deserving a Book, I shou'd never have done, if I explain'd All my
Reasons for admiring its Author.----If it is not a _Secret_, oblige me
so far as to tell me his _Name_: for since I feel him the _Friend_ of
my Soul, it would be a Kind of Violation to retain him a
_Stranger_.----I am not able to thank you enough, for this highly
acceptable Present. And, as for my Daughters, They have taken into their
Own Hands the Acknowledgment due from their Gratitude. I am,
DEAR SIR,
_Your, &c._
Dec. 17, 1740.
_Abstract of a second Letter from the same Gentleman._
---No Sentiments which I have here, or in my last, express'd, of the
sweet _Pamela_, being more than the bare Truth, which every Man must
feel, who lends his Ear to the inchanting Prattler, why does the
Author's Modesty mislead his Judgment, to suspect the Style wants
Polishing?---No, Sir, there is an _Ease_, a _natural Air_,
a dignify'd _Simplicity_, and measured Fullness, in it, that,
resembling Life, outglows it! He has reconciled the _Pleasing_ to
the _Proper_. The _Thought_ is every-where exactly _cloath'd_ by the
_Expression_: And becomes its Dress as roundly, and as close, as
_Pamela_ her Country-habit. Remember, tho' she put it on with humble
Prospect, of descending to the Level of her Purpose, it _adorn'd_
her, with such unpresum'd _Increase_ of Loveliness; sat with such
neat Propriety of Elegant Neglect about her, that it threw out All
her Charms, with tenfold, and resistless Influence.---And so, dear
Sir, it will be always found.---When modest Beauty seeks to hide
itself by casting off the _Pride_ of _Ornament_, it but displays
itself without a _Covering_: And so, becoming more distinguished, by
its Want of _Drapery_, grows _stronger_, from its _purpos'd
Weakness_.
[5th, change 3.]
{_There were formed by an anonymous Gentleman, the following Objections
to some Passages in the Work._}
1. That the Style ought to be a little raised, at least so soon as
_Pamela_ knows the Gentleman's Love is honourable, and when [7th: "her"]
{his} Diffidence is changed to Ease: And from about the fourth Day after
Marriage, it should be equal to the Rank she is rais'd to, [_del._ 4th]
{and charged to fill becomingly}.
2. That to avoid the Idea apt to be join'd with the Word '_Squire_, the
Gentleman should be styled Sir _James_; or Sir _John_, &c. and Lady
_Davers_ in a new Edition might procure for him the Title of a Baronet.
3. That if the sacred Name were seldomer repeated, it would be better;
for that the Wise Man's Advice is, _Be not righteous over-much_.
4. That the Penance which _Pamela_ suffers from Lady _Davers_ might be
shorten'd: That she is too timorous after owning her Marriage to that
Lady, and ought to have a little more Spirit, and [_del._ 5th] {get away
sooner out at the Window, or} call her own Servants to protect, and
carry her to her Husband's Appointment.
5. That Females are too apt to be struck with Images of Beauty; and that
the Passage where the Gentleman is said to span the Waist of _Pamela_
with his Hand, is enough to ruin a Nation of Women by Tight-lacing.
6. That the Word _naughty_ had better be changed to some other, as
_Bad_, _Faulty_, _Wicked_, _Vile_, _Abominable_, _Scandalous_: Which in
most Places would give an Emphasis, for which recourse must otherwise be
had to the innocent Simplicity of the Writer; an Idea not necessary to
the Moral of the Story, nor of Advantage to the Character of the
Heroine.
7. That the Words, _p. 305._ _Foolish Thing that I am_, had better be
_Foolish that I am_. The same Gentleman observes by way of _Postscript_,
that Jokes are often more severe, and do more Mischief, than more solid
Objections; and would have one or two Passages alter'd, to avoid giving
Occasion for the Supposition of a double Entendre, particularly in two
Places which he mentions, _viz._ _p. 175. and 181_.
