nothing else,
Pamela would have been consigned, long before now, to utter
neglect and oblivion. Such soon will be the fate of
Grandison, admired and sought after as it is at present.
People must some time or other tire of conning over such
quantities of flimzy stuff. I wonder at their present
patience and perseverance, and can never sufficiently admire
the contexture of that brain which can weave with unwearied
toil such immense webs of idle tittle-tattle, and gossipping
nonsense. Clarissa perhaps deserves a better fate.

_Great are its faults, but glorious is its flame_, may not
improperly be said of it, as has been said of Shakespear's
Othello.

It must be owned, you have fallen upon a manner of writing,
in a series of Letters, which is very affecting, and capable
of great improvements. It preserves a great probability in
the narration, and makes every thing appear animated and
impassioned. It is to be regretted, that you have trifled so
egregiously as you have done; you are one of those who,
having an exuberant genius, and little judgment, never know
when they have said enough. The manner in which you have
published your pieces is a proof of this; Pamela came out
first in two volumes, and was then compleat, however two
more were afterwards added; Clarissa made her first
appearance in seven volumes, and there are now eight; and
Grandison, I suppose, will in a short time be improved in
the same manner. This conduct, Sir, may at first encrease
the profits of authorship, but in the end will always
destroy the credit of the author. There never was a good
writer yet, who blotted not out ten lines for one that he
added. It has been said of Virgil, that when composing, he
used to dictate a great many lines in the morning, and
employ the rest of the day in reducing them to a small
number. It was said in commendation of Shakespear, that he
never blotted a line; Ben Johnson replied, he wished he had
blotted a thousand, in which I believe every body now
concurs with him. Homer alone seems to be an exception to
this rule, in all his writings there are so much ease and
nature, that I can hardly think he either blotted or
corrected, his verses appear to have been wholly dictated by
the inspired Muse herself. But you, Sir, are not a Homer,
and are besides totally ignorant of that art, without the
frequent exercise of which no other authors have ever
attained to a great and lasting reputation, I mean the art
of blotting judi