Pamela Censured Part 3

_Jewkes_'s Cast, I mean _Lovers of their own s.e.x_, _Pamela_ seems to be acquainted with this, and indeed shews so much Virtue, that she has no Objection to the Male s.e.x as too many of her own have.

_Pamela_ begins now to shew her Skill in Intrigue. It is a trite Observation, that Confinement and Restraint will drive a Woman to the most desperate Applications for a Remedy. She is lock'd up, and no _Spanish Lady_ whatever could be closer confined by the most watchful _Duenna_; but Miss comforts herself that she shall be too hard for them all: _p._ 157. 'Well, thought I, I hope still, _Argus_, to be too hard for thee. Now _Argus_, the Poets say, had an Hundred Eyes, and was made to watch with them all, as she does.' The Parson here is brought upon the Tapis, and instead of the _harmless Dove_ hatching Piety and Affection, he enters into his Patron's Affairs with so much affected Business, as makes him rather a _Medlar_ than a _Friend_. A fine Complement to the Clergy by the Way!

Mrs. _Jewkes_ takes all Opportunities of insinuating her Master's _good Qualities_, but especially his Manhood, and _Pamela_ seems as desirous of hearing of them: _p._ 163. 'Well, well, Lambkin, (which the Foolish often calls me) if I was in his Place, he should not have his Property in you long questionable. Why, what would you do, said I, if you were he?----_Not stand s.h.i.+ll-I, shall-I, as he does; but put you and himself both out of your Pain._'

After a long Series of Intrigue carried on between her and the Parson, to no Purpose, but to swell _the Grain of Mustard Seed_ to _Two Volumes_, a Swiss is introduced as an a.s.sistant Guard, and Miss then begins to dream: _p._ 221. 'I dream'd they were both coming to my Bed-side, with the worst Designs; and I jump'd out of Bed in my Sleep, and frighted Mrs. _Jewkes_; 'till, waking with the Terror, I told her my Dream: And the wicked Creature only laughed, and said, _All I fear'd_ was but a _Dream_, as well as that; and when it was _over_, and I was well awake, I should laugh at it as such!' These Words tho' spoke by Mrs. _Jewkes_ in the Character of an abandon'd Profligate, yet can be of no Service to Youth, who may take the latter Part only, and be apt to conclude, that all _Virtue_ is but a _Dream_; and certainly they were much better omitted than put in.

Well at Length the Squire arrives in his Fine Chariot, and now the _Trenches_ are open'd again, and the amorous War is pursued with more Vigour than ever; _p._ 247, 248. 'When he had supp'd, he stood up, and said, O how happy for you it is, that you can at Will, thus make your speaking Eyes overflow in this manner, without losing any of their Brilliancy! You have been told, I suppose, that you are _most_ beautiful in your Tears!--Did you ever, said he to _her_, (who all this while was standing in one Corner of the Parlour) see a _more charming Creature than this_? Is it to be wonder'd at, that I demean myself thus to take Notice of her!--See, said he, and took the Gla.s.s with one Hand, and turn'd me round with the other, _What a Shape! what a Neck! what a Hand!

and what a Bloom in that lovely Face!_----But who can describe the Tricks and Artifices, that lie lurking in her little, plotting, guileful Heart! 'Tis no Wonder the poor Parson was infatuated with her----I blame him less than I do her; for who could expect such Artifice in so young a Sorceress! Come hither, Hussy, said he; you and I have a dreadful Reckoning to make. Why don't you come, when I bid you?--Fie upon it!

Mrs. _Pamela_, said she, what! Not stir, when his Honour commands you to come to him!----Who knows but his Goodness will forgive you? He came to me, (for I had no Power to stir) and put his Arms about my Neck, and would kiss me; and said, Well, Mrs. _Jewkes_, if it were not for the Thought of this cursed Parson, I believe in my Heart, so great is my Weakness, that I could _yet_ forgive this intriguing little s.l.u.t, and take her to my Bosom. O, said the Sycophant, you are very good, Sir, very forgiving, indeed!--But come, added the profligate Wretch, I hope you will be so good, as to take her to your Bosom; and that, by to-morrow Morning, you'll bring her to a better Sense of her Duty!

