Frances Burney (13 June 1752 – 6 January 1840), also known as Fanny Burney and later Madame d'Arblay, was an English satirical novelist, diarist and playwright. In 1786–1790 she held the post as "Keeper of the Robes" to
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...
, George III's queen. In 1793, aged 41, she married a French exile, General Alexandre d'Arblay. After a long writing career and wartime travels that stranded her in France for over a decade, she settled in
Bath, England
Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the ceremonial counties of England, county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 1 ...
, where she died on 6 January 1840. The first of her four novels, ''
Evelina
''Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World'' is a novel written by English author Fanny Burney and first published in 1778. Although published anonymously, its authorship was revealed by the poet George Huddesford in wh ...
'' (1778), was the most successful and remains her most highly regarded. Most of her plays were not performed in her lifetime. She wrote a memoir of her father (1832) and many letters and journals that have been gradually published since 1889.
Overview of career
Frances Burney was a novelist, diarist and playwright. In all, she wrote four novels, eight plays, one biography and twenty-five volumes of journals and letters. She has gained critical respect in her own right, but she foreshadowed such
novelists of manners with a satirical bent as
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
and
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...
.
She published her first novel, ''
Evelina
''Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World'' is a novel written by English author Fanny Burney and first published in 1778. Although published anonymously, its authorship was revealed by the poet George Huddesford in wh ...
'', anonymously in 1778. Burney feared that her father would find what she called her "scribblings". When she published ''Evelina'' anonymously, she only told her siblings and two trusted aunts. Her closest sister,
Susanna, helped with the cover-up.
Eventually her father read the novel and guessed that Burney was its author. News of her identity spread. The novel brought Burney almost immediate fame with its unique narrative and comic strengths. She followed it with ''
Cecilia
Cecilia is a personal name originating in the name of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music.
The name has been popularly used in Europe (particularly the United Kingdom and Italy, where in 2018 it was the 43rd most popular name for girls born ...
'' in 1782, ''
Camilla'' in 1796 and ''
The Wanderer'' in 1814.
All Burney's novels explore the lives of English aristocrats and satirise their social pretensions and personal foibles, with an eye to larger questions such as the politics of female identity. With one exception, Burney never succeeded in having her plays performed, largely due to objections from her father, who thought that publicity from such an effort would be damaging to her reputation. The exception was ''Edwy and Elgiva'', which unfortunately was not well received by the public and closed after the first night's performance despite having
Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons (''née'' Kemble; 5 July 1755 – 8 June 1831) was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified".
She was the elder sister of John ...
in the cast.
Although her novels were hugely popular during her lifetime, Burney's reputation as a writer of fiction suffered after her death at the hands of biographers and critics, who felt that the extensive diaries, published posthumously in 1842–1846, offer a more interesting and accurate portrait of 18th-century life. Today critics are returning to her novels and plays with renewed interest in her outlook on the social lives and struggles of women in a predominantly male-oriented culture. Scholars continue to value Burney's diaries as well, for their candid depictions of English society.
[Commire, Klezmer, pg. 231.]
Through her whole writing career, Burney's talent for satirical caricature was widely acknowledged: figures such as
Dr Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford D ...
,
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_ NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style"> ...
,
Hester Lynch Thrale and
David Garrick
David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...
were among her admirers. Her early novels were read and enjoyed by Jane Austen, whose own title ''
Pride and Prejudice
''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...
'' derives from the final pages of ''Cecilia''. Thackeray is said to have drawn on the first-person account of the
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...
recorded in her diaries while writing his ''
Vanity Fair''.
Burney's early career was strongly affected by her relations with her father and the critical attentions of a family friend,
Samuel Crisp
Samuel Crisp (1707 – 24 April 1783) was an English dramatist. He is known for the play ''Virginia'', produced at Drury Lane in 1754.
Life
He was baptised on 14 November 1707. His father Samuel Crisp, a London merchant, was a grandson of the the ...
. Both encouraged her writing, but used their influence to dissuade her from publishing or performing her dramatic comedies, as they saw the genre as inappropriate for a lady. Many feminist critics see her as an author whose natural talent for satire was stifled by the social pressures on female authors.
[Commire, Anne and Deborah Klezmer. ''Women in World History: a biographical encyclopedia''. (Waterford: Yorkin Publications, 1999–2002), pg. 231.] Burney persisted despite the setbacks. When her comedies were poorly received, she returned to novel writing, and later tried her hand at tragedy. She supported both herself and her family on the proceeds of her later novels, ''Camilla'' and ''The Wanderer''.
Family life
Frances was born in Lynn Regis, now
King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
, England, on 13 June 1752, to the musician Dr
Charles Burney
Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist a ...
(1726–1814) and his first wife, Esther Sleepe Burney (1725–1762), as the third of her mother's six children. Her elder siblings were Esther (Hetty, 1749–1832) and James (1750–1821); those younger were
Susanna Elizabeth (1755–1800), Charles (1757–1817) and Charlotte Ann (1761–1838). Of her brothers,
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
became an admiral and sailed with Captain
James Cook
James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...
on his second and third voyages. The younger
Charles Burney
Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist a ...
became a well-known classical scholar, after whom ''
The Burney Collection of Newspapers'' is named.
Her younger sister Susanna married, in 1781, Molesworth Phillips, an officer in the Royal Marines who had sailed in Captain Cook's last expedition; she left a journal that gives a principal eye-witness account of the
Gordon Riots
The Gordon Riots of 1780 were several days of rioting in London motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment. They began with a large and orderly protest against the Papists Act 1778, which was intended to reduce official discrimination against British ...
