Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) is an English author known for three major epistolary novels: Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa, or The History of a Young Lady (1748), and The History of Sir Grandison (1753) all of which predate the publication of Susannah Minifie Gunning's epistolary novel, Barford Abbey in 1678. The long epistolary novels of Richardson would have been familiar to Gunning, and may have been one of the cultural factors contributing to the much shorter length of her Barford Abbey (Doody & Milberger, "Introduction," 14). Richardson Pamela "follows the travails of a young, virtuous maidservant as she seeks to fend off and then reform her rakish employer. Astonishingly for the time, Richardson’s epistolary novel highlighted the inner life and moral principles of a protagonist from a modest background" ("Samuel Richardson"). His novel Clarissa also portrays a chaste and virtuous lady being relentlessly pursued by the rake, Richard Lovelace, but his Sir Grandison, relates a story "in which male moral virtue was lauded" ("Samuel Richardson"). Given the prevalence of good men in Gunning's Barford Abbey, she may have been working to combine representations of both virtuous women and virtuous men in her epistolary novel with Richardson's examples in mind.

Doody, Margaret, and Kurt Edward Milberger. “Introduction.” Barford Abbey, Broadview, 2021, pp. 9–21.

“Samuel Richardson.” Discovering Literature: Restoration & 18th Century, British Library, 27 Mar. 2021, 1:15, www.bl.uk/people/samuel-richardson.