In it the romantic interest of the story (which is of the slightest) is
subordinated to the moral interest in the conduct of its characters in
the various situations in which they are placed. Upon this aspect of the
"drama of human life" Richardson cast a most observant, if not always a
penetrating glance. His works are an almost microscopically detailed
picture of English domestic life in the early part of the eighteenth
century.
PAMELA;
OR,
VIRTUE REWARDED
LETTER I
DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER,
I have great trouble, and some comfort, to acquaint you with. The
trouble is, that my good lady died of the illness I mentioned to you, and
left us all much grieved for the loss of her; for she was a dear good
lady, and kind to all us her servants. Much I feared, that as I was
taken by her ladyship to wait upon her person, I should be quite
destitute again, and forced to return to you and my poor mother, who have
enough to do to maintain yourselves; and, as my lady's goodness had put
me to write and cast accounts, and made me a little expert at my needle,
and otherwise qualified above my degree, it was not every family that
could have found a place that your poor Pamela was fit for: but God,
whose graciousness to us we have so often experienced at a pinch, put it
into my good lady's heart, on her death-bed, just an hour before she
expired, to recommend to my young master all her servants, one by one;
and when it came to my turn to be recommended, (for I was sobbing and
crying at her pillow) she could only say, My dear son!--and so broke off
a little; and then recovering--Remember my poor Pamela--And these were
some of her last words! O how my eyes run--Don't wonder to see the paper
so blotted.
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