_He is pleased to take notice of several other Things of less Moment,
some of which are merely typographical; and very kindly expresses, on
the Whole, a high Opinion of the Performance, and thinks it may do a
great deal of Good: For all which, as well as for his Objections, the
Editor gives him very sincere Thanks._
_Others are of Opinion, That the Scenes in many Places, in the Beginning
especially, are too low; and that the Passions of Lady _Davers_, in
particular, are carried too high, and above Nature._
_And others have intimated, That _Pamela_ ought, for Example sake, to
have discharg'd Mrs. _Jewkes_ from her Service._
_These are the most material Objections that have come to hand, all
which are considered in the following [_del._ 5th] {Extracts from some
of the most beautiful} Letters [_del._ 5th] {that have been written in
any Language}:_
[8th adds change 4]
The Gentleman's Advice, not to alter _Pamela_ at all, was both
friendly, and solidly just. I run in, with full Sail, to his
Anchorage, that the low Scenes are no more out of Nature, than the
high Passions of proud Lady _Davers_. Out of Nature, do they say?
'Tis my Astonishment how Men of Letters can read with such absent
Attention! They are so far from _Out_ of _Nature_, They are absolute
_Nature herself_! or, if they must be confess'd her _Resemblance_;
they are _such_ a Resemblance, at least, as our _true Face_ gives
our _Face_ in the _Looking-glass_.
I wonder indeed, what it is, that the Gentlemen, who talk of _Low_
Scenes, wou'd desire should be understood by the Epithet?---Nothing,
properly speaking, is _low_, that suits well with the Place it is
rais'd to.----The Passions of Nature are the same, in the _Lord_,
and his _Coach-man_. All, that makes them seem different consists in
the _Degrees_, in the _Means_, and the _Air_, whereto or wherewith
they indulge 'em. If, in painting Distinctions like these, (which
arise but from the Forms of Men's Manners, drawn from _Birth_,
_Education_, and _Custom_) a Writer _falls short_ of his Characters,
there his Scene is a low one, indeed, whatever high Fortune it
flatter'd. But, to imagine that Persons of Rank are above a Concern
for what is thought, felt, or acted, by others, of their Species,
between whom and themselves is _no Difference_, except such as was
owing to Accident, is to reduce Human Nature to a Lowness,--_too
low_ for the _Truth_ of her _Frailty_.--
In _Pamela_, in particular, we owe All to her _Lowness_. It is to
the docile Effects of this Lowness of _that amiable Girl_, in her
Birth, her Condition, her Hopes, and her Vanities, in every thing,
in short, but her _Virtue_,---that her Readers are indebted, for the
moral _Reward_, of that _Virtue_. And if we are to look for the
_Low_ among the Rest of the Servants, less lovely tho' they are,
than a _Pamela_, there is something however, so glowingly painted,
in the Lines whereby the Author has mark'd their
Distinctions----Something, so movingly forceful, in the _Grief_ at
their _Parting_, and _Joy_ at the happy Return,---Something so
finely, at once, and so strongly and feelingly, _varied_, even in
the smallest and least promising, little Family Incidents! that I
need only appeal from the _Heads_, to the _Hearts_ of the Objectors
themselves, whether these are _low_ Scenes to be censur'd?
And as for the opposite Extreme they wou'd quarrel with, the
high-passion'd, and un-tam'd Lady _Davers_,---I cou'd direct 'em to
a Dozen or two of _Quality Originals_, from whom (with Exception
perhaps of her _Wit_) one wou'd swear the Author had taken her
Copy.---What a Sum might these Objectors ensure, to be paid, by the
_Husbands_ and _Sons_, of such termagant, hermaphrodite Minds, upon
their making due Proof, that they were no longer to be found, in the
Kingdom!
I know, you are too just to imagine me capable of giving any other
Opinion than my best-weigh'd and true one. But, because it is fit
you should have _Reasons_, in Support of a Judgment that can neither
deserve nor expect an implicit Reception, I will run over the
Anonymous Letter I herewith return you; and note with what Lightness
even Men of _good-natur'd_ Intention fall into _Mistakes_, by
Neglect in too hasty Perusals, which their Benevolence wou'd take
Pleasure in blushing at, when they discover their Weakness, in a
cooler Revisal.
