Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded - Page 191/191

From the economy she purposes to observe in her elevation, let even

ladies of condition learn, that there are family employments, in which

they may and ought to make themselves useful, and give good examples to

their inferiors, as well as equals: and that their duty to God,

charity to the poor and sick, and the different branches of household

management, ought to take up the most considerable portions of their

time. From her signal veracity, which she never forfeited, in all the

hardships she was tried with, though her answers, as she had reason to

apprehend, would often make against her; and the innocence she preserved

throughout all her stratagems and contrivances to save herself from

violation: Persons, even sorely tempted, may learn to preserve a sacred

regard to truth; which always begets a reverence for them, even in the

corruptest minds.

In short, Her obliging behaviour to her equals, before her exaltation; her

kindness to them afterwards; her forgiving spirit, and her

generosity; Her meekness, in every circumstance where her virtue was not

concerned; Her charitable allowances for others, as in the case of Miss

Godfrey, for faults she would not have forgiven in herself; Her kindness and prudence to the offspring of that melancholy

adventure; Her maiden and bridal purity, which extended as well to her

thoughts as to her words and actions; Her signal affiance in God; Her thankful spirit; Her grateful heart; Her diffusive charity to the poor, which made her blessed

by them whenever she appeared abroad; The cheerful ease and freedom of her deportment; Her parental, conjugal, and maternal duty; Her social virtues; Are all so many signal instances of the excellency of her mind, which

may make her character worthy of the imitation of her sex. And the

Editor of these sheets will have his end, if it inspires a laudable

emulation in the minds of any worthy persons, who may thereby entitle

themselves to the rewards, the praises, and the blessings, by which

PAMELA was so deservedly distinguished.