Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded

Pamela; Or, Virtue Rewarded (1740)

Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded is a epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740. It takes the form of a collection of letters written by a fifteen-year-old girl to her parents about her life as a maid in a squire’s household.

After Pamela’s elderly mistress dies, she is left in the employment of her mistress’s son, Mr B–. He initially shows her exceptional kindness, which then develops into amorous advances. Pamela is quite disturbed by her master’s designs on her virtue, especially when they begin to take a sinister turn. He accosts her in the summerhouse and in various other places around the house, demanding that she surrender her virtue to him. It becomes most alarming on a particular occasion when Mr B– hid himself in the housekeeper’s bedroom closet. Pamela had begun to sleep in Mrs Jervis’s bedchamber in order to better protect herself, and it was the closet in this room where he waited for Pamela to undress and get into bed.

I went to Mrs Jervis’s chamber; and, O dreadful! my wicked master had hid himself, base gentleman as he is! in her closet, where she had a few books, and chest of drawers, and such like. […] I sat myself down on one side of the bed, and she on the other, and we began to undress ourselves; […] I pulled off my stays, and my stockings, and all my clothes to an under-petticoat; and then hearing a rustling again in the closet, I said Heaven protect us! but before I say my prayers, I must look into this closet. And so was going to it slip-shod, when, O dreadful! out rushed my master in a rich silk and silver morning gown. I screamed, and ran to the bed, and Mrs Jervis screamed too; […] I found his hand in my bosom; and when fright let me know it, I was ready to die; and I sighed and screamed, and fainted away.

“Pamela swooning after having discovered Mr B in the closet. He (frighted) endeavouring to recover her. Mrs Jervis wringing her hands, and screaming.” From a series of twelve illustrations to Pamela, by Samuel Richardson (1745, 2nd edition).

By this stage Pamela had already decided to remove to her parent’s home, even though they are poor and could hardly afford to support her. Whilst her removal is put off multiple times by her new master, she is at length taken in Mr B–‘s carriage – not to her home – but to her master’s Lincolnshire estate.

“Pamela setting out in the travelling Chariot (for her Father’s, as she is made to believe), takes her farewell of Mrs Jervis, and the other servants. Mr B observing her from the window by whose private order she is carried into Lincolnshire.” From a series of twelve illustrations to Pamela, by Samuel Richardson (1745, 2nd edition).

Why, dear father and mother, to be sure he grows quite a rake! How easy it is to go from bad to worse, when once people give way to vice!

She is placed in the care of a Mrs Jewkes, and is quite fearful of her master’s purposes by this kidnapping. The entire estate seems devoid of people who would help her from her predicament, excepting the local parson, Mr Williams. However, all his attempts of aid and all her attempts at escape are cruelly prevented.

Eventually, Mr B– comes to Lincolnshire to pursue his advances on Pamela. He tries to persuade her to become his mistress by forcing himself upon her and even offering her financial income if she accepts, but she is persistent in her refusal to voluntarily surrender her virtue to him. After a while, he seems to change his approach and decides that he should marry her, despite the many reasonable objections that would have existed in the eighteenth century (such as his family’s dislike of the match, the difference in their station in life, etc…).

Pamela decides, once she is convinced of the sincerity of his proposal, to accept him. She then continually pours out profusions of gratitude for the wonderful treatment and condescension he has shown her by asking her to be his wife.

O, sir, said I, expect not words from your poor servant, equal to these most generous professions. Both the means, and the will, I now see, are given to you, to lay me under an everlasting obligation. How happy shall I be, if, though I cannot be worth of all this goodness and condescension, I can prove myself not entirely unworthy of it! But I can only answer for a grateful heart; and if ever I give you cause, wilfully, (and you will generously allow for involuntary imperfections,) to be disgusted with me, may I be an outcast from your house and favour, and as much repudiated, as if the law had divorced me from you!

I found these constant effusions of humble praise quite sickening really. I mean, the guy had repeatedly tried to rape her! Not only was it a stretch of the imagination that such a “rake” would suddenly want to marry his maidservant because of her long-standing virtue, it was equally amazing that Pamela would suddenly forget how abominably she had been treated at his hands and accept him!

