7. That the Words, p. 305. Foolish Thing that I am, had better be Foolish that I am. The same Gentleman observes by way of Postscript, that Jokes are often more severe, and do more Mischief, than more solid Objections; and would have one or two Passages alter’d, to avoid giving Occasion for the Supposition of a double Entendre, particularly in two Places which he mentions, viz. p. 175. and 181.
He is pleased to take notice of several other Things of less Moment, some of which are merely typographical; and very kindly expresses, on the Whole, a high Opinion of the Performance, and thinks it may do a great deal of Good: For all which, as well as for his Objections, the Editor gives him very sincere Thanks.
Others are of Opinion, That the Scenes in many Places, in the Beginning especially, are too low; and that the Passions of Lady Davers, in particular, are carried too high, and above Nature.
And others have intimated, That Pamela ought, for Example sake, to have discharg’d Mrs. Jewkes from her Service.
These are the most material Objections that have come to hand, all which are considered in the following Extracts from some of the most beautiful Letters that have been written in any Language:
The Gentleman’s Advice, not to alter Pamela at all, was both friendly, and solidly just. I run in, with full Sail, to his Anchorage, that the low Scenes are no more out of Nature, than the high Passions of proud Lady Davers. Out of Nature, do they say? ’Tis my Astonishment how Men of Letters can read with such absent Attention! They are so far from Out of Nature, They are absolute Nature herself! or, if they must be confess’d her Resemblance; they are such a Resemblance, at least, as our true Face gives our Face in the Looking-glass.
I wonder indeed, what it is, that the Gentlemen, who talk of Low Scenes, wou’d desire should be understood by the Epithet?---Nothing, properly speaking, is low, that suits well with the Place it is rais’d to.----The Passions of Nature are the same, in the Lord, and his Coach-man. All, that makes them seem different consists in the Degrees, in the Means, and the Air, whereto or wherewith they indulge ’em. If, in painting Distinctions like these, (which arise but from the Forms of Men’s Manners, drawn from Birth, Education, and Custom) a Writer falls short of his Characters, there his Scene is a low one, indeed, whatever high Fortune it flatter’d. But, to imagine that Persons of Rank are above a Concern for what is thought, felt, or acted, by others, of their Species, between whom and themselves is no Difference, except such as was owing to Accident, is to reduce Human Nature to a Lowness,--too low for the Truth of her Frailty.--
In Pamela, in particular, we owe All to her Lowness. It is to the docile Effects of this Lowness of that amiable Girl, in her Birth, her Condition, her Hopes, and her Vanities, in every thing, in short, but her Virtue,---that her Readers are indebted, for the moral Reward, of that Virtue. And if we are to look for the Low among the Rest of the Servants, less lovely tho’ they are, than a Pamela, there is something however, so glowingly painted, in the Lines whereby the Author has mark’d their Distinctions----Something, so movingly forceful, in the Grief at their Parting, and Joy at the happy Return,---Something so finely, at once, and so strongly and feelingly, varied, even in the smallest and least promising, little Family Incidents! that I need only appeal from the Heads, to the Hearts of the Objectors themselves, whether these are low Scenes to be censur’d?
And as for the opposite Extreme they wou’d quarrel with, the high-passion’d, and un-tam’d Lady Davers,---I cou’d direct ’em to a Dozen or two of Quality Originals, from whom (with Exception perhaps of her Wit) one wou’d swear the Author had taken her Copy.---What a Sum might these Objectors ensure, to be paid, by the Husbands and Sons, of such termagant, hermaphrodite Minds, upon their making due Proof, that they were no longer to be found, in the Kingdom!