Samuel Richardson's Introduction to PamelaRichardson, Samuel
General
Samuel Richardson's Introduction to Pamela
Richardson, Samuel
Richardson, Samuel, 1689-1761. Pamela
---No Sentiments which I have here, or in my last, express’d, of the
sweet _Pamela_, being more than the bare Truth, which every Man must
feel, who lends his Ear to the inchanting Prattler, why does the
Author’s Modesty mislead his Judgment, to suspect the Style wants
Polishing?---No, Sir, there is an _Ease_, a _natural Air_,
a dignify’d _Simplicity_, and measured Fullness, in it, that,
resembling Life, outglows it! He has reconciled the _Pleasing_ to
the _Proper_. The _Thought_ is every-where exactly _cloath’d_ by the
_Expression_: And becomes its Dress as roundly, and as close, as
_Pamela_ her Country-habit. Remember, tho’ she put it on with humble
Prospect, of descending to the Level of her Purpose, it _adorn’d_
her, with such unpresum’d _Increase_ of Loveliness; sat with such
neat Propriety of Elegant Neglect about her, that it threw out All
her Charms, with tenfold, and resistless Influence.---And so, dear
Sir, it will be always found.---When modest Beauty seeks to hide
itself by casting off the _Pride_ of _Ornament_, it but displays
itself without a _Covering_: And so, becoming more distinguished, by
its Want of _Drapery_, grows _stronger_, from its _purpos’d
Weakness_.
[5th, change 3.]
{_There were formed by an anonymous Gentleman, the following Objections
to some Passages in the Work._}
1. That the Style ought to be a little raised, at least so soon as
_Pamela_ knows the Gentleman’s Love is honourable, and when [7th: “her”]
{his} Diffidence is changed to Ease: And from about the fourth Day after
Marriage, it should be equal to the Rank she is rais’d to, [_del._ 4th]
{and charged to fill becomingly}.
2. That to avoid the Idea apt to be join’d with the Word ’_Squire_, the
Gentleman should be styled Sir _James_; or Sir _John_, &c. and Lady
_Davers_ in a new Edition might procure for him the Title of a Baronet.
3. That if the sacred Name were seldomer repeated, it would be better;
for that the Wise Man’s Advice is, _Be not righteous over-much_.
4. That the Penance which _Pamela_ suffers from Lady _Davers_ might be
shorten’d: That she is too timorous after owning her Marriage to that
Lady, and ought to have a little more Spirit, and [_del._ 5th] {get away
sooner out at the Window, or} call her own Servants to protect, and
carry her to her Husband’s Appointment.
5. That Females are too apt to be struck with Images of Beauty; and that
the Passage where the Gentleman is said to span the Waist of _Pamela_
with his Hand, is enough to ruin a Nation of Women by Tight-lacing.
6. That the Word _naughty_ had better be changed to some other, as
_Bad_, _Faulty_, _Wicked_, _Vile_, _Abominable_, _Scandalous_: Which in
most Places would give an Emphasis, for which recourse must otherwise be
had to the innocent Simplicity of the Writer; an Idea not necessary to
the Moral of the Story, nor of Advantage to the Character of the
Heroine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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