The story concludes with a visit from Lady Davers (Mr B–‘s sister) who violently opposes the match, but she is soon won over by the virtuosity and goodness of Pamela.

As a story, it was quite repetitive and long-winded (common in the 18th century and especially common to Samuel Richardson), which made it a little annoying. It is surely unrealistic to think that a maidservant would have had that much paper available to her to write so copiously to her parents, let alone have the time to write it all! However, even though it does not make particularly easy reading for the modern bookworm, I can appreciate the story in the light of the culture of the time.

The eighteenth century had begun to see the rise of the novel, where a fictional story was used to communicate to the reader a moral message. Previous to this, a writer would usually communicate such moral-related content in the form of published sermons on religious themes, or in conduct books designed to provide rules on social behaviour. In this context, the author’s very heavy moral directive – that virtue (above all other characteristics) is to be preferred in women – is easier to understand. Samuel Richardson did not want to tell an interesting story per se, but wanted to communicate an important moral message and merely used a story to do it.

Pamela was quite popular in its day and went on to have several revisions, with subsequent editions adding chapters on Pamela as a mother to her young children. Richardson had intended it to promote virtue and religion among the youth of the day, however many people saw Pamela’s seeming uprightness to be covering a more sinister cunning designed to ensnare a squire in matrimony. This viewpoint occasioned several satires to be printed on the topic, including An Apology of the Life of Miss Shamela Andrews (1741), by Henry Fielding, and The Anti-Pamela; Or, Feign’d Innocence Detected (1741), by Eliza Haywood.

All in all, it was heavy going but interesting to read arguably one of the most popular novels written during the eighteenth century. What is your favourite eighteenth century novel?

Related Posts

Lady Susan: An eighteenth century epistolary novella

Sources and Relevant Links

Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, by Samuel Richardson (1740) – read online

Illustration Source: National Gallery of Victoria

An Apology for the Life of Mrs Shamela Andrews, by Henry Fielding (1741) – read online

The Anti-Pamela; Or, Feign’d Innocence Detected, by Eliza Haywood (1741) – read online

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A Kind Caution to Profane Swearers

During the 18th century, there were many changes in society. The ongoing changes to agriculture and farming (the agricultural revolution) combined with the increased use of machinery and manufacture (the industrial revolution) created enormous social changes, as large influxes of people moved from the country to the city to find employment.

These led to huge problems within cities that had suddenly swelled to accommodate greater numbers of people. Overcrowding, disease, lack of sanitation, poverty, hunger and crime were quite frequently the result for the working classes.

Rapid change always tends to threaten the stability of a society, and so there were many people who were alarmed by these changes. In order to keep a sort of social order, publications began to abound on all sorts of moral topics. Conduct books were written to help guide young men and women through a wise path to adulthood. Novels were written with thinly veiled moral instruction to its readers. Journals, such as The Spectator and The Gentleman’s Magazine, discussed a variety of issues relating to propriety and manners. And pamphlets were written to alert people to the dangers of all manner of behaviours.

Josiah Woodward first published his pamphlet, entitled A Kind Caution to Profane Swearers, in 1705. He was a minister in the Church of England and this particular publication was reprinted several times in the following 100 years. It was designed to arrest the sad decline of manners that the author evidently perceived in the society around him.

Nothing can be more piercing to the Heart of a Christian, than to hear the Multitudes of Oaths and profane Speeches which proceed out of the Mouths of many People, without any Sense of the Evil they do, or Fear of any Thing they must suffer for so doing. To hear the Great and Terrible Name of God polluted by Men, which is adored by Angels; and to consider how often that Sacred Name is profaned in common Discourse, which we are scarce worthy once to mention in our Prayers, is very horrible to all that have not lost the Sense of a Supreme Being.

Opening lines of A Kind Caution to Profane Swearers, 1770 edition.

In this pamphlet, Josiah Woodward laid before his readers a total of thirteen reasons to consider desisting from the ugly practise of swearing. Whilst several of these points seem to overlap, I have reproduced a portion of them here.

1. In the first Place, it must appear to the Sense of all Mankind, the rashest and foolishest Thing in the World, to provoke the Wrath of an infinitely powerful Being, and that meerly for the Sake of a few needless and impertinent Words, by which he may be justly provoked to cut you off in a Moment, and to cast you into remediless Torments.

