the warmest Imagination could scarcely form one more prevalent in the
Cause of Vice. 'Tis true, the Sentences are artfully wrapt up, but
whether the Ideas divested of their Tinsel Trappings and Coverings are
too gross to _entertain_, much less capable of _instructing_ the Youth
of either Sex: Take the Author's own Words, and let the impartial World
determine, at least, let every Father or Mother of a Family read them,
and seriously say, whether they ought for the Sake of this and the
foregoing Quotations, to receive _Pamela_ into the Closets of their
Children, or condemn it to the Flames, with the most lustful Pieces
that ever appeared in Print? The Squire after forming a Pretence of
going into the Country further for a Day or two, by the Assistance of
Mrs. _Jewkes_, (who contrives to make _Nan_ her fellow Guard, drunk) is
convey'd into the Room in the Disguise of the Maid, she patiently sits,
and sees the lovely Creature undress herself, _&c._ but take her own
_modest Relation_ as follows: _p._ 270, 271, 272, 273, 274. 'So I looked
into the Closets, and kneeled down, as I used to do, to say my Prayers,
and this _with my under Cloaths, all undrest_; and passed by the poor
sleeping Wench, as I thought, in my Return. But, Oh! little did I think,
it was my wicked, wicked Master in a Gown and Petticoat of hers, and her
Apron over his Face and Shoulders. Mrs. _Jewkes_ by this Time, was got
to-bed, on the further Side, as she used to be; and, to make room for
the Maid, when she should awake, I got into Bed, and lay close to her.
And I said, Where are the Keys? tho', said I, I am not so much afraid
to-Night. Here, said the wicked Woman, put your Arm under mine, and you
shall find them about my Wrist, as they used to be. So I did, and the
abominable Designer _held my Hand with her Right Hand_, as my Right Arm
was under her Left. In less than a quarter of an Hour, I said, There's
poor _Nan_ awake; I hear her stir. Let us go to sleep, said she, and
not mind her; She'll come to bed, when she's quite awake. Poor Soul!
said I, I'll warrant she'll have the Head-ach finely to-morrow for it!
Be silent said she, and go to sleep; you keep me awake; and I never
found you in so talkative a Humour in my Life. Don't chide me, said I; I
will say but one Thing more: Do you think _Nan_ could hear me talk of my
Master's Offers? No, no, said she; she was dead asleep. I'm glad of
that, said I; because I would not expose my Master to his common
Servants, and I knew _you_ were no Stranger to his _fine_ Articles. Said
she, I think they were fine Articles, and you were bewitch'd you did not
close in with them: But let us go to sleep. So I was silent; and the
pretended _Nan_ (O wicked base villainous Designer! What a Plot, what an
unexpected Plot, was this!) seem'd to be awaking; and Mrs. _Jewkes_,
abhorred Creature! said, Come, _Nan_!--What, are you awake at last?
Prithee come to-bed; for Mrs. _Pamela_ is in a talking Fit, and wont go
to sleep one while. At that the pretended She came to the Bed-side; and
sitting down in a Chair, where the Curtain hid her, began to undress.
Said I, poor Mrs. _Ann_, I warrant your Head aches most sadly! How do
you do?--She answered not one Word. Said the superlatively wicked Woman,
You know I have order'd her not to answer you. And this Plot, to be
sure, was laid when she gave her these Orders, the Night before. I heard
her, as I thought, _breathe all quick and short_: Indeed, said I, Mrs.
