Samuel Richardson's Introduction to Pamela Part 4

And there, too, broods the kind and the credulous Parson WILLIAMS's _Dove_, (without _serpentine_ Mixture) hatching _Pity_ and _Affection_, [4th, change 8.] {for an Honesty so sincere, and so silly!}

There too, take their Places All the _lower_ Supports of this beautiful Fabrick.---

I am sometimes transform'd into plain Goodman ANDREWS, and sometimes the good Woman, his Wife.

As for old Mr. LONGMAN, and JONATHAN, the Butler, they are sure of me both, in their Turns.

Now and-then, I am COLBRAND the _Swiss_: but, as _broad_ as _I stride_, in that Character, I can never escape Mrs. JEWKES: who often keeps me awake in the Night---

Till the Ghost of Lady DAVERS, drawing open the Curtains, scares the _Scarer_, of me, and of PAMELA!---

And, then, I take Shelter with poor penitent JOHN, and the rest of the _Men_ and the _Maids_, of all whom I may say, with compa.s.sionate _Marcia_,

--------_The Youths DIVIDE their Reader._

[5th & 8th, change 9.]

{_And this fine Writer adds:_}

I am glad I made War, in my last, upon the Notion of altering the Style: for, having read it twice over since then, (and to Audiences, where the _Tears_ were applausively eloquent) I could hardly, here and there, find a Place, where one Word _can_ be chang'd for a better. There are some indeed, where 'twere _possible_ to leave out, a few, without making a Breach in the Building. But, in short, the Author has put so bewitching a Mixture together, of the _Rais'd_ with the _Natural_, and the _Soft_ with the _Strong_ and the _Eloquent_---thatnever Sentiments were finer, and fuller of Life!

never any were utter'd so sweetly!---Even in what relates to the pious and frequent Addresses to G.o.d, I now retract (on these two last Revisals) the Consent I half gave, on a _former_, to the anonymous Writer's Proposal, who advis'd the Author to _shorten_ those Beauties.----Whoever considers his _Pamela_ with a View to find Matter for Censure, is in the Condition of a pa.s.sionate Lover, who breaks in upon his Mistress, without Fear or Wit, with Intent to accuse her, and quarrel---He came to her with Pique in his Purpose; but his _Heart_ is too hard for his _Malice_---and he goes away more enslav'd, for complaining.

[_del._ 5th]

{_The following delightful Story, so admirably related, will give great Pleasure to the Reader; and we take the Liberty of inserting it, for that very Reason._}

[_del._ 8th]

{What a never-to-be satisfied _Length_ has this Subject always the Power of attracting me into! And yet, before I have done, I must by your means tell the Author a _Story_, which a Judge not so skilful in Nature as he is, might be in Danger perhaps of mistaking, for a trifling and silly one. I expect it shou'd give him the clearest Conviction, in a Case he is subject to question.}

[_del._ 8th]

{We have a lively little Boy in the Family, about seven Years old---but, alas for him, poor Child! quite unfriended; and born to no Prospect. He is the Son of an honest, poor Soldier, by a Wife, grave, unmeaning, and innocent. Yet the Boy, (see the Power of connubial _Simplicity_) is so pretty, so genteel, and gay-spirited, that we have made him, and design'd him, our _own_, ever since he could totter, and waddle. The wanton Rogue is half Air: and every Motion he acts by has a Spring, like _Pamela_'s when she threw down the Card-table. All this Quickness, however, is temper'd by a good-natur'd Modesty: so that the wildest of his Flights are thought rather diverting than troublesome. He is an hourly Foundation for Laughter, from the Top of the House to the Parlours: and, to borrow an Attribute from the Reverend Mr. _Peters_, (tho' without any Note of his Musick) _plays a very good_ FIDDLE in the Family. I have told you the History of this _Tom-t.i.t_ of a Prater, because, ever since my first reading of PAMELA, he puts in for a Right to be _one_ of her Hearers; and, having got half her Sayings by heart, talks in no other Language but hers: and, what really surprises, and has charm'd me into a _certain_ Fore-taste of her Influence, he is, at once, become fond of his Book; which (before) he cou'd never be brought to attend to---that _he may read_ PAMELA, he says, _without stopping_.

