The Project Gutenberg eBook ofPamela Censured

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofPamela CensuredThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Pamela CensuredAuthor: AnonymousCommentator: Charles BattenRelease date: September 16, 2010 [eBook #33735]Most recently updated: January 7, 2021Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Josephine Paolucciand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttps://www.pgdp.net.*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAMELA CENSURED ***

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Pamela CensuredAuthor: AnonymousCommentator: Charles BattenRelease date: September 16, 2010 [eBook #33735]Most recently updated: January 7, 2021Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Josephine Paolucciand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttps://www.pgdp.net.

Title: Pamela Censured

Author: AnonymousCommentator: Charles Batten

Author: Anonymous

Commentator: Charles Batten

Release date: September 16, 2010 [eBook #33735]Most recently updated: January 7, 2021

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Josephine Paolucciand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttps://www.pgdp.net.

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAMELA CENSURED ***

WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARYUniversity of California, Los Angeles1976

William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial LibraryGeorge Robert Guffey, University of California, Los AngelesMaximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los AngelesDavid S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles

James L. Clifford, Columbia UniversityRalph Cohen, University of VirginiaVinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los AngelesArthur Friedman, University of ChicagoLouis A. Landa, Princeton UniversityEarl Miner, Princeton UniversitySamuel H. Monk, University of MinnesotaEverett T. Moore, University of California, Los AngelesLawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial LibraryJames Sutherland, University College, LondonH. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los AngelesRobert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

Beverly J. Onley, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

The publication ofPamela; or, Virtue Rewardedon 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,"Pamelaseemed 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 ofPamela(14 February 1741) seemed relatively inconsequential when weighed against theGentleman's Magazine'sassertion in January 1741 that every Londoner with the slightest curiosity was readingPamela.[1]

Literary and moral opposition toPamelagradually 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 Andrewsappeared on 2 April, followed byPamela Censured: In a Letter to the Editorsome twenty-three days later. While we now feel certain that Henry Fielding wroteShamela, the author ofPamela Censuredhas eluded us.[2]Though both works attackPamelaon moral grounds and incidentally make unflattering comments about Colley Cibber, their literary methods differ so greatly that it is impossible to tell whether or notShamelainfluencedPamela Censuredto any extent.

Fielding's parody is too well known to be described in detail here. Though his sophisticated wit lashes out in a number of directions, he attacksPamelaon primarily two fronts: in prefatory letters he assails those who would praise Richardson's novel for its moral lessons, while in the body ofShamelahe burlesques the psychological motivations of Pamela herself, showing that she is motivated bymercenary "vartue" rather than angelic virtue. In spite of its hasty composition,Shamelaclearly displays a kind of literary charm and insight that was soon to characterizeJoseph AndrewsandTom Jones.

Because it lacks Fielding's wit,Pamela Censuredis now almost forgotten even though it elicited an even stronger response thanShamelafrom some of Richardson's defenders and detractors. The "Introduction" toPamela's Conduct in High Life(1741), for instance, airily dismissesShamela's"low Humour adapted to the Standard of apetit Maitre'sCapacity" which has been applauded only "among the Weak and Vicious." By contrast, the same work devotes an entire four pages to answering the various charges levelled byPamela Censuredafter first attacking its author for giving readers "such an Idea of his own vicious Inclination, that it would not ... wrong him to think the Shrieks of a Woman in Labour would excite his Passions, and the Agonies of a dying Woman enflame his Blood, and stimulate him to commit a Rape." Aaron Hill, who had apparently ignored the publication ofShamela, angrily conveyed to Richardson a rumor thatPamela Censuredwas a bookseller's contrivance written in order to promote sales among readers with prurient interests. (Richardson, distressed over such a suggestion, emphatically wrote "Quite mistaken!" in the margin of Hill's letter.) But if this stratagem was not employed to boost sales in England, it perhaps was used across the Channel, wherePamela Censured, under the titlePamela, Zedelyk Beoordeeld, appeared in Holland some months before a complete Dutch translation of Richardson's novel was ever published.[3]

