Pamela

by Samuel Richardson

  125. (p. 171) struck: taken root.

  126. (p. 171) a most wicked jest: in previous editions we learn that the joke is ‘about Planting, &c.’; the more refined Pamela of 1801 does not make this explicit.

  127. (p. 172) for he bears an irreproachable character: inserted in 1801; see n. 128.

  128. (p. 173) I besought Mr Peters… in the case: this and the previous insertion exculpate Mr Peters’s failings, answering several critics who objected to Richardson’s treatment of the clergy in Pamela.

  129. (p. 175) Ruin… horse-lip: one of Pamela’s sharp descriptions of Mrs Jewkes inserted in 1801.

  130. (p. 176) Prayers and tears… when she cries: Pamela’s argument with Mrs Jewkes here and her penetrating asides are extensively revised in 1801.

  131. (p. 176) cunning as a serpent: alluding to Matthew, x. 16, where Jesus warns his disciples to be ‘wise as serpents, and harmless as doves’.

  132. (p. 179) Brandon-hall: ‘B—n’ in previous editions. Brandon must be Mr B.’s surname, since Richardson contracts the names of people but not of places. The name resembles that of Richardson’s ‘good man’, Grandison (whose residence, similarly, is called Grandison Hall), and the similarity contributes to Richardson’s rehabilitation of his much criticized hero. Mr B. was badly in need of an authentic name; he was variously known as Booby in Fielding’s Shamela, Belmour in The Life of Pamela, Belvile and Beau-love in two dramatic adaptations of 1741, Belton in the first French translation of Pamela (a name furnished, according to the preface, by Richardson himself), and as Bonfil in Goldoni’s Pamela Nubile (1741).

  133. (p. 181) ingenious: intellectually able, talented.

  134. (p. 182) She wondered at that… I said nothing: inserted in 1801; see n. 106.

  135. (p. 186) was before-hand in: had previously made.

  136. (p. 186) Nought can restrain consent of twain: the saying, which originated in Harington’s version of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso (Book XXVIII, Moral), is a translation of Ovid’s ‘Non caret effectu, quod volvere duo’.

  137. (p. 188) Mrs Jewkes said… memory ever since: an insertion in which Pamela’s fear of the bull is given both a logical and a psychological explanation: Mrs Jewkes informs her that it has injured others, as well as the cook-maid, and Pamela’s mother, we learn, habitually compared bulls to ‘wicked men’. This justifies the half-heartedness of her first attempt to escape, and answers criticisms that she had no real desire to escape at all.

  138. (p. 188) My reverence… disgrace the character: inserted in 1801 to indicate Pamela’s respect for the clergy; see n. 128. Character is public role or position.

  139. (p. 189) my snuff-box, my seal-ring: snuff became fashionable around 1700, after which gentlemen normally carried an ornate snuff-box; a seal-ring was a ring bearing a seal.

  140. (p. 190) in a sweet pickle: proverbial for an awkward predicament; Tilley, P276. ‘Sweet’ is used ironically here, since pickle juice is salt or acidic.

  141. (p. 191) my heart up at my mouth: proverbial for fear (Tilley, H331).

  142. (p. 191) saucer eyes: eyes as large and round as saucers; generally applied to spectres and ghosts.

  143. (p. 192) As I continue writing… and my fears: an insertion, responding to complaints that Pamela spent too much time writing and not enough acting; she herself is now aware of this.

  144. (p. 192) there can be no prudence without apprehension: proverbial; cf. ‘Fear (suspicion) is one part of prudence’ (Tilley, F135).

  145. (p. 193) grabbling: scrambling.

  146. (p. 194) watchments: task of watching. The word was rarely used, as Pamela’s disdainful ‘as you call them’ suggests; this is the only example in O ED.

  147. (p. 196) Gainsborough: in Lincolnshire.

  148. (p. 198) in course: in their proper order.

  149. (p. 201) the fool’s plaything: Pamela is the plaything and Williams the fool; cf. the proverbial ‘What is a fool without a bauble?’ (Tilley, F511).

  150. (p. 201) instantly into gaol: eighteenth-century law gave a creditor the power of putting his debtor in prison and keeping him there until the debt was repaid; this could amount to a life sentence (see Turberville, I, 325).

  151. (p. 201) gewgaw: ‘a showy trifle; a toy; a bauble; a splendid plaything’ (Johnson).

  152. (p. 201) speaking picture: the phrase, used in Sidney’s Defence of Poetry in an analogy between poetry and art, derives from Horace’s Ars Poetica and Plutarch’s Moralia.

  153. (p. 204) What cruel reproaches… broken-hearted: the second-longest insertion in 1801, this is one of several in which Pamela writes a critical commentary on letters by other characters; see n. 124.

  154. (p. 206) blubber: swollen, protruding.

  155. (p. 206) bag: a silken pouch, used to contain the back hair of a wig or of natural hair; it was tied by a running string, concealed by a stiff black bow.

  156. (p. 206) wen: tumour, or large wart.

  157. (p. 206) knot: a bunch of decorative ribbons, attached to the hilt of a sword; bright colours were often used.

  158. (p. 207) Stamford: in Lincolnshire.

  159. (p. 208) I have read of a great captain: I have not identified the captain whom Pamela wishes to emulate.

  160. (p. 209) hear her fast: fast asleep; Pamela will hear her snoring.

  161. (p. 210) hied: hurried.

  162. (p. 210) broke: bruised.

  163. (p. 211) into my head: Pamela’s lengthy meditation on suicide which follows is probably influenced by that of her namesake in Sidney’s Arcadia, which Richardson printed, at least in part, for the 1724–5 edition, and to which he alludes in Pamela II.

  164. (p. 212) the dreadful stake, and the highway interment: Pamela refers to the practice of burying suicides by the highway with a stake through the body. By 1788, however, Horace Walpole could refer to the ‘absurd stake and highway of our ancestors’ (quoted in A. Alvarez, The Savage God, 1971, p. 147).

  165. (p. 213) unjust imprisonment: Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel, was imprisoned by Pharaoh on a false accusation by his master’s wife, but found favour through his skill in interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams (Genesis, xxxix-xli).

  166. (p. 215) some angel: Peter, imprisoned by Herod, was delivered by an angel who caused his chains to fall off and the prison doors to open (Acts, xii. 7–10).

  167. (p. 215) hap: fate.

  168. (p. 216) billet: a thick stick used as a weapon.

  169. (p. 217) family plaster: a domestic remedy for wounds.

  170. (p. 218) a wife in every nation: in Pamela II Mr B. himself expresses approval of polygamy to the countess with whom Pamela suspects him of having an affair. Lovelace also favours polygamy in Clarissa, and in 1752 Richardson began a series of teasing letters to Lady Bradshaigh advocating polygamy as a solution for Sir Charles Grandison’s dual attachment to Harriet and Clementina.

  171. (p. 220) Seeing myself… sight of pursuers: an insertion supplying two further reasons for Pamela’s failure to escape: lack of shelter in the surrounding countryside, and her fear of the warrant that Mr B. has taken out for her arrest.

  172. (p. 220) handle: a fact or circumstance that may be taken advantage of for some purpose.

  173. (p. 224) pucker: a state of agitation or excitement; this is the earliest example in OED.

  174. (p. 224) the wolf: Aesop’s Fables, no. 29. Pamela’s version, however, is somewhat different from that in Richardson’s edition, where a dog, not a wolf, accuses a sheep, with a kite, a wolf and a vulture as witnesses. In his ‘Reflection’ drawn from the fable, Richardson states that ‘no Innocence can be safe, where Power and Malice are in Confederacy against it’.

  175. (p. 226) stand in your own light: proverbial (Tilley, L276).

  176. (p. 227) Samson: Samson, blinded and imprisoned by the Philistines, was taken from prison to make sport for them (Judges, xvi. 25–7).

  177. (p. 228) noisome: ill-smelling.

  178. (p. 229) solitaire: a precious stone, usually a diamond, set by itsel
f.

  179. (p. 229) When I come… chastity inviolate: inserted in 1801; Pamela’s professed indifference to her outward appearance here counters objections that she was excessively interested in her attire.

  180. (p. 230) at all adventures: at any risk; whatever the consequence.

  181. (p. 230) Give me leave… on such terms: this spirited retort in 1801 replaces a more servile response in previous editions.

  182. (p. 230) greatest monarch: the commander is Manius Curius Dentatus, a Roman consul (d. 270 BC), who gained a decisive victory over the Samnites in 290 BC and was celebrated for his simplicity and frugality.

  183. (p. 234) fleers: mocking looks or speeches.

  184. (p. 236) chariot-and-six: chariot drawn by six horses.

  185. (p. 237) betimes: at once.

  186. (p. 237) rated at: scolded angrily.

  187. (p. 238) bating: except for.

  188. (p. 240) in my hand: in previous editions Pamela had been more ostentatiously naked; as well as holding her underclothes she specified that she was ‘all undressed’.

  189. (p. 242) I abhor violence: inserted in 1801 as part of Richardson’s endeavour to rehabilitate Mr B. before his marriage.

  190. (p. 242) grimace: pretence, sham.

  191. (p. 242) in my bosom: Eaves and Kimpel note that this is the only one of Mr B.’s four ‘mammary explorations’ retained in 1801 (‘Richardson’s Revisions’, p. 81).

  192. (p.247) which having a passage… without stopping: inserted in 1801 to justify Pamela’s venturing into the alcove with Mr B.

  193. (p. 250) affiance: ‘trust in the divine promises and protection’ (Johnson).

  194. (p. 257) saluted: kissed.

  195. (p. 258) full dressed, and very richly: inserted in 1801 to indicate Mr B.’s concern for propriety.

  196. (p. 260) cramp: handwriting which is difficult to make out, or understand.

  197. (p. 262) broken: failed in business; bankrupt.

  198. (p. 267) I know nothing… disgrace: an insertion, stressing Pamela’s ingenuousness.

  199. (p. 267) punctilio: ‘a small nicety of behaviour; a nice point of exactness’ (Johnson).

  200. (p. 268) chop logick: exchange logical arguments.

  201. (p. 268) dull as a beetle: proverbial (Tilley, B220).

  202. (p. 269) clouterly: clumsy, awkward; from ‘clouter’: one who mends, or patches.

  203. (p. 269) My father and mother… eyes: inserted in 1801 to show that Pamela’s exemplary virtue had been with her from birth.

  204. (p. 270) equivocation! no jesuit: the Jesuits, a Catholic religious order founded in 1530 by St Ignatius Loyola, were proverbially associated with equivocation; in 1601 Anthony Shirly complained of their doctrine of ‘equivocating, which you may term in plain English lying and cogging’ (quoted in G. B. Harrison, A Last Elizabethan Journal, 1933, p. 218).

  205. (p. 270) pockets: worn beneath the dress, they were joined by tape tied around the waist.

  206. (p. 270) question: ‘examination by torture’ (Johnson). Pressing to death, or la peine forte et dure, was, as Mr B. points out in his reply, still used as a torture for criminals who refused to speak in court. Cases are recorded in the London Magazine for 21 August 1735 and in the Universal Spectator, no. 674, for October 1741.

  VOLUME II

  207. (p. 279) Sunday Night: ‘Monday’ in previous editions; an error, since Pamela is writing on Sunday evening, shortly after dusk.

  208. (p. 279) flings: gibes, scoffs.

  209. (p. 279) sash: window.

  210. (p. 279) bag and baggage: proverbial for ‘a thorough riddance’, as Pamela notes on p. 281 below.

  211. (p. 280) bondage: the Israelites, living on manna, displeased God through their longing for fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic (Numbers, xi. 5).

  212. (p. 280) sporting-piece: plaything.

  213. (p. 281) alehouse, rather than inn: an alehouse, unlike an inn, would not normally receive overnight guests.

  214. (p. 281) make hard shift: do the best he can.

  215. (p. 284) topsy-turvied, as I may say: thrown into utter confusion. ‘As I may say’ is an insertion in 1801, Pamela now being aware that the use of ‘topsy-turvy’ as a verb is unusual.

  216. (p. 284) presses me to death: Mr B. refers to pressing as a form of capital punishment above, p. 270.

  217. (p. 288) in this case: deleted in 1801 is a sentence that gives a different reason for Pamela’s return: ‘I doubt he has got too great Hold in my Heart, for me to be easy presently, if I should refuse.’

  218. (p. 288) He is not now… good to me: an insertion, emphasizing that Mr B.’s illness is the primary reason for Pamela’s return; she is thus impelled by a moral obligation, not by an emotional compulsion.

  219. (p. 290) I thought the coachman… have done: an insertion that also underlines Pamela’s changed emotions in 1801; her concern that the noisy servants and the sound of the carriage might disturb Mr B.’s sleep indicates her sympathy and kindness, rather than an ungovernable passion.

  220. (p. 290) burnt wine: heated wine; ‘the precise early sense is doubtful’ (OED).

  221. (p. 290) sack-whey: a medicinal drink, consisting of sack, a white wine from Spain or the Canaries, mixed with whey.

  222. (p. 292) Mrs Jewkes looked… come back: an insertion, containing another of Pamela’s sharp observations of Mrs Jewkes.

  223. (p. 293) heaviness: drowsiness.

  224. (p. 294) between them: the philosopher is Diogenes, who told Alexander the Great that he could find no difference between the bones of Alexander’s father and those of his slaves.

  225. (p. 295) the silent grave: I have not identified these lines, which might be by one of Richardson’s circle.

  226. (p. 296) dashed: abashed.

  227. (p. 296) fore glass: glass between horseman and passenger in a chariot; the only example in OED.

  228. (p. 299) comfits: ‘a dry sweetmeat; any kind of fruit or root preserved with sugar, and dried’ (Johnson).

  229. (p. 299) Proceed, my dear… talk: Richardson made several alterations in 1801 to prevent Pamela from monopolizing the genteel conversations in which she participates after her engagement and marriage. In this insertion Mr B. asks her to continue her monologue, providing a pretext for her garrulousness.

  230. (p. 300) Generously pleased… talk on: another insertion; see n. 229.

  231. (p. 302) Gratitude, my beloved… my Pamela: an insertion; see n. 229.

  232. (p. 303) secretary: a style of handwriting used chiefly in legal documents; its archaic quality makes Mr B. suspect that the hand is Longman’s.

  233. (p. 307) Yet allow me… Excuse, sir: inserted in 1801 to show that Pamela loves Mr B. for himself, not for his fortune as hostile critics had suggested.

  234. (p. 317) putting his arm round me: in previous editions Mr B. sits Pamela on his knee.

  235. (p. 318) Telemachus: Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699), a long, didactic allegorical prose epic by François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (1651–1715).

  236. (p. 318) cast: a casual lift, ride.

  237. (p. 319) confabulate: converse, chat

  238. (p. 320) Mrs Jones: Lady Jones in previous editions; see n. 51.

  239. (p. 320) there was no by-path… appearing affected: an insertion, justifying Pamela’s dramatic entrance; the subjunctive ‘were’ here is characteristic of Pamela’s improved grammar in 1801.

  240. (p. 322) leave: desist.

  241. (p. 322) seeming to expect… some answer: an insertion, giving Pamela a reason to contradict Sir Simon. A second contradictory reply is deleted in 1801.

  242. (p. 322) I blushed, and curtsied… an answer: an insertion, indicating Pamela’s increased modesty on social occasions in 1801; see n. 229.

  243. (p. 326) tight: see n. 61.

  244. (p. 327) bumper: a brimful glass.

  245. (p. 328) quadrille: a fashionable card game for four people.

  246. (p. 332) petticoats: often used a
s a term for women, the word here includes Mr Peters because of the skirt of his gown.

  247. (p. 332) understand: Swift, ‘Cadenus and Vanessa’ (1713), l. 171.

  248. (p. 334) Jacob’s ladder: Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with angels ascending and descending (Genesis, xxviii. 12).

  249. (p. 336) Jephtha’s daughters: proverbial for virgins. Jephtha unwittingly offered his daughter to God as a burnt offering; before her death, however, she bewailed her virginity for two months (Judges, xi. 30–40).

  250. (p. 337) admiration: in previous editions Mr Andrews was at first unable to recognize Pamela in her finery, and suspected that another lady was to be Mr B.’s wife.

  251. (p. 338) lined: with wooden panelling.

  252. (p. 339) Boileau’s Lutrin: Le Lutrin (1674–83), a mock epic by Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636–1711).

  253. (p. 339) Recrimination… my intent: an insertion, increasing Mr B.’s magnanimity; in previous editions he reproached Mr Williams for his devious behaviour.

  254. (p. 341) verses: to cap compliments is to follow one compliment with a better; to cap verses is to reply to a verse previously quoted with another that begins with the final or initial letter of the first, or that rhymes or otherwise corresponds with it.

  255. (p. 342) prevented: anticipated.

  256. (p. 343) repentance: quoted from the parable of the lost sheep (Luke, xv. 7).

  257. (p. 343) salvation: spoken by Simon, who has just seen the infant Jesus (Luke, ii. 29–30).

  258. (p. 343) degree: from the Magnificat (Luke i. 46, 52); the ‘handmaiden’ is the speaker, the Virgin Mary.

  259. (p. 343) Ruth: Ruth the Moabitess lost her first husband and worked in the fields to support herself and her mother-in-law; her virtue was rewarded through her marriage to Boaz, ‘a mighty man of wealth’, and she became an ancestress of King David.

  260. (p. 345.) drab: thick woollen cloth of a yellowish colour.

  261. (p. 345) England: natural hair would be more appropriate than a wig for a man of Mr Andrews’s social standing; he is not, despite Pamela’s hyperbole, a ‘great beau’. The best wigs, as Mr B. notes, were very expensive, costing as much as forty guineas, or the rough equivalent of five hundred pounds today.