He then draws a parallel between this danger and that of reviling “a General at the Head of his Army” or waking a sleeping lion.

2. And in the next Place, your Baseness and Ingratitude is as great as your Danger, for it is a most senseless Thing to despise that Almighty Being which you at other Times adore. Is it not a ridiculous Folly to fall on your Knees to God one Hour, and to Blaspheme Him the next?

I found this point interesting, as some individuals in the eighteenth century did seem to vary their observance of religious commands depending on whether it suited their fancy! James Boswell relates an incident in his diary where he was sitting in church planning how he could sleep with a woman.

What a curious and inconsistent thing is the mind of Man! In the midst of divine service I was laying plans for having women, and yet I had the most sincere feelings of Religion. I imagine that my want of belief is the occasion of this: So that I can have all the feelings. I would try to make out a little consistency, this way. I have a warm heart and a vivacious fancy. I am therefore given to love, and also Piety or gratitude to God, and to the most brilliant and showy method of pubic Worship.

From: James Boswell’s London Journal 1762-1763, 28th Nov 1762.

3. This [swearing] is such an Extremity of Sin, as can only be matched in Hell, where all are desperate, and without Hope of Mercy. … But for Man, that swims in the River of God’s Goodness, and is visited with fresh Presents of his Love every Moment; for this favourite creature to set his mouth against the Heavens, and to blaspheme a gracious, a patient, a bountiful God, is a Height of Sin which exceeds the Blackness of Hell itself.

It does seem odd these days to think of swearing as exceeding the “Blackness of Hell”. Many injustices crop up in my mind as more deserving of this description!

4. And all this is done against God, without so much as pleasing any one of our Senses. It is a tasteless and fruitless Sin. It brings no Pleasure to the Palate, nor Gain to the Purse. And it may even puzzle the profane Person himself to tell us for what it is he sells his Soul.

…

5. And it is further to be considered, That the Tongue of Man is his Glory, and human Speech a Sort of Miracle in Nature. And it is given to Man, that he might glorify God who gave it to him. And will you, dare you pervert the Use of so divine a Gift?

…

6. And it is a very unhappy Circumstance of their Sin, that the Returns of it are frequent. Though it is of so horrible a Nature, and of such infinite guilt, yet it may be repeated many Times in a Minute, yea, we find some multiplying their Oaths in the same Breath.

This is an interesting point. The author goes on to say that with many other sins, repeat offences are, by their very nature, difficult. “If a Man be overcome with Drink, there must be a considerable Space of Time ere he can be so again; or if he be given to profane the sacred Day of our Lord, he cannot do it every Day.”

7. Here the author reiterates how profane men despise the name of God, even though every other part of God is out of their reach and beyond their influence.

8. For hereby you harden Infidels against the Christian Religion. It cannot be expected that they should honour your God, when you yourselves despise him; or that any should embrace your Religion, when you yourselves trample it under your Feet.

And even those who have “never heard the Name of Christ will fare better in the last Judgement, than such as know it and blaspheme it.”

9. Yea, God himself testifies, that his Name is great among the Heathen, Mal. 1:11. And we find an Heathen Emperor making a Decree, that whosoever spake any Thing amiss of Almighty God, should be cut in Pieces, and his House made a Dunghill, Dan. 3:29.

This biblical reference is from the Book of Daniel, and relates the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who were saved by God after King Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown into the fiery furnace. The King then gives orders for everyone in the land to worship this God.

10. The author here states the law in regards to swearing. As good a reason as any to stop, I suppose!

The Act of Parliament (passed in the Nineteenth Year of his late Majesty’s Reign) justly takes Notice, “that the horrid, impious, and execrable Vices of profane Cursing and Swearing (so highly lothsome and offensive to every Christian) are become so frequent and notorious, that unless speedily and effectually punished, they may justly provoke the Divine Vengeance to increase the many Calamities these Nations now labour under. And therefore it is enacted, That if any Person shall profanely Curse or Swear, and be thereof convicted on the Oath of any one Witness, before any Justice of the Peace, he shall forfeit, as follows:-

Every Day-Labourer, common Solider, common Sailor, and common Seaman, One Shilling.

