be, or even sufficiently answer'd it as it is, for where he recommends
"the purpos'd Excitement of Persons in _Pamela's_ Condition of Life, by
an Emulation of her Sweetness, Humility, Modesty, Patience and Industry
to attain some faint Hope of arriving in Time within View of her
Happiness?----What a delightful Reformation, says he, should we see in
all Families, where the Vanity of their Maids took no Turn toward
Ambition to please, but by such innocent Pleasures as _Pamelia's_."
This is first of all making an Objection, then denying it to be one; for
what does he defend in the last Paragraph, but the very Thing that is
allowed to be the general bad Tendency of the Book, _viz_: That every
Maid Servant from what low Stock soever she sprung, if she is pretty
modest, _&c._ has an undoubted Right to attempt to entice her Master to
Marriage:----Nay in what he allows is proposed to teach the _Gay World_
and the _Fortunate_, he more particularly acknowledges it to be
this.----"By Comparison with that infinite Remoteness of her Condition
from the Reward which her Virtue procured her, one great Proof is
derived, (_which_, says he expressly; _is Part of the Moral of Pamela_)
that Advantages from _Birth_, and Distinction of _Fortune_ have no Power
at all, when consider'd against those of _Behaviour_ and Temper of Mind:
Because where the _last_ are not added, all the _first_ will be boasted
in Vain. Whereas she who possesses the last, finds _no Want_ of the
first in her Influence."----If this is proper Instructions for young
Ladies I am deceived, for by the same Rule that it may hold good with
_Servant Maids_ in regard to their obtaining their _Young Masters_
(which he would call as above----_the Reward their Virtue procured
them._). It must equally make the Ladies conclude that if they can find
any thing mere deserving in their _Footmen_ than the _Young Gentlemen_,
who by a suitable Rank and Fortune are designed to be their Suitors,
they are under no Obligation to chuse the latter, but _are
meritoriously_ throwing down all Distinction of _Family_ and taking up
with the former.
Thus much, Sir, I have thought proper to observe in regard to your
Assistants; now give me Leave to say, that I think your _Pamela_ so far
from being a proper Entertainment for the Youth of both Sexes,
especially the young Ladies, that it is indisputable no young Girl
however innocent she may be; at the Age when Nature softens and moulds
the tender yielding Heart to Love can possibly read several Passages in
it, which I shall point out, without conceiving Ideas she otherwise
might never have dream'd of; and instead of recommending it to my
Daughters I would keep it from their Sight, as too pernicious for them
to converse with.
But before I enter into any particular Parts, I will take a short
Summary of the whole Tale as you would willingly have it represented,
with my Objections thereto, and wherein I think you fall short of what
you have promised in your Title Page, and is directly the Reverse of the
Encomiums bestow'd in your Preface.
The Foundation of _Pamela_'s Story is _Truth_ and _Nature_ as you have
laid it down at first, pursuant to this you would have represented to
us, in the Characters you have drawn, a Young Girl born of honest but
mean Parents, who by some Means or other had procured for their only
surviving Child a Place in a Lady of Fashion's Family, where her
Education and growing Beauty just at her blooming Age, by the Death of
her old Lady, left her a warm Temptation to a succeeding Heir, who had
joined all the Prejudices of modern polite Education to the insulting
Affluence of Fortune; he accordingly among his deceased Mother's
Treasure finds this beauteous Virgin, and thinking that his Fortune
might or juvenile Gaiety attract her an easy devoted Prey to his amorous
Inclinations, he tries all Arts to seduce her thereto, but finding them
all ineffectual, he at last flies even to Threats and Anger to force her
to gratify a then raging brutal Passion which became too fierce to be
endured, and too predominant to be stifled or overcome, and in order to
bring her to Compliance, he is guilty of the basest Treachery and
Perfidiousness; for instead of letting her return in Safety to her
Father and Mother as he had promised her, and which more speciously to
make her believe, he complements her with his own Chariot to carry her,
but at the same Time gives private Orders to his Servants to convey her
far from the Place she desires to go to, there to be immur'd like a
Prisoner, and all this in Hopes of forcing her into Compliance. There
commited to the safe Custody of a _Swiss_, and one that is nothing
better than an _old Bawd_; there a thousand Difficulties surround her,
the poor artless Maid still unacquainted with Love, and all it's little
Artifices, here lights of a Minister, who professing a Value and Esteem
For her, undertakes at the Hazard and Expence of his own Welfare and
Subsistence to engage in her Cause and procure her Liberty; but meeting
with a severe Disappointment even to his then seeming utter Ruin, the
Design proves abortive, and the poor Girl is still left to further and
terrible Trials of her Chastity; 'till at last overcomeing all, she
captivates her Tyrant, binds him in _soft Fetters of Love_, when he only
means to enslave her in _Chains of Lust_. Thus by a quick Transition
from a Servant Maid, she becomes the lawful Mistress of the Dwelling she
so lately waited in; and is supposed to give as excellent Example as a
_Wife_, as she gave of _Chastity_ as a Maid. And _thus is Virtue
Rewarded_.
