The next Epistle abounds with the same fulsome Flattery as the former, it is there—"full of Instruction and Morality,—a pure clear Fountain of Truth and Innocence;—a Magazine of Virtue and unblemish'd Thoughts:—ALL others tend only to corrupt our Principles and mislead our Judgments, but Pamela must be for the universal Benefit of Mankind, 'twill reclaim the Vicious, and mend the Age in general."
The Introduction to the Second Edition is only calculated to load us with still more Stuff of the same Kind as the former; You would do well, Sir, before you so confidently affirm the Gentleman who hath given his Opinion upon the Objections that have been offered to be a Person of distinguish'd Taste and Abilities, either to have let us known who he was, or some of his former Works, which might have convinced us of those Abilities, for I think the long Harangue prefix'd to Pamela will never be deem'd a sufficient Proof thereof——The Gentleman himself acknowledges that when it has dwelt all Day long upon the Ear, it takes Possession all night of the Fancy; That is, I suppose, it contributes to make his Dreams something pleasanter than usual; and I am sorry if I am mistaken, but it seems to me, that he wrote his Dissertation half awake and half asleep, just as he was disturb'd from one of those agreeable Reveries——His Return from his Walk in the Snow and the Reflection there made, is far from holding good, if it shall appear that the Author of Pamela, instead of being Father to Millions of Minds, serves only to inspire them with Thoughts and Ideas, which must infallibly make the Mind subservient to the Body, and Reason not only fall a Victim to, but, quite debauch'd, assist the sensual Appetites.
The Objections pretended to be made by an anonymous Gentleman were in my Opinion only formed on Purpose for the Sake of the Answers; so passing over them:—Parson Williams's Dove without serpentine Mixture; the natural Story of the little Boy, for which Sort of Admirers Pamela seems to be more immediately calculated, &c. I come to the Objection the Gentleman makes himself, which I cant think would be sufficiently obviated by any Alteration in the Front of another Edition, while the same is retained in the very Body of the Story; his Objection take in his own Words.
"There are Mothers or Grandmothers (saith he) 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 though indeed it is true, all the World would 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 beloved Maid would be a Pamela, in a Judgment obscured by her Influence."
Nor can I think he has stated his own Objection as strong as it might 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.