_Jewkes_, the poor Maid is not well. What ails you, Mrs. _Ann_? And
still no Answer was made. But, I tremble to relate it! the pretended She
came into Bed; but _quiver'd like an Aspen-leaf_; and I, poor Fool that
I was! pitied her much.----But well might the barbarous Deceiver tremble
at his vile Dissimulation, and base Designs. What Words shall I find, my
dear Mother, (for my Father should not see this shocking Part) to
describe the rest, and my Confusion, when the guilty Wretch took my
_left Arm_, and laid it under his Neck, as the vile Procuress held my
_Right_; and then _he clasp'd me round my Waist_! Said I, Is the Wench
mad! Why, how now Confidence? thinking still it had been _Nan_. But he
kissed me with frightful Vehemence; and then his Voice broke upon me
like a Clap of Thunder. Now, _Pamela_, said he, is the dreadful Time of
Reckoning come, that I have threaten'd.----I scream'd out in such a
Manner, as never any Body heard the like. But there was no body to help
me: And both my Hands were secured, as I said. Sure never poor Soul was
in such Agonies as I. Wicked Man! said I; wicked, abominable Woman! O
God! my God! this _Time_, this _one_ Time! deliver me from this
Distress! or strike me dead this Moment. And then I scream'd again and
again. Says he, One Word with you, _Pamela_; one Word hear me but; and
hitherto you see I offer nothing to you. Is this _nothing_, said I, to
be in Bed here? To hold my Hands between you? I will hear, if you will
instantly leave the Bed, and take this villainous Woman from me. Said
she, (O Disgrace of Womankind!) What you do, Sir, do; don't stand
dilly-dallying. She cannot exclaim worse than she has done. And she'll
be quieter when she knows the worst. Silence! Said he to her; I must say
one Word to you, _Pamela_; it is this: You see, now you are in my
Power!----You cannot get from me, nor help yourself: Yet have I not
offer'd any Thing amiss to you. But if you resolve not to comply with my
Proposals, I will not lose this Opportunity: If you do I will yet leave
you. O Sir, said I, leave me, leave me but, and I will do any Thing I
ought to do. Swear then to me, said he, that you will accept my
Proposals!--And then (for this was all detestable Grimace) _he put his
Hand in my Bosom_. With Struggling, Fright, Terror, _I fainted away
quite_, and did not come to myself soon; so that they both, from the
cold Sweats that I was in, thought me dying--_And I remember no more_,
than that, when, with great Difficulty, they brought me to myself, she
was sitting on one side of the Bed, with her Cloaths on; and and he on
the other with his, and in his Gown and Slippers. Your poor _Pamela_
cannot _answer for the Liberties taken with her in her deplorable State
of Death_. And when I saw them there, I sat up in my Bed, without any
Regard to what Appearance I made, and nothing about my Neck; and he
soothing me, with an Aspect of Pity and Concern, I put my Hand to his
Mouth, and said, O tell me, yet tell me not, what I have suffered in
this Distress! And I talked quite wild, and knew not what; for to be
sure, I was on the Point of Distraction. He most solemnly, and with a
bitter Imprecation, vow'd, that he had not _offer'd_ the _least
Indecency_; that he was frighten'd at the terrible manner I was taken
with the Fit: That he would desist from his Attempt; and begg'd but to
see me easy and quiet, and he would leave me directly, and go to his own
Bed. O then, said I, take from me this most wicked Woman, this vile Mrs.
_Jewkes_, as an Earnest that I may believe you! And will you, Sir, said
the wicked Wretch, for a _Fit or two_, give up such an _Opportunity as
this?--I thought you had known the Sex better_.--She is now, you see,
quite well again! This I heard; more she might say; but _I fainted away
once more_, at these Words, and at his clasping his Arms about me
again. And when I came a little to myself, I saw him sit there, and the
Maid Nan, holding a Smelling-bottle to my Nose, and no Mrs. _Jewkes_.'
Is this an affecting Incident entirely divested of all loose Images?
Will any one in his Senses take upon him to say so? Can any Youth bear
the Image of _seeing her kneel naked_, though at her Prayers, without
Emotion: A lewd Scene suits but ill with Religion; and what an
inconsistent Mixture of both is this? Her going to Bed, and the _proper
Posture_ in which she is laid, may be _modest_, but I defy the most
innocent Virgin to read it in Company without being constrain'd to
stifle a _Conscious Blush_; or in her Closet without causing a
Palpitation which must amount to little less than a _burning Desire_;
_how then can any thing be said to encourage_ Virtue, _that must
infallibly rouse each latent_ vicious Inclination _in the Heart?