The most sanguine of your Admirers could not, I fancy, more inpartially
state the Case, as it has been represented by them in your Behalf. Now
let us examine what is the Opinion of as many on the other Side. Their
first great Charge, is, that in the narrative Part of her Letters, you
have interspersed too many Scenes that directly tend to inflame the
Minds of Youth: Next, that _Pamela_ instead of being artless and
innocent sets out at first with as much Knowledge of the Arts of the
Town, as if she had been born and bred in _Covent_ Garden, all her Life
Time; that your fine Gentleman does not come up to the Character you
would fain have him be thought to assume, that his Sister Lady _Davers_,
is little better than a downright _Billingsgate_, and her poor Lord is
the only one who meets with Pity. That Mrs. _Jewkes_ might take
_Colbrand_ with her and set up in a House somewhere in the Purlieus of
_St. Giles_, while honest Mother _Jervis_ might marry _Jonathan_, and
perhaps be promoted to a little Inn of Squire _B_'s in the Country, even
that Mrs. _Pamela_ stopp'd at in her Journey to the _Lincolnshire_
Estate. Thus, Sir, do many enter into Conversation with the Character of
Men of Taste and Pleasantry, find Fault in Opposition to the exuberant
Praises bestow'd on _Pamela_ by others.
I however was much more pleas'd for my own Part with the Opinion of a
stay'd sober Gentleman, who was then call'd upon to declare his
Sentiments, tho' I don't send it to you as an Extract from a _Curious
Letter_, neither was it submitted to him, as a Gentleman of the MOST
distinguish'd Taste and Abilities. But to the best of my Remembrance he
express'd himself something like the following Manner.
I don't approve, said he, of the _Extravagancies_ which People have run
into on both sides of the Question in regard to _Pamela_, neither of
those who have cried it up as a Masterpiece in its Kind and the most
perfect Thing that ever was published; nor of those who depreciate it as
the most insignificant Trifle they ever met with, and hardly worth
Notice, on the contrary, I think it is very artfully work'd up, and the
Passions so strongly touch'd that it is impossible for Youth to read it
without Sympathy, and even wishing themselves in such a Situation, which
must be attended with very bad Consequences. _Pamela_ under the Notion
of being a Virtuous Modest Girl will be introduced into all Families,
and when she gets there, what Scenes does she represent? Why a fine
young Gentleman endeavouring to debauch a beautiful Girl of Sixteen. The
Advances are regular, and the amorous Conflicts so agreeably and warmly
depicted, that the young Gentleman Reader will at the best be tempted to
rehearse some of the same Scenes with some _Pamela_ or other in the
Family, and the Modest Young Lady can never read the Description of
Naked Breasts being run over with the Hand, and Kisses given with such
Eagerness that they cling to the Lips; but her own soft Breasts must
heave at the Idea and secretly sigh for the same Pressure; what then can
she do when she comes to the closer Struggles of the Bed, where the
tender Virgin lies panting and exposed, if not to the last Conquest,
(which I think the Author hath barely avoided) at least to all the
Liberties which ungoverned Hands of a determined Lover must be supposed
to take? If she is contented with only wishing for the same Trial to
shew the Steadiness of her Virtue it is sufficient; but if Nature should
be too powerful, as Nature at Sixteen is a very formidable Enemy tho'
Shame and the Censure of the World may restrain her from openly
gratifying the criminal Thought, yet she privately may seek Remedies
which may drive her to the most unnatural Excesses.
This then, said he, in short is my Opinion of _Pamela_; that the _Story_
is prettily related, the _Passions_ finely wrought up, and the
_Catastrophe_ beautifully concluded, but in the Course of the Narrative,
and almost interspersed throughout the Whole, there are such _Scenes_ of
_Love_, and such _lewd Ideas_, as must fill the Youth that read them
with _Sentiments_ and _Desires_ worse than ROCHESTER can, and for this
Reason, they will start at a gross Expression, which if nicely and
artfully convey'd they'll dwell on with Rapture. Therefore I think it
wholly _unfit_ for _Youth_, and declare freely I would by no Means trust
my _Daughters_ with reading it.