. Her younger half-sister
Sarah Harriet Burney (1772–1844) also became a novelist, publishing seven works of fiction.
[Commire, Klezmer, pg. 228.] Esther Sleepe Burney also bore two other boys, both named Charles, who died in infancy in 1752 and 1754.
Frances Burney began composing small letters and stories almost as soon as she learnt the alphabet. She often joined with her brothers and sisters in writing and acting in plays. The Burney family had many close friends. "Daddy Crisp" was almost like a second father to Frances and a strong influence on her early writing years. Burney scholar Margaret Anne Doody has investigated conflicts within the Burney family that affected Burney's writing and her personal life. She alleged that one strain was an incestuous relationship between Burney's brother James and their half-sister Sarah in 1798–1803, but there is no direct evidence for this and it is hard to square with Frances's affection and financial assistance to Sarah in later life.
Frances Burney's mother, Esther Sleepe, described by historians as a woman of "warmth and intelligence", was the daughter of a French refugee named Dubois and had been brought up a Catholic. This French heritage influenced Frances Burney's self-perception in later life, possibly contributing to her attraction and subsequent marriage to Alexandre d'Arblay. Esther Burney died in 1762 when Frances was ten years old.
Frances's father, Charles Burney, was noted for his personal charm, and even more for his talents as a musician, a musicologist, a composer and a man of letters. In 1760 he moved his family to London, a decision that improved their access to the cultured elements of English society, and so their social standing.
They lived amidst an artistically inclined social circle that gathered round Charles at their home in
Poland Street
Poland Street is a street in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, London. It runs from Oxford Street in the north to Broadwick Street in the south. It was named after the "King of Poland" pub, which was renamed in honour of Poland's K ...
,
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
.
In 1767, Charles Burney eloped to marry for a second time, to Elizabeth Allen, the wealthy widow of a King's Lynn wine merchant. Allen had three children of her own, and several years after the marriage the two families merged into one. This new domestic situation was fraught with tension. The Burney children found their new stepmother overbearing and quick to anger, and they took refuge by making fun of her behind her back. However, their collective unhappiness served in some respects to bring them closer to one another. In 1774 the family moved again, to what had been the house of
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
in
St Martin's Street
ST, St, or St. may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Stanza, in poetry
* Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band
* Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise
* Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...
, Westminster.
Education
Frances's sisters Esther and Susanna were favoured over Frances by their father, for what he perceived as their superior attractiveness and intelligence. At the age of eight, Frances had yet to learn the alphabet; some scholars suggest she had a form of
dyslexia
Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...
.
[Julia Epstein, ''The Iron Pen: Frances Burney and the Politics of Women's Writing''. (Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989) p. 23.] By the age of ten, however, she had begun to write for her own amusement. Esther and Susanna were sent by their father to be educated in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, while at home Frances educated herself by reading from the family collection, including
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
's ''Lives'', works by
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, histories, sermons, poetry, plays, novels and
courtesy book A courtesy book (also book of manners) was a didactic manual of knowledge for courtiers to handle matters of etiquette, socially acceptable behaviour, and personal morals, with an especial emphasis upon life in a royal court; the genre of courtesy l ...
s.
[''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Vol. 4 (Chicago, London: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 1971) p. 450.] She drew on this material, along with her journals, when writing her first novels. Scholars who have looked into the extent of Burney's reading and self-education find a child who was unusually precocious and ambitious, working hard to overcome an early disability.
From her fifteenth year Fanny lived in the midst of a brilliant social circle, gathered round her father in Poland Street, and later in St Martin's Street. Garrick was a constant visitor, and would arrive before eight o'clock in the morning. Of the various "lyons" they entertained she leaves a graphic account, notably of
Omai
Mai (c.1751-late 1779), known as Omai in Britain, was a young Ra'iatean man who became the second Pacific Islander to visit Europe, after Ahu-toru who was brought to Paris by Bougainville in 1768.
Life
Ma'i, born c.1751, described himself ...
, the young man from
Raiatea
Raiatea or Ra'iatea ( Tahitian: ''Ra‘iātea'') is the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti, in French Polynesia. The island is widely regarded as the "centre" of the eastern islands in ancient Polynesia and it is likely that the ...
, and of
Alexis Orlov, a
favourite
A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated si ...
of
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
. She first met Dr Johnson at her father's home in March 1777.
A critical aspect of Frances's literary education was her relationship with a Burney family friend, the "cultivated ''littérateur''" Samuel Crisp.
He encouraged Burney's writing by soliciting frequent journal-letters from her that recounted to him the goings-on in her family and social circle in London. Frances paid her first formal visit to Crisp at
Chessington Hall in Surrey in 1766. Dr Burney had first made Crisp's acquaintance in about 1745 at the house of
Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville
Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville (2 April 1794 – 17 January 1865) was an English diarist and an amateur cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1819 to 1827. His father Charles Greville was a second cousin of the 1st Earl of Warwick, and ...
. Crisp's play ''Virginia'', staged by
David Garrick
David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...
in 1754 at the request of the
Countess of Coventry (née Maria Gunning), had been unsuccessful, and Crisp had retired to Chessington Hall, where he frequently entertained Dr Burney and his family.
Journal-diaries and ''Caroline Evelyn''
The first entry in Frances Burney's journal was dated 27 March 1768 and addressed to "Nobody". The journal itself was to extend over 72 years. A talented storyteller with a strong sense of character, Burney kept the journal-diary as a form of correspondence with family and friends, recounting life events and her observations of them. The diary contains a record of her extensive reading in her father's library, as well as the visits and behaviour of noted personalities in the arts who came to their home. Frances and her sister Susanna were particularly close, and Frances continued to send journal-letters to her throughout her adult life.