Then follows a Proposal at large to induce her to commence a kept Mistress: The Particulars of which, the Author hath fully set forth, in order to _instruct_ the young Gentlemen of Fortune how to proceed in such a Case, and that young Girls of small Fortunes may see what tempting Things they have to trust to. 'Tis true he makes her refuse it, but with an Insinuation that the Offers are very advantageous.

Next follows the grand _Coup d'Eclat_: A Scene so finely work'd up, that the warmest Imagination could scarcely form one more prevalent in the Cause of Vice. 'Tis true, the Sentences are artfully wrapt up, but whether the Ideas divested of their Tinsel Trappings and Coverings are too gross to _entertain_, much less capable of _instructing_ the Youth of either s.e.x: Take the Author's own Words, and let the impartial World determine, at least, let every Father or Mother of a Family read them, and seriously say, whether they ought for the Sake of this and the foregoing Quotations, to receive _Pamela_ into the Closets of their Children, or condemn it to the Flames, with the most l.u.s.tful Pieces that ever appeared in Print? The Squire after forming a Pretence of going into the Country further for a Day or two, by the a.s.sistance of Mrs. _Jewkes_, (who contrives to make _Nan_ her fellow Guard, drunk) is convey'd into the Room in the Disguise of the Maid, she patiently sits, and sees the lovely Creature undress herself, _&c._ but take her own _modest Relation_ as follows: _p._ 270, 271, 272, 273, 274. 'So I looked into the Closets, and kneeled down, as I used to do, to say my Prayers, and this _with my under Cloaths, all undrest_; and pa.s.sed by the poor sleeping Wench, as I thought, in my Return. But, Oh! little did I think, it was my wicked, wicked Master in a Gown and Petticoat of hers, and her Ap.r.o.n over his Face and Shoulders. Mrs. _Jewkes_ by this Time, was got to-bed, on the further Side, as she used to be; and, to make room for the Maid, when she should awake, I got into Bed, and lay close to her.

And I said, Where are the Keys? tho', said I, I am not so much afraid to-Night. Here, said the wicked Woman, put your Arm under mine, and you shall find them about my Wrist, as they used to be. So I did, and the abominable Designer _held my Hand with her Right Hand_, as my Right Arm was under her Left. In less than a quarter of an Hour, I said, There's poor _Nan_ awake; I hear her stir. Let us go to sleep, said she, and not mind her; She'll come to bed, when she's quite awake. Poor Soul!

said I, I'll warrant she'll have the Head-ach finely to-morrow for it!

Be silent said she, and go to sleep; you keep me awake; and I never found you in so talkative a Humour in my Life. Don't chide me, said I; I will say but one Thing more: Do you think _Nan_ could hear me talk of my Master's Offers? No, no, said she; she was dead asleep. I'm glad of that, said I; because I would not expose my Master to his common Servants, and I knew _you_ were no Stranger to his _fine_ Articles. Said she, I think they were fine Articles, and you were bewitch'd you did not close in with them: But let us go to sleep. So I was silent; and the pretended _Nan_ (O wicked base villainous Designer! What a Plot, what an unexpected Plot, was this!) seem'd to be awaking; and Mrs. _Jewkes_, abhorred Creature! said, Come, _Nan_!--What, are you awake at last?

Prithee come to-bed; for Mrs. _Pamela_ is in a talking Fit, and wont go to sleep one while. At that the pretended She came to the Bed-side; and sitting down in a Chair, where the Curtain hid her, began to undress.

Said I, poor Mrs. _Ann_, I warrant your Head aches most sadly! How do you do?--She answered not one Word. Said the superlatively wicked Woman, You know I have order'd her not to answer you. And this Plot, to be sure, was laid when she gave her these Orders, the Night before. I heard her, as I thought, _breathe all quick and short_: Indeed, said I, Mrs.

_Jewkes_, the poor Maid is not well. What ails you, Mrs. _Ann_? And still no Answer was made. But, I tremble to relate it! the pretended She came into Bed; but _quiver'd like an Aspen-leaf_; and I, poor Fool that I was! pitied her much.----But well might the barbarous Deceiver tremble at his vile Dissimulation, and base Designs. What Words shall I find, my dear Mother, (for my Father should not see this shocking Part) to describe the rest, and my Confusion, when the guilty Wretch took my _left Arm_, and laid it under his Neck, as the vile Procuress held my _Right_; and then _he clasp'd me round my Waist_! Said I, Is the Wench mad! Why, how now Confidence? thinking still it had been _Nan_. But he kissed me with frightful Vehemence; and then his Voice broke upon me like a Clap of Thunder. Now, _Pamela_, said he, is the dreadful Time of Reckoning come, that I have threaten'd.----I scream'd out in such a Manner, as never any Body heard the like. But there was no body to help me: And both my Hands were secured, as I said. Sure never poor Soul was in such Agonies as I. Wicked Man! said I; wicked, abominable Woman! O G.o.d! my G.o.d! this _Time_, this _one_ Time! deliver me from this Distress! or strike me dead this Moment. And then I scream'd again and again. Says he, One Word with you, _Pamela_; one Word hear me but; and hitherto you see I offer nothing to you. Is this _nothing_, said I, to be in Bed here? To hold my Hands between you? I will hear, if you will instantly leave the Bed, and take this villainous Woman from me. Said she, (O Disgrace of Womankind!) What you do, Sir, do; don't stand dilly-dallying. She cannot exclaim worse than she has done. And she'll be quieter when she knows the worst. Silence! Said he to her; I must say one Word to you, _Pamela_; it is this: You see, now you are in my Power!----You cannot get from me, nor help yourself: Yet have I not offer'd any Thing amiss to you. But if you resolve not to comply with my Proposals, I will not lose this Opportunity: If you do I will yet leave you. O Sir, said I, leave me, leave me but, and I will do any Thing I ought to do. Swear then to me, said he, that you will accept my Proposals!--And then (for this was all detestable Grimace) _he put his Hand in my Bosom_. With Struggling, Fright, Terror, _I fainted away quite_, and did not come to myself soon; so that they both, from the cold Sweats that I was in, thought me dying--_And I remember no more_, than that, when, with great Difficulty, they brought me to myself, she was sitting on one side of the Bed, with her Cloaths on; and and he on the other with his, and in his Gown and Slippers. Your poor _Pamela_ cannot _answer for the Liberties taken with her in her deplorable State of Death_. And when I saw them there, I sat up in my Bed, without any Regard to what Appearance I made, and nothing about my Neck; and he soothing me, with an Aspect of Pity and Concern, I put my Hand to his Mouth, and said, O tell me, yet tell me not, what I have suffered in this Distress! And I talked quite wild, and knew not what; for to be sure, I was on the Point of Distraction. He most solemnly, and with a bitter Imprecation, vow'd, that he had not _offer'd_ the _least Indecency_; that he was frighten'd at the terrible manner I was taken with the Fit: That he would desist from his Attempt; and begg'd but to see me easy and quiet, and he would leave me directly, and go to his own Bed. O then, said I, take from me this most wicked Woman, this vile Mrs.

_Jewkes_, as an Earnest that I may believe you! And will you, Sir, said the wicked Wretch, for a _Fit or two_, give up such an _Opportunity as this?--I thought you had known the s.e.x better_.--She is now, you see, quite well again! This I heard; more she might say; but _I fainted away once more_, at these Words, and at his clasping his Arms about me again. And when I came a little to myself, I saw him sit there, and the Maid Nan, holding a Smelling-bottle to my Nose, and no Mrs. _Jewkes_.'

Is this an affecting Incident entirely divested of all loose Images?

Will any one in his Senses take upon him to say so? Can any Youth bear the Image of _seeing her kneel naked_, though at her Prayers, without Emotion: A lewd Scene suits but ill with Religion; and what an inconsistent Mixture of both is this? Her going to Bed, and the _proper Posture_ in which she is laid, may be _modest_, but I defy the most innocent Virgin to read it in Company without being constrain'd to stifle a _Conscious Blush_; or in her Closet without causing a Palpitation which must amount to little less than a _burning Desire_; _how then can any thing be said to encourage_ Virtue, _that must infallibly rouse each latent_ vicious Inclination _in the Heart?