The Writer of this Letter is for having the Style _rais'd_, after
_Pamela_'s Advance in her Fortune. But surely, This was hasty
Advice: because, as the Letters are writ to her Parents, it wou'd
have look'd like forgetting, and, in some sort, insulting, the
Lowliness of their inferior Condition, to have assum'd a new Air in
her Language, in Place of retaining a steady Humility. But, here, it
must not be pass'd unobserv'd, that in her Reports of Conversations
that follow'd her Marriage, she _does_, aptly and beautifully,
heighten her Style, and her Phrases: still returning however to her
decent Simplicity, in her Addresses to her Father and Mother.
I am against giving a Gentleman (who has ennobled himself, by
reforming his Vices, and rewarding the Worth of the _Friendless_)
the unnecessary new Toy of a _Title_. It is all strong in Nature, as
it stands in the Letters: and I don't see how Greatness, from
Titles, can add Likeness or Power, to the Passions. So complete a
Resemblance of _Truth_ stands in need of no borrow'd Pretensions.
The Only of this Writer's Objections, which, I think, carries
Weight, is That, which advises some little _Contraction_ of the
Prayers, and Appeals to the Deity. I say _little_ Contraction: for
they are nobly and sincerely pathetic. And I say it only in Fear,
lest, if fansied too long, by the fashionably _Averse_ to the
Subject, Minds, which most want the _purpos'd Impression_, might
hazard the _Loss_ of its _Benefit_, by passing over those pious
Reflections, which, if shorter, would catch their Attention.
Certainly, the Gentleman's Objection against the Persecution that
_Pamela_ suffers from lady _Davers_, in respect to the Relation this
Madwoman bears to the _Brother_, is the [4th & 5th, change 5.]
{rashest} of All his Advices! And when he thinks she ought rather to
have assum'd the Protection of her Servants, he seems unaware of the
probable _Consequence_; where there was a Puppy, of Quality, in the
Case, who had, even without Provocation, drawn his Sword on the poor
passive PAMELA. Far from bearing a Thought of exciting an abler
Resentment, to the Danger of a Quarrel with so worthless a Coxcomb,
how charmingly natural, apprehensive, and generous, is her Silence
(during the Recital she makes of her Sufferings) with regard to this
_masculine_ Part of the Insult! as also her Prevention of Mrs.
_Jewkes_'s less delicate Bluntness, when she was beginning to
complain of the whelp Lord's Impertinence!
If I were not afraid of a _Pun_, I shou'd tell the anonymous
Letter-writer, that he made a too _tight-laced_ Objection, where he
quarrels with the spann'd Waist of _Pamela_. What, in the Name of
Unshapeliness! cou'd he find, to complain of, in a beautiful Girl of
Sixteen, who was born _out of Germany_, and had not, yet, reach'd
ungraspable _Roundness_!----These are wonderful Sinkings from
Purpose, where a Man is considering such mental, and passionate
Beauties, as this Gentleman profess'd to be touch'd by!
