She was a little too much frightened, as she owned afterwards, at his sternness, and said, 'Indeed she told me you only pulled her on your knee, and kissed her.' keep it themselves to their meanest servants.' : See again!' said he could you believe this of the young baggage, if you had not heard it?' Good, your honour,' said Mrs. Jervis, 'pity and for give the poor girl; she is but a girl, and her virtue is very dear to her: I will pawn my life for her, she will never be pert to your honour, if you will be so good as to molest her no more, nor frighten her again. You saw, Sir, by her fit, she was in terror; she could not help it: and though your honour intended her no harm, yet the apprehen sion was almost death to her; and I had much ado to bring her to herself again.' Then I plucked up my spirit a little. Only! Mrs. Jervls?' said I; and was not that enough to shew me what I had to fear? When a master of his honour's degree demeans himself to be so free as that to such a poor servant as me, what is the next to be expected? But your honour went further; and threatened me what you would do; talked of Lucretia and her hard fate. Your honour knows you went too far for a master to a servant, or even to his equal; and I cannot bear it.' So I fell a cry-O the little hypocrite,' said he ing most sadly. Mrs. Jervis began to excuse me, and to beg he would pity a poor maiden, that had such a value for her reputation. He said, 'I think her very pretty, and I thought her humble, and one that would not grow upon my favours, or the notice I took of her; but I abhor the thought of forcing her to any thing. I know myself better,' said he, and what belongs to me: and to be sure I have enough demeaned myself to take notice of such a one as she; but I was bewitched by her I think to be freer than became me; though I had no intention to carry the jest farther.' What poor stuff was all this, my dear mother, from a man of his sense! but, see how a bad cause and bad actions confound the greatest wits! it gave me a little more courage then; for innocence, I find, in a low fortune, and weak mind, has many advantages over guilt, with all its riches and wisdom. So I said, 'Your honour may call this jest, or sport, or what you please; but, Sir, it is not a jest that becomes the distance between a master and servant- Do you hear, Mrs. Jervis,' said he, the pertness of this creature? I had a good deal of this sort before in the summer-house, and yesterday too, which made me rougher with her than, perhaps, I had otherwise been.'-Says Mrs. Jervis, Pamela, don't be so pert to his honour: you should know your distance; you see his honour was only in jest. O dear Mrs. Jervis,' said I, 'don't you blame me too. It is very difficult to keep one's distance to the greatest of men, when they won't 'she has all the arts of her sex; they were born with her; I told you awhile ago you did not know her. But this was not the reason principally of my calling you before me together: I find I am likely to suffer in my reputation by the perverseness and folly of this girls She has told you all, and perhaps more than all; I make no doubt of it; and she has written letters (for I find she is a mighty letter-writer,) to her father and mother, and others, as far as I know; in which, representing herself as an angel of light, she makes her kind master and benefactor a devil incarnate.'-(O how people will sometimes, thought I, call themselves by their right names !)—' And all this,' added he, I won't bear; and so am resolved she shall return to the distresses and poverty she was taken from; and let her be careful how she uses my name with freedom when she is gone from me.' I was brightened up with these welcome words; I threw myself upon my knees at his feet, with a most sincere glad heart, and said, 'May your honour be for ever blessed for your resolution! Now I shall be happy. Permit me, on my bended knees, to thank you for all the benefits and favours you have heaped upon me; for the opportunities I have had of improvement and learning, through my good lady's means and yours. I will now forget all your honour has offered to me; and I promise you, that I will never let your name pass my lips but with reverence and gratitude. God Almighty bless your ho nour for ever and ever, Amen! Then rising from my knees, I went away with another guise sort of heart than I came into his presence with: and so I fell to writing this letter. And thus all is happily over. And now, my dearest father and mother, expect to see soon your oor daughter, with an humble and dutiful mind, returned to you; and don't fear but I know to be as happy with you as ever; for I will lie in the loft, as I used to do; and pray let my little bed be got ready. I have a small matter of money, which will buy me a suit of clothes fitter for my condition than what I have; and I will get Mrs. Mumford to help me to some needle-work; and fear not that I shall be a burden to you, if my health continues. I know I shall be blessed, if not for my own sake, for both your sakes, who have, in all your trials and misfortunes, preserved so much integrity, as makes every body speak well of you both. But I hope he will let good Mrs. Jervis