Every other Person, under the Degree of a Gentleman, Two Shillings.

And every other Person, of or above the Degree of a Gentleman, Five Shillings.

And in Case any Person shall after Conviction offend a Second Time, he shall forfeit Double; and for every other Offence after a second Conviction, treble the Sum first forfeited.”

11. At this point, the author hopes that by such a “slight Infliction” (which, I presume, is the fine), that the sinner might be “brought to a timely Sense of their Sin and Folly”.

12. Upon the Whole, How is every Lover of God, of Man, and of the Public Good, bound in Conscience to oppose this vile and horrible Sin? to reprove it, to shame it, and, in all fit Circumstances, to inform the Magistrate of it, and do their utmost to banish it from human Society?

In short, do everything you can to stop this offence against God. Can you imagine the state of the eighteenth century law courts if every swearer was reported to the Magistrate?

13. … But let me entreat all Persons whatsoever, that have Reason and Self-love, that they cast not themselves into this accursed Herd of Blasphemers, lest after a little partnership with them in their Sin, they be for ever conjoined with them in their Punishment.

Whilst we can laugh about the immense importance that eighteenth century clergyman placed on the sin of profanity, this pamphlet shows – to me, at least – how deep and unsettling the concern was over such rapid and vast changes to society.

I find this aspect of the eighteenth century really intriguing. During this time, there was the continuance of the agricultural revolution, the emergence of the industrial revolution, the American Revolution (1775-1783), and the French Revolution (1789-1799). This was a period of time where everything that had been considered solid and unchanging in society, was changing violently! And when I read this pamphlet in the light of that information, it makes a bit more sense.

Note: All italics are present in the original text.

Related Posts

Hogarth: Gin Lane and Beer Street – a pair of paintings intended to instruct society on the dangers of drinking gin in the mid-eighteenth century.

Do Women REALLY Talk Too Much? – Some snippets from some conduct literature of the eighteenth century.

Sources and Relevant Links

A Kind Caution to Profane Swearers, by Josiah Woodward (1770) – buy through Amazon

A Kind Caution to Profane Swearers, by Josiah Woodward – available online, reprinted at the end of The Solider’s Monitor; being serious advice to Soliders to behave themselves with a just Regard to Religion and true Manhood, by the same author (1760).

Boswell’s London Journal, 1762-1763 – buy through Amazon

The Book of Daniel (Chapter 3) from the Bible – read online

Manner’s, Morals and Class in England: 1774-1858, by Marjorie Morgan.

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Lady Susan: An eighteenth century epistolary novella

Portrait of Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Lady Susan was written by Jane Austen, probably around 1793-4, during the time she was writing the beginnings of Sense and Sensibility (then called Elinor and Maryanne). Whilst it was prepared for publication, Austen never sought to have it published, and it was her nephew who first published it in 1871.

This short novel centres around a newly widowed, middle-aged woman, Lady Susan Vernon, who is fresh from an affair with a married man in whose household she has been staying. In order to escape the scandal and misery she has caused, Lady Susan invites herself to stay with her husband’s brother and his wife, Mr Charles and Catherine Vernon.

We are now in a sad state; no house was ever more altered; the whole family are at war, and Manwaring scarcely dares speak to me. It is time for me to be gone…

Lady Susan to her friend, Mrs Johnson

Catherine Vernon’s brother, Reginald De Courcy, also comes to visit them out of a mere curiosity to see the wicked, flirtatious and very beautiful Lady Susan whose reputation precedes her, and ends up falling under her bewitching spell.

There is exquisite pleasure in subduing an insolent spirit, making a person pre-determined to dislike, acknowledge one’s superiority.

Lady Susan to Mrs Johnson, about Reginald De Courcy

Lady Susan had sent her daughter, Frederica, to boarding school, partially because she took an aversion to marrying her mother’s choice for her, a Sir James Martin. Lady Susan soon receives word that she has been trying to run away, so she is forced to have her stay at the Vernon’s residence with her.