To Richardson's contemporaries,Pamela Censuredmust consequently have seemed a much more serious attack thanShamela. The humor of Fielding's parody might be misinterpreted or at least dismissed as "low"; inPamela Censured, the rather personal attack on the author ofPamelaand the precise censure of specific passages could not, however, be misconstrued or ignored. Moreover, the critical principle behindPamela Censuredappears quite sound, at least on its most simple level:Pamelais bad because it violates what might be called a literary "truth in labeling" law. Casting himself in the role of "consumer advocate," the author ofPamela Censuredsystematically attempts to show thatPamelafails to live up to the advertisement on its title page:

a SERIES of FAMILIAR LETTERS FROM A Beautiful Young DAMSEL, To her PARENTS. Now first Published in order In order to cultivate the Principles of VIRTUE and RELIGION in the Minds of the YOUTH of BOTH SEXES. A Narrative which has its Foundation in TRUTH and NATURE; and at the same time that it agreeably entertains, by a Variety ofcuriousandaffectingINCIDENTS, is intirely divested of all those Images, which, in too many Pieces calculated for Amusement only, tend toinflamethe Minds they shouldinstruct.

In applying this test toPamela, the author ofPamela Censureddisplays a curious mixture of naiveté and sophistication. His first attack involves a silly and perhaps consciously dishonest misreading of the words "Now first Published" onPamela'stitle page. While this phrase clearly means that Pamela's letters are now being published for the first time,Pamela CensuredattacksPamelafor claiming to be the first work ever aimed at cultivating "the Principles of VIRTUE and RELIGION in the Minds of the YOUTH of BOTH SEXES." WhenPamela Censuredlater assailsPamelafor not telling a true story, as the title page advertises, it naively fails to understand that by the time ofPamela'spublication the guise of telling a true story had virtually become a fictional convention.

But whenPamela Censuredconsiders the implications ofPamela'sfictionality, it raises two valid literary problems, treating the first in a cursory fashion and devoting to the second most of its space and attention. If, asPamela Censuredfirst of all asserts, the "editor" ofPamelais really the author, then all of the prefatory material inPamelamust be seen as proof of the author's immorality: he is a man consumed by vanity. Secondly, this author must be convicted on even more serious moral grounds: his fiction instructs readers to sin and enflames those passions which he, as a moral man, should extinguish. Not only is this a clear moral flaw in the author and in his book, but it also blatantly contradicts the promises made on the title page.

In attackingPamela'smorality,Pamela Censuredraises a problem inherent in virtually all narrative fiction: stories inevitably lead some readers to imitate the vicious charactersrather than the virtuous ones, in spite of any moral statements made by the author or any punishments meted out at the end of the story. Even in "forbidding a silly ostler to grease the horse's teeth," as Alithea says inThe Country Wife(III, i), one may very easily teach him "to do't." Such concerns, of course, are not new. From Plato and Horace to the Neo-Humanists of the twentieth century, critics have dwelled in varying degrees on the moral effects of literature. The eighteenth century, reacting against the supposed immorality of the Restoration, often emphasized theutile, losing sight of thedulcein its criticism.Pamela Censuredin its moral approach bears a striking similarity to Jeremy Collier'sShort View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage(1698): both virtually try to bludgeon to death literary works for inciting immoral actions. In one respect, however,A Short Viewexercises a bit more control than doesPamela Censured. While Collier refuses to quote directly from the offensive literature, affirming that his intention is "rather to kill theRootthanTransplantit," the author ofPamela Censuredmeticulously provides his readers with a compendium of the so-called dirty parts ofPamela. Such attention to the morality of literature, moreover, may easily backfire. The anonymous author ofA Vindication of the Stage(1698) concludes that Collier's "dwelling so long on the Subject of Debauchery, argues something of Delight and Pleasure in the Case." Likewise, the author ofPamela's Conduct in High Lifesees the treatment of sexual immodesty inPamela Censuredas evidence of "how much of the Goat" there is in the author's "Constitution."[4]

