[ 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.
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 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, 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 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.