Lady Susan, who had been shedding tears before and showing great agitation at the idea of the meeting, recieved her [Frederica] with perfect self-command, and without betraying the least tenderness of spirit. She hardly spoke to her, and on Frederica’s bursting into tears as soon as we were seated, took her out of the room and did not return for some time; when she did, her eyes looked very red, and she was as much agitated as before. We saw no more of her daughter. Poor Reginald was beyond measure concerned to see his fair friend in such distress, and watched her with so much tender solicitude that I, who occasionally caught her observing his countenance with exultation, was quite out of patience. This pathetic representation lasted the whole evening, and so ostentatious and artful a display had entirely convinced me that she did in fact feel nothing.

Mrs Catherine Vernon, to her mother, Lady De Courcy

Upon Frederica’s arrival, Sir James quickly follows her to the Vernon’s and sets everything in an uproar. Lady Susan, who is still determined that her daughter will marry him, did not want to involve the Vernon’s in the process, and when Frederica appeals to Reginald to help save her from the situation, Lady Susan is forced to send Sir James away in order to placate Reginald’s anger.

Its effect [of her speech] on Reginald justifies some portion of vanity, for it was no less favourable than instantanious. Oh! How delightful it was to watch the variations of his countenance while I spoke, to see the struggle between returning tenderness and the remains of displeasure. There is something agreeable in feelings so easily worked on. Not that I would envy him their possession, nor would for the world have such myself, but they are very convenient when one wishes to influence the passions of another.

Lady Susan, to Mrs Johnson

Lady Susan decides to remove to London, leaving Frederica in the care of the Vernon’s, and Reginald also leaves, but intends to pursue Lady Susan to London in the hopes marrying her. It all comes undone when Mrs Manwaring (the wife of Lady Susan’s old lover) visits her guardian, Mr Johnson (the husband of Lady Susan’s friend, Mrs Johnson) to apprise him of the deplorable conduct of Lady Susan with her husband. Reginald De Courcy happens to visit the Johnson’s at that moment, and is informed by Mr Johnson of Lady Susan’s true character, which removes all his illusions of her goodness.

I write only to bid you farewell. The spell is removed. I see you as you are.

Reginald De Courcy, to Lady Susan

Mr Johnson forces his wife to break off all contact with Lady Susan, and the final letter contains the news that Lady Susan has sent for Frederica, that they may stay in town together.

The conclusion to the story is written in narrative prose, rather than letter form. The Vernon’s soon removed to London, in the hopes that Lady Susan might be prevailed upon to let her daughter live with them, and – after several days – she relents. Three weeks later, Lady Susan announces her engagement to Sir James Martin.

Whether Lady Susan was, or was not happy in her second choice – I do not see how it can ever be ascertained – for who would take her assurance of it, on either side of the question? The world must judge from probability. She had nothing against her, but her husband and her conscience.

The story finishes by the narrator entertaining hopes that, once Reginald overcomes his love for Lady Susan, he may be able to transfer it to her daughter.

I really liked this novel! And not only because it gave me another opportunity to read more of Jane Austen, but because it was written in an eighteenth century style, which she dispensed with in her later Regency works.

In form, Lady Susan is very much an eighteenth century novel, told through the medium of the characters’ letter writing, which was a popular way of novel writing during that era. Some of Austen’s favourite authors, like Samuel Richardson and Fanny Burney, wrote novels in this style. Whilst she attempted to write Sense and Sensibility in a similar vein, she eventually abandoned this style of writing, preferring a third person narrative. She seems to allude to the problems of this style of writing in the conclusion of Lady Susan.

This correspondence, by a meeting between some of the parties and a separation between the others, could not, to the great detriment of the Post Office revenue, be continued longer.

The epistolary form was also mocked in the novel Shamela (1741), thought to be written by Henry Fielding under the name of Joseph Andrews. The book was intended to be a satire on Richardson’s Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, and in it we see that one of the shortcomings of this form of fiction is the improbability of a young lady writing such a huge quantity of letters, which describe her experiences in such great detail.

In substance, Lady Susan is very much an eighteenth century novel, as it reflects the lax morality of the late 1700’s. Austen’s later books reveal a more strict moral code that had grown in society with the power of the moral middle class during the Regency era. Austen punishes her other characters that deviate from this code much more severely than she does with Lady Susan.