More importantly, however,Pamela Censured—as the first sustained criticism of what is probably the first English novel—amasses much of the moral ammunition which was to be fired at realistic novels during the eighteenth century. Echoes ofPamela Censuredmay, for instance, be heard in Clara Reeve'sProgress of Romance(1785), where Hortensia comments that in reading, "The seeds of vice and folly are sown in the heart,—the passions are awakened,—false expectations are raised.—A young woman is taught to expect adventures and intrigues." Euphrasia, who expresses Clara Reeve's attitudes throughout the work, qualifies this statement, pointing out that these ill effects come from reading novels, but not romances.[5]Indeed, romances do not mislead readers preciselybecause they are so removed from real life. Moreover, romances morally instruct readers without hazarding the pitfalls inherent in novels. Dr. John Gregory'sComparative View(1765), for instance, concludes that:

Notwithstanding the ridiculous extravagance of the old Romance in many particulars, it seems calculated to produce more favourable effects on the morals of Mankind, than our modern Novels.—If the former did not represent men as they really are, it represented them better; its Heroes were patterns of courage, generosity, truth, humanity, and the most exalted virtues. Its Heroines were distinguished for modesty, delicacy, and the utmost dignity of manners.—The latter [i.e., novels] represent Mankind too much what they are, paint such scenes of pleasure and vice as are unworthy to see the light, and thus in a manner hackney youth in the ways of wickedness, before they are well entered into the World; expose the fair sex in the most wanton and shameless manner to the eyes of the world.[6]

Novels tend to "inflame the Passions and corrupt the Heart" of the reader because they treat real life with all its sordid concerns: sex, social status, pride, money, and the like. If the novel describes such matters in a realistic fashion, "warm scenes" will inevitably creep into it. AsPamela Censuredcomplains, men are inflamed by the description of a woman's body, especially when she seems about to be ravished; women are corrupted into believing they can seduce a man into a lucrative marriage without any moral or physical danger. Novels, moreover, are most likely to inflame and corrupt young readers, who lack experience and who are frequently ruled by their passions.[7]

To a moral man like Richardson, the criticisms inPamela Censuredmust have seemed painfully serious. The pamphlet virtually proclaims his novel a total failure by showing that it tends "toexcite Lasciviousness"—not "the Principles of VIRTUE and RELIGION"—among its readers. In addition,Pamelais especially pernicious since its title page advertises that it is written for the "YOUTH of BOTH SEXES," precisely thosepeople who—according toPamela Censured—must not read this book.Pamela Censuredconcludes with an appeal to the author ofPamelato emend or strike out entirely the offending passages from his novel.

Richardson's revisions bear witness to the seriousness with which he took such criticism. For the fifth edition (22 September, 1741), he toned down the extravagant praises in the introductory letters, and for the sixth edition (7 December 1741), he entirely omitted these letters, substituting in their place a table of contents. The "warm scenes" furthermore gradually began to loose their warmth. In the fifth edition, Pamela now lies face down on the floor while Mr. B peeks through the keyhole (Letter XV).Pamela Censuredhad attacked the original passage for exciting "Passions of Desire" by picturing Pamela stretched out on the floor, presumably having collapsed on her back (p. 31). Richardson's change indicates more about his sense of decorum and his attention toPamela Censuredthan about his ignorance—as Eaves and Kimpel imply—concerning sexual perversions.[8]

By the time Richardson's carefully corrected fourteenth edition appeared in 1801, even more changes had crept into those passages whichPamela Censuredfound particularly objectionable. Mr. B no longer offers "to take" Pamela "on his Knee, with some Force"; he now more modestly lifts her up and offers "to set" her on his knee, without any mention of force (Letter XV). While Mr. B originally "by Force Kissed" Pamela's "Neck and Lips," he now simply kisses Pamela—no portion of her anatomy mentioned—while she struggles against him (Letter XV). Likewise, instead of passionately putting his hand in Pamela's bosom, Mr. B in the revised version merely tries to kiss her neck (Letter XV) or continues holding her in his arms (Letter XXV). Because of her lover's more modest approach in Letter XXV, Pamela no longer breaks out "in a cold clammy sweat." Pamela's reasons for not succumbing to Mr. B's advances (Letter XIX), whichPamela Censuredfound morally shoddy, are clarified somewhat by the inclusion of a new moralizing passage concerning her relation to Mr. B:

