It was to Lady Davers mainly that Pamela owed her escape from the fate of Clarissa, though she would hardly have taken, or had the chance of taking, that fate in the same way.

As for the minor characters, at least the lower examples are more than sufficient: and Mrs.Jewkes wants very little of being a masterpiece.

But of course Pamela herself is the cynosure, such as there is.

She has had rather hard measure with critics for the last century and a little more.

The questions to ask now are, "Is she a probable human being ?" and then, "Where are we to find a probable human being, worked out to the same degree, before ?" I say unhesitatingly that the answer to the first is "Yes," and the answer to the second "Nowhere." The last triumph of originality and individuality she does not indeed reach.