Breathing quick and short;----spreading the Arms_, while they are both in Bed together;----_clasping round the Waist;--putting his Hand in her Bosom,--struggling--fainting quite away_----'till she owns herself that _she cannot answer for the Liberties taken with her in that deplorable State of Death_. These are Images which I think no Youth can read without Emotion, and yet I'm afraid are such as they will chuse to converse with rather than any in the Book. For here the blooming Nymph, the long desired Object of the eager Lover's Pa.s.sion, lies naked, defenceless and exposed in Bed, he rushes on her with all the glowing Ardour of an ungoverned Pa.s.sion, and tho' the Author has with much ado just saved her from _Ravishment_, yet 'tis with the greatest Difficulty, and that too with a plain Confirmation, that _all Liberties were taken but the last_: And even that Mrs. _Jewkes_ is made to upbraid him for, as one that ought to know the s.e.x better. However, had it ended here, we had been deprived of another Volume; so that at all Events she must be saved a little longer, and the poor Squire withdraws shaking his Ears like a Dog that has burnt his Tail.

He had tried Force long enough; in order therefore to spin out the Narration, he must take another Method, and try what artful Insinuations and Perswasions would do: _p._ 280. 'After walking about, he lead me into a little Alcove--He began to be very teizing, and made me sit on his Knee, and was so often kissing me, that I said, Sir, I don't like to be here at all, I a.s.sure you. Indeed you make me afraid!--And what made me the more so, was that he once said to Mrs. _Jewkes_, and did not think I heard him.--Said he, I will try _once_ more; but I have begun wrong. For I see Terror does but add to her Frost; but she is a charming Girl, and may be _thaw'd_ by _Kindness_; and I should have MELTED her by LOVE, instead of FREEZING her by FEAR.'

This leads us on to Soothings and Blandishments, till he forms a Trap wherein he is caught himself, and forms an Introduction for fresh Characters; but even amidst all he can't forbear now and then breaking partly tending to the Obscene; for he supposes that had not _Pamela_ been with him, she might have been Wife to some Plough Boy. And upon her answering that had it been so, she should have been content, he replies (V. II. _p._ 18.) intimating that the whole Manor must be at the Lord's Command. In _p._ 20. poor _Pamela_ is to be _press'd to Death_; _p._ 21.

he stoops to enquire where she _garters_, and wants to _examine her Knees_. Which by the Way shews the Squire to be a little ignorant, or certainly by seeing her _undress_ twice he might have known.

After a great Deal of Chitchat and Courts.h.i.+p, we are last arrived at the fixing of the last Holy Rite:--But to shew our Author's Inclination for a Joke (for he must doubtless be a very Merry Man) he makes Honest Sir _Simon Darnford_ praise her Fingers, and laughing tells her they were made _to touch any Key_: The fluttering Heart before Marriage is prettily described, Lady _Davers_'s Pa.s.sion tho' a little too violent, and carried to the very highest Extravagance of Nature, affords us Matter of Diversion, as does her running a Race with _Collbrand_ of Laughter.----_Pamela_ herself in _p._ 167, tells us, she shan't _sleep a Wink the first Night_, but concludes with this comfortable Reflection, _that she supposes all young Maidens are the same_; and therefore very prudently resolves to undergo it. But in order to encourage her the Squire desires Good Mrs. _Jewkes_ (who is now her chief Favourite) to entertain her with some _pleasant_ Stories, _suitable to the Occasion_.

And his desiring to spoil the _pretty Waist of his Pamela_, _p._ 216, so far from making half the Women in _England_ hurt themselves by Strait-lacing, that I am of Opinion, most of them a.s.sisted by that and some other foregoing Pa.s.sages, wou'd rather endeavour to _enlarge_ themselves in that Part, than decrease it. Nor do Mr. _Longman_ or Mrs.

_Jervis_ seem to be of a contrary Opinion to the Squire, but both facetiously drink a b.u.mper to the _Hans in Kelder_.