Burney was 15 when her father remarried in 1767. Her diary entries suggest that she had begun to feel pressure to abandon her writing as something "unladylike" that "might vex Mrs. Allen." Feeling that she had transgressed, that same year she burnt her first manuscript, ''The History of Caroline Evelyn'', which she had written in secret. Despite this repudiation, Frances recorded in her diary an account of the emotions that led up to that dramatic act. She eventually recouped some of the effort by using it as a foundation for her first novel, ''Evelina'', which follows the life of the fictional Caroline Evelyn's daughter.
In keeping with Burney's sense of propriety, she savagely edited earlier parts of her diaries in later life, destroying much of the material. Editors Lars Troide and Joyce Hemlow recovered some of this obscured material while researching their late-20th-century editions of the journals and letters.
''Evelina''
![Evelina vol II 1779](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Evelina_vol_II_1779.jpg)
Burney's ''
Evelina
''Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World'' is a novel written by English author Fanny Burney and first published in 1778. Although published anonymously, its authorship was revealed by the poet George Huddesford in wh ...
or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World'' was published anonymously in 1778 without her father's knowledge or permission, by Thomas Lowndes, who voiced an interest after reading its first volume and agreed to publish it upon receipt of the finished work. The novel had been rejected by a previous publisher, Robert Dodsley, who declined to print an anonymous work.
[''Encyclopædia Britannica'', p. 451.] Burney, who worked as her father's
amanuensis
An amanuensis () is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another, and also refers to a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In one example Eric Fenby ...
, had copied the manuscript in a "disguised hand" to prevent any identification of the book with the Burneys, thinking that her own handwriting might be recognised by a publisher. Burney's second attempt to publish it involved the collusion of her eldest brother James, who posed as its author to Lowndes. Inexperienced at negotiating with a publisher, he only extracted twenty guineas (£21) as payment for the manuscript.
The novel was a critical success, with praise from respected persons, including the statesman
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_ NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style"> ...
and the literary critic
Dr Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford D ...
.
It was admired for its comic view of wealthy English society and realistic portrayal of working-class London dialects. It is known today as a satire. It was even discussed by characters in another epistolary novel of the time:
Elizabeth Blower
Elizabeth Blower (c. 1757/1763 – post-1816) was an English poet, novelist and actress. Her earlier work comments on political, electoral and critical matters, but her two later novels are dominated by sentiment.Lorna Sage: ''The Cambridge Guide ...
's ''George Bateman'' (1782). Burney's father read public reviews of it before learning that the author was his daughter. Although the act of publication was radical for its time, he was impressed by the favourable reactions and largely supported her. He certainly saw social advantages in having a successful writer in the family.
[Commire, Klezmer, p. 229.]
Critical reception
Written in
epistolary
Epistolary means "in the form of a letter or letters", and may refer to:
* Epistolary ( la, epistolarium), a Christian liturgical book containing set readings for church services from the New Testament Epistles
* Epistolary novel
* Epistolary poem ...
form just as this was reaching its height of popularity, ''Evelina'' portrays the English upper middle class through a 17-year-old woman who has reached marriageable age. It was a
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood ( coming of age), in which character change is impo ...
ahead of its time. ''Evelina'' pushed boundaries, for female protagonists were still "relatively rare" in that genre.
[Doody, p. 45.] Comic and witty, it is ultimately a satire of the oppressive masculine values that shaped a young woman's life in the 18th century, and of other forms of social hypocrisy.
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls it a "landmark in the development of the novel of manners".
In choosing to narrate the novel through letters written by the protagonist, Burney made use of her own writing experience. This course has won praise from critics past and present, for the direct access it provides to events and characters, and the narrative sophistication it demonstrates in linking the roles of narrator and heroine.
The authors of ''Women in World History'' argue that she identifies difficulties faced by women in the 18th century, especially those on questions of romance and marriage.
She is seen as a "shrewd observer of her times and a clever recorder of its charms and its follies". What critics have consistently found interesting in her writing is the introduction and careful treatment of a female protagonist, complete with character flaws, "who must make her way in a hostile world." These are recognisable also as features of Jane Austen's writing, and show Burney's influence on her work.
Furthermore, she sought to put to use the epistolary form espoused periodically by Burney, as seen in ''
Lady Susan
''Lady Susan'' is an epistolary novella by Jane Austen, possibly written in 1794 but not published until 1871.
This early complete work, which the author never submitted for publication, describes the schemes of the title character.
Synopsis
...
'' and to a lesser extent ''
Pride and Prejudice
''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...
''.
As a testament to its popularity, the novel went through four immediate editions. In 1971, ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' stated of ''Evelina'': "Addressed to the young, the novel has a quality perennially young."
Hester Thrale and Streatham
The novel brought Burney to the attention of a patron of the arts,
Hester Thrale
Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (née Salusbury; later Piozzi; 27 January 1741 or 16 January 1740 – 2 May 1821),Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded her birth as 16 January ...
, who invited Burney to visit her home in
Streatham
Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
Streatham was in Surrey ...
. The house was a centre for literary and political conversation. Though shy by nature, Frances impressed those she met, including Dr Johnson, who would remain a friend and correspondent throughout the period of her visits, from 1779 to 1783. Thrale wrote to Dr Burney on 22 July: "Mr. Johnson returned home full of the Prayes of the Book I had lent him, and protesting that there were passages in it which might do honour to
Richardson
Richardson may refer to:
People
* Richardson (surname), an English and Scottish surname
* Richardson Gang, a London crime gang in the 1960s
* Richardson Dilworth, Mayor of Philadelphia (1956-1962)
Places Australia
* Richardson, Australian Cap ...