give me a character, for fear it should be thought I was turned away for dishonesty. And so, my dear parents, may you be blest for me, and I for you. And I will always pray for ny master and Mrs. Jervis. So good night; for it is late, and I shall be soon called to bed. shall do better and better. Only your poor mother's eyes begin to fail her: though, 1 bless God, I am as strong and able, and willing to labour as ever; and, O, my dear child! your virtue has made me, I think, stronger and better than I was before. What blessed things are trials and temptations, when we have the strength to resist and subdue them. But I am uneasy about those four guineas: I think you should give them back again to your master; and yet I have broken them. Alas! I have only three left ; but I will borrow the fourth, if I can, part upon my wages, and part of Mrs. Mumford, and send the whole sum back, that you may return it, against John comes next, if he comes again before you. I want to know how you come. I fancy honest John will be glad to bear you company part of.the way, if your master is not so cross as to forbid him. If I know time enough, your mother will go one five miles, and I will go ten on the way, or till I meet you, as far as one holiday wil! go; for that I can get leave to make on such an occasion; and we shall receive you with more pleasure than we had at your birth, or than we ever had in our lives. And so God bless you, till the happy time comes, say both your mother and I; which is all at present, from your truly loving parents. LETTER XVIII. DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER, I THANK you a thousand times for your goodness to me, expressed in your last letter. I now long to get my business done, and come to my old loft again, as I may call it. I have been quite another thing since my master has turned me off; and as I shall come to you an honest daughter, what pleasure it is to what I should have had if I could not have seen you but as a guilty one. Well my writing-time will soon be over; so I will make use of it now, and tell you all that has happened since my last letter. I wondered Mrs. Jervis did not call me to sup with her, and feared she was angry; and when I had finished my letter I longed for her coming to bed. At last she came up, but seemed shy and reserved; I said, My dear Mrs. Jervis, I am glad to see you: you are not angry with me, I hope.' She said, she was sorry things had gone so far; that she had a great deal of talk with 6 my master after I was gone; that he seemed moved at what I said, and at my falling on my knees to him, and my prayer for him at going away. He said, I was a strange girl; he knew not what to make of me. And is she gone?' said he. I intended to have said something else to her; but she behaved so oddly, that I had not power to stop her.' She asked, if she should call me again. He said, Yes;' and then, 'No: let her go; it is best for her and me too: she shall go, now I have given her warning. Where she had it, I can't tell; but I never met with the fellow of her in my life.' She said, he had ordered her not to tell me all: but she believed he never would offer any thing to me again; and I might stay, she fancied, if I would beg it as a favour, though she was not sure. 'I stay! dear Mrs. Jervis,' said I; 'why 'tis the best news that could have come to me, that he will let me go. I long to go back again to my poverty and distress, as he threatened I should; for though I am sure of the poverty, I shall not have half the distress I have had for some months past, I assure you.' Mrs. Jervis, dear good soul, wept over me, and said, 'Well, well, Pamela, I did not think I had shewn so little love to you, as that you should express so much joy upon leaving me. I am sure I never had a child half so dear to me as you are.' I wept to hear her so good to me, as indeed she has always been; and said, What would you have me do, dear Mrs. Jervis? I love you next to my own father and mother; and to leave you is the chief concern I have at quitting this place; but I am sure it is certain ruin if I stay. After such offers, such threatenings, and his comparing himself to a wicked ravisher in the very time of his last offer; and turning it into a jest, that we should make a pretty story in romance; can I stay and be safe? Has he not demeaned himself twice? It behoves me to beware of the third time, for fear he should lay his snares surer; for, perhaps, he did not expect a poor servant would resist her master so much. And must it not be looked upon as a sort of warrant for such actions, if I stay after this? For, I think, when one of our sex finds she is attempted, it is an encouragement to the attempter to pro ceed, if one puts one s self in the way of it, when one can help it: it is: neither more nor less, than inviting him to think one forgives what, in short, ought not to be forgiven; which is no small countenance to foul actions, I'l assure you.' She hugged me to her, and said, ' I'll assure you! Pretty face, where gottest thou all thy knowledge, and thy good notions, at these years? Thou art a miracle for thy age, and I shall always love thee. But do you resolve to leave us, Pamela ?' 'Yes, my dear Mrs. Jervis,' said I; for as matters stand, how can I do otherwise?-But I'll finish the duties of my place first, if I may; and I hope you'll give me a character, as to my honesty, that it may not be thought I was turned away for any harm.'- Aye, that I will,' said she; I will give thee such a character as never a girl at thy years deserved.'-' I am sure,' said I, 'I will always love and honour you, as my third best friend, wherever I go, or So we went whatever becomes of me.' to bed, and I never waked till it was time to rise; which I did, as bly the as a bird, and went about my business with great pleasure. I believe my master is angry with me; for he passed by me two or three times, and would not speak to me: towards evening he met me in the passage going into the garden, and said such a word to me as I never heard from him, to man, woman, or child; for he first said, This creature's always in the way.' I said, standing up as close as I could (and the entry was wide enough for a coach,) 'I hope I shan't be long in your honour's way.'D-n you, said he (that was the hard word,) for a little wretch; Thave no patience with you.' I profess I trembled to hear him say so; but I saw he was vexed; and as I am going away I minded it the less. Well, I see, my dear parents, that when a person will do wicked things, it is no wonder he will speak wicked words. May God keep out of the way of them both your dutiful daughter. LETTER XIX. DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER, OUR John having an opportunity to go your way, I write again, and send both letters at once. I cannot say yet when I shall get away, or how I shall come; because Mrs. Jervis showed my master the waistcoat I am flowering for him, and he said, 'It looks well enough; I think the creature had best stay till she has finished it.' There is some private talk carried on betwixt him and Mrs. Jervis, that she don't tell me of; but yet she is very kind to me, and I don't mistrust her: I should be very base if I did. But, to be sure, she must oblige him, and keep all his lawful commands; and other, I dare say, she won't keep; she is too good, and loves me too well: but she must stay, when I am gone, and so must get no ill-will. She has been at me again to ask to stay, and humble myself. But what have I done, Mrs. Jervis?' said I. If I have been a Sauce-box, a Bold-face, a Pert, and a Creature, as he calls me, have I not had reason! Do you think I should ever have forgot myself, if he had not forgot to act as my master? Tell me from your own heart, dear Mrs. Jervis, if you think I could stay and be safe: what would you think or how would you act, in my case?' My dear Pamela,' said she, and kissed me, 'I don't know how I should act, or what I should think. I hope I should act as you do. But I know nobody else that would. My master is a fine gentleman; he has a great deal of wit and sense, and is admired, as I know, by half a dozen ladies, who would think themselves happy in his addresses. He has a poble estate; and yet I believe he loves you, though his servant, better than all the ladies in the land: he has tried to overcome it, because you are so much his inferior; and it is my opinion he finds he can't; and that vexes his proud heart, and makes him resolve you shan't stay: and so he speaks so cross to you when he sees you by accident.' Well, but, Mrs. Jervis,' said I, 'let me ask you, if he can stoop to like such a poor girl as me, as perhaps he may (for I have read of things almost as strange, from great men to poor damsels,) what can it be for? He may condescend, perhaps, to think I may be good enough for his harlot; and those things don't disgrace men, that ruin poor women, as the world goes. And so, if I was wicked enough, he would keep me till I was undone, and till his mind changed; for even wicked men, I nave read, soon grow weary of wickedness with the same person, and love variety. Then poor Pamela must be turned off and looked upon as a vile abandoned creature; and every body would despise her, and justly too, Mrs. Jervis; for she that can't keep her virtue, ought to live in disgrace. But Mrs. Jervis,' continued I, let me tell you that I hope, if I was sure he would always be kind to me, and never turn me off at all, that I shall have so much grace, as to hate and withstand his temptations, were he not only my master, but my king; and that for the sin's sake. This my poor dear parents have always taught me; and I should be a sad wicked creature, 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 a less disgrace to be obliged to wear rags, and live upon rye-bread and water, as I used to do, than to be a harlot to the greatest man in the world.' Mrs. Jervis lifted up her hands, and had her eyes full of tears. "God bless you, my dear love!' said she: you are my admiration and delight-How shall I do to part with you? 'Well, good Mrs. Jervis,' said I, 'let me ask you now :-You and he have had some talk; and you may'nt be suffered to tell me all: but do you think if I was to ask to stay, that he is sorry for what he has done -aye, and ashamed of it too; for I am sure he ought considering his high degree, and my low degree, and that I have nothing in the world to trust to but my honesty. Do you think, in your own conscience, (pray answer me truly) that he would never offer any thing to me again, and that I could be safe?' 