This Gentleman's Opinion induced me to read over your _Pamela_, and I
really find it too true: There is a perfect System of Intrigue, and
they begin so gently by Degrees, and are led on so methodically to the
last Grand Attack, and this with amorous Attacks in View, even thro' the
gravest Sentences of Morality that it is impossible to read it without
endeavouring to gratify the Passion he hath raised; let us view _Pamela_
then, divested of the Drapery in which she is enclos'd, tho' not hid,
and then her Charms will appear thus: The wise Father will never think
it proper for his Son's Closet, and the careful Mother banish that with
other Novels and Romances from her Daughter's Cabinet.
_PAMELA_ begins from the Death of her Lady, and tho' she gives the
Narrative in her own Person, yet let us take it as a Tale only, without
any Consideration had to it's being epistolary, and the loose Images
will be the more connected, and glare the stronger; which Mr. Editor,
that I may not misrepresent, I will quote in your own Words, and make
Remarks on them as they occur.
The young Gentleman coming to take Possession of his Treasure, finds
this young Virgin among it, the good old Gentlewoman, on her Death-bed,
recommends her to his Care with one Design, and he receives her with
quite another. Here's a fine Field open'd for a luscious Tale, the Game
is started, and the Author like a staunch Sportsman never once loses
Sight;----Mr. _B._ begins very tenderly: After a little Toying, Kissing,
_&c._ he makes Miss a Present of several fine Things, and here, says the
Author, I'll just give my Readers a soft Touch to see how they will
entertain amorous Reflections; _p._ 12. "I was inwardly ashamed to take
the Stockens; for Mrs. _Jervis_ was not there; If she had, it would have
been nothing. I believe I received them very awkwardly; for he smiled at
my Awkwardness, and said, _Don't blush_, Pamela: _Dost think I don't
know pretty Maids wear Shoes and Stockens?_" Yes, to be sure, and
Garters and Stomachers and Smocks,----but ola! little Miss would have
cried, that's a Pah Word, and my Mamma wont let me read such naughty
Books!
Well! the young Gentleman grows a little bolder, his Sister indeed the
good Lady _Davers_! She thinks the poor Girl is designed to be ruin'd:
And she does no more to prevent it then shake her Head and cry, _Ah
Brother!_ Now Miss is at Work in the Summer House, and let us see the
Interview, I assure you the Scene rises a little, and the _innocent
Girl_ appears mighty skillful; p. 17, 18. "I saw some Reason to
_suspect_; for he would _look upon me_, whenever he saw me, _in such a
manner as shew'd not well_; and at last he came to me, as I was in the
Summer-house in the little Garden, at work with my Needle, and Mrs.
_Jervis_ was just gone from me; and I would have gone out; but he said,
No, don't go, _Pamela_; I have something to say to you; and you always
fly me, when I come near you, as if you were afraid of me. I was much
out of Countenance, you may well think; but said at last, It does not
become your poor Servant to stay in your Presence, Sir, without your
Business requir'd it; and I hope I shall always know my Place. Well,
says he, my Business does require it sometimes, and I have a Mind you
should stay to hear what I have to say to you. I stood all-confounded,
and began to tremble, and the more when he took me by the Hand; for now
no Soul was near us. My Sister _Davers_, said he (and seem'd, I thought,
to be as much at a Loss for Words as I) would have had you live with
_her_; but she would not do for you what I am resolved to do, if you
continue faithful and obliging. What say'st thou, my Girl? said he, with
some Eagerness; had'st thou not better stay with me, than go to my
Sister _Davers_? _He look'd so_, as fill'd me with Affrightment; _I
don't know how_; wildly, I thought. I said, when I could speak, Your
Honour will forgive me; but as you have no Lady for me to wait upon, and
my good Lady has been now dead this Twelvemonth, I had rather, if it
would not displease you, wait upon Lady _Davers_, _because_--I was
proceeding, and he said a little hastily _Because_ you are a little
Fool, and know not what's good for yourself. I tell you, I will make a
Gentlewoman of you, if you'll be obliging, and don't stand in your own
Light, and so saying, _he put his Arm about me and kiss'd me_! Now you
will say, all his Wickedness appear'd plainly. I _struggled, and
trembled_, and was so benumb'd with Terror, _that I sunk down, not in a
Fit, and yet not myself; and I found myself in his Arms, quite void of
Strength; and he kissed me two or three times, with frightful
Eagerness_.----At last I burst from him, and was getting out of the
Summer House; but he held me back, and shut the Door." He then bids her
have done blubbering, and offers her some Money. After this Miss is
afraid to lie alone, and wants a Confidante. Well good Mrs. _Jervis_ to
be sure is glad of the Offer, and some Time passes 'till the 'Squire
comes to Town again. And here the Author (fearing least his Male Readers
should have no Entertainment, the former being more adapted to improve
the Female,) contrives to give us an Idea of _Pamela_'s hidden Beauties,
and very decently to spread her upon the Floor, for all who will peep
thro' the Door to surfeit on the Sight; but first takes care to put them
in Life by a Flurry lest they should appear too dead and languid: _p._
30. "At last he came in again, but, alas! with Mischief in his heart!