But, when he goes on, to object against the Word _naughty_, (as
apply'd in the Phrase _naughty Master_) [4th, change 6.] {I grow
mortified, in Fear for our human Sufficiency, compar'd with our
Aptness to blunder! For, here, 'tis plain, this Director of
Another's Discernment is quite blind, Himself, to an Elegance,} one
wou'd have thought it _impossible_ not to be struck by?---Faulty,
wicked, abominable, scandalous, (which are the angry Adjectives, he
prefers to that sweet one) wou'd have carried Marks of her Rage, not
Affliction--whereas _naughty_ contains, in One single significant
Petulance, [5th: "a Variety of"] {twenty thousand} inexpressible
Delicacies!---It insinuates, at once, all the beautiful Struggle,
between her Contempt of his Purpose, and tender Regard for his
Person; her Gratitude to Himself and his Family; her Recollection of
his superior Condition.--There is in the elegant Choice of this
half-kind, half-peevish, _Word_, a never-enough to be prais'd
speaking Picture of the Conflict betwixt her Disdain, and her
Reverence! [_del._ 4th] {See, Sir, the Reason I had, for
apprehending some Danger that the refin'd Generosity in many of the
most charming of the Sentiments wou'd be _lost_, upon the too coarse
Conception of some, for whose Use the Author intended them.}
It is the same Case again, in _foolish Thing that I am!_ which this
nice, [_del._ 4th] {un-nice,} Gentleman wou'd advise you to change,
into _foolish that I am!_ He does not seem to have tasted the pretty
Contempt of Herself, the submissive _Diminutive_, so distant from
Vanity, yet allayed by the gentle Reluctance in Self-condemnation
[_del._ 4th] {;---and the other fine Touches of Nature: which wou'd
All have been lost, in the grave, sober Sound of his _Dutch
Emendation_.}
[_del._ 4th]
{As to his Paragraph in _Postscript_, I shall say the less of it,
because the Gentleman's own good Sense seems to confess, by the
Place he has chosen to rank it in, that it ought to be turn'd out of
Doors, as too _dirty_ for the rest of his Letter.----} [4th,
change 7.] In the Occasions {he} is pleas'd to discover for _Jokes_,
I either find not, that he has any Signification at all, or {such
vulgar,} coarse-tasted Allusions to loose low-life Idioms, [_ins._]
that _not_ to understand what {he means,} is both the cleanliest,
and prudentest Way of confuting {him}.
And now, Sir, you will easily gather how far I am from thinking it
needful to change any thing in _Pamela_. I would not scratch such a
beautiful Face, for the _Indies_!
[_del._ 8th]
{You can hardly imagine how it charms me to hear of a Second Edition
already! but the News of still new upon new ones, will be found no
Subject of Wonder. As 'tis sure, that no Family is without Sisters,
or Brothers, or Daughters, or Sons, who can _read_; or wants
Fathers, or Mothers, or Friends, who can _think_; so equally certain
it is, that the Train to a Parcel of Powder does not run on with
more natural Tendency, till it sets the whole Heap in a Blaze, than
that _Pamela_, inchanting from Family to Family, will overspread all
the Hearts of the Kingdom.}
As to the Objection of those warm Friends to _Honesty_, who are for
having _Pamela_ dismiss Mrs. _Jewkes_; there is not One, among All
these benevolent Complainers, who wou'd not discern himself to have
been, _laudably_, in the _wrong_, were he only to be ask'd this
plain Question---Whether a Step, both ill-judg'd, and undutiful, had
not been the Reverse of a PAMELA's Character?---Two or three times
over, Mr. _B----_ had inform'd her, that Mrs. _Jewkes_ and Himself
having been equally involv'd in _One Guilt_, she must forgive, or
condemn, _Both together_. After this, it grew manifest _Duty_ not to
treat her with Marks of Resentment.---And, as here was a visible
Necessity to appear not desirous of turning her away, so, in point
of mere _Moral_ Regard to the bad Woman Herself, it was nobler, to
retain her, with a Prospect of correcting, in Time, her loose Habit
of thinking, than, by casting her off, to the licentious Results of
her Temper, abandon her to Temptations and Danger, which a Virtue
like PAMELA's cou'd not wish her expos'd to.
[_del._ 5th]
{_The Manner in which this admirable Gentleman gives his Opinion of the
Piece, and runs thro' the principal Characters, is so masterly, that the
Readers of _Pamela_ will be charm'd by it, tho' they should suppose,
that his inimitable Benevolence has over-valu'd the Piece itself._}
Inspir'd, without doubt, by some Skill, more than human, and
comprehending in an humble, and seemingly artless, Narration,
a Force that can tear up the Heart-strings, this Author has prepar'd
an enamouring _Philtre_ for the Mind, which will excite such a
_Passion_ for Virtue, as scarce to leave it in the Power of the
_Will_ to neglect her.
