Produced by Steve Harris and PG Distributed Proofreaders
By Samuel Richardson
The First part of PAMELA met with a success greatly exceeding the mostsanguine expectations: and the Editor hopes, that the Letters whichcompose this Part will be found equally written to NATURE, avoidingall romantic nights, improbable surprises, and irrational machinery;and the passions are touched, where requisite; and rules, equallynew and practicable, inculcated throughout the whole, for thegeneral conduct of life; and, therefore, he flatters himself, thatthey may expect the good fortune, which few continuations have metwith, to be judged not unworthy the First Part; nor disproportionedto the more exalted condition in which PAMELA was destined to shineas an affectionate wife, a faithful friend, a polite and kindneighbour, an indulgent mother, and a beneficent mistress;after having in the former Part supported the character of a dutifulchild, a spotless virgin, and a modest and amiable bride.
The reader will easily see, that in so great a choice of materials, asmust arise from a multitude of important subjects, in a married life,to such geniuses and friendships as those of Mr. and Mrs. B. theEditor's greatest difficulty was how to bring them within the compasswhich he was determined not to exceed. And it having been left tohis own choice, in what manner to digest and publish the letters, andwhere to close the work, he had intended, at first, in regard to hisother avocations, to have carried the piece no farther than the FirstPart.
It may be expected, therefore, that he should enter into anexplanation of the reasons whereby he was provoked into a necessity ofaltering his intention. But he is willing to decline saying any thingupon so well-known a subject.
The Editor has been much pressed with importunities and conjectures,in relation to the person and family of the gentleman, who are theprincipal persons in the work; all he thinks himself at liberty tosay, or is necessary to be said, is only to repeat what has alreadybeen hinted, that the story has its foundation in truth; and thatthere was a necessity, for obvious reasons, to vary and disguise somefacts and circumstances, as also the names of persons, places, &c.
My dear father and mother,
We arrived here last night, highly pleased with our journey, and theoccasion of it. May God bless you both with long life and health,to enjoy your sweet farm, and pretty dwelling, which is just what Iwished it to be. And don't make your grateful hearts too uneasy in thepossession of it, by your modest diffidence of your own unworthiness:for, at the same time, that it is what will do honour to the best ofmen, it is not so very extraordinary, considering his condition,as to cause any one to censure it as the effect of a too partial andinjudicious kindness for the parents of one whom he delighteth tohonour.
My dear master (why should I not still call him so, bound to reverencehim as I am, in every light he can shine in to the most obliging andsensible heart?) still proposes to fit up the large parlour, andthree apartments in the commodious dwelling he calls yours, for hisentertainment and mine, when I pay my duty to you both, for a fewhappy days; and he has actually given orders to that effect; and thatthe three apartments be so fitted up, as to be rather suita