Part 2

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.

The artistic success of _Clarissa_ undoubtedly reflects in part the lesson Richardson learned from such moral attacks as _Pamela Censured_ and _Shamela_. While "warm scenes" remain in his second novel--as indeed they must in any realistic portrayal of male-female relations--Richardson continually tempers these scenes with clear indications of Lovelace's vicious nature and careful forebodings of Clarissa's tragic fate. Moreover, unlike Pamela, whose reward is marriage to her would-be rapist, Clarissa escapes from her seducer, achieving a morally unambiguous reward, her heroic death.

University of California

Los Angeles

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION

[1] Aaron Hill to Samuel Richardson, 17 December 1740, printed in "Introduction to this Second Edition," _Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded_, ed. T. C. Duncan Eaves and Ben D. Kimpel (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1971), p. 9; Knightley Chetwood to Ralph Courteville, 27 January 1741, cited in _Pamela_, ed. Eaves and Kimpel, p. vi; _Gentleman's Magazine_, 11 (1741), 56.

[2] For dates of publication, see T. C. Duncan Eaves and Ben D. Kimpel, _Samuel Richardson: A Biography_ (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), pp. 127, 129; concerning Fielding's composition of _Shamela_, see Charles B. Woods, "Fielding and the Authorship of _Shamela_," _PQ_, 25 (1946), 248-72.

[3] B. W., "Introduction," _Pamela's Conduct in High Life_ (London: Ward and Chandler, 1741), I, xii-xiii; Alan Dugald McKillop, _Samuel Richardson: Printer and Novelist_ (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1936), p. 78; _The Richardson-Stinstra Correspondence and Stinstra's Prefaces to Clarissa_, ed. William C. Slattery (Carbondale: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1969), pp. xxiii-xxiv.

[4] Collier, _A Short View of the Immorality, and Profaneness of the English Stage_ (London: S. Keble, R. Sare, and H. Hindmarsh, 1698), chap. I; _A Vindication of the Stage, with the Usefulness and Advantages of Dramatick Representations_ (London: Joseph Wild, 1698), p. 6; _Pamela's Conduct_, I, xiii.

[5] _The Progress of Romance and the History of Charoba, Queen of AEgypt_ (1785; rpt. New York: Facsimile Text Society, 1930), II, 78.

[6] _A Comparative View of the State and Faculties of Man with Those of the Animal World_ (London: J. Dodsley, 1765), pp. 138-39.

[7] As twentieth-century readers, we are probably more familiar with--and more sympathetic to--the side that supported the ethical superiority of novels over romances. Much of Catherine Moreland's education in Jane Austen's _Northanger Abbey_ (1818), for instance, involves her gradual realization of the inferiority of romances. Her errors continue as long as she expects to lead a life like that of Emily in Ann Radcliffe's _Mysteries of Udolpho_ (1794). Crucial to Catherine's education is her discovery "that human nature, at least in the midland counties of England," is not "to be looked for" in romances (chap. xxv). Romances can be dangerous since they often provide faulty models of moral action for readers who are likely to confuse romantic adventures with the roles they must assume in real life. This attack on romances in _Northanger Abbey_, moreover, is neither new nor unique, Catherine Moreland being but the literary descendant of such eighteenth-century "female quixotes" as Polly Peachum, Lydia Languish, Polly Honeycomb, and Lydia Melford.

[8] Eaves and Kimpel, _Samuel Richardson_, p. 129.

[9] For a more thorough discussion of Richardson's revisions, see T. C. Duncan Eaves and Ben D. Kimpel, "Richardson's Revisions of _Pamela_," _Studies in Bibliography_, 20 (1967), 61-88.

[10] Richardson's letter to William Warburton, 14 April 1748, cited in Eaves and Kimpel, _Samuel Richardson_, p. 118.

[11] "Defoe, Richardson, Joyce, and the Concept of Form in the Novel," in _Autobiography, Biography, and the Novel_ (Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1973), p. 36.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The facsimile of _Pamela Censured_ (1741) is reproduced by permission from the copy (Shelf Mark: *EC7/R3961/T741p) in the Houghton Library, Harvard University. The total type-page (p. 7) measures 166 x 83 mm.

PAMELA CENSURED:

IN A LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

SHEWING

That under the Specious Pretence of Cultivating the Principles of Virtue in the Minds of the Youth of both Sexes, the MOST ARTFUL and ALLURING AMOROUS IDEAS are convey'd.