and raising me up, he, said, Rise, _Pamela_, rise; you are your own
Enemy. Your perverse Folly will be your Ruin; I tell you this, that I am
very much displeased with the Freedoms you have taken with my Name to my
House-keeper, as also to your Father and Mother; and you may as well
have _real_ Cause to take these Freedoms with me, as to make my Name
suffer for _imaginary_ ones. And saying so, he offered _to take me on
his Knee, with some Force_. O how I was terrify'd! I said, like as I had
read in a Book a Night or two before, Angels, and Saints, and all the
Host of Heaven, defend me! And may I never survive one Moment, that
fatal one in which I shall forfeit my Innocence. Pretty Fool! said he,
how will you forfeit your Innocence, if you are oblig'd to yield to a
Force you cannot withstand? Be easy, said he; for let the worse happen
that can, _you'll_ have the Merit, and I the Blame; and it will be a
Subject for Letters to your Father and Mother, and a Tale in the Bargain
for Mrs. _Jervis_. He by Force kissed my Neck and Lips; Who even blamed
_Lucretia_, but the _Ravisher_ only? And I am content to take all the
Blame upon me; as I have all ready born too great a Share for what I
have deservd. May I, said I, _Lucretia_ like, justify myself with my
Death, if I am used barbarously? O my good Girl! said he, tauntingly,
you are well read, I see; and we shall make out between us, before we
have done, a pretty Story in Romance, I warrant ye. He then put his Hand
in my Bosom, and the Indignation gave me double Strength, and I got
loose from him by a sudden Spring, and ran out of the Room and the next
Chamber being open, I made shift to get into it, and threw-to the Door;
and the Key being of the Inside, it locked; but he followed me so close,
he got hold of my Gown, and tore a Piece off, which hung without the
Door. I just remember I got into the Room; for I knew nothing further of
the Matter till afterwards; for I fell into a Fit with my Fright and
Terror, _and there I lay, till he, as I suppose, looking through the
Key-hole,_ SPY'D ME LYING ALL ALONG UPON THE FLOOR, STRETCH'D OUT AT MY
LENGTH; and then he call'd Mrs. _Jervis_ to me, who, by his Assistance,
bursting open the Door, he went away, I seeming to be coming to myself;
and bid her say nothing of the Matter, if she was wise. Poor Mrs.
_Jervis_ thought it was worse."
Was not the Squire very modest to withdraw? for she lay in such a pretty
Posture that Mrs. _Jervis thought it was worse_, and Mrs. _Jervis_ was
a Woman of Discernment; but however _Pamela_ did no more than what
Ladies of Fashion do to their Footmen every Morning, shew herself in
Dishabille or so.
The Young Lady by thus discovering a few latent Charms, as the snowy
Complexion of her Limbs, and the beautiful Symmetry and Proportion which
a Girl of about fifteen or sixteen must be supposed to shew by tumbling
backwards, after being put in a Flurry by her Lover, and agitated to a
great Degree takes her smelling Bottle, has her Laces cut, and all the
pretty little necessary Things that the most luscious and warm
Description can paint, or the fondest Imagination conceive. How artfully
has the Author introduced an Image that no Youth can read without
Emotion! The Idea of peeping thro' a Key-hole to see a fine Woman
extended on a Floor in a Posture that must naturally excite Passions of
Desire, may indeed be read by one in his _grand Climacteric_ without
ever wishing to see one in the same Situation, but the Editor of
_Pamela_ directs himself to the _Youth_ of both Sexes, therefore all the
Instruction they can possibly receive from this Passage is, first to the
young Men that the more they endeavour to find out the hidden Beauties
of their Mistresses, the more they must approve them; and for that
Purpose all they have to do, is, to move them by some amorous Dalliance
to give them a _transient View_ of the _Pleasure_ they are afterwards to
reap from the _beloved Object_. And Secondly, to the young Ladies that
whatever Beauties they discover to their Lovers, provided they grant not
the last Favour, they only ensure their Admirers the more; and by a
Glimpse of Happiness captivate their Suitor the better. So that a young
Lover in order to encourage his _growing Virtue_ is not to blame to see
his Mistress in her Shift, nor the young Lady to permit it, if she can
discreetly do it so as not to let him think she is sensible of it, 'tis
as much as to say, ye Rakes! Raise the Inclination of the Girls 'till
they can scarce refuse complying, then let them fly from ye to their
Chambers, and there reveal in private to your longing Sight the Beauties
which upon no Account they would openly entertain ye with.
