By the time Richardson's carefully corrected fourteenth edition appeared in 1801, even more changes had crept into those passages which Pamela Censured found particularly objectionable. Mr. B no longer offers "to take" Pamela "on his Knee, with some Force"; he now more modestly lifts her up and offers "to set" her on his knee, without any mention of force (Letter XV). While Mr. B originally "by Force Kissed" Pamela's "Neck and Lips," he now simply kisses Pamela—no portion of her anatomy mentioned—while she struggles against him (Letter XV). Likewise, instead of passionately putting his hand in Pamela's bosom, Mr. B in the revised version merely tries to kiss her neck (Letter XV) or continues holding her in his arms (Letter XXV). Because of her lover's more modest approach in Letter XXV, Pamela no longer breaks out "in a cold clammy sweat." Pamela's reasons for not succumbing to Mr. B's advances (Letter XIX), which Pamela Censured found morally shoddy, are clarified somewhat by the inclusion of a new moralizing passage concerning her relation to Mr. B:
He may make me great offers, and may, perhaps, intend to deck me out in finery, the better to gratify his own pride; but I should be a wicked creature indeed, if, for the sake of riches or favour, I should forfeit my good name; yea, and worse than any other young body of my sex; because I can so contentedly return to my poverty again, and think it less disgrace to be obliged to live upon rye-bread and water, as I used to do, than to be a harlot to the greatest man in the world.
To make Pamela's moral purity even clearer, Richardson causes tears to appear in Mrs. Jervis's eyes as she hears Pamela's virtuous protestations. Though the reader originally watches Pamela pull off her stays and "stockens," these details are now omitted (Letter XXV). Mr. B's clothing loses some of its extravagance, his dressing gown no longer being silver (Letter XXV) and his waistcoat no longer trimmed in gold (Letter XXVII). Moreover, Mr. B exercises a bit more restraint (or at least Pamela's descriptions seem a bit less ambiguous): while in the first edition he comes to Pamela's bed, in the later version he simply approaches her "bed-side" (Letter XV). For the fourteenth edition, Richardson omits the "obscene ... double Entendre" in which Mr. B wishes he could have Pamela "as Quick another Way" (Letter XXVII). In an almost passive fashion, Mr. B releases Pamela from his clutches, "loosing his arms with an air," while in the original version he obviously keeps a passionate hold on her (Saturday Morning [37th day of confinement]). During Mr. B's last attempt at rape, Pamela no longer offers up her prayers "all undrest" (though she does have her underclothes in her hand), and Mr. B no longer approaches her bed breathing "all quick and short." Once the attempted rape is over and Pamela awakens from her faint, she (in the revised version) does not speculate concerning "the Liberties taken with her in her deplorable State" (Tuesday Night [40th day of confinement]). Finally, Pamela is now less brazen when led by Mr. B into the alcove where he proclaims his love. She now prudently considers that she can safely go there for two reasons: the alcove has "a passage through it" and Mr. B had already led her there "once without stopping" (Wednesday Morning [41st day of confinement]).[9]
While Richardson's revisions may seem extensive, they in no respect remove or change all of the objectionable passages that Pamela Censured so severely criticizes. A considerable amount of hanky-panky remains in the last version of Pamela. Mr. B, for instance, still tries to examine Pamela "to her under Petticoat" (Letter XXIV), and he even gets to grope—though only once—for her breasts (Tuesday Night [40th day of confinement]). It should not be surprising, however, that Richardson failed to achieve the "successful" expurgations found in Victorian bowdlerizations of his novel. While he undoubtedly tried to clean up his descriptions, Richardson nevertheless had to keep in mind his novel's artistic integrity (something the bowdlerizers did not do). In order to show the stages through which a virtuous young woman must realistically pass when tempted by a physically attractive, though morally reprehensible young man, Richardson had to describe attempted rapes and their effects. In so doing, he undoubtedly hoped his readers would keep in mind the morally unambiguous end of his novel (which, incidentally, Pamela Censured virtually ignores). Some "warm scenes," as a consequence, seem necessary in this novel, and to remove all of them would, in effect, change Pamela into something radically different, namely a romance.
Though most of the attack in Pamela Censured simply reflects the author's prejudice against the sexual implications of realistic descriptions, the pamphlet occasionally alludes to a further moral problem, one which has bothered readers since the time of Fielding. "Instead of being artless and innocent," Pamela seems to have "as much Knowledge of the Arts of the Town, as if she had been born and bred in Covent Garden" (pp. 21-22). As a consequence, she appears "mighty skillful" (p. 26) in her dealings with Mr. B. In spite of these hints, Pamela Censured stops short of concluding—as Shamela does—that Pamela is motivated by an immoral desire to trap Mr. B into marriage rather than by an overwhelming desire to maintain her virtue at any cost. Perhaps the author of Pamela Censured contemplated this moral ambiguity as the subject of his projected "Second Epistle" (p. 64), a work which seems never to have appeared in print, if indeed it was ever written.
