From Lady Davers to Mrs. B.

My dear Pamela,

I had intended to have been with you before this; but my Lord has been a little indisposed with the Gout, and Jackey too has had an Intermittent Fever; but they are pretty well recovered, and it shall not be long before I see you, now I understand you are return’d from your Kentish Expedition.

We have been exceedingly diverted with your Papers. You have given us, by their Means, many a delightful Hour, that otherwise would have hung heavy upon us; and we are all charm’d with you. Lady Betty, as well as her noble Mamma, has always been of our Party, whenever we have read your Accounts. She is a dear generous Lady, and has shed many a Tear over them, as indeed we all have; and my Lord has not been unmov’d, nor Jackey neither, at some of your Distresses and Reflections. Indeed, Pamela, you are a charming Creature, and an Ornament to our Sex.We wanted to have had you among us an hundred times, as we read, that we might have lov’d, and kiss’d, and thank’d you.

But after all, my Brother, generous and noble as he was, when your Trials were over, was a strange wicked young Fellow; and happy it was for you both, that he was so cleverly caught in the Trap he had laid for your Virtue.

I can assure you, my Lord longs to see you, and will accompany me; for, he says, he has but a faint Idea of your Person. I tell him, and tell them all, that you are the finest Girl, and the most improv’d in Person and Mind, I ever beheld; and I am not afraid, altho’ they should imagine all they can in your Favour, from my Account of you, that they will be disappointed when they see you, and converse with you. But one thing more you must do for us, and then we will love you still more; and that is, you must send us the rest of your Papers, down to your Marriage at least, and further, if you have written further; for we all long to see the rest, as you relate it, tho’ we know in general what has passed.