: we talk of it for ever, and he feels ardent after the dénouement; he could not get rid of the Rogue, he said." Many of Dr Johnson's compliments were transcribed into Frances's diary. Sojourns at Streatham occupied months at a time, and on several occasions the guests, including Frances Burney, made trips to Brighton and to Bath. Like other notable events, these were recorded in letters to her family.
''The Witlings''
In 1779, encouraged by the public's warm reception of comic material in ''Evelina'', and with offers of help from
Arthur Murphy and
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Irish satirist, a politician, a playwright, poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He is known for his plays such as ''The Rivals'', ''The Sc ...
, Burney began to write a dramatic comedy called ''
The Witlings
''The Witlings'' is a comedic play written by Frances Burney in 1779. It is a comedy of manners that satirizes literary society. Burney's father believed the play was insulting and persuaded her to bury the play. ''The Witlings'' was first acted ...
''. The play satirised a wide segment of London society, including the literary world and its pretensions. It was not published at the time because Burney's father and the family friend Samuel Crisp thought it would offend some of the public by seeming to mock the
Bluestockings
''Bluestocking'' is a term for an educated, intellectual woman, originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society from England led by the hostess and critic Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the "Queen of the Blues", including Eli ...
, and because they had reservations about the propriety of a woman writing comedy. The play tells the story of Celia and Beaufort, lovers kept apart by their families due to "economic insufficiency".
Burney's plays came to light again in 1945 when her papers were acquired by the
Berg Collection
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, commonly known as the Main Branch, 42nd Street Library or the New York Public Library, is the flagship building in the New York Public Library system in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. ...
of the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
. A complete edition was published in Montreal in 1995, edited by Peter Sabor, Geoffrey Sill, and Stewart Cooke.
''Cecilia''
In 1782 she published ''
Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress'', written partly at
Chessington Hall and after much discussion with Crisp. The publishers,
Thomas Payne
Thomas Payne (c. 1718 – 1799) was an important bookseller and publisher in 18th-century London.
Life
Payne was born in Brackley, Northamptonshire. From 1750 he ran a shop at Mews Gate in Castle Street near Leicester Fields (the site is now ...
and
Thomas Cadell
Colonel Thomas Cadell (5 September 1835 – 6 April 1919) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
...
, paid Frances £250 for her novel, printed 2000 copies of the first edition, and reprinted it at least twice within a year.
The plot revolves around a heroine, Cecilia Beverley, whose inheritance from an uncle comes with the stipulation that she find a husband who will accept her name. Beset on all sides by would-be suitors, the beautiful and intelligent Cecilia's heart is captivated by a man whose family's pride in its birth and ancestry would forbid such a change of name. He finally persuades Cecilia, against all her judgement, to marry him secretly, so that their union – and consequent change of name – can be presented to the family as a ''fait accompli''. The work received praise for the maturity of its ironic third-person narration, but was viewed as less spontaneous than her first work, and weighed by the author's self-conscious awareness of her audience.
Some critics claim to have found the narration intrusive, while friends found the writing too closely modelled on Johnson's.
Edmund Burke admired the novel, but moderated his praise with criticism of the array of characters and tangled, convoluted plots.
Jane Austen seems to have been inspired by a sentence in ''Cecilia'' to name her famous novel ''Pride and Prejudice'':
"The whole of this unfortunate business," said Dr Lyster, "has been the result of pride and prejudice."
The Royal Court
![Madame D'Arblay, by E](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Madame_D%27Arblay%2C_by_E._Burney.jpg)
In 1775 Burney turned down a marriage proposal from one Thomas Barlow, a man whom she had met only once.
[Commire, Klezmer 230.] Her side of the Barlow courtship is amusingly told in her journal. During 1782–1785 she enjoyed the rewards of her successes as a novelist; she was received at fashionable literary gatherings throughout London. In 1781 Samuel Crisp died. In 1784 Dr Johnson died, and that year also brought her failure in a romance with a clergyman,
George Owen Cambridge
George Owen Cambridge (1756–1841) was an English churchman, Archdeacon of Middlesex from 1808.
Life
George Cambridge was the youngest son of Richard Owen Cambridge and Mary Trenchard. He matriculated at The Queen's College, Oxford in 1774, and g ...
. She was 33 years old.
In 1785, an association with
Mary Granville Delany, a woman known in both literary and royal circles, allowed Frances to travel to the court of
King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
and
Queen Charlotte
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...
, where the Queen offered her the post of "
Keeper of the Robes
Keeper may refer to:
People
* Keeper (surname)
* Archivist
* Beekeeper
* Gamekeeper
* Gatekeeper
* Greenkeeper
* Keeper of the Privy Purse
* Keeper of the Royal Archives
* Legal guardian
* Lighthouse keeper
* Museum curator
* Prison warden
* Re ...
", with a salary of £200 per annum. Frances hesitated, not wishing to be separated from her family, and especially resistant to employment that would restrict free use of her time in writing.
However, unmarried at 34, she felt constrained to accept and thought that improved social status and income might allow her greater freedom to write. Having accepted the post in 1786, she developed a warm relationship with the queen and princesses that lasted into her later years, yet her doubts proved accurate: the position exhausted her and left her little writing time. Her sorrow was intensified by poor relations with her colleague
Juliane Elisabeth von Schwellenburg, co-Keeper of the Robes, who has been described as "a peevish old person of uncertain temper and impaired health, swaddled in the buckram of backstairs etiquette."