And that, instead of being divested of all Images that tend to _inflame_; Her Letters abound with Incidents, which must necessarily raise in the unwary Youth that read them, EMOTIONS _far distant_ from the PRINCIPLES of VIRTUE.

Exemplified in many Quotations, with a CRITICAL REVIEW, and REMARKS upon the _Whole_.

Ridet hoc, inquam, Venus ipsa; rident Simplices Nymphae, ferus & Cupido, Semper ardentes acuens Sagittas Cote Cruenta. HORAT.

_LONDON:_

Printed for J. ROBERTS, at the _Oxford Arms_, in _Warwick-Lane_. MDCCXLI.

To the REVEREND

Doctor _SLOCOCK_,

CHAPLAIN of St. _Saviour's_ in _Southwark_.

REVEREND SIR,

When a Person, whose _Profession_ and _Character_ in the World claim a _Reverence_ and _Attention_, exerts himself in earnestly recommending a Piece to our Perusal, as he bespeaks Esteem for it, so consequently we are induced to be more curious in our Inspection thereof; especially if that Recommendation is back'd by the Sanction of being deliver'd from the _most solemn Place_, and from whence we are to expect Nothing but Truth and Virtue. _PAMELA_ has been honour'd in this Manner, both the _Pulpit_ and the _Press_ have joined in its Praises, and extoll'd it as the most perfect Piece of the Kind. This excited me to the Reading, and pleas'd that this Age had been capable of producing so much finish'd Excellence, which I concluded it must be from the extraordinary Encomiums so lavishly bestow'd on it, I open'd the Book with an Esteem but little short of Veneration; but upon Perusal was amazed to find Passages, which a Gentleman who is set apart and devoted, not only to Morality, but the strictest Virtue and Piety, must be conscious to himself are inconsistent with either, and even blush at them while he reads: No Divine, I imagine, would recommend any Thing in his Sacred Function, but what might be repeated there, without Offence to Decency and Morality, at least, or but what is even capable of inculcating in our Minds the Doctrine there deliver'd. That I think _Pamela_ is deficient in both is the Occasion of this Address to You, and Subject of the following Epistle to the Editor, which I submit to Your Judgment; if I am mistaken in my Censures I shall as readily retract them, as I hope all those who have applauded it for the most perfect Pattern of Virtue and Instruction, will their superabundant Praises, when they find the Passages I have cited rather deserve Expulsion. I am,

_SIR_,

_Your Humble Servant_,

Pamela _Censured_, &c.

_SIR_,

As You have pleased in Your _Third_ Edition of _Pamela_, or (what you call) _Virtue Rewarded_, to insert Extracts from several curious recommendatory Letters, to perswade us that nothing could every equal this Performance, I hope as I dissent from those Gentlemens Opinion, you will with Impartiality receive my Reasons for so doing; nor condemn me less for _honestly disapproving_, than you caress them for _fulsomely flattering_.

The Pompous Promise of your Title Page, the Manner in which it is introduced, and your undertaking in a Series of familiar Letters, from a beautiful Young Virgin to her Parents to inculcate Virtue, the very Mention of such a Method of Instruction, has, I don't doubt induced Numbers, as it did me, to read your _Pamela_, and by contributing to the large Sale thereof, made the World (as is generally the Case) judge of the Worth of it.

The _Porch_ erected with cunning Symmetry, and shining with agreeable Colours allures us in; _Nature_, _Truth_, _Virtue_ and _Religion_; Words that are sure to please not only the Innocent Youth, but the more Thinking and experienced Sage, are press'd into the Service of the first Page; and so artfully rank'd that they at once invite us to proceed and assure us that the Production can be nothing less than a Miracle: Nay so much are you convinc'd of it's _Worth_, so happy in the Consideration of your own Desert, that, tacitly condemning all former Writings of the like Kind, You assume to yourself the Merit of prescribing _Virtue_, and cultivating both that and _Religion_ (which by the way I never knew were distinct before) in the Minds of the YOUTH of BOTH SEXES, and that you have the Honour of now _First_ publishing these Things to the World: Was no Romance or Novel ever published with a Design to recommend moral Virtue?--Is _Pamela_ the First of that Kind! No surely; as to your Title, _La Paysanne parvenue_ now translated into _English_, a little _French_ Novel, is something more modest, and as much calculated for the Encouragement of Virtue. That is a plain Tale, it is recommended and received as such but _Pamela_ is first a _Series of Letters_ from a Girl to her Parents, which it is presumed are offered us as Originals, and then immediately we are told it is a _Narrative_ which has it's _Foundation_ in _Truth_, and _Nature_; now what can any Man that would reduce this to the Language of his own Opinion and Judgment call it, but, _a Romance form'd in Manner of a literary Correspondence founded on a Tale which the Author had heard, and modell'd into it's present Shape_. Allowing this, which is the modestest Construction I can put upon it, and that it was founded upon Truth, yet several Things may and have been added thereto: Art and Invention, have been used; and however _true_ the _Foundation_ may have been, yet a few _Removes_ and _Transitions_, may make it deviate into a _downright Falsehood_: In all Additions, and what may by some be called Embellishments to the Story, _Fancy_ must take Place and where that presides, any Gentleman who is too much troubled with it, knows the Consequence: From thence _Imaginary Characters_ will arise, still spreading and increasing, and the busy Phantom will ever be pleased at shadowy Beings of it's own Formation; yet the Substance that gave those Shadows may be founded on _Truth_; but thus extended like the Reflections from a declining Summer Evening's Sun, it may please _Children_ with their seeming _gigantic_ Heights, while _Men_ acknowledge it but as the last feeble _Efforts_ of his _Light_.