Breathing quick and short;----spreading the Arms_, while they are both
in Bed together;----_clasping round the Waist;--putting his Hand in her
Bosom,--struggling--fainting quite away_----'till she owns herself that
_she cannot answer for the Liberties taken with her in that deplorable
State of Death_. These are Images which I think no Youth can read
without Emotion, and yet I'm afraid are such as they will chuse to
converse with rather than any in the Book. For here the blooming Nymph,
the long desired Object of the eager Lover's Passion, lies naked,
defenceless and exposed in Bed, he rushes on her with all the glowing
Ardour of an ungoverned Passion, and tho' the Author has with much ado
just saved her from _Ravishment_, yet 'tis with the greatest Difficulty,
and that too with a plain Confirmation, that _all Liberties were taken
but the last_: And even that Mrs. _Jewkes_ is made to upbraid him for,
as one that ought to know the Sex better. However, had it ended here, we
had been deprived of another Volume; so that at all Events she must be
saved a little longer, and the poor Squire withdraws shaking his Ears
like a Dog that has burnt his Tail.
He had tried Force long enough; in order therefore to spin out the
Narration, he must take another Method, and try what artful Insinuations
and Perswasions would do: _p._ 280. 'After walking about, he lead me
into a little Alcove--He began to be very teizing, and made me sit on
his Knee, and was so often kissing me, that I said, Sir, I don't like to
be here at all, I assure you. Indeed you make me afraid!--And what made
me the more so, was that he once said to Mrs. _Jewkes_, and did not
think I heard him.--Said he, I will try _once_ more; but I have begun
wrong. For I see Terror does but add to her Frost; but she is a charming
Girl, and may be _thaw'd_ by _Kindness_; and I should have MELTED her
by LOVE, instead of FREEZING her by FEAR.'
This leads us on to Soothings and Blandishments, till he forms a Trap
wherein he is caught himself, and forms an Introduction for fresh
Characters; but even amidst all he can't forbear now and then breaking
partly tending to the Obscene; for he supposes that had not _Pamela_
been with him, she might have been Wife to some Plough Boy. And upon her
answering that had it been so, she should have been content, he replies
(V. II. _p._ 18.) intimating that the whole Manor must be at the Lord's
Command. In _p._ 20. poor _Pamela_ is to be _press'd to Death_; _p._ 21.
he stoops to enquire where she _garters_, and wants to _examine her
Knees_. Which by the Way shews the Squire to be a little ignorant, or
certainly by seeing her _undress_ twice he might have known.
After a great Deal of Chitchat and Courtship, we are last arrived at the
fixing of the last Holy Rite:--But to shew our Author's Inclination for
a Joke (for he must doubtless be a very Merry Man) he makes Honest Sir
_Simon Darnford_ praise her Fingers, and laughing tells her they were
made _to touch any Key_: The fluttering Heart before Marriage is
prettily described, Lady _Davers_'s Passion tho' a little too violent,
and carried to the very highest Extravagance of Nature, affords us
Matter of Diversion, as does her running a Race with _Collbrand_ of
Laughter.----_Pamela_ herself in _p._ 167, tells us, she shan't _sleep a
Wink the first Night_, but concludes with this comfortable Reflection,
_that she supposes all young Maidens are the same_; and therefore very
prudently resolves to undergo it. But in order to encourage her the
Squire desires Good Mrs. _Jewkes_ (who is now her chief Favourite) to
entertain her with some _pleasant_ Stories, _suitable to the Occasion_.
And his desiring to spoil the _pretty Waist of his Pamela_, _p._ 216, so
far from making half the Women in _England_ hurt themselves by
Strait-lacing, that I am of Opinion, most of them assisted by that and
some other foregoing Passages, wou'd rather endeavour to _enlarge_
themselves in that Part, than decrease it. Nor do Mr. _Longman_ or Mrs.
_Jervis_ seem to be of a contrary Opinion to the Squire, but both
facetiously drink a Bumper to the _Hans in Kelder_.