'Alas! my dear child,' said she, 'don't put thy home questions to me, with that pretty becoming earnestness in thy look. I know this, that he is vexed at what he has done; he was vexed the first time, more vexed the second time.' 'Yes,' said I, and so he will be vexed, I suppose, the third and the fourth time too, till he has quite ruined your poor maiden; and who will have cause to be vexed then?" 'Nay, Pamela,' said she, 'don't imagine that I would be accessary to your ruin for the world. I only can say, that he has yet done you no hurt; and 'tis no wonder he should love you, you are so pretty, though so much beneath him but I dare swear he never will offer you any force.' 'You say,' said I, that he was sorry for his first offer in the summerhouse. Well, and how long did his sorrow last? Only till he found me by myself; and then he was worse than before; and so became sorry again. And if he has designed to love me, and you say can't help it, why, he can't help it neither, if he should have an opportunity, a third time to distress me. And I have read, that many a man has been ashamed of his wicked attempts, when he has been repulsed, that would never have been ashamed of them, had he succeeded. Besides, Mrs. Jervis, if he really intends to offer no force, what does that mean? While you say he can't help liking me -for love it cannot be does it not imply that he hopes to ruin me by my own consent? I think,' said I, (and I hope I should have grace to do so) 'that I should not give way to his temptations on any account; but it would be very presumptuous in me to ely upon my own strength against a gentleman of his qualifications and estate, who is my master, and thinks himself entitled to call me Bold-face, and what not, only for standing on my defence, and that too, where the good of my soul and body, my duty to God and my parents, are all concerned. How then, Mrs. Jervis,' said I, 'can I ask or wish to stay?' 'Well, well,' says she, as he seems very desirous you should not stay, I hope it is from a good motive-for fear he should be tempted to disgrace himself as well as you.'- No, no, Mrs. Jervis,' said I; I have thought of that too; for I would be glad to consider him with that duty which becomes me : but then he would have let me go to Lady Davers, and not have hindered my preferment; be would not have said, I should return to my poverty and distress, when by his mother's goodness I had been lifted out of it; but he intended to fright and punish me, as he thought, for not complying with his wickedness; and this shews what I have to expect from his future goodness, except I will deserve it at his own dear price.' She was silent; and I added, Well, there's no more to be said; I must go, that's certain; all my concern will be how to part with you, and, after you, with every body: for all my fellow-servants have loved me : you and they will often cost me a sigh, and a tear too.' So I fell a crying, I could not help it: for it is a pleasant thing to be in a house, among a great many fellow-servants, and be beloved by them all. Nay, I should have told you before now, how kind and civil Mr. Longman our steward is; vastly courteous, indeed, on all occasions! He said once to Mrs. Jervis, he wished he was a young man for my sake; I should be his wife, and he would settle all he had upon me on marriage: and you must know he is reckoned worth a power of money. I take no pride in this; but bless God, and your good examples, my dear parents, that I have been enabled so to carry myself, as to have every body's good word: not but our cook, one day, who is a little cross sometimes, said once to me, 'Why this Pamela of ours goes as fine as a lady. See what it is to have a fine face!-I wonder what the girl will come to at last.' She was hot with her work; and I went away; for I seldom go down into the kitchen. I heard the butler say, Why, Jane, nobody has your good word: what has Pamela done to you? I am sure she offends nobody. And what,' said the peevish wench, have I said to her, foolatum, but that she was pretty?' They quarrelled afterwards, I heard: I was sorry for it, but troubled myself no more about it. Forgive this silly prattle, from your dutiful daughter. Oh! I forgot to say, that I would stay to finish the waistcoat, if I might with safety: Mrs. Jervis tells me I certainly may. I never had a prettier piece of work; and I am up early and late to get it over; for I long to be with you. LETTER XX. DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER, I DID not send my last letters so soon as I hoped, because John (whether my master mistrust or not, I can't say) had been sent to Lady Davers's, instead of Isaac, who used to go; and I could not be so free with, nor so well trust Isaac, though he is very civil to me. So I was forced to stay till John returned. As I may not have opportunity to send again soon, and as I know you keep my letters, and read them over and over (so John told me) when you have done work, (so much does your kindness make you love all that comes |