Burney's journals continued during her court years. To her friends and to Susanna, she recounted her life in court, along with major political events, including the
public trial
Public trial or open trial is a trial that is open to the public, as opposed to a secret trial. It should not be confused with a show trial.
United States
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution establishes the right of the accused ...
of
Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-Genera ...
for "official misconduct in India". She recorded the speeches of
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_ NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style"> ...
at the trial.
She was courted by an official of the royal household, Colonel
Stephen Digby, but he eventually married another woman of greater wealth.
The disappointment, combined with the other frustrations of office, contributed to her health failing at this time. In 1790 she prevailed on her father (whose own career had taken a new turn when he was appointed organist at Chelsea Hospital in 1783) to request that she be released from the post, which she was. She returned to her father's house in Chelsea, but continued to receive a yearly pension of £100. She kept up a friendship with the royal family and received letters from the princesses from 1818 until 1840.
The Court Plays
![Bodleian_Libraries,_Playbill_of_Drury_Lane_Theatre,_Tuesday,_March_10,_1795,_announcing_The_merchant_of_Venice_&c](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Bodleian_Libraries%2C_Playbill_of_Drury_Lane_Theatre%2C_Tuesday%2C_March_10%2C_1795%2C_announcing_The_merchant_of_Venice_%26c..jpg)
From 1788, Burney's diaries record the composition of a small number of playtexts which were neither performed nor published in the author's lifetime, remaining in manuscript until 1995. These are the dramatic fragment conventionally known as ''Elberta'' and three completed plays copied out in beautiful handwriting in ordered booklets, suitable for private circulation, if perhaps not publication. These are ''Edwy and Elgiva'', ''Hubert de Vere'', and ''The Siege of Pevensey''. ''Edwy and Elgiva'' was the only one to be staged, although for one night only, on 21 March 1795, garnering unanimous negative reviews from the public and critics. The long-delayed publication of these plays has kept critics away, with the exception of very few. Even for the handful of scholars who have dealt with them, these texts remain devoid of particular dramatic qualities, indeed 'wretched', as they are often called: in the form in which they have come to us they seem too long to be staged; characterizations are stereotyped; the endings are weak, and the plots convoluted and inconsistent. The style, rhetorical and emphatic, makes them sound clumsy and heavy to the modern ear. However, when properly contextualized and studied as theatrical texts, rather than as unfortunate second-order productions within the works of a successful novelist as Burney, the four Court plays suggest a distinct thematic-stylistic-discursive alignment, more in line with the dramatic production of the late 18th century than has been recognized thus far.
Marriage
![Juniper Hall Field Centre - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Juniper_Hall_Field_Centre_-_geograph.org.uk_-_111395.jpg)
In 1790–1791 Burney wrote four blank-verse tragedies: ''Hubert de Vere'', ''The Siege of Pevensey'', ''Elberta'' and ''Edwy and Elgiva''. Only the last was performed. Although it was one of a profusion of paintings and literary works about the early English king
Eadwig
Eadwig (also Edwy or Eadwig All-Fair, 1 October 959) was King of England from 23 November 955 until his death in 959. He was the elder son of Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu, who died in 944. Eadwig and his brother Edgar were young ...
(''Edwy'') and his wife
Ælfgifu Ælfgifu (also ''Ælfgyfu''; ''Elfgifa, Elfgiva, Elgiva'') is an Anglo-Saxon feminine personal name, from ''ælf'' " elf" and ''gifu'' "gift".
When Emma of Normandy, the later mother of Edward the Confessor, became queen of England in 1002, she ...
(''Elgiva'') to appear in the later 18th century, it met with public failure, opening in London in March for only one night.
The
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
began in 1789; Burney was among many literary figures in England who sympathized with its early ideals of equality and social justice.
During this period Frances became acquainted with some French exiles known as "Constitutionalists", who had fled to England in August 1791 and were living at
Juniper Hall
Juniper Hall FSC Field Centre is an 18th-century country house, leased from the National Trust, on the east slopes of Mickleham in the deep Mole Gap of the North Downs in Surrey, England. The varying contours of the slopes provide habita ...
, near
Mickleham, Surrey, where Frances's sister Susanna lived. She quickly became close to General Alexandre d'Arblay, an artillery officer who had been adjutant-general to
Lafayette
Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to:
People
* Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette
* House of La Fayette, a French noble family
** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757 ...
, a hero of the French Revolution whose political views lay between those of
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
and of
Republicans. D'Arblay taught her French and introduced her to the writer
Germaine de Staël
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (; ; 22 April 176614 July 1817), commonly known as Madame de Staël (), was a French woman of letters and political theorist, the daughter of banker and French finance minister Jacques Necker and Suzan ...
.
Burney's father disapproved of d'Arblay's poverty, Catholicism, and ambiguous social status as an
émigré
An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French ''émigrer'', "to emigrate".
French Huguenots
Many French Huguenots fled France followi ...
. Nonetheless, she and d'Arblay were married on 28 July 1793 at St Michaels and All Angels Church in Mickleham. The same year she produced her pamphlet ''Brief Reflections relative to the Emigrant French Clergy''. This short work resembled other pamphlets produced by French sympathisers in England, calling for financial support for the revolutionary cause. It is noteworthy for the way that Burney employed her rhetorical skills in the name of tolerance and human compassion. On 18 December 1794, Frances gave birth to a son, Alexander Charles Louis (died 19 January 1837), who took holy orders, being minister of Ely Chapel, London, and
perpetual curate
Perpetual curate was a class of resident parish priest or incumbent curate within the United Church of England and Ireland (name of the combined Anglican churches of England and Ireland from 1800 to 1871). The term is found in common use mainly du ...
of
Camden Town
Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...