He may make me great offers, and may, perhaps, intend to deck me out in finery, the better to gratify his own pride; but I should be a wicked creature indeed,if, for the sake of riches or favour, I should forfeit my good name; yea, and worse than any other young body of my sex; because I can so contentedly return to my poverty again, and think it less disgrace to be obliged to live upon rye-bread and water, as I used to do, than to be a harlot to the greatest man in the world.

To make Pamela's moral purity even clearer, Richardson causes tears to appear in Mrs. Jervis's eyes as she hears Pamela's virtuous protestations. Though the reader originally watches Pamela pull off her stays and "stockens," these details are now omitted (Letter XXV). Mr. B's clothing loses some of its extravagance, his dressing gown no longer being silver (Letter XXV) and his waistcoat no longer trimmed in gold (Letter XXVII). Moreover, Mr. B exercises a bit more restraint (or at least Pamela's descriptions seem a bit less ambiguous): while in the first edition he comes to Pamela's bed, in the later version he simply approaches her "bed-side" (Letter XV). For the fourteenth edition, Richardson omits the "obscene ... double Entendre" in which Mr. B wishes he could have Pamela "as Quick another Way" (Letter XXVII). In an almost passive fashion, Mr. B releases Pamela from his clutches, "loosing his arms with an air," while in the original version he obviously keeps a passionate hold on her (Saturday Morning [37th day of confinement]). During Mr. B's last attempt at rape, Pamela no longer offers up her prayers "all undrest" (though she does have her underclothes in her hand), and Mr. B no longer approaches her bed breathing "all quick and short." Once the attempted rape is over and Pamela awakens from her faint, she (in the revised version) does not speculate concerning "the Liberties taken with her in her deplorable State" (Tuesday Night [40th day of confinement]). Finally, Pamela is now less brazen when led by Mr. B into the alcove where he proclaims his love. She now prudently considers that she can safely go there for two reasons: the alcove has "a passage through it" and Mr. B had already led her there "once without stopping" (Wednesday Morning [41st day of confinement]).[9]

While Richardson's revisions may seem extensive, they in no respect remove or change all of the objectionable passages thatPamela Censuredso severely criticizes. A considerable amount of hanky-panky remains in the last version ofPamela.Mr. B, for instance, still tries to examine Pamela "to her under Petticoat" (Letter XXIV), and he even gets to grope—though only once—for her breasts (Tuesday Night [40th day of confinement]). It should not be surprising, however, that Richardson failed to achieve the "successful" expurgations found in Victorian bowdlerizations of his novel. While he undoubtedly tried to clean up his descriptions, Richardson nevertheless had to keep in mind his novel's artistic integrity (something the bowdlerizers did not do). In order to show the stages through which a virtuous young woman must realistically pass when tempted by a physically attractive, though morally reprehensible young man, Richardson had to describe attempted rapes and their effects. In so doing, he undoubtedly hoped his readers would keep in mind the morally unambiguous end of his novel (which, incidentally,Pamela Censuredvirtually ignores). Some "warm scenes," as a consequence, seem necessary in this novel, and to remove all of them would, in effect, changePamelainto something radically different, namely a romance.

Though most of the attack inPamela Censuredsimply reflects the author's prejudice against the sexual implications of realistic descriptions, the pamphlet occasionally alludes to a further moral problem, one which has bothered readers since the time of Fielding. "Instead of being artless and innocent," Pamela seems to have "as much Knowledge of the Arts of the Town, as if she had been born and bred inCoventGarden" (pp. 21-22). As a consequence, she appears "mighty skillful" (p. 26) in her dealings with Mr. B. In spite of these hints,Pamela Censuredstops short of concluding—asShameladoes—that Pamela is motivated by an immoral desire to trap Mr. B into marriage rather than by an overwhelming desire to maintain her virtue at any cost. Perhaps the author ofPamela Censuredcontemplated this moral ambiguity as the subject of his projected "Second Epistle" (p. 64), a work which seems never to have appeared in print, if indeed it was ever written.