Pamela Censured, nevertheless, casually makes a provocative comparison which, if developed, might easily have thrown light on the artistic reasons behind Pamela's morally questionable actions. In its opening pages, Pamela Censured indicates that Pamela, at least in its title, is less "modest" than Chevalier de Mouhy's La Paysanne parvenue (1735-37), published in English as The Fortunate Country Maid. Being the Entertaining Memoirs of the Present Celebrated Marchioness of L—— V——: Who from a Cottage, through a Great Variety of Diverting Adventures, Became a Lady of the First Quality in the Court of France (1741). One can only wish that Pamela Censured had developed its comparison in a thorough and sophisticated fashion, indicating the moral implications of the differences between these two stories.
The Fortunate Country Maid, first of all, bears a striking resemblance to Pamela: in both works the heroines, almost identical in social position, face similar trials and ultimately are rewarded in the same fashion. A brief description of the plot of The Fortunate Country Maid should adequately indicate these similarities to anyone already familiar with Pamela. Jenny, the heroine of The Fortunate Country Maid, comes from the lower social ranks, her father a common woodcutter in the forest of Fountainbleau. The young Marquis of L—— V——, son of Jenny's godfather, singles her out for his special attention because of her beauty and charm. Though conscious of the social distinctions which bar her marriage to the Marquis, Jenny nonetheless falls in love with him, all the while uneasy that she might be "ruined." Her fears indeed are not ill-founded. After learning social amenities in the household of the Countess of N——, her godmother, Jenny embarks on a series of trials, including an attempted rape, an offer to be set up as a kept woman, threats of an arranged marriage, and even proposals for a clandestine wedding. Held a virtual prisoner, Jenny ponders the advisability of escape; ultimately she decides that it would be better to forfeit her life rather than loose her reputation. One of her last conflicts involves a menacing Swiss soldier who tries to take her into his custody. When the Marquis appears to be on the point of death, Jenny clearly recognizes the genuine depth of her love for him. At the conclusion of the story, Jenny and the Marquis are married, the Marquis' father finally accepting this unconventional alliance only after having been convinced of Jenny's virtue. Everyone seems to live happily ever after, including Jenny's parents, who move from their cottage to the Estate de F—— A——, property which they will one day own. This happiness, however, is tempered somewhat by the realization that Jenny and the Marquis must carefully justify their marriage to the society in which they live.
It is tempting, because of the obvious similarities between these two works, to suggest that Richardson knew and was influenced by The Fortunate Country Maid. On the other hand we perhaps should not doubt Richardson's basic honesty when he says "I am not acquainted in the least with the French Language or Writers: And that it was Chance and not Skill or Learning, that made me fall into this way of Scribbling."[10] In any event, these parallels must raise provocative questions concerning Richardson's possible indebtedness to this work.
In spite of these overwhelming similarities, the plots of Pamela and The Fortunate Country Maid fundamentally differ in one important respect. In Pamela, Mr. B tries to rape the heroine; he offers to make her his whore: he attempts to arrange for her a dishonorable marriage with Parson Williams; and he ultimately weds her himself. In contrast, the Marquis of L—— V—— stands virtually outside the action during most of The Fortunate Country Maid. Jenny fends off a rape, but it is attempted by Chevalier d'Elbieux; she rejects the position of a whore, but it is offered by M. de G—— and his housekeeper (who incidentally is much like Mrs. Jervis); she avoids an arranged marriage, but it is proposed by M. de G—— and M. Gripart. Jenny does eventually, however, marry the Marquis. Once the Chevalier d'Elbieux—villain of the first part of the story—reforms and becomes a monk, the role of villain devolves on the Marquis of L—— V——'s father, who tries to block at all turns the impending marriage between his son and this peasant girl. It is the elder Marquis who causes St. Fal to imprison Jenny, and it is Jenny's plot to avoid the elder Marquis which causes her to be threatened by the Colbrand-like Swiss. Throughout all this, the young Marquis remains unblemished, his proposal of a clandestine marriage and his excessive jealousy simply indicating his passionate love, not his moral turpitude.
The implications of this important difference between Mr. B and the Marquis of L—— V—— should be clear to us even if they were not to the author of Pamela Censured. As Ralph Rader indicates in a recent essay dealing with, among other things, the narrative form of Pamela: "Richardson's chief problem in the novel is the need his form imposes to make Mr. B. both a villain and a hero. B. must threaten Pamela and threaten her increasingly, else our sense of her danger and the merit which develops from her response to danger will not increase, as the form requires, along lines that make her ultimate reward possible; but the more directly and villainously he does threaten her, the less acceptable he will appear as an ultimate and satisfactory reward for her, something that the form requires also."[11] Jenny's reward, her marriage to the Marquis of L—— V——, raises no serious moral questions since the Marquis remains virtuous throughout the story. Moreover, while Jenny carefully protects her chastity, she does not in any sense seem motivated by mercenary desires since the preservation of her chastity does not necessarily lead to her marriage with the Marquis. Pamela's reward, on the other hand, is marriage to a vicious though presumably reformed rake. The preservation of her chastity, furthermore, seems motivated by mercenary goals. Finding herself in a situation where she either looses her chastity and becomes Mr. B's whore or preserves her chastity and becomes his wife, Pamela clearly chooses the more profitable alternative.