 confess, there is One, in the World, of whom I think with still
greater Respect, than of Pamela: and That is, of the wonderful AUTHOR of Pamela.
- Pray, Who is he, Dear Sir? and where, and how, has he been able to hide,
hitherto, such an encircling and all-mastering Spirit? He possesses every
Quality that Art could have charm'd by: yet, has lent it to, and conceal'd it
in, Nature. - The Comprehensiveness of his Imagination must be truly prodigious!
- It has stretch'd out this diminutive mere Grain of Mustard-seed, (a poor
Girl's little, innocent, Story) into a Resemblance of That Heaven, which the
Best of Good Books has compar'd it to. - All the Passions are His, in their most
close and abstracted Recesses: and by selecting the most delicate, and yet, at
the same time, most powerful, of their Springs, thereby to act, wind, and
manage, the Heart, He moves us, every where, with the Force of a Tragedy.
    What is there, throughout the Whole, that I do not sincerely admire! - I
admire, in it, the strong distinguish'd Variety, and picturesque glowing
Likeness to Life, of the Characters. I know, hear, see, and live among 'em All:
and, if I cou'd paint, cou'd return you their Faces. I admire, in it, the noble
Simplicity, Force, Aptness, and Truth, of so many modest, oeconomical, moral,
prudential, religious, satirical, and cautionary, Lessons; which are introduc'd
with such seasonable Dexterity, and with so polish'd and exquisite a Delicacy,
of Expression and Sentiment, that I am only apprehensive, for the Interests of
Virtue, lest some of the finest, and most touching, of those elegant Strokes of
Good-breeding, Generosity, and Reflection, shou'd be lost, under the too gross
Discernment of an unfeeling Majority of Readers; for whose Coarseness, however,
they were kindly design'd, as the most useful and charitable Correctives.
    One of the best-judg'd Peculiars, of the Plan, is, that These Instructions
being convey'd, as in a Kind of Dramatical Representation, by those beautiful
Scenes, Her own Letters and Journals, who acts the most moving and suffering
Part, we feel the Force in a threefold Effect, - from the Motive, the Act, and
the Consequence