But notwithstanding all the great Things you promise us at first, of _Truth_, _Virtue_ and _Religion_, and that your Book is intirely _divested_ of all those Images which in _too many_ Pieces tend only to _inflame_ the Mind, yet give me Leave to say, Sir, that I believe you will find but few of the many Pieces which you so self-assumingly condemn that abound with more Instances of _inflaming_ Sentiments than your own, as in the Course of this Epistle, I shall point out to you.

Nor does the Process of your Work fall short of your first setting out; you there as an _Editor_ arrogate to yourself all the Praise that the most lavish could bestow on your Desert, had it been real and silent; _Fame_ founded by a Stranger's Breath, comes tuneful to the Ear, but self-blown grows harsh and dissonant, and we condemn, the Conceitedness and Affectation of what we might otherwise esteem.

And here give me Leave to observe, Sir, that tho' your great Modesty for some particular Reasons, one of which appears to be, that you could not otherwise be acquitted of intolerable Vanity in applauding yourself as you have done, has induced you to stile yourself only _Editor_; yet, Sir, from several Sentences undesignedly dropt, where the Current of your own agreeable Flattery has carried you beyond your Depth, I can't help thinking that you are more than barely _Editor_. The Story may have it's _Foundation_ in _Truth_ and _Nature_; but the Superstructure is _your own_; the fictitious _Pamela_ may bear the Resemblance of some happy rural Maid, who for her Virtue and Beauty may have been raised from the _Plain_ to the _Toilette_, from the _Sheepcote_ to the _Mansion House_, but the _natural Air_, the _dignified Simplicity_, the _measur'd Fulness_ in it are properly to be ascribed to you: I shall therefore henceforward treat you as HALF-EDITOR, HALF-AUTHOR of _Pamela_. I am not ignorant what Art and Industry have been employed, privately to intimate that what gave Rise to this _inimitable_ and so much commended Piece, was an Occurrence of the like Kind that happen'd some time since in the Family of a certain _Noble Lord_; if this be the Case, I must confess 'tis so highly _shadow'd_ that the Outlines of your Draughts are almost obscured, and suffer us only to guess at the Likeness. Nor can I help joining with one of your complemental Friends, and acknowledge, that your Picture in _resembling Life outglows it_.

First then, as _Editor_, you launch forth into all the extravagant Praises that ever could enter the Heart of a young Author, before his first favourite Performance was condemn'd by the Public. In this Disguise you take a full Aim, and by presenting your Readers with a _Prologue_ to your own _Praise_, you would _prepossess_ them with _Applause_, and fondly _surfeit_ on the _Eccho_. The many Eulogia in your Preface stated with Ifs, and artfully in the Conclusion bestowed on _Pamela_ are but an Abstract of what fulsome Praises an Author wou'd privately entertain himself with, or indeed look like what the Booksellers are very often forced to say to make a bad Copy go off. However they may tickle the Ears, they can never charm the Sense, and in plain English may be render'd thus:

"_I the Editor_ tell you and command you to believe, that this Book, called _Pamela_, will _divert_, _entertain_, _instruct_, and _improve_ the _Youth of both Sexes_.

"It is the best System of _Religion_ and _Morality_ extant, _delightful_ and _profitable_ to the _younger Class_ of Readers, as well as those of _maturer Years_ and Understanding.