Chapel. Her sister Charlotte's remarriage in 1798 to the pamphleteer
Ralph Broome
Lieutenant colonel Ralph Howard Broome (5 July 1889 – 25 January 1985) was a British Army officer and bobsledder who competed during the early 1920s. He was born in Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh, India, and died in Poole, Dorset, Engla ...
caused her and her father further consternation, as did the move by her sister Susanna and penurious brother-in-law Molesworth Phillips and their family to Ireland in 1796.
''Camilla''
The newly-weds were saved from poverty in 1796 by the publication of Frances's "courtesy novel" ''Camilla, or a Picture of Youth'', a story of frustrated love and impoverishment.
The first edition sold out; she made £1000 on the novel and sold the copyright for another £1000. This was sufficient for them to build a house in
Westhumble
Westhumble is a village in south east England, approximately north of Dorking, Surrey. The village is not part of a civil parish, however the majority of the settlement is in the ecclesiastical Parish of Mickleham.
The area is served by Bo ...
near
Dorking
Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...
in Surrey, which they called Camilla Cottage. Their life at this time was by all accounts happy, but the illness and death in 1800 of Frances's sister and close friend Susanna cast a shadow and ended a lifelong correspondence that had been the motive and basis for most of Burney's journal writing. However, she resumed her journal at the request of her husband, for the benefit of her son.
Comedies
In the period 1797–1801 Burney wrote three comedies that remained unpublished in her lifetime: ''Love and Fashion'', ''A Busy Day'' and ''The Woman Hater''. The last is partly a reworking of subject-matter from ''The Witlings'', but with satirical elements toned down and more emphasis on reforming her characters' faults. First performed in December 2007 at the
Orange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style.
Th ...
in
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
, it retains one of the central characters, Lady Smatter – an absent-minded but inveterate quoter of poetry, perhaps meant as a comic rendering of a Bluestocking. All other characters in ''The Woman Hater'' differ from those in ''The Witlings''.
Life in France: revolution and mastectomy
In 1801 d'Arblay was offered service with the government of
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
in France, and in 1802 Burney and her son followed him to Paris, where they expected to remain for a year. The outbreak of war between France and England overtook their visit and they remained there in exile for ten years. Although isolated from her family while in France, Burney was supportive of her husband's decision to move to
Passy
Passy () is an area of Paris, France, located in the 16th arrondissement, on the Right Bank. It is home to many of the city's wealthiest residents.
Passy was a commune on the outskirts of Paris. In 1658, hot springs were discovered around whic ...
, outside Paris.
In August 1810 Burney developed pains in her breast, which her husband suspected could be due to
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
. Through her royal network, she was eventually treated by several leading physicians, and a year later, on 30 September 1811, underwent a
mastectomy
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operat ...
performed by "7 men in black,
Dr. Larrey, M. Dubois, Dr. Moreau, Dr. Aumont, Dr. Ribe, & a pupil of Dr. Larrey, & another of M. Dubois". The operation was performed like a battlefield operation under the command of M. Dubois, then ''accoucheur'' (midwife or obstetrician) to the Empress
Marie Louise Marie Louise or Marie-Louise may refer to:
People
*Marie Louise of Orléans (1662–1689), daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, queen consort of Charles II of Spain
*Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel (1688–1765), daughter of Charles I, Landgrave ...
and seen as the best doctor in France. Burney later described the operation in detail, since she was conscious through most of it, as it took place before the development of anaesthetics.
She sent her account of this experience months later to her sister Esther without rereading it. It remains one of the most compelling early accounts of a mastectomy. It is impossible to know today whether the breast removed was indeed cancerous.
She survived, and returned to England with her son in 1812 to visit her ailing father and to avoid young Alexander's conscription into the French army. Charles Burney died in 1814, and she went back to France later that year after the
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
had been concluded, to be with her husband.
In 1815
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
escaped from
Elba
Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National ...
, and
returned to power in France. D'Arblay, who was serving with the King's Guard, remained loyal to King
Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
and became involved in the military actions that followed. Burney fled to Belgium. When her husband was wounded she joined him at
Trèves (Trier) and together they returned to Bath in England, to live at 23 Great Stanhope Street. Burney wrote an account of this experience and of her Paris years in her Waterloo Journal of 1818–1832. D'Arblay was promoted to lieutenant-general, but died shortly afterwards of cancer, in 1818.
''The Wanderer'' and ''Memoirs of Dr Burney''
Burney published her fourth novel, ''
The Wanderer: Or, Female Difficulties'', a few days before her father's death. "A story of love and misalliance set in the French Revolution", it criticises the English treatment of foreigners in the war years.
It also pillories the hypocritical social curbs put on women in general – as the heroine tries one means after another to earn an honest penny – and the elaborate class criteria for social inclusion or exclusion. That strong social message sits uneasily within an unusual structure that might be called a melodramatic proto-
mystery
Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
*Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange''
Films
* ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film
* ''Mystery'' ( ...
novel with elements of the
picaresque
The picaresque novel (Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for " rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrup ...
. The heroine is no scallywag, in fact a bit too innocent for modern taste, but she is wilful and for obscure reasons refuses to reveal her name or origin. So as she darts about the South of England as a fugitive, she arouses suspicions; it is not always easy to agree with the author that these are unfair or unjustified. There are a dismaying number of coincidental meetings of characters.
Some parallels of plot and attitude have been drawn between ''The Wanderer'' and early novels of
Helen Craik
Helen Craik (c. 1751 – 11 June 1825) was a Scottish poet and novelist, and a correspondent of Robert Burns. She praised him for being a "native genius, gay, unique and strong" in an introductory poem to his Glenriddell Manuscripts.