_Longinus_, I remember, distinguishing by what Marks we may know the
_Sublime_, says, it is chiefly from an Effect that will follow the
Reading it: a delightfully-adhering Idea, that clings fast to the
Memory; and from which it is difficult for a Man to disengage his
Attention.---If _this_ is a Proof of the _Sublime_, there was never
_Sublimity_ so lastingly felt, as in PAMELA!
Not the Charmer's own prattling Idea stuck so close to the Heart of
her Master, as the Incidents of her Story to the Thoughts of a
Reader.---The Author transports, and transforms, with a Power more
extensive than _Horace_ requires, in his POET!---
Mr. _B----_, and the Turns of his Passions---and the Softness, yet
Strength, of their amiable Object---after having given us the most
masterly Image of Nature, that ever was painted! take Possession of,
and _dwell in_, the Memory.
And there, too, broods the kind and the credulous Parson WILLIAMS's
_Dove_, (without _serpentine_ Mixture) hatching _Pity_ and
_Affection_, [4th, change 8.] {for an Honesty so sincere, and so
silly!}
There too, take their Places All the _lower_ Supports of this
beautiful Fabrick.---
I am sometimes transform'd into plain Goodman ANDREWS, and sometimes
the good Woman, his Wife.
As for old Mr. LONGMAN, and JONATHAN, the Butler, they are sure of
me both, in their Turns.
Now and-then, I am COLBRAND the _Swiss_: but, as _broad_ as _I
stride_, in that Character, I can never escape Mrs. JEWKES: who
often keeps me awake in the Night---
Till the Ghost of Lady DAVERS, drawing open the Curtains, scares the
_Scarer_, of me, and of PAMELA!---
And, then, I take Shelter with poor penitent JOHN, and the rest of
the _Men_ and the _Maids_, of all whom I may say, with compassionate
_Marcia_,
--------_The Youths DIVIDE their Reader._
[5th & 8th, change 9.]
{_And this fine Writer adds:_}
I am glad I made War, in my last, upon the Notion of altering the
Style: for, having read it twice over since then, (and to Audiences,
where the _Tears_ were applausively eloquent) I could hardly, here
and there, find a Place, where one Word _can_ be chang'd for a
better. There are some indeed, where 'twere _possible_ to leave out,
a few, without making a Breach in the Building. But, in short, the
Author has put so bewitching a Mixture together, of the _Rais'd_
with the _Natural_, and the _Soft_ with the _Strong_ and the
_Eloquent_---thatnever Sentiments were finer, and fuller of Life!
never any were utter'd so sweetly!---Even in what relates to the
pious and frequent Addresses to God, I now retract (on these two
last Revisals) the Consent I half gave, on a _former_, to the
anonymous Writer's Proposal, who advis'd the Author to _shorten_
those Beauties.----Whoever considers his _Pamela_ with a View to
find Matter for Censure, is in the Condition of a passionate Lover,
who breaks in upon his Mistress, without Fear or Wit, with Intent to
accuse her, and quarrel---He came to her with Pique in his Purpose;
but his _Heart_ is too hard for his _Malice_---and he goes away more
enslav'd, for complaining.
[_del._ 5th]
{_The following delightful Story, so admirably related, will give great
Pleasure to the Reader; and we take the Liberty of inserting it, for
that very Reason._}
[_del._ 8th]
{What a never-to-be satisfied _Length_ has this Subject always the
Power of attracting me into! And yet, before I have done, I must by
your means tell the Author a _Story_, which a Judge not so skilful
in Nature as he is, might be in Danger perhaps of mistaking, for a
trifling and silly one. I expect it shou'd give him the clearest
Conviction, in a Case he is subject to question.}
[_del._ 8th]
{We have a lively little Boy in the Family, about seven Years
old---but, alas for him, poor Child! quite unfriended; and born to
no Prospect. He is the Son of an honest, poor Soldier, by a Wife,
grave, unmeaning, and innocent. Yet the Boy, (see the Power of
connubial _Simplicity_) is so pretty, so genteel, and gay-spirited,
that we have made him, and design'd him, our _own_, ever since he
could totter, and waddle. The wanton Rogue is half Air: and every
Motion he acts by has a Spring, like _Pamela_'s when she threw down
the Card-table. All this Quickness, however, is temper'd by a
good-natur'd Modesty: so that the wildest of his Flights are thought
rather diverting than troublesome. He is an hourly Foundation for
Laughter, from the Top of the House to the Parlours: and, to borrow
an Attribute from the Reverend Mr. _Peters_, (tho' without any Note
of his Musick) _plays a very good_ FIDDLE in the Family. I have told
you the History of this _Tom-tit_ of a Prater, because, ever since
my first reading of PAMELA, he puts in for a Right to be _one_ of
her Hearers; and, having got half her Sayings by heart, talks in no
other Language but hers: and, what really surprises, and has charm'd
me into a _certain_ Fore-taste of her Influence, he is, at once,
become fond of his Book; which (before) he cou'd never be brought to
attend to---that _he may read_ PAMELA, he says, _without stopping_.