Thus, Sir, thro' a Series of Intrigue interwoven with Amorous Incidents
have we traced the Lovely _Pamela_ from the _Servant Maid_ to the
_Mistress_ of the _Mansion House_, and as I think I have marked out
several Passages, that tend only to _inflame_ without any View at all to
_Instruction_, that the Images they present are so far from being
innocent, they could not be stronger invented, or more naturally
expressed, to _excite Lasciviousness_ in the Minds of the Youth of both
_Sexes_. I shall conclude at present, hoping that in your next Edition
you will either amend them or entirely strike them out; not that I have
pointed all that I think exceptionable, as it would be too long for a
Thing of this Kind, and am of Opinion that there are Faults enough of
different Sorts, which may possibly be the Subject of a Second Epistle:
In the mean time, let me address myself in the most earnest Manner to
those of maturer Years, who may chance to be your Readears, that they
would weigh what _Virtue_ is, and how much these amorous Expressions may
tend to corrupt their Children, before they suffer them to peruse it,
nor be led away by the slight Viel of a few Religious Sentiments, which
are thinly spread over them, to permit the Youth under their Care to
discover the naked Charms of an _inflaming Passion_, which is too much
exposed in almost every Page of this _much-admir'd_ PAMELA. I am, SIR,
_Your's_, &c.
[Illustration]
NOTES TO _PAMELA CENSURED_
Title page
The epigraph is from Horace's Odes II. viii. 13-16: "All this but makes
sport for Venus (upon my word, it does!) and for the artless Nymphs, and
cruel Cupid, ever whetting his fiery darts on blood-stained stone"
(_Horace: The Odes and Epodes_, trans. C. E. Bennett [Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard Univ. Press, Loeb Classics, 1952], p. 127).
Title page
Little is known about James Roberts, the bookseller (see Henry R.
Plomer, _A Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers Who Were at Work
in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to 1725_, ed. Arundell
Esdaile [Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1922], p. 255). Undoubtedly
familiar with Richardson, Roberts sold the _Weekly Miscellany_, which
Richardson printed during the 1730's, and he printed Charles Povey's
_Virgin in_ Eden (1741), which like _Pamela Censured_ attacks the
morality of Richardson's novel.
Dedication
After recommending _Pamela_ from his pulpit sometime before 6 January
1741, Dr. Benjamin Slocock (1691-1753) earned the undeserved reputation
of having been paid by Richardson for this praise (see Eaves and Kimpel,
_Samuel Richardson_, pp. 123-24).
5.1-2
The third (duodecimo) edition of _Pamela_, published 12 March 1741, is
virtually the same in content and collation as the second edition,
published less than a month earlier (see William Merritt Sale, Jr.,
_Samuel Richardson: A Bibliographical Record_ [New Haven: Yale Univ.
Press, 1936], pp. 18-19).
6.9-8.17
An attack on the various promises made by Richardson on the title page
of _Pamela_.
8.18-12.27
An attack on _Pamela_'s "Preface by the Editor." Concerning these
objections, the "Introduction" to _Pamela's Conduct in High Life_ finds
fault with the author of _Pamela Censured_: "I shall pass by his
Contradictions with Regard to the Character he draws of the Editor, or
as he will have it _Author_, who appears in his Party-colour'd Writing a
very _artful, silly_ Writer, a Man of fine Sense, and excellent in his
Method of conducting the whole Piece, but at the same time vain,
ignorant, and incorrect" (I, xiii).
9.26
The "certain _Noble Lord_" is probably either Sir Arthur Hesilrige or
Lord Gainsborough (see McKillop, _Samuel Richardson_, pp. 27-29).
10.1-3
Quotation from the "Abstract of a second Letter from the Same Gentleman"
in the "Introduction to this Second Edition." The "complemental" friend
is Aaron Hill.
10.21-12.5
Paraphrase of Richardson's "Preface by the Editor."
12.8
Colley Cibber (1671-1757), the "worthy Gentleman" who then presided over
the muses as poet laureate, frequently mentions his own vanity in _An
Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Comedian_ (1740).