Early life ...
, which she could have read in the 1790s.
Burney made £1500 from the first run, but the work disappointed her followers and did not go into a second English printing, although it met her immediate financial needs. Critics felt it lacked the insight of her earlier novels.
It remains interesting today for the social opinions that it conveys and for some flashes of Burney's humour and discernment of character. It was reprinted in 1988 with an introduction by the novelist
Margaret Drabble
Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, (born 5 June 1939) is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer.
Drabble's books include '' The Millstone'' (1965), which won the following year's John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and ''Jer ...
in the "Mothers of the Novel" series.
After her husband's death at 23 Great Stanhope Street, Bath, Burney moved to London to be nearer to her son, then a fellow at
Christ's College.
In homage to her father she gathered and in 1832 published in three volumes the ''Memoirs of Doctor Burney''. These were written in a panegyric style, praising her father's accomplishments and character, and she drew on many of her own personal writings from years before to produce them. Always protective of her father and the family reputation, she destroyed evidence of facts that were painful or unflattering and was soundly criticised by contemporaries and later by historians for doing so.
Later life
Burney outlived her son, who died in 1837, and her sister Charlotte Broome, who died in 1838. While in Bath, Burney received visits from younger members of the Burney family, who found her a fascinating storyteller with a talent for imitating the personalities that she described.
She continued to write often to members of her family.
Frances Burney died on 6 January 1840. She was buried with her son and her husband in
Walcot cemetery in Bath. A gravestone was later erected in the churchyard of
St Swithin's across the road, adjacent to that of Jane Austen's father,
George Austen.
Plaques and memorials
In addition to the gravestone erected in the churchyard of St Swithin, Bath, other memorials and plaques record Burney's life.
A plaque on the wall at 84 High Street,
King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
, shows where she and her father lived in the 1750s.
In 1780, two years after the publication of Evelina, she stayed at 14 South Parade, Bath, with Mr and Mrs Thrale, who were great friends of Dr Johnson. A plaque on the wall of the house records her visit.
At 78 West Street,
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, Sussex a
blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
records her visits to the Thrales' home there.
At Windsor Castle Wall, St Alban's Street,
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
, a plaque records the residence of
Mary Delaney
Mary Delany ( Granville; 14 May 1700 – 15 April 1788) was an English artist, letter-writer, and bluestocking, known for her "paper-mosaicks" and botanic drawing, needlework and her lively correspondence.
Early life
Mary Delany was born at C ...
between 1785 and 1788, where she was frequently visited by Burney.
A blue plaque on a wall in Chapel Lane,
Westhumble
Westhumble is a village in south east England, approximately north of Dorking, Surrey. The village is not part of a civil parish, however the majority of the settlement is in the ecclesiastical Parish of Mickleham.
The area is served by Bo ...
, Surrey records the d'Arblays' life there in their cottage, 'Camilla', which they built and in which they lived between 1797 and 1801.
At St Margaret's Vicarage, St Margaret's Place,
Kings Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
a blue plaque records Burney's regular visits there, where she observed the social life of Lynn.
A
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
brown plaque records her period of residence at 11 Bolton Street,
Mayfair
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...
.
On 13 June 2002 the Burney Society of North America and the Burney Society UK unveiled a memorial panel in the new
Poets' Corner
Poets' Corner is the name traditionally given to a section of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey in the City of Westminster, London because of the high number of poets, playwrights, and writers buried and commemorated there.
The first poe ...
window in
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
in memory of Frances Burney.
In 2013, a marble plaque was unveiled in the gallery of St Swithin's Church, Bath, to record Burney's life. This replaces two original plaques – one to her and one to her half-sister Sarah Harriet – that were lost. In 1958, the St Swithin's church authorities had sought to protect the plaques by removing them during renovations to the church organ, but they later disappeared.
List of works
Fiction
*''The History of Caroline Evelyn'', (ms. destroyed by author, 1767)
*''
Evelina: Or The History of A Young Lady's Entrance into the World'', London, 1778
*''
Cecilia: Or, Memoirs of an Heiress'', London, 1782
*''
Camilla: Or, A Picture of Youth'', London, 1796, revised (shortened) 1802
*''
The Wanderer: Or, Female Difficulties'', London: Longmans, 1814
Non-fiction
*''Brief Reflections Relative to the French Emigrant Clergy''. London, 1793
*''Memoirs of Doctor Burney''. London: Moxon, 1832
Journals and letters
*''Diary and Letters of Madame d'Arblay'', ''1778-1840''. Edited by her niece
harlotte Barrett In 7 vols. London: H. Colburn (1842–46).
''The Early Diary of Frances Burney 1768–1778''. 2 vols. Ed. Annie Raine Ellis. London: 1889*''The Diary and Letters of Madame d'Arblay''. Ed. Austin Dobson. London: Macmillan, 1904
*''The Diary of Fanny Burney''. Ed. Lewis Gibbs. London: Everyman, 1971
*''Dr. Johnson & Fanny Burney''
TML at Virginia TML may refer to:
* Taiwan Major League, former Taiwan baseball league
* TML Entertainment, record label established for the Canadian band Triumph
* Toronto Maple Leafs, Canadian pro ice hockey team
* TransducerML, transducer markup language
* Tran ...
by Fanny Burney. Ed. Chauncy Brewster Tinker. London: Jonathan Cape, 1912
''The Early Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney, 1768–1786'' 5 vols. Vols. 1–2, ed. Lars Troide; Vol. 3, ed. Lars Troide and Stewart Cooke; Vol. 4, ed. Betty Rizzo; Vol. 5, ed. Lars Troide and Stewart Cooke
''The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay) 1791–1840'' (12 vols.) Vols. I–VI, ed. Joyce Hemlow, with Patricia Boutilier and Althea Douglas; Vol. VII, ed. Edward A. and Lillian D. Bloom; Vol. VIII, ed. Peter Hughes; Vols. IX–X, ed. Warren Derry; Vols. XI–XII, ed. Joyce Hemlow with Althea Douglas and Patricia Hawkins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972–1984.