"All the _social Duties_ in high and low Life, are set forth in the most exemplary Lights. _Vice_ is made _odious_, _Virtue_ truely _lovely_; the Characters _justly_ drawn, and _equally_ supported; the _Man_ of _Fortune_, _Passion_, or _Intrigue_ rightly instructed; practical _Examples_ given to the Ladies in the most critical and affecting Cases, either of _Virgin_, _Bride_, or _Wife_: These represented in so _lively_ a Manner, that the Passions of every _sensible_ Reader must be affected; and his that are not, _I pronounce_ him a _Fool_. Yet though the Passions are so much touched, there is not a _single Idea_ throughout the _Whole_ that shall shock the _exactest Purity_, nor shall a Lady be put to the Blush, even where she may very naturally expect it.

"Besides all this, believe me, Sirs, 'tis every Word _true_; nor do I at all doubt the Success of the Sale; because I confidently _assert_, that all the _desireable Ends_ are _obtained in these Sheets_; and if any one should dispute it, I will convince him by two incontestable Proofs. First, that I know from MY OWN Passions, that I never perused these engaging Scenes without being uncommonly _moved_: And, for that Reason, I insist upon it, that every Man who reads them must be the same: And next, that I, as an _Editor_, judge with more Impartiality than an _Author_ can do."

What Vanity is this! Did it ever appear more conspicuous in the Writings of any one? The worthy Gentleman who is appointed to preside over the _British_ Muses, hath been frequently accused of being a perfect Master in this Art; nay, so far indeed does it extenuate the Crime, that he acknowledges the Foible. He has long been allowed to reign sole Monarch of the Realms of _Effrontery_ and _Vanity_; but in you, Sir, let him dread a formidable _Rival_.

The positively pronouncing a Thing quite perfect, and the only good one of its Kind upon your meer _ipse Dixi_, is something so novel, and tacitly calling all Fools who shall dare to swerve from that Opinion, gives it such an Air of Consequence and assur'd Success, as may prevail on many, who search no farther than the Surface to believe it to _be_ what it is _represented_; but to Persons who may be as _sensible_, tho' perhaps not so bigotted to an Opinion, as the Editor, it must only afford Matter for Laughter and Ridicule.

If it is not ludicrous, (tho' what can be too light a Counterpoise for such frothy Affectation!) I once met with a Story from an honest Country Man, which seems very applicable to the Case in Question. A Doctor, says the Farmer, once did us the Honour of a Visit at our Village, he appeared in all the Ornament of Dress necessary to excite Curiosity in simple unmeaning Clowns, he began his Harangue, by inveighing bitterly against the Errors and Tricks of his Brother Practitioners, their Advice was deficient, their Drugs unwholsome, and instead of healing, they did but taint the Body; he only prescribed what was proper, and his Arcanum was the grand Restorative of Health then _first published_, with a salutary Design of confirming the whole Country's Health to the utter Ruin of all Physicians, Apothecaries, _&c._ Name what Disease you would, his little Pill was an immediate and sovereign Remedy. During the Doctor's Oration there appear'd behind him a surly Sort of a Fellow, dress'd in all the Accoutrements that could be collected together to make him look terrible, yet through all, you might discern a sly leering Grin: No sooner had the Doctor pronounced his Nostrum universal, but _Andrew_ (for he, it seems, was the formidable Hero in Disguise) advancing forward with an Air military flourishes his broad Sword over his Head; and being mildly ask'd by the Doctor, what was the Occasion of that tremendous Visage, he boldly answered----_to Kill any one that dare dispute it_.

Thus you, Sir, as _Editor_ stand boldly a _Swiss_ at your own Portal, to invite in your Friends with recommendatory Letters, and hard strain'd complemental Rhimes to yourself as _Author_, to usher your doughty Performance into the World.

I shall pass over them in a cursory Manner, as they only appear to be _Aiders_ and _Abetters_, and not principally concerned; they only tend to sound forth the Praise of the Book, and amount to little more than what the Vulgar call a _Puff_. The first of them insinuates a _French Translation_, and as I see one is since advertised to be published, it may not be amiss to congratulate the Gentleman, whoever he is, on his lucky Thought, and wish him as much Success on his being _Translator_, as you have met with in being _Editor_; tho' upon Consideration I must confess that would be doing wrong, for as I think the Book to have a bad Tendency in general, (which I shall endeavour to prove presently) to transmit it into another Language is but spreading the Infection farther.

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.