Pamela Censured, nevertheless, casually makes a provocative comparison which, if developed, might easily have thrown light on the artistic reasons behind Pamela's morally questionable actions. In its opening pages,Pamela Censuredindicates thatPamela, at least in its title, is less "modest" than Chevalier de Mouhy'sLa Paysanne parvenue(1735-37), published inEnglish asThe Fortunate Country Maid. Being the Entertaining Memoirs of the Present Celebrated Marchioness of L—— V——: Who from a Cottage, through a Great Variety of Diverting Adventures, Became a Lady of the First Quality in the Court of France(1741). One can only wish thatPamela Censuredhad developed its comparison in a thorough and sophisticated fashion, indicating the moral implications of the differences between these two stories.

The Fortunate Country Maid, first of all, bears a striking resemblance toPamela: in both works the heroines, almost identical in social position, face similar trials and ultimately are rewarded in the same fashion. A brief description of the plot ofThe Fortunate Country Maidshould adequately indicate these similarities to anyone already familiar withPamela. Jenny, the heroine ofThe Fortunate Country Maid, comes from the lower social ranks, her father a common woodcutter in the forest of Fountainbleau. The young Marquis of L—— V——, son of Jenny's godfather, singles her out for his special attention because of her beauty and charm. Though conscious of the social distinctions which bar her marriage to the Marquis, Jenny nonetheless falls in love with him, all the while uneasy that she might be "ruined." Her fears indeed are not ill-founded. After learning social amenities in the household of the Countess of N——, her godmother, Jenny embarks on a series of trials, including an attempted rape, an offer to be set up as a kept woman, threats of an arranged marriage, and even proposals for a clandestine wedding. Held a virtual prisoner, Jenny ponders the advisability of escape; ultimately she decides that it would be better to forfeit her life rather than loose her reputation. One of her last conflicts involves a menacing Swiss soldier who tries to take her into his custody. When the Marquis appears to be on the point of death, Jenny clearly recognizes the genuine depth of her love for him. At the conclusion of the story, Jenny and the Marquis are married, the Marquis' father finally accepting this unconventional alliance only after having been convinced of Jenny's virtue. Everyone seems to live happily ever after, including Jenny's parents, who move from their cottage to the Estate de F—— A——, property which they will one day own. This happiness, however, is tempered somewhat by the realization that Jenny and the Marquis must carefully justify their marriage to the society in which they live.

It is tempting, because of the obvious similarities between these two works, to suggest that Richardson knew and was influenced byThe Fortunate Country Maid. On the other hand we perhaps should not doubt Richardson's basic honesty when he says "I am not acquainted in the least with the French Language or Writers: And that it was Chance and not Skill or Learning, that made me fall into this way of Scribbling."[10]In any event, these parallels must raise provocative questions concerning Richardson's possible indebtedness to this work.

In spite of these overwhelming similarities, the plots ofPamelaandThe Fortunate Country Maidfundamentally differ in one important respect. InPamela, 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 ofThe 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 ofPamela Censured. As Ralph Rader indicates in a recent essay dealing with, among other things, the narrative form ofPamela: "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 themerit 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 ofClarissaundoubtedly reflects in part the lesson Richardson learned from such moral attacks asPamela CensuredandShamela. 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

[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 inPamela, 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 ofShamela, see Charles B. Woods, "Fielding and the Authorship ofShamela,"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'sNorthanger 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'sMysteries 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 inNorthanger 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 ofPamela,"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," inAutobiography, Biography, and the Novel(Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1973), p. 36.

The facsimile ofPamela 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.

That under the Specious Pretence of Cultivating the Principles of Virtue in the Minds of the Youth of both Sexes, themost artfulandalluring amorous Ideasare convey'd.

And that, instead of being divested of all Images that tend toinflame; Her Letters abound with Incidents, which must necessarily raise in the unwary Youth that read them,Emotionsfar distantfrom thePrinciplesofVirtue.