''The Court Journals and Letters of Frances Burney (1786-1781)'' In 6 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011–2019.
*
The Additional Journals and Letters of Frances Burney'. 2 vols
Vol. 1 (1784-1786)vol. 2 (1791-1840) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015–2018.
Plays
*''
The Witlings
''The Witlings'' is a comedic play written by Frances Burney in 1779. It is a comedy of manners that satirizes literary society. Burney's father believed the play was insulting and persuaded her to bury the play. ''The Witlings'' was first acted ...
'', 1779 (satirical comedy)
*''Edwy and Elgiva'', 1790 (verse tragedy). Produced at Drury Lane, 21 March 1795
[Miriam J. Berkowitz transcribed a manuscript copy of Edwy and Elgiva (Shoe String Press, 1957), but the first critical edition of the plays was prepared by Peter Sabor]
Frances Burney, The Complete Plays, Pickering and Chatto
in 1995.
*''Hubert de Vere'', c. 1788–91 (verse tragedy)
*''The Siege of Pevensey'', c. 1788–91 (verse tragedy)
*''Elberta'', (fragment) 1788–91? (verse tragedy)
*''Love and Fashion'', 1799 (satirical comedy)
*''The Woman Hater'', 1800–01 (satirical comedy)
*''A Busy Day'', 1800–01 (satirical comedy)
References
Notes
*Michael E. Adelstein, ''Fanny Burney.'' New York: Twayne, 1968
*Fanny Burney, ''The Complete Plays of Frances Burney'' (Vol. 1: Comedies; Vol. 2: Tragedies), ed. Peter Sabor, Stewart Cooke, and Geoffrey Sill, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995
*Fanny Burney, ''Journals and Letters''. Ed. Peter Sabor and Lars E. Troide: Penguin Classics, 2001
*Fanny Burney, ''The Witlings and The Woman-Hater''. Ed. Peter Sabor and Geoffrey Sill, Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2002
*"Burney, Fanny, 1752–1840." ''Literature Online Biography.'' Fredericton: University of New Brunswick. 3 December 2006
*"Burney, Fanny." ''Encyclopædia Britannica.'' Vol. 4, 1971
*
*"Burney, Fanny." ''The Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature.'' Ed. Claire Buck. London, New York: Prentice-Hall, 1992.
*Sophie Marie Coulombeau, ''
'New Perspectives on the Burney Family'
'' Special issue of ''Eighteenth-Century Life'' 42, 2 (2018) ISSN 0098-2601
* Commire, Anne, and Deborah Klezmer. '' Women in World History: A biographical encyclopaedia.'' Waterford: Yorkin, 1999–2002
*D.D. Devlin, ''The Novels and Journals of Frances Burney.'' Hampshire: Macmillan, 1987
*Marianna D'Ezio, "Transcending National Identity: Paris and London in Frances Burney's Novels". ''Synergies Royaume-Uni et Irlande'' 3 (2010), pp. 59–74
*Margaret Anne Doody, ''Frances Burney: The Life in The Works.'' New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1988
*Julia Epstein, ''The Iron Pen: Frances Burney and the Politics of Women's Writing.'' Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989
*Mascha Gemmeke
''Frances Burney and the Female'' Bildungsroman: ''An Interpretation of'' The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties
Frankfurt/M: Peter Lang, 2004
*Claire Harman, ''Fanny Burney: A Biography''. New York: Knopf, 2001
*Joyce Hemlow, ''The History of Fanny Burney.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1958
*Francesca Saggini
''Backstage in the Novel. Frances Burney and the Theater Arts''.
Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012
*Judy Simons, ''Diaries and Journals of Literary Women from Fanny Burney to Virginia Woolf.'' Hampshire: Macmillan, 1990
*Paula Stepankowsky
Dawson College
Dawson College (French: ''Collège Dawson)'' is an English-language public general and vocational college in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The college is situated near the heart of Downtown Montreal in a former nunnery on approximately 12 acre ...
.
External links
*Works by Fanny Burney a
A Celebration of Women Writers
(1796)
(1778)
*A Resource for Fanny Burney a
FannyBurney.org
*
*
*
Essays by Fanny Burney at Quotidiana.org
* ttps://www.mcgill.ca/burneycentre/ Burney Centre at McGill Universitybr>The Burney Society
Archival material relating to Frances Burney listed at the UK National Register of Archives
Frances d'Arblay ('Fanny Burney')
at the National Portrait Gallery, London
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burney, Frances
1752 births
1840 deaths
18th-century English women writers
18th-century English writers
19th-century English women writers
18th-century English novelists
19th-century English novelists
18th-century English dramatists and playwrights
19th-century English dramatists and playwrights
Writers from King's Lynn
English essayists
British women essayists
English women novelists
English women poets
English women dramatists and playwrights
English romantic fiction writers
Women romantic fiction writers
British child writers
English satirists
English diarists
Women diarists
Writers from London
Frances
Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the ...
Conversationalists
Streathamites
Burials in Somerset
Women satirists
Household of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz