Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded
sham-marriage, (for all this is not yet inconsistent with that
frightful scheme,) I should be too happy!
So I came up, with great pleasure, for my gloves: and now wait his kind
commands. Dear, dear sir! said I to myself, as if I was speaking to
him, for God’s sake let me have no more trials and reverses; for I
could not bear it now, I verily think!
At last the welcome message came, that my master was ready; and so I
went down as fast as I could; and he, before all the servants, handed
me in, as if I was a lady; and then came in himself. Mrs. Jewkes begged
he would take care he did not catch cold, as he had been ill. And I had
the pride to hear his new coachman say, to one of his fellow-servants,
They are a charming pair, I am sure! ’tis pity they should be parted!—O
my dear father and mother! I fear your girl will grow as proud as any
thing! And, especially, you will think I have reason to guard against
it, when you read the kind particulars I am going to relate.
He ordered dinner to be ready by two; and Abraham, who succeeds John,
went behind the coach. He bid Robin drive gently, and told me, he
wanted to talk to me about his sister Davers, and other matters.
Indeed, at first setting out he kissed me a little too often, that he
did; and I was afraid of Robin’s looking back, through the fore-glass,
and people seeing us, as they passed; but he was exceedingly kind to
me, in his words, as well. At last, he said,
You have, I doubt not, read, over and over, my sister’s saucy letter;
and find, as I told you, that you are no more obliged to her than I am.
You see she intimates, that some people had been with her; and who
should they be, but the officious Mrs. Jervis, and Mr. Longman, and
Jonathan! and so that has made me take the measures I did in dismissing
them my service.—I see, said he, you are going to speak on their
behalfs; but your time is not come to do that, if ever I shall permit
it.
My sister, says he, I have been beforehand with; for I have renounced
her. I am sure I have been a kind brother to her; and gave her to the
value of 3000L. more than her share came to by my father’s will, when I
entered upon my estate. And the woman, surely, was beside herself with
passion and insolence, when she wrote me such a letter; for well she
knew I would not bear it. But you must know, Pamela, that she is much
incensed, that I will give no ear to a proposal of hers, of a daughter
of my Lord ——, who, said he, neither in person, or mind, or
acquirements, even with all her opportunities, is to be named in a day
with my Pamela. But yet you see the plea, my girl, which I made to you
before, of the pride of condition, and the world’s censure, which, I
own, sticks a little too close with me still: for a woman shines not
forth to the public as man; and the world sees not your excellencies
and perfections: If it did, I should entirely stand acquitted by the
severest censures. But it will be taken in the lump; that here is Mr.
B——, with such and such an estate, has married his mother’s
waiting-maid: not considering there is not a lady in the kingdom that
can out-do her, or better support the condition to which she will be
raised, if I should marry her. And, said he, putting his arm round me,
and again kissing me, I pity my dear girl too, for her part in this
censure; for, here will she have to combat the pride and slights of the
neighbouring gentry all around us. Sister Davers, you see, will never
be reconciled to you. The other ladies will not visit you; and you
will, with a merit superior to them all, be treated as if unworthy
their notice. Should I now marry my Pamela, how will my girl relish all
this? Won’t these be cutting things to my fair-one? For, as to me, I
shall have nothing to do, but, with a good estate in possession, to
brazen out the matter of my former pleasantry on this subject, with my
companions of the chase, the green, and the assemblee; stand their rude
jests for once or twice, and my fortune will create me always respect
enough, I warrant you. But, I say, what will my poor girl do, as to her
part, with her own sex? For some company you must keep. My station will
not admit it to be with my servants; and the ladies will fly your
acquaintance; and still, though my wife, will treat you as my mother’s
waiting-maid.—What says my girl to this?
You may well guess, my dear father and mother, how transporting these
kind, these generous and condescending sentiments were to me!—I thought
I had the harmony of the spheres all around me; and every word that
dropped from his lips was as sweet as the honey of Hybla to me.—Oh!
sir, said I, how inexpressibly kind and good is all this! Your poor
servant has a much greater struggle than this to go through, a more
knotty difficulty to overcome.
What is that? said he, a little impatiently: I will not forgive your
doubts now.—No, sir, said I, I cannot doubt; but it is, how I shall
support, how I shall deserve your goodness to me.—Dear girl! said he,
and hugged me to his breast, I was afraid you would have made me angry
again; but that I would not be, because I see you have a grateful
heart; and this your kind and cheerful return, after such cruel usage
as you had experienced in my house, enough to make you detest the
place, has made me resolve to bear any thing in you, but doubts of my
honour, at a time when I am pouring out my soul, with a true and
affectionate ardour, before you.
But, good sir, said I, my greatest concern will be for the rude jests
you will have yourself to encounter with, for thus stooping beneath
yourself. For, as to me, considering my lowly estate, and little merit,
even the slights and reflections of the ladies will be an honour to me:
and I shall have the pride to place more than half their ill will to
their envy at my happiness. And if I can, by the most cheerful duty,
and resigned obedience, have the pleasure to be agreeable to you, I
shall think myself but too happy, let the world say what it will.
He said, You are very good, my dearest girl! But how will you bestow
your time, when you will have no visits to receive or pay? No parties
of pleasure to join in? No card-tables to employ your winter evenings;
and even, as the taste is, half the day, summer and winter? And you
have often played with my mother, too, and so know how to perform a
part there, as well as in the other diversions: and I’ll assure you, my
girl, I shall not desire you to live without such amusements, as my
wife might expect, were I to marry a lady of the first quality.
O, sir, said I, you are all goodness! How shall I bear it?—But do you
think, sir, in such a family as yours, a person whom you shall honour
with the name of mistress of it, will not find useful employments for
her time, without looking abroad for any others?
In the first place, sir, if you will give me leave, I will myself look
into such parts of the family economy, as may not be beneath the rank
to which I shall have the honour of being exalted, if any such there
can be; and this, I hope, without incurring the ill will of any honest
servant.
Then, sir, I will ease you of as much of your family accounts, as I
possibly can, when I have convinced you that I am to be trusted with
them; and you know, sir, my late good lady made me her treasurer, her
almoner, and every thing.
Then, sir, if I must needs be visiting or visited, and the ladies won’t
honour me so much, or even if they would now and then, I will visit, if
your goodness will allow me so to do, the sick poor in the
neighbourhood around you; and administer to their wants and
necessities, in such matters as may not be hurtful to your estate, but
comfortable to them; and entail upon you their blessings, and their
prayers for your dear health and welfare.
Then I will assist your housekeeper, as I used to do, in the making
jellies, comfits, sweetmeats, marmalades, cordials; and to pot, and
candy, and preserve for the uses of the family; and to make, myself,
all the fine linen of it for yourself and me.
Then, sir, if you will sometimes indulge me with your company, I will
take an airing in your chariot now and then: and when you shall return
home from your diversions on the green, or from the chase, or where you
shall please to go, I shall have the pleasure of receiving you with
duty, and a cheerful delight; and, in your absence, count the moments
till you return; and you will, may be, fill up some part of my time,
the sweetest by far! with your agreeable conversation, for an hour or
two now and then; and be indulgent to the impertinent overflowings of
my grateful heart, for all your goodness to me.
The breakfasting-time, the preparations for dinner, and sometimes to
entertain your chosen friends, and the company you shall bring home
with you, gentlemen, if not ladies, and the supperings, will fill up a
great part of the day in a very necessary manner.
And, may be, sir, now and then a good-humoured lady will drop in; and,
I hope, if they do, I shall so behave myself, as not to add to the
disgrace you will have brought upon yourself: for, indeed, I will be
very circumspect, and try to be as discreet as I can; and as humble
too, as shall be consistent with your honour.
Cards, ’tis true, I can play at, in all the usual games that our sex
delight in; but this I am not fond of, nor shall ever desire to play,
unless to induce such ladies, as you may wish to see, not to abandon
your house for want of an amusement they are accustomed to.
Music, which our good lady taught me, will fill up some intervals, if I
should have any.
And then, sir, you know, I love reading and scribbling; and though all
the latter will be employed in the family accounts, between the
servants and me, and me and your good self: yet reading, at proper
times, will be a pleasure to me, which I shall be unwilling to give up,
for the best company in the world, except yours. And, O sir! that will
help to polish my mind, and make me worthier of your company and
conversation; and, with the explanations you will give me, of what I
shall not understand, will be a sweet employment, and improvement too.
But one thing, sir, I ought not to forget, because it is the chief: My
duty to God will, I hope, always employ some good portion of my time,
with thanks for his superlative goodness to me; and to pray for you and
myself: for you, sir, for a blessing on you, for your great goodness to
such an unworthy creature: for myself, that I may be enabled to
discharge my duty to you, and be found grateful for all the blessings I
shall receive at the hands of Providence, by means of your generosity
and condescension.
With all this, sir, said I, can you think I shall be at a loss to pass
my time? But, as I know, that every slight to me, if I come to be so
happy, will be, in some measure, a slight to you, I will beg of you,
sir, not to let me go very fine in dress; but appear only so, as that
you may not be ashamed of it after the honour I shall have of being
called by your worthy name: for well I know, sir, that nothing so much
excites the envy of my own sex, as seeing a person above them in
appearance, and in dress. And that would bring down upon me an hundred
saucy things, and low-born brats, and I can’t tell what!
There I stopped; for I had prattled a great deal too much so early: and
he said, clasping me to him, Why stops my dear Pamela?—Why does she not
proceed? I could dwell upon your words all the day long; and you shall
be the directress of your own pleasures, and your own time, so sweetly
do you choose to employ it: and thus shall I find some of my own bad
actions atoned for by your exemplary goodness, and God will bless me
for your sake.
O, said he, what pleasure you give me in this sweet foretaste of my