Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY PAMELA CENSURED (_1741_) _Introduction by_ CHARLES BATTEN, JR. PUBLICATION NUMBER _175_ WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY _University of California, Los Angeles_ _1976_ GENERAL EDITORS William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles ADVISORY EDITORS James L. Clifford, Columbia University Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago Louis A. Landa, Princeton University Earl Miner, Princeton University Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library James Sutherland, University College, London H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library CORRESPONDING SECRETARY Beverly J. Onley, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library INTRODUCTION The publication of _Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded_ on 6 November 1740 occasioned the kind of immediate and hyperbolic praise which would have turned the head of an author less vain than Richardson. Proclaimed by Aaron Hill as being "the Soul of Religion," and by Knightley Chetwood as the book next to the Bible which ought to be saved "if all the Books in England were to be burnt," _Pamela_ seemed certain of universal acclaim, especially when the Reverend Benjamin Slocock praised it extravagantly from the pulpit of St. Saviour's in Southwark within two months of its initial printing. Even the "Objections" voiced by several correspondents and published at the beginning of the second edition of _Pamela_ (14 February 1741) seemed relatively inconsequential when weighed against the _Gentleman's Magazine's_ assertion in January 1741 that every Londoner with the slightest curiosity was reading _Pamela_.[1] Literary and moral opposition to _Pamela_ gradually began to mount, however. April 1741 saw the publication of the first and perhaps most perceptive attacks on Richardson's novel: _An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews_ appeared on 2 April, followed by _Pamela Censured: In a Letter to the Editor_ some twenty-three days later. While we now feel certain that Henry Fielding wrote _Shamela_, the author of _Pamela Censured_ has eluded us.[2] Though both works attack _Pamela_ on moral grounds and incidentally make unflattering comments about Colley Cibber, their literary methods differ so greatly that it is impossible to tell whether or not _Shamela_ influenced _Pamela Censured_ to any extent.