14.16
Advertised during the spring of 1741, the first French translation of
_Pamela_ did not appear until the end of October 1741 (see McKillop,
_Samuel Richardson_, p. 92). Jean Baptiste de Freval, author of "_To the
Editor of the Piece intitled_ Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded," probably had
at least some hand in this French translation (see Paul Dottin, _Samuel
Richardson_ [Paris: Perrin et Cie., 1931], p. 117).
15.2-10
Partially a paraphrase, partially a quotation of "_To my worthy Friend,
the Editor of_ Pamela, _&c._"
15.17-19.2
An attack on the "Introduction to This Second Edition." Aaron Hill is
the "Person of distinguish'd _Taste_ and _Abilities_."
22.22-24
_Pamela Censured_ here refuses to employ _Pamela_'s tactic of including
parts of letters to support opinions.
26.7-13
Quotation from Letter VII.
26.13-25
_Pamela's Conduct in High Life_ brands the remarks on this page "too
poor to censure" and "downright _silly_" (I, xiii).
26.26-28.17
Quotation from Letter XI.
28.22-29.1
This comment, according to _Pamela's Conduct in High Life_, "is like the
Roman Persecution of the Christians, who sewed them in Bears Skins and
then baited them. How unfair he is, and how much of the Goat he has in
his Constitution are visible" (I, xiii).
29.1-30.27
Quotation from Letter XV. Concerning this passage, _Pamela's Conduct in
High Life_ asks: "What is there immodest in this Account, what to excite
any Passions but those of Pity for a virtuous young Creature, and
Indignation to a tyrannical lewd Man of Fortune? How do the Fright, the
Terror, and Apprehensions of a defenceless Virgin kindle Desire? and
when they have deprived her of Sense, how can we fairly from the Words
of _Pamela_'s Letter gather, that she fell in an indecent Posture?" "The
Warmth of Imagination in this virtuous Censurer," continues _Pamela's
Conduct in High Life_, "supplies the rest: He can't suppose that she
could possibly fall but as he has painted her, and if the Editor has
been defective in CONVEYING THE MOST ARTFUL AND ALLURING AMOROUS IDEAS,
if the Letters do not abound with Incidents which must necessarily raise
in the unwary Youth that read them EMOTIONS _far distant_ from the
PRINCIPLES of VIRTUE. If they are not replete with _Images to enflame_,
the Censurer endeavours to repair the Fault[. H]e, not the Editor,
contrives to give an Idea of _Pamela_'s hidden Beauties, and would have
you imagine she lies in the most immodest Posture, such a one as Mrs.
_Jervis_ thought Things had gone farther, but can this be gathered from
_Pamela_'s Account, or is not this virtuous Censurer endeavouring to
impress in the Minds of Youth that read his Defence of Modesty and
Virtue, _Images_ that may _enflame_? _Was not_, says he, _the 'Squire
very modest to withdraw? for she lay in such a pretty Posture that
Mrs._ Jervis _thought it was worse_. Why did Mrs. _Jervis_ think this
from the pretty Posture? Nay, how could she think it from any Posture?
when the same Account tells us she and the 'Squire were obliged to burst
open the Door, for Mrs. _Jervis_ to get in to her Assistance; Is it not
more reasonable for Mrs. _Jervis_ to conclude as she did, from the
unruly lawless Passion with which she knew her Master tormented, from
the Obstinacy of his Temper, and from the Hopes he might entertain,
being Master of a large Fortune, that he might, born up by that, stem
the Tide of Justice, and perpetrate the greatest Villainy with Impunity?
We are told in the Letters that she fainted away, and fell on the Floor
stretch'd at her Length, and as her Gown was caught in, and torn by the
Door, she must fall too near it, in whatever Posture, to shew any
_latent_ Beauties, but what is there indecent in this Relation? Is there
any particular Posture described? Oh, but the Censurer lays her in one
which may _enflame_, you must imagine as lusciously as he does; if the
Letter has not discover'd enough, the pious Censurer lends a Hand, and
endeavours to _surfeit your Sight_ by lifting the Covering which was
left by the Editor, and with the Hand of a boisterous Ravisher takes the
Opportunity of _Pamela_'s being in a Swoon to ----" (I, xiv-xv).
