he thinks I should do very well to lay out twenty Pounds, and
set you up in a little Chandler's Shop: but you must remember all my
Favours to you will depend on your Secrecy; for I am positively
resolved, I will not be known to be your Daughter; and if you tell
any one so, I shall deny it with all my Might, which Parson
_Williams_ says, I may do with a safe Conscience, being now a married
Woman. So I rest

_Your humble Servant_,

SHAMELA.

_P. S._ The strangest Fancy hath enter'd into my Booby's Head, that
can be imagined. He is resolved to have a Book made about him and me;
he proposed it to Mr. _Williams_, and offered him a Reward for his
Pains; but he says he never writ any thing of that kind, but will
recommend my Husband, when he comes to Town, to a Parson _who does
that Sort of Business for Folks_, one who can make my Husband, and
me, and Parson _Williams_, to be all great People; for he _can make
black white_, it seems. Well, but they say my Name is to be altered,
Mr. _Williams_, says the first Syllabub hath too comical a Sound, so
it is to be changed into _Pamela_; I own I can't imagine what can be
said; for to be sure I shan't confess any of my Secrets to them, and
so I whispered Parson _Williams_ about that, who answered me, I need
not give my self any Trouble; for the Gentleman _who writes Lives_,
never asked more than a few Names of his Customers, and that he made
all the rest out of his own Head; you mistake, Child, said he, if you
apprehend any Truths are to be delivered. So far on the contrary, if
you had not been acquainted with the Name, you would not have known
it to be your own History. I have seen a _Piece of his Performance_,
where the Person, whose Life was written, could he have risen from
the Dead again, would not have even suspected he had been aimed at,
unless by the Title of the Book, which was superscribed with his
Name. Well, all these Matters are strange to me, yet I can't help
laughing, to think I shall see my self in a printed Book.

* * * * *

So much for Mrs. _Shamela_, or _Pamela_, which I have taken Pains to
transcribe from the Originals, sent down by her Mother in a Rage, at
the Proposal in her last Letter. The Originals themselves are in my
hands, and shall be communicated to you, if you think proper to make
them publick; and certainly they will have their Use. The Character
of _Shamela_, will make young Gentlemen wary how they take the most
fatal St