The first Discovery we made of this Power over so unripe and unfix'd an Attention, was, one Evening, when I was reading her Reflections at the _Pond_ to some Company. The little rampant Intruder, being kept out by the Extent of the Circle, had crept under my Chair, and was sitting before me, on the Carpet, with his Head almost touching the Book, and his Face bowing down toward the Fire.---He had sat for some time in this Posture, with a Stillness, that made us conclude him asleep: when, on a sudden, we heard a Succession of heart-heaving Sobs; which while he strove to conceal from our Notice, his little Sides swell'd, as if they wou'd burst, with the throbbing Restraint of his Sorrow. I turn'd his innocent Face, to look toward me; but his Eyes were quite lost, in his _Tears_: which running down from his Cheeks in free Currents, had form'd two sincere little Fountains, on that Part of the Carpet he hung over.

All the Ladies in Company were ready to devour him with Kisses: and he has, since, become doubly a Favourite---and is perhaps the youngest of _Pamela's Converts_.}

_The same [_del._ 5th] {incomparable} Writer has favour'd us with an Objection, [_del._ 5th] {that is more material than any we have mention'd;} which cannot be better stated nor answer'd, than in his own [_del._ 8th] {beautiful} Words; viz._

An Objection is come into my Thoughts, which I should be glad the Author would think proper to obviate in the Front of the Second Edition.

There are Mothers, or Grandmothers, 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, tho'

indeed it is true, all the World wou'd acquit the best Gentleman in it, if he married _such_ a Waiting-maid as _Pamela_, yet, there is an ill-discerning Partiality, in Pa.s.sion, that will overthrow all the Force of that Argument: because _every belov'd Maid will be PAMELA_, in a Judgment obscur'd by her Influence.

And, since the Ground of this Fear will _seem_ solid, I don't know how to be easy, till it is shewn (nor ought it to be left to the Author's Modesty) that they who consider his Design in that Light will be found but short-sighted Observers.

Request it of him then to suffer it to be told them, that not a limited, but general, Excitement to Virtue was the first and great End to his Story: And that this Excitement must have been deficient, and very imperfectly offer'd, if he had not look'd quite _as low as he cou'd_ for his Example: because if there had been any Degree or Condition, more remote from the Prospect than that which he had chosen to work on, that Degree might have seem'd out of Reach of the Hope, which it was his generous Purpose to encourage.---And, so, he was under an evident _Necessity_ to find such a Jewel in a _Cottage_: and expos'd, too, as she was, to the severest Distresses of Fortune, with Parents unable to support their own Lives, but from the daily hard Product of _Labour_.

Nor wou'd it have been sufficient to have plac'd her thus _low_ and _distressful_, if he had not also suppos'd her a _Servant_: and that too in some elegant Family; for if she had always remain'd a Fellow-cottager with her Father, it must have carried an Air of Romantick Improbability to account for her polite Education.

If she had _wanted_ those Improvements, which she found means to acquire in her _Service_, it wou'd have been very unlikely, that she shou'd have succeeded so well; and had destroy'd _one_ great _Use_ of the Story, to have allow'd such uncommon Felicity to the Effect of mere _personal Beauty_.---And it had not been _judicious_ to have represented her as educated in a superior Condition of Life with the proper Accomplishments, before she became reduc'd by Misfortunes, and so not a Servant, but rather an Orphan under hopeless Distresses---because Opportunities which had made it no Wonder how she came to be so winningly qualified, wou'd have lessen'd her Merit in being so. And besides, where had then been 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?----And what a delightful Reformation shou'd we see, in all Families, where the Vanity of their _Maids_ took no Turn toward Ambition to _please_, but by such innocent Measures, as PAMELA's!

As it is clear, then, the Author was under a Necessity to suppose her a _Servant_, he is not to be accountable for mistaken Impressions, which the Charms he has given her may happen to make, on wrong Heads, or weak Hearts, tho' in Favour of Maids the Reverse of her Likeness.

What is it then (they may say) that the Lowness, and Distance of _Pamela's_ Condition from the Gentleman's who married her, proposes to teach the _Gay World_, and the _Fortunate_?---_It is this_---By Comparison with that infinite Remoteness of her Condition from the Reward which her Virtue procur'd her, one great _Proof_ is deriv'd, (which 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 from _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.