Exemplified in many Quotations, with aCritical Review, andRemarksupon theWhole.

Ridet hoc, inquam, Venus ipsa; ridentSimplices Nymphæ, ferus & Cupido,Semper ardentes acuens SagittasCote Cruenta.HORAT.

LONDON:

Printed forJ. Roberts, at theOxford Arms, inWarwick-Lane.Mdccxli.

Reverend Sir,

When a Person, whoseProfessionandCharacterin the World claim aReverenceandAttention, exerts himself in earnestly recommending a Piece to our Perusal, as he bespeaksEsteem 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 themost solemn Place, and from whence we are to expect Nothing but Truth and Virtue.PAMELAhas been honour'd in this Manner, both thePulpitand thePresshave 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 Gentlemanwho 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 thinkPamelais 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,

SIR,

As You have pleased in YourThirdEdition ofPamela, 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 forhonestly disapproving, than you caress them forfulsomely flattering.

The Pompous Promise of your Title Page, the Manner in which it is introduced, and yourundertaking 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 yourPamela, and by contributing to the large Sale thereof, made the World (as is generally the Case) judge of the Worth of it.

ThePorcherected with cunning Symmetry, and shining with agreeable Colours allures us in;Nature,Truth,VirtueandReligion; 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'sWorth, 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 prescribingVirtue, and cultivating both that andReligion(which by the way I never knew were distinct before) in the Minds of theYouthofboth Sexes, and that you have the Honour of nowFirstpublishing these Things to the World: Was no Romance or Novel ever published with a Design to recommend moral Virtue?—IsPamelathe First of that Kind! No surely; as toyour Title,La Paysanne parvenuenow translated intoEnglish, a littleFrenchNovel, 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 butPamelais first aSeries of Lettersfrom a Girl to her Parents, which it is presumed are offered us as Originals, and then immediately we are told it is aNarrativewhich has it'sFoundationinTruth, andNature; 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 howevertruetheFoundationmay have been, yet a fewRemovesandTransitions, may make it deviate into adownright Falsehood: In all Additions, and what may by some be called Embellishments to the Story,Fancymust take Place and where that presides, any Gentleman who is too much troubled with it, knows the Consequence: From thenceImaginary Characterswill 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 thoseShadows may be founded onTruth; but thus extended like the Reflections from a declining Summer Evening's Sun, it may pleaseChildrenwith their seeminggiganticHeights, whileMenacknowledge it but as the last feebleEffortsof hisLight.

But notwithstanding all the great Things you promise us at first, ofTruth,VirtueandReligion, and that your Book is intirelydivestedof all those Images which intoo manyPieces tend only toinflamethe 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 ofinflamingSentiments 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 anEditorarrogate to yourself all the Praise that the most lavish could bestow on your Desert, had it been real and silent;Famefounded 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 onlyEditor; 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 barelyEditor. The Story may have it'sFoundationinTruthandNature; but the Superstructure isyour own; the fictitiousPamelamay bear the Resemblance of some happy rural Maid, who for her Virtue and Beauty may have been raised from thePlainto theToilette, from theSheepcoteto theMansion House, but thenatural Air, thedignified Simplicity, themeasur'd Fulnessin it are properly to be ascribed to you: I shall therefore henceforward treat you asHalf-Editor, Half-AuthorofPamela. I am not ignorant what Art and Industry have been employed, privately to intimate that what gave Rise to thisinimitableand so much commended Piece, was an Occurrence of the like Kind that happen'd some time since in the Family of a certainNoble Lord; if this be the Case, I must confess 'tis so highlyshadow'dthat the Outlines of your Draughts are almost obscured, and suffer us only to guess at the Likeness. Nor canI help joining with one of your complemental Friends, and acknowledge, that your Picture inresembling Life outglows it.

First then, asEditor, 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 aPrologueto your ownPraise, you wouldprepossessthem withApplause, and fondlysurfeiton theEccho. The many Eulogia in your Preface stated with Ifs, and artfully in the Conclusion bestowed onPamelaare 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:

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