[Footnote 1: Dr. Arne.--ED.]
[Footnote 2: The lady's maiden name was Esther Sheepe. She was, by the mother's
side, of French extraction, from a family of the name of Dubois--a
name which will be remembered as that of one of the characters in her
daughter Fanny's first novel, “Evelina.”--ED.]
[Footnote 3: She was born on the 13th of June, 1752--ED.]
[Footnote 4: This degree was conferred upon him on Friday, the 23rd of June,
1769.--ED.]
[Footnote 5: The “Early Diary of Frances Burney, from 1768 to 1778,” recently
published, throws some new light upon her education. It is her own
statement that her father's library contained but one novel--“Amelia”;
yet as a girl we find her acquainted with the works of Richardson
and Sterne, of Marivaux and Provost, with “Rasselas” and the “Vicar of
Wakefield.” in history and poetry, moreover, she appears to have been
fairly well read, and she found constant literary employment as her
father's amanuensis. As to Voltaire, she notes, on her twenty-first
birthday, that she has just finished the “Heoriade”; but her remarks
upon the book prove how little she was acquainted with the author.
She thinks he “has made too free with religion in giving words to the
Almighty. But M. Voltaire, I understand, is not a man of very rigid
principles at least not in religion” (!).--ED.]
[Footnote 6: This is not quite accurate. Burney secured the relic in the manner
described, not, however, to gratify his own enthusiasm, but to comply
with the request of his friend Mr. Bewley, of Massingham, Norfolk, that
he would procure for him some memento of the great Dr. Johnson. The tuft
of the Doctor's hearth-broom, which Burney sent him, half in jest, was
preserved with the greatest care by its delighted recipient. “He thinks
it more precious than pearls,” wrote Fanny. (“Early Diary,” vol. i, p.
169.) This incident occurred in 1760.--ED.]
[Footnote 7: The “Early Diary,” however, proves that, in spite of her shyness,
Fanny was very much at home in the brilliant society which congregated
at her father's house, and occasionally took her full share in the
conversation. Nor do we find her by any means avoiding the diversions
common to young ladies of her age and station. She goes to dances,
to the play, to the Opera, to Ranelagh, and even, on one memorable
occasion, to a masquerade--“a very private one,” however.”--ED.]
[Footnote 8: Mrs. Stephen Allen, a widow, of Lynn. She was married to Dr. Burney
(not yet Doctor, however) in October, 1767. His first wife died on the
28th of September, 1761.--ED.]
[Footnote 9: There is some difficulty here as to the chronology. “This
sacrifice,” says the editor of “The Diary,” “was made in the young
authoress's fifteenth year.” This could not be; for the sacrifice was
the effect, according to the editor's own showing of the remonstrances
of the second Mrs. Burney; and Frances was in her sixteenth year when
her father's second marriage took place.]
[Footnote 10: Chesington, lying between Kingston and Epsom.--ED.]
[Footnote 11: The picture drawn by Macaulay of Mr. Crisp's wounded vanity and
consequent misanthropy is absurdly overcharged. In the first place, his
play of “Virginia,” which was first produced at Drury Lane on the 25th
of February, 1754, actually achieved something like a succes d'estime.
It ran eleven nights, no contemptible run for those days; was revived
both at Drury Lane and at Covent Garden; was printed and reprinted;
and all this all in his own lifetime. It had, in fact, at least as much
success as it deserved, though, doubtless, too little to satisfy the
ambition of its author. In the second place, there is absolutely no
evidence whatever that his life was long embittered by disappointment
connected with his tragedy. It is clear, from Madame D'Arblay's “Memoirs
of Dr. Burney,” that Mr. Crisp's retirement to Chesington, many years
after the production of “Virginia,” was mainly due to a straitened
income and the gout. Nor was his seclusion unenlivened by friendship.
The Burneys, in particular, visited him from time to time; and Fanny has
left us descriptions of scenes of almost uproarious gaiety, enacted at
Chesington by this gloomy recluse and his young friends. But we shall
hear more of Chesington and its inmates hereafter--ED.]
[Footnote 12: Scarcely, we think; when her fame was at its height, Fanny Burney
received no more than 250 pounds for her second novel, “Cecilia.” See
the “Early Diary,” vol. ii. p. 307.--ED.]
[Footnote 13: Christopher Anstey, the author of that amusing and witty poetical
satire, the “New Bath Guide.”--ED.]
[Footnote 14: John Wilson Croker.--ED.]
[Footnote 15: Richard Cumberland's fame as playwright and novelist can hardly be
said to have survived to the present day. Sheridan caricatured him as
Sir Fretful Plagiary, in the “Critic.” We shall meet with him hereafter
in “The Diary.”--ED.]
[Footnote 16: See note ante, p. xxiv.]
[Footnote 17: “Probationary Odