ferings now appear, which then my repining mind made fo grievous to me! Hence, in every state of life, and in all the changes and chances of it, for the future, will I truft in Providence, who knows what is beft for us, and frequently turns the very evils we moft dread, to be the caufes of our happiness, and of our deliverance from greater.-My experiences, young as I am, as to this great point of reliance on God, are strong, though my judgment in general may be weak and uninformed; but you'll excufe thefe reflections, because they are your beloved daughter's; and, fo far as they are not amifs, derive themselves from the benefit of yours, and my late good lady's examples and inftructions. I have written a vaft deal in a little time; and fhall only fay, to conclude this delightful Wednesday, that in the afternoon my good mafter was fo well, that he rode out on horseback, and came home about nine at night; and then stepped up to me, and, feeing me with pen and ink before me in my clofet, faid I come only to tell you I am very well, my Pamela; and fince I have a letter or two to write, I will leave you to proceed in yours, as I fuppofe that was your employment,' (for I had put by my papers at his coming up ;) and fo he faluted me, bid me good-night, and went down; and I finished up to this place before I went to-bed. Mrs. Jewkes told me, if it was more agreeable to me, she would lie in another room; but I faid• No, thank you, Mrs. Jewkes; pray let ine have your company.` And the made me a fine curtfey, and thanked me. How times are altered! TH THURSDAY. get the service by heart, that you may fee nothing is omitted. I glowed between fhame and delight. O how I felt my cheeks burn! I faid, I feared nothing, I apprehended nothing, but my own unworthinefs. Said he- I think it shall be done within these fourteen days, from this day, at this houfe,' O how I trembled! but not with grief, you may believe What fays my girl? Have you to object against any day of the next fourteen? Because my affairs require me to go to my other house, and I think not to 'ftir from this till I am happy with you.' I have no will but yours,' faid I (all glowing like the fire, as I could feel:) But, Sir, did you fay in the house?— Ave,' faid he; for I care not how privately it be done; and it must be very 'publick, if we go to church. It is a holy rite, Sir,' faid I; and would be 'better, methinks, in a holy place." 'I fee,' (faid he, most kindly) my lovely maid's confufion; and your trembling tenderness fhews I ought to oblige you all I may. Therefore, I will order my own little chapel, which has not been used for two generations for any-thing but a lumber-room, becaufe our family feldom refided here long together, to be cleared and cleaned, and got ready for the ceremony, if you diflike your own chamber or mine. Sir,' faid I, that will be better than the chamber; and I hope it will never he lumbered again, but kept to the fe for which, as I prefume, it has been confecrated. O yes,' faid he, it has been confecrated, and that several ages ago, in my great great grandfather's time, who built that and the good old houfe together. But now, my good girl, if I do not too much add to your fweet confusion, fhall it be in the firft feven days, or the fecond of this fortnight?' I looked down, quite out of countenance. Tel me,' faid he. HIS morning my mafter came up to me, and talked with me on various fubjects, for a good while together, in the moft kind manner. Among other things, he asked me if I chofe to order any new cloaths againft my marriage. I. (O how my heart Hutters when he mentions this fubject fo freely!) I faidI left every-thing to his good pleature, only repeating my requeft, for the reafons afore-given, that I might not be too fine. He faid- I think, my dear, it fhall he very private: I hope you are not afraid of a fham-marriage; and pray In the fecond, if you pleafe, Sir, faid 'As you pleafe,' faid he, mott kindly; but I fhould thank you, Pamela, if you would chufe the first. '— I'ď rather, Sir, if you please,' faid I, 'have the fecond:'-' Well,' faid he; "be it fo; but don't defer it till the last day of the fourteen.' Pray, Sir,' faid I, fince you embolden me to talk on this important fubject, may I not fend my dear fa they had conferred together upon your letter, Madam, came out, weeping bit ⚫ther and mother word of my happinefs? You may, faid he; but 'charge them to keep it fecret, till you orterly, that grieved my very heart; and I direct the contrary. And I told you I would fee no more of your papers; but I meant, I would not without your confent: but if you will fhew them to • me, (and now I have no other motive for my curiofity but the pleafure I take in reading what you write) I fhall acknowledge it as a favour." they faid, now all was over with their poor daughter; and either the had written that letter by compulfion, or had yielded to your honour; fo the faid, and was, or would be, ruined !Y My mafter feemed vexed, as I feared And I faid- Pray, Sir, be fo good as to excufe the fears of my honeft parents! They cannot know your good'nefs to me.' 6 And fo,' (faid he, without anfwering me) they refufed to deliver the papers? Yes, and pleafe your honour, faid Thomas, though I told him, that you, Madam, of your own accord, on a letter I had brought you, very chearfully wrote, what I carried: but the old gentleman faid-" Why, wife, "there are in thefe papers twenty things “ nobody should see but ourselves, and "efpecially not the fquire. O the poor "girl has had fo many ftratagems to "truggle with! and now, at last, she, "has met with one that has been too hard "for her. And can it be poffible for us to account for her fetting out to come to us and in fuch poft halte, and when "The had got above half-way, to send us "this letter, and to go back again of her 'If, Sir," said I, 'you will be pleafed to let me write over again one theet, I will; though I had relied upon your word, and not written them for your perofal. What is that?' faid he; though I cannot confent to it beforehand: for I more defire to fee them, becaufe they are your true fentiments at the time, and because they were not written for my perufal. Sir,' faid I, what I am loth you should fee are very fevere reflections on the letter I received by the gypfey, when I appre'hended your defign of the fham-marriage; though there are other things I ⚫ would not have you fee; but that is the wt. It cannot be worfe,' faid he, 66 my dear Sauce-box, than I have seen already; and I will allow your treating" 4 me in ever fo black a manner on that occafion, because it must have a very black appearance to you. Well, Sir, faid I, 'I think I will obey you before night. But don't alter a word,' faid he. I won't, Sir,' replied I, fince you order it.' A up the papers: for he hoped, and fo did I, that you had fent them by him. But it was a great balk, when he came up, and faid-Sir, Mr. Andrews did not care to deliver them; and would have it, that his daughter was forced to write that letter to him: and, indeed, Sir,' faid he, the old gentleman took on fadly, and would have it that his daughter was undone, or elfe, he faid, the would not have turned back, when on her way, (as I told him the did,' faid Thomas) instead of coming to ' them.' I began to be afraid now, that all would be bad for me again. own accord, as you fay; when we know, "that all her delight would have been to come to us, and to efcape from the "perils fhe has been fo long contending "with?" And then, and please your ho nour, he faid, he could not bear this; for his daughter was ruined to be fure, before now. And fo,' faid Thomas, the good old couple fat themfelves down, and hand-in-hand, leaning upor each other's fhoulder, did nothing but lament. I was piteoufly grieved," said he; but all I could fay could not comfort them; nor would they give me the papers; though I told them I should deliver them only to Mrs. Andrews herfelf. And fo, and pleafe your honour, I was forced to come away without them.' 6 My good mafter faw me all bathed in tears at this defcription of your diftress and fears for me; and he said—' I would not have you take on fo. I am not < angry with your father in the main; he 'Well, Tom,' faid he, don't mince is a good man; and I would have you the matter; tell me, before Mrs. An- ⚫ write out of hand, and it faall be fent drews, what they faid. Why, Sir, by the poft, to Mr. Atkins, who lives both he and Goody Andrews, after ⚫ within two miles of your father, and I'll inclofe inclofe it in a cover of mine, in which I'll defire Mr. Atkins, the moment it comes to his hand, to convey it fafely to your father or mother: and fay nothing of their fending the papers, that it may ⚫ not make them uneafy; for I want not ⚫ now to fee them on any other fcore than that of mere curiofity; and that will do at any time. And fo faying, hefaluted me before Thomas, and with his own handkerchief wiped my eyes; and faid to Thomas The good old folks are not to be blamed in the main. They don't know my honourable intentions by their dear daughter; who, Tom, will, in a little time, be your mistress; though I fhall keep the matter private fome days, and would not have it spoken of by my fervants out of my •houfe.' Thomas faid God bless your honour! You know beft.' And I faid O Sir, you are all goodness!-How kind is this, to forgive the difappointment, instead of being angry, as I feared you would!' Thomas then withdrew. And my mafter faid- I need not remind you of writing out of hand, to make the good folks eafy and I will leave · you to yourself for that purpose; only fend me down fuch of your papers, as you are willing I fhould fee, with which • I fhall entertain myself for an hour or two. But one thing,' added he, 'I forgot to tell you the neighbouring gentry I mentioned, will be here tomorrow to dine with me, and I have ordared Mrs. Jewkes to prepare for them. And muft I, Sir,' faid I,' be fhewn to them?''-' O yes,' faid he; that's the chief reafon of their coming. And you'll fee nobody equal to yourfelf; don't be concerned." I opened my papers as foon as my mafter had left me; and laid out thofe beginning on the Thurfday morning he fet out for Stamford, with the morning visit he made me before I was up, and the injunctions of watchfulness, &c. to Mrs. Jewkes; the next day's gypfey affair, and my reflections, in which I called him truly diabolical, and was otherwife very fevere, on the strong appearances the matter had then against him. His return on Saturday, with the dread he put me in, on the offering to fearch me for my papers which followed thofe he had got by Mrs. Jewkes's means. My being forced to give them up. His carriage to me after he had read them, and questions to me. His great kindness to me on feeing the dangers I had efcaped and the troubles I had undergone. And how I unfeafonably, in the midst of his goodness, expreffed my defire of being fent to you, having the intelligence of a fham-marriage, from the gypfey, in my thoughts. How this enraged him, and made him turn me that very Sunday out of his houfe, and fend me on my way to you. The particulars of my journey, and my grief at parting with him: and my free acknowledgment to you, that I found, unknown to myself, I had begun to love him, and could not help it. His fending after me to beg my return; but yet generoufly leaving nie at my liberty, when he might have forced me to return, whether I was willing or not. My refolution to oblige him, and fatiguing journey back. My concern for his illness on my return. His kind reception of me, and fhewing me his fitter Davers's angry letter, against his behaviour to me, defiring him to fet me free, and threatening to renounce him as a brother, if he should degrade himself by marrying me. My ferious reflections on this letter, &c. (all which, I hope, with the others, you will fhortly fee.) And this carried matters down to Tuefday night laft. All that followed was fo kind on his fide, being our chariot conference, as above, on Wednesday morning, and how good he has been ever fince, that I thought I would go no further; for I was a littl afhamed to be fo very open on that tender and most grateful fubject; though his great goodnefs to me deferves all the acknowledgments I can poffibly make. And when I had looked thefe out, I carried them down myfelf into the parlour to him; and faid, putting them into his hands Your allowances, good Sir, as heretofore; and if I have been too open and free in my reflections or declarations, let my fears on one fide, and my fincerity on the other, be my excufe. You are very obliging, my good girl,' faid he. You have nothing to apprehend from my thoughts, any more than from my actions." So I went up, and wrote the letter to you, briefly acquainting you with my prefent happiness, and my mafter's goodnefs, and expreffing the gratitude of heart, which I owe to the kindeft gentleman in the world, and affuring you, that I should foon have the pleasure of sending back |