30.28
Concerning "whether the 'Squire was not modest," _Pamela's Conduct in
High Life_ explains that Mr. B "shews he had some Humanity, and was
touch'd with Remorse at the Distress he himself occasioned. This, no
doubt the Censurer, who seems as much divested of Humanity as a Stranger
to Virtue or even Decency, blames the 'Squire for in his Heart, thinks
him a silly Country Booby, a half-paced Sinner, a Milk-sop to be capable
of Compassion, and no doubt would gladly have had him gone thorough,
that he might have had the Pleasure of imaginary Pimping, and have
_surfeited his Sight_" (I, xv-(xvi)).
31.6-32.19
Concerning this passage, _Pamela's Conduct in High Life_ sums up its
argument by saying: "But this unfair Censurer fearing he has not yet
warm'd the Imagination of his Readers, lays Pamela in a Posture, and
particularizes her latent charms, _p._ 31, and then charges his own
luxurious Fancy on the Author, as he calls the Editor" (I, [xvi]).
33.1-20
Quotation from Letter XVIII.
33.25-34.13
Quotation from Letter XIX. Concerning this passage, _Pamela's Conduct in
High Life_ exclaims: "Pamela talks very rationally to Mrs. _Jervis_,
foresees Consequences, and concludes, _she that can't keep her Virtue
ought to live in Disgrace_. At this our Censurer cries out, _Fine
Instructions truly!_" With this, _Pamela's Conduct in High Life_ makes
its parting stab at _Pamela Censured_: "But it is impossible with
Decency to follow this luscious Censurer, really I had scarce Patience
to read, and therefore you will not expect me to rake longer in his
Dirt. I have written enough to shew you of what Stamp are all the
Calumniators of the virtuous _Pamela_. How sensual and coarse their
Ideas, how inhumane their Sentiments, how immoral their Principles, how
vile their Endeavours, how unfair their Quotations, how lewd and weak
their Remarks" (I. [xvi]).
35.12-29
Quotation from Letter XXIV.
37.2-38.6
Quotation from Letter XXIV.
38.10-25
Quotation from Letter XXIV.
39.12-20
Quotation from Letter XXV.
39.24-40.10
Quotation from Letter XXV.
40.15-41.19
Quotation from Letter XXV.
42.2-17
Quotation from Letter XXV.
42.26-28
Quotation from Letter XXVII.
43.5-16
Quotation from Letter XXVII.
43.20-44.3
Quotation from Letter XXVII.
44.9-17
Quotation from Letter XXVII.
45.20-46.3
Quotation from Letter XXVII.
46.19-20
Reference to Letter XXIX.
46.26-48.4
Quotation from Letter XXX.
48.17-49.15
Quotation from the narrative break at the end of Letter XXXI.
50.3-13
Quotation from Letter XXXII.
50.15-25
Quotation from Letter XXXII.
51.10-14
Quotation from the journal entry for "TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY," the 6th
and 7th days of "Bondage."
51.23-52.2
Quotation from the journal entry for "THURSDAY," the 8th day of
"Bondage."
52.7-15
Quotation from the journal entry for "MONDAY, TUESDAY, _the 25th and
26th Days of my heavy Restraint_."
52.25-54.5
Quotation from the journal entry for "SATURDAY _Morning_," the 37th day
of "Bondage."
55.10-60.4
Quotation from the journal entry for "TUESDAY _Night_," the 40th day of
"Bondage."
61.18-62.2
Quotation from the journal entry for "WEDNESDAY _Morning_," the 41st day
of "Bondage."
62.11-16
References to the journal entry for "SATURDAY, _Six o'Clock_," the 44th
day of "Bondage."
63.2-6
Reference to the journal entry for "WEDNESDAY _Evening_," the night
before Pamela's wedding.
63.10-11
Reference to the journal entry for "SUNDAY, _the Fourth Day of my
Happiness_."