In _that_ Light alone let the Ladies of _Rank_ look at PAMELA.---Such an alarming Reflection as that will, at the same time that it raises the Hope and Ambition of the _Humble_, correct and mortify the Disdain of the _Proud_. For it will compel them to observe, and acknowledge, that 'tis the Turn of their _Mind_, not the Claims of their _Quality_, by which (and which only) Womens Charms can be lasting: And that, while the _haughty Expectations_, inseparable from an elevated Rank, serve but to multiply its Complaints and Afflictions, the Condescensions of _accomplish'd Humility_, attracting Pity, Affection, and Reverence, secure an hourly Increase of Felicity.---So that the _moral Meaning_ of PAMELA's Good-fortune, far from tempting young Gentlemen to marry _such_ Maids as are found in their Families, is, by teaching Maids to _deserve to be Mistresses_, to stir up Mistresses _to support their Distinction_.

[_del._ 4th]

{_We shall only add, That it was intended to prefix two neat _Frontispieces_ to this Edition, (and to present them to the Purchasers of the first) and one was actually finished for that Purpose; but there not being Time for the other, from the Demand for the new Impression; and the Engraving Part of that which was done (tho' no Expence was spared) having fallen very short of the Spirit of the Pa.s.sages they were intended to represent, the Proprietors were advised to lay them aside.

And were the rather induced to do so, from the following Observation of a most ingenious Gentleman, in a Letter to the Editor._ "I am so jealous, _says he,_ in Behalf of our _inward_ Idea of PAMELA's _Person_, that I dread _any_ figur'd Pretence to Resemblance. For it will be pity to look at an _Air_, and imagine it _Hers_, that does not carry some such elegant Perfection of Amiableness, as will be sure to find place in the _Fancy_."}

VERSES, sent to the Bookseller, for the Unknown Author [_del._ 8th]

{of the beautiful new Piece call'd} _PAMELA_.

Blest be thy pow'rful Pen, whoe'er thou art, Thou skill'd, great _Moulder_ of the master'd Heart!

Where hast thou lain conceal'd!---or why thought fit, At this dire Period, to _unveil_ thy Wit?

O! late befriended Isle! had this broad Blaze, With earlier Beamings, bless'd our _Fathers_ Days, The Pilot Radiance, pointing out the Source, Whence public Health derives its [5th: "moral"] {vital} Course, Each timely Draught some healing Power had shown, Ere gen'ral _Gangrene_ blacken'd, to the _Bone_.

But, fest'ring now, beyond all Sense of Pain, 'Tis hopeless: and the Helper's Hand is _vain_.

Sweet _Pamela_! forever-blooming Maid!

Thou dear, unliving, yet immortal, Shade!

Why are thy Virtues scatter'd to the Wind?

Why are thy Beauties flash'd upon the Blind?

What, tho' thy flutt'ring s.e.x might learn, from thee, That _Merit_ forms a Rank, above _Degree_?

That Pride, too conscious, falls, from ev'ry _Claim_, While humble Sweetness climbs, beyond its _Aim_?

What, tho' Religion, smiling from thy Eyes, Shews her _plain_ Power, and charms without _Disguise_?

What, tho' thy warmly-pleasing moral Scheme Gives livelier Rapture, than the Loose can _dream_?

What, tho' thou build'st, by thy persuasive Life, Maid, Child, Friend, Mistress, Mother, Neighbour, Wife?

Tho' Taste like thine each Void of Time, can fill, Unsunk by Spleen, unquicken'd by Quadrille!

What, tho' 'tis thine to bless the lengthen'd Hour!

Give _Permanence_ to Joy, and _Use_ to Pow'r?

Lend late-felt Blushes to the _Vain_ and _Smart_?

And squeeze cramp'd Pity from the _Miser_'s Heart?

What, tho' 'tis thine to hush the Marriage Breeze, Teach Liberty to _tire_, and Chains to _please_?

Thine tho', from Stiffness to divest Restraint, And, to the Charmer, reconcile the _Saint_?

Tho' Smiles and Tears obey thy moving Skill, And Pa.s.sion's ruffled Empire waits thy Will?

Tho' thine the fansy'd Fields of flow'ry Wit, Thine, Art's whole Pow'r, in Nature's Language writ!

Thine, to convey strong Thought, with modest Ease, And, copying _Converse_, teach its _Style_ to please?

Tho' thine each Virtue, that a _G.o.d_ cou'd lend?

Thine, ev'ry Help, that ev'ry Heart, can mend?

'Tis Thine _in vain_!----Thou wak'st a _dying_ Land; And lift'st _departed Hope_, with fruitless Hand: Death has NO CURE. Thou hast _mis-tim'd_ thy Aim; _Rome_ had her GOTHS: and all, beyond, was _Shame_.