The first Discovery we made of this Power over so unripe and unfix'd
an Attention, was, one Evening, when I was reading her Reflections
at the _Pond_ to some Company. The little rampant Intruder, being
kept out by the Extent of the Circle, had crept under my Chair, and
was sitting before me, on the Carpet, with his Head almost touching
the Book, and his Face bowing down toward the Fire.---He had sat for
some time in this Posture, with a Stillness, that made us conclude
him asleep: when, on a sudden, we heard a Succession of
heart-heaving Sobs; which while he strove to conceal from our
Notice, his little Sides swell'd, as if they wou'd burst, with the
throbbing Restraint of his Sorrow. I turn'd his innocent Face, to
look toward me; but his Eyes were quite lost, in his _Tears_: which
running down from his Cheeks in free Currents, had form'd two
sincere little Fountains, on that Part of the Carpet he hung over.
All the Ladies in Company were ready to devour him with Kisses: and
he has, since, become doubly a Favourite---and is perhaps the
youngest of _Pamela's Converts_.}
_The same [_del._ 5th] {incomparable} Writer has favour'd us with an
Objection, [_del._ 5th] {that is more material than any we have
mention'd;} which cannot be better stated nor answer'd, than in his own
[_del._ 8th] {beautiful} Words; viz._
An Objection is come into my Thoughts, which I should be glad the
Author would think proper to obviate in the Front of the Second
Edition.
There are Mothers, or Grandmothers, in all Families of affluent
Fortune, who, tho' they may have none of Lady _Davers_'s
_Insolence_, will be apt to feel one of her _Fears_,---that the
Example of a Gentleman so amiable as Mr. B--- may be follow'd, by
the _Jackies, their Sons_, with too blind and unreflecting a
Readiness. Nor does the Answer of that Gentleman to his Sister's
Reproach come quite up to the Point they will rest on. For, tho'
indeed it is true, all the World wou'd acquit the best Gentleman in
it, if he married _such_ a Waiting-maid as _Pamela_, yet, there is
an ill-discerning Partiality, in Passion, that will overthrow all
the Force of that Argument: because _every belov'd Maid will be
PAMELA_, in a Judgment obscur'd by her Influence.
And, since the Ground of this Fear will _seem_ solid, I don't know
how to be easy, till it is shewn (nor ought it to be left to the
Author's Modesty) that they who consider his Design in that Light
will be found but short-sighted Observers.
Request it of him then to suffer it to be told them, that not a
limited, but general, Excitement to Virtue was the first and great
End to his Story: And that this Excitement must have been deficient,
and very imperfectly offer'd, if he had not look'd quite _as low as
he cou'd_ for his Example: because if there had been any Degree or
Condition, more remote from the Prospect than that which he had
chosen to work on, that Degree might have seem'd out of Reach of the
Hope, which it was his generous Purpose to encourage.---And, so, he
was under an evident _Necessity_ to find such a Jewel in a
_Cottage_: and expos'd, too, as she was, to the severest Distresses
of Fortune, with Parents unable to support their own Lives, but from
the daily hard Product of _Labour_.