Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/67

 io*s.ii. JULY is, MM.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

51

the Richardson Correspondence at South Kensington.

The '* commendatory verses" mentioned by Mrs. Barbauld are those referred to in my original note (9 th S. xii. 141, sub-sec. 4). They are also to be found in Aaron Hill's * Works ' (vol. iii. p. 348).

It seems fairly evident from what Mrs. Barbauld says especially when there is taken into account Fielding's quasi-protest mentioned in my note above, sec. 4 that Richardson, possibly or probably ignorantly, but in fact, innovated upon the old pronun- ciation of the name and made it " Pamela " ; and that then his adulator Aaron Hill supported him, and invented a fanciful pseudo-classical substratum for this their joint wrongheadedness ; and that finally the popularity which followed the publication of the novel gave a general confirmance in the same direction.

I am sorry to find a scholar like Mr. Court- hope (ubi sujyra) tacitly accepting the false classicism, writing as he does :

" The ordinary pronunciation of the name is Pamela from the Greek irav /xcAos. The name of Richardson's heroine has always been pronounced in that way. It is difficult to see what the name can have meant pronounced as in Pope's verse."

Its ignorance possible or probable is Richardson's ; its fancif ulness is Aaron Hill's ; its falsity, as I have already said in my former note (sec. 4) with reference to MR. T. J. BUCKTON'S acceptance of the same kind of theory, is in my judgment shown by the fact that "it would have required the spelling Pammela with a double m" And I may add that in the only modern Greek adaptation of the novel with which I am acquainted viz., a translation of Goldoni's ziptes, entitled 17 aperr) TTJ? IIa//,A.as (ed. 1, Vienna, 1791 ; ed. 2, Venice, 1806) the name is spelt throughout as Ha/xeAa, with a single /*.
 * Pamela Fanciujla,' by Polyzoes Lampanit-

The following list which is probably not exhaustive of books founded directly or indirectly on the novel will give an idea of the confusion as to the pronunciation of the name which resulted presumably from Richardson's idiosyncrasy in the matter :

(1) No clue.

Goldoni's only two pace Mrs. Barbauld comedies : ' Pamela Fanciulla ' and * Pamela Maritata ' (1749-50).

Voltaire's ' Nanine, ou le Prejuge Vaincu ' (1740).

D'Arnaud's 'Fanni, ou la Nouvelle Pamela' : Histoire An^laise (Paris, 17C7). The preface of this spoke of the work as having been

published in Le Di&coureur in 1762, under the title of * Nancy ou la Nouvelle Pamela.'

'Pamela' ; in fiinf Aufziigen (Bremen, 1768). A prose German translation of Nivelle de la Chaussee's play mentioned below.

(2) Pamela.

'Cancion Nueva, La Pamela' (Barcelona, 1846).

'A mais heroica virtude ou a virtuosa Pamella' (Lisboa, 1766). This is described as having been "composta no idioma Itali- ano " a reference to Goldoni's * Pamela Fanciulla '" e traduzida" with alterations "ao gusto portuguez." Here not only is the second syllable lengthened, but the I is doubled, as in the case mentioned by MR. C. S. TAYLOR (9 th S. xii. 330). In scene ii. we find the following amongst other rhymes : Deixa que a ardent e chama Que me abraza, bellissima Pamella, Mitigue nessa mao nevada e bella. 'Pamela; or, the Fair Impostor' (1744). Cited by MR. ROBERT PIERPOINT in 10 th S. i. 135.

(3) Pamela (ivith occasionally more of an

accent on the first syllable). 'Pamela.' Comedie en vers et en cinq actes. By Pierre Claude Nivelle de la Chaussee (1777).

Thus, in act i. scene 1, we find such lines as

Je viens, sans en avoir 1'aveu. de Pamela. Souvent pour lui parler, Pamela se derobe. 'La bella Inglesa Pamela en estado de soltera,' and 4 La bella Inglesa Pamela en estado de casada,' both of Valencia (1796), and being translations of Goldoni's two comedies.

Thus, in act iii. of the former we find : De Pamela el padre en casa.

D6cid a Pamela que

'Pamela nubile,' which is anonymous, but described on its title-page as a "Farsa in musica da rappresen tarsi nel teatro nuovo in Padua La Fiera del Santo dell' anno 1810." Thus, scene 6 :

Vedro Pamela ad un mio servo in braccio ? but scene 7 :

E un affare Pamela.

(4) Pamela.

'Pamela, ou la vertu recompensed '(Londres, 1741). A prose translation into French of

a poetical rendering of the verses in