Thus, Sir, thro' a Series of Intrigue interwoven with Amorous Incidents have we traced the Lovely _Pamela_ from the _Servant Maid_ to the _Mistress_ of the _Mansion House_, and as I think I have marked out several Pa.s.sages, that tend only to _inflame_ without any View at all to _Instruction_, that the Images they present are so far from being innocent, they could not be stronger invented, or more naturally expressed, to _excite Lasciviousness_ in the Minds of the Youth of both _s.e.xes_. I shall conclude at present, hoping that in your next Edition you will either amend them or entirely strike them out; not that I have pointed all that I think exceptionable, as it would be too long for a Thing of this Kind, and am of Opinion that there are Faults enough of different Sorts, which may possibly be the Subject of a Second Epistle: In the mean time, let me address myself in the most earnest Manner to those of maturer Years, who may chance to be your Readears, that they would weigh what _Virtue_ is, and how much these amorous Expressions may tend to corrupt their Children, before they suffer them to peruse it, nor be led away by the slight Viel of a few Religious Sentiments, which are thinly spread over them, to permit the Youth under their Care to discover the naked Charms of an _inflaming Pa.s.sion_, which is too much exposed in almost every Page of this _much-admir'd_ PAMELA. I am, SIR,

_Your's_, &c.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

NOTES TO _PAMELA CENSURED_

t.i.tle page

The epigraph is from Horace's Odes II. viii. 13-16: "All this but makes sport for Venus (upon my word, it does!) and for the artless Nymphs, and cruel Cupid, ever whetting his fiery darts on blood-stained stone"

(_Horace: The Odes and Epodes_, trans. C. E. Bennett [Cambridge, Ma.s.s.: Harvard Univ. Press, Loeb Cla.s.sics, 1952], p. 127).

t.i.tle page

Little is known about James Roberts, the bookseller (see Henry R.

Plomer, _A Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers Who Were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to 1725_, ed. Arundell Esdaile [Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1922], p. 255). Undoubtedly familiar with Richardson, Roberts sold the _Weekly Miscellany_, which Richardson printed during the 1730's, and he printed Charles Povey's _Virgin in_ Eden (1741), which like _Pamela Censured_ attacks the morality of Richardson's novel.

Dedication

After recommending _Pamela_ from his pulpit sometime before 6 January 1741, Dr. Benjamin Sloc.o.c.k (1691-1753) earned the undeserved reputation of having been paid by Richardson for this praise (see Eaves and Kimpel, _Samuel Richardson_, pp. 123-24).

5.1-2

The third (duodecimo) edition of _Pamela_, published 12 March 1741, is virtually the same in content and collation as the second edition, published less than a month earlier (see William Merritt Sale, Jr., _Samuel Richardson: A Bibliographical Record_ [New Haven: Yale Univ.

Press, 1936], pp. 18-19).

6.9-8.17

An attack on the various promises made by Richardson on the t.i.tle page of _Pamela_.

8.18-12.27

An attack on _Pamela_'s "Preface by the Editor." Concerning these objections, the "Introduction" to _Pamela's Conduct in High Life_ finds fault with the author of _Pamela Censured_: "I shall pa.s.s by his Contradictions with Regard to the Character he draws of the Editor, or as he will have it _Author_, who appears in his Party-colour'd Writing a very _artful, silly_ Writer, a Man of fine Sense, and excellent in his Method of conducting the whole Piece, but at the same time vain, ignorant, and incorrect" (I, xiii).

9.26

The "certain _n.o.ble Lord_" is probably either Sir Arthur Hesilrige or Lord Gainsborough (see McKillop, _Samuel Richardson_, pp. 27-29).

10.1-3

Quotation from the "Abstract of a second Letter from the Same Gentleman"

in the "Introduction to this Second Edition." The "complemental" friend is Aaron Hill.

10.21-12.5

Paraphrase of Richardson's "Preface by the Editor."

12.8

Colley Cibber (1671-1757), the "worthy Gentleman" who then presided over the muses as poet laureate, frequently mentions his own vanity in _An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Comedian_ (1740).

14.16

Advertised during the spring of 1741, the first French translation of _Pamela_ did not appear until the end of October 1741 (see McKillop, _Samuel Richardson_, p. 92). Jean Baptiste de Freval, author of "_To the Editor of the Piece int.i.tled_ Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded," probably had at least some hand in this French translation (see Paul Dottin, _Samuel Richardson_ [Paris: Perrin et Cie., 1931], p. 117).

15.2-10

Partially a paraphrase, partially a quotation of "_To my worthy Friend, the Editor of_ Pamela, _&c._"