwith the low for the samereasonEvelina makes vvJrh

somethingout of her relationship with Sir Clement, that is, becausebarriers exist which prevent
"f
CV,s1, o-
( o.uL.. -
him (at this time) for long associatingwith thosehe truly wants to be with, i.e., thosewho possess
e\v
high rank and unquestionablygood nature. Werther writes that, in death,he is bound to be by his
\;'

Father's (i.e., God's) side, and that his Fatherwill "comfort" (I28) and value him. We know that sLJI
6.
he has glimpses of this reality while counting himself amongstthe livin g, that is, that he has 9, r11

associatedwith the truly high and noble-worthy Baronesses,Counts, and Princes-and that he

portrays them as prizing his presenceabove that of all others (especially with the Baronessand

Prince),but also that he couldn't for long associatehimself with them in peace. Just as Evelina's

coarsefamily relatives work againsther effort to associateherself with Lord Orville, those

Werther abhorssucceedin frustrating his ability to enjoy his stay at court.

Both Evelina and Werther, then, are similar in that both are charactenzedso they portray

the kind of artfulness,cunning, they pretend to abhor. They differ in that Evelina can admit to

being somewhatsinister (as sheessentiallydoeswhen shesays,without self-reproof, that "she will

 11

take "some pleasurein cutting up" "fools and coxcombs" 13261)becausethere is an established

tradition amongstthe genteel shewants to count herself amongstthat entitles them to police

through the use of ridicule [note that even Lord Orville calls Lovel a "coxcomb" (37)], while

Werther needsto make claim to a more simple purity so as to distinguish himself from cutting

aristocratswho "g[ive] t. . .l [looks] t. . .l in their t. . .l oh-so aristocraticway''(81). That is, for a

time, it actually servesEvelina's intentions to portray herself as a bit devilish, while Werther is the
ttt"l\
one who must try and make sure he doesn't appearthe least bit like a rogue. Both, however, are )k
tnrly beneficent in that they both provide their readerswith the meansby which to conceive of
rJ
1vo1
t Lff;
their own ostensiblecharacterflaws and lack ofplacement as signswhich point to their possession
rt( rl(u,
of intrinsic merit. Of course,if you are unwashedand uncouth, you would be better senredto [.r

t\.t"
attendto Werther, and if you possessa tendency to snicker at the misfortunes of othersbut /
,h,
otherwisepossessrespectablemanners,you'd be better servedif you affend to Evelina. But there r"f
\t,
is no doubt that associatingourselveswith them has its benefits. No wonder many once did.
f."v A

//

t
I am not suggestingthat Sir Clement is not also in some respectsvery much the proper eighteenth-century
gentleman. For, according to Philip Carter, the eighteenth-centurypolite male "was expectedto be more relaxed or
'easy' in company, to move more freely across social divisions" (124).

Al-lINkl
? \ )

, )r ! .

- - a

Works Cited

Burney,Frances.Evelina. London: PenguinBooks, 1994.

Carter,Philip. Men and theEmergmceof Polite Society,Britain 1660-1800.Harlow:

PearsonEducationLimited,2001.

Gordon,ScottPaul. ThePowerof thePassiveSelfin EnglishLiterature,1640-1770.

Carnbridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2002.

Turner,JamesGrantham.LibertinesandRadicalsin Early ModernLondon. Canrbridge:

CanrbridgeUniversityPress,2002.

Von Goethe,JohannWolfgang. TheSorrowsof YoungWerther. London: Penguin

Books,1989.

Williams, CarolynD. "Wome,nBehavingWell: Early ModernImagesof Female

Courage."PresentingGender: ChangingSexin Early-Modern Culture. Ed.

2001.
ChrisMounsey.Cranbury:AssociatedUniversityPresses,
PatrickMcEvov-Halston

There'ssomeregrettablemessiness here-Sir Clementoftenmasquerades as "Clements."

But your centralinsightsand your centralcomparisonare very original. Also
praiseworthyis your effort to recoverthe pedagogicalfunction of the novels,explaining
therebytheir popularity.Your citationof Gordonis apposite.I especiallylike your vision
of Willoughbyas an "emancipator"of sorts,freeingEvelinafrom the biologicaland
socialfate seeminglyunavoidablein the figure of her grandmother.

p.3 So we learnby learningwhat othersthink of us?

doessherequireinstruction?
If Mme Duval hassucha super-plusof character,

libertines-fis's a faint echoof the type.

Good comparisonof Clementto Restoration

p.4 Goodtracingof the mutualityof the word "genius."

p.5 Can we not concedesometruth to the chargethat he is a threatto her reputation?

p 6 What a fine insight!Yes.Willoughbydoeshelp "createa memorablemomentfor

Evelina"to distinguishher from her "horrid grandmother."So Clementis a kind of
emancipatorfrom biological fate.

p.8 ThusWertherlooksdownon thosewho ... look down.

with the "low" bearsfaint tracesof Christianteachingand

p l0 Note that W's association
perhapsa secularized Christianhope-the last shallbe first.

p.l I Note, however,that W doesquoteLotte's rebukesto his behaviour,in which he

doesappearsomewhat"roguish" perhaps.

A+/A-