The lovely, the innocent _Pamela_, after her Master had seen her like _a
new born Venus rising from the Waves_, as one of the Poets expresses it,
seems to know nothing of the Matter, and yet with all the Inconsistence
imaginable expresses herself as cunningly and knowing upon the Subject
as the best bred Town Lass of them all could have done: The Squire
offers her Money, which she refuses; and in her Conversation with Mrs.
_Jervis_, upon that Head, she expresses herself thus: _p._ 41. "After
such Offers, and such Threatnings, and his comparing himself to a wicked
Ravisher, in the very Time of his last Offer; and making a Jest of me,
that we should make a pretty Story in Romance; can I stay, and be safe?
Has he not demean'd him self twice? And it behoves me to beware of the
third Time, for fear he should lay his Snares surer; for mayhap he did
not expect a poor Servant would resist her Master so much. And must it
not be look'd upon as a sort of Warrant for such Actions, if I stay
after this? For I think, when one of our Sex finds she is attempted, it
is an Encouragement to a Person to proceed, if one puts one's self in
the Way of it, when one can help it; and it shews one can forgive what
in short ought, _not_ to be forgiven: Which is no small Countenance to
foul Actions, I'll assure you."
Yet notwithstanding all this, her _Virtue_ is only founded on _Shame_,
and she seems to imply that could she be secure from the Censure of the
World she would not hesitate to commit the Sin, _p._ 44. "Well, but,
Mrs. _Jervis_, said I, let me ask you, if he can stoop to like such a
poor Girl as I, as perhaps he may (for I have read of Things almost as
strange, from great Men to poor Damsels) What can it be _for_?--He may
condescend, mayhap, to think I may be good enough for his Harlot; and
those Things don't disgrace Men, that ruin poor Women, as the World
goes. And so, if I was wicked enough, he would keep me till I was
undone, and 'till his Mind changed; for even wicked Men, I have read,
soon grow weary of Wickedness of _one_ Sort, and love _Variety_. Well
then, poor _Pamela_ must be turn'd off, and look'd upon as a vile
abandon'd Creature, and every body would despise her; ay, and _justly_
too, Mrs. _Jervis_; for she that can't keep her Virtue, ought to live in
Disgrace." Fine Instruction truly! That is, My Master lik'd me, he would
have made a Harlot of me, but then if I should consent, he may be tired
perhaps in a Month or two, or meet with Somebody he likes better, then
poor _Pamela_ will be turn'd off, and the World will call her a Fool.
I must now address you Sir, as Author and acknowledge that your Skill in
Intrigue is most apparent, not content with permitting us to fill our
Fancy with the naked Charms of the lovely _Pamela_, luxuriant in your
Art, you contrive to give us her Picture in a simple rural Dress; the
Squire fir'd at the View of those lovely Limbs is still kept warm by
Variety, and, cloath'd in a Disguise, they are again to attack him in
another Shape: She, who could charm so much in a loose Undress on the
Floor, must doubtless keep that Ardour still alive, dress'd in the
unaffected Embellishments of a neat Country Girl. And tho' the _Servant
Maid_ might fail to please, the _Farmer's Daughter_ must inevitably
catch the _Country Squire_; yet how artfully is this _Masquerade_
introduced! The poor Girl for not complying at once to his Request, is
threaten'd to be turn'd away, and accordingly to go Home to her Father
and Mother, in a Condition agreeable to theirs, dresses herself in the
most alluring Habit that her Circumstances will afford: p. 63. "I
trick'd myself up as well as I could in my Garb, and put on my
round-ear'd Cap; _but with a green Knot however_, and my home-spun Gown
and Petticoat, and plain-leather Shoes; but yet they are what they call
_Spanish_ Leather, and my ordinary Hose, ordinary I mean to what I have
been lately used to; tho' I shall think good Yarn may do very well for
every Day, when I come home. A plain Muslin Tucker I put on, and my
black Silk Necklace, instead of the _French_ Necklace my Lady gave me;
and put the Ear-rings out of my Ears; and when I was quite 'quipp'd, I
took my Straw Hat in my Hand, with its two blue Strings, and look'd
about me in the Glass, as proud as any thing----To say Truth, I never
lik'd myself so well in my Life."