Austen conveys her main character’s scheming nature by allowing the reader to be privy to her letters. They amply illustrate Lady Susan’s character by allowing the reader to compare her correspondence when conversing with a variety of people, such as her relations, her friend, and the man she was attempting to deceive. This enables the reader to see how deceptive she really is. The inclusion of letters to and from the other characters in the story mean that the reader can hear the other opposing voices in the story, helping to accurately determine the character’s credibility.

In terms of an eighteenth century novel, I think Austen has been very successful. Lady Susan has an excellent storyline and moves briskly through the plot, which other novelists did not do in this era. Compared to her later works, some Austen-fans may be disappointed, as her main character lacks all the like-ability of Elizabeth Bennet, Emma Woodhouse, and the Dashwood sisters.

Have you read any eighteenth century literature? It’s my cup of tea!

Related Posts

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen

On Love, Shakespeare and Marianne Dashwood

Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded – coming soon

Sources and Relevant Links

Lady Susan, by Jane Austen – read online

Lady Vernon and her Daughter, by Jane Rubino and Catherine Rubino-Bradway (2009) – a new version of the story of Lady Susan

Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, by Samuel Richardson – read online

Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady, by Samuel Richardson – read Vol. 1 online

Evelina: Or the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World, by Francis Burney – read online

An Apology for the Life of Mrs Shamela Andrews, by Joseph Andrews – read online

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Dr Johnson’s Dictionary

Samuel Johnson; this was the picture inside his famous dictionary

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), known popularly at the time as Dr. Johnson, was a great writer of the eighteenth century, writing poetry, essays, biographies, and contributing to several journals and periodicals as an editor.

He is also famous for writing the first dictionary of the English language, initially published in two volumes in 1755. It took him nine years to write, and by 1785 it had run to six editions, providing a significant basis for other lexicographers to build on in the future. It contained a massive 42,773 words, coupled with examples of word usage from other literature. True to eighteenth-centruy form, even its title was long! A Dictionary of the English Language: in which words are deduced from the originals, and illustrated in their various significations, by examples from the best writers.

Here are a few examples of Johnson’s entries. It is a pitifully poor selection when I had 42,773 to choose from, but I hope you understand!

Carry-tale: A tale-bearer.

The quotation below Johnson’s definition for carry-tale is from Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour Lost. It reads “Some carry-tale, some pleaseman, some slight many, Told our intents before.”

Fart: Wind from behind.

Johnson did include some words that were considered vulgar. The first part of this entry includes a quotation from Sir John Suckling.

Love is the fart Of every heart; It pains a man when ’tis kept close; And others doth offend, when ’tis let loose.

The second part of the entry defines “to fart” as “To break wind behind.” The quotation included here is from Jonathan Swift’s poem, Problem, That My Lord Berkeley Stinks When He Is In Love.

As when we a gun discharge, Although the bore be ne’er so large, Before the flame from muzzle burst, Just at the breech it flashes first; So from my lord his passion broke, He farted first and then he spoke.

Footpad: A highwayman that robs on foot, not on horseback.

Both highwaymen and footpads were a common occurrence in eighteenth century London. Both offences received the death penalty, usually by hanging from “Tyburn Tree”, which was the wooden structure at Tyburn outside London used for executions.

Morrow: The day after the present day.

This is the origin of the present word tomorrow (originally, to morrow), and Johnson describes its origin by saying, “The original meaning of morrow seems to have been morning, which being often referred to on the preceding day, was understood in time to signify the whole day next following.”

Tenderling: The first horns of a deer.

This word, tenderling, is no longer in common use, and Johnson writes two definitions in current use in 1755. “1. The first horns of a deer,” and “2. A fondling; one who is made soft by too much kindness.”

I would love to buy the 1755 Dictionary on CD ROM (published by Cambridge University Press), but it is over $400 AUD. I will have to be content for the moment to drink my cup of tea over my pdf version!

Related Posts

A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Sources and Relevant Links

Dr Johnson’s Dictionary Online – this website is endeavouring to digitise the entire dictionary, one word at a time! You can also view facsimile pages of the original document.

A Dictionary of the English Language… by Samuel Johnson (1785)

A Brief Biography of Samuel Johnson

All pictures are taken from scans of the 6th edition of Johnson’s Dictionary (1785).

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