Pamela | Page 6

degree to degree, and is to be augmented by the
charming hope, that the dear second author of our blessings, be the
uniformly good as well as the partially kind man to us, what a felicity
will this be! and if our prayers shall be heard, and we shall have the
pleasure to think, that his advances in piety are owing not a little to
them, and to the example God shall give us grace to set; then, indeed,
may we take the pride to think, we have repaid his goodness to us, and
that we have satisfied the debt, which nothing less can discharge.
Forgive me, my worthy parents, if my style on this subject be raised
above the natural simplicity, more suited to my humble talents. But
how can I help it! For when the mind is elevated, ought not the sense
we have of our happiness to make our expressions soar equally? Can
the affections be so highly raised as mine are on these occasions, and
the thoughts creep grovelling like one's ordinary self? No, indeed!--Call
not this, therefore, the gift of utterance, if it should appear to you in a
better light than it deserves. It is the gift of gratitude; a gift which
makes you and me to speak and _write_, as I hope it will make us _act_,
above ourselves. Thus will our gratitude be the inspirer of joy to our
common benefactor; and his joy will heighten our gratitude; and so we
shall proceed, as cause and effect to each other's happiness, to bless the
dear man who blesses us. And will it be right then to say, you are
uneasy under such (at least as to your wills) returned and discharged
obligations? God Almighty requires only a thankful heart for all the
mercies he heaps upon the children of men; my dear Mr. B., who in
these particulars imitates Divinity, desires no more. You have this
thankful heart; and that to such a high degree of gratitude, that nobody
can exceed you.
But yet, when your worthy minds would be too much affected with
your gratitude, so as to lay under the restraints you mention, to the dear

gentleman, and for his sake, to your dependent daughter; let me humbly
advise you, with more particular, more abstracted aspirations, than at
other times, to raise your thoughts upwards, and consider who it is that
gives him the opportunity; and pray for him and for me; for _him_, that
all his future actions may be of a piece with this noble disposition of
mind; for _me_, that I may continue humble, and consider myself blest
for your sakes, and in order that I may be, in some sort, a rewarder, in
the hands of Providence, of this its dear excellent agent; and then we
shall look forward, all of us, with pleasure, _indeed_, to that state,
where there is no distinction of degree, and where the humble cottager
shall be upon a par with the proudest monarch.
O my dear parents, how can you, as in your _postscript_, say, "May we
not be favoured now-and-then with a letter?" Call me your daughter,
your Pamela--I am no lady to you. I have more pleasure to be called
your comfort, and thought to act worthy of the sentiments with which
your example and instructions have inspired me, than in any other thing
in this life; my determined duty to our common benefactor, the best of
gentlemen and husbands, excepted. God has blessed me for your sakes,
and has thus answered for me all your prayers; nay, more than
answered all you or I could have wished or hoped for. We only prayed,
only hoped, that God would preserve you honest, and me virtuous: and,
O see, my excellent parents, how we are crowned with blessings upon
blessings, till we are the talk of all that know us.
Hence, my dear parents (I mean, from the delight I have in writing to
you, which transports me far above my own sphere), you'll see, that I
must write, and cannot help it, if I would. And will it be a great joy to
you?--And is there any thing that can add to your joy, think you, in the
power of your Pamela, that she would not _do_? O that the lives and
healths of my dearest Mr. B. and you, my parents, may be continued to
me! And who can then be so blest as your Pamela?
I will write, depend upon it, on every occasion--and you augment my
joys to think it is in my power to add to your comforts. Nor can you
conceive my pleasure in hoping that this your new happy lot may, by
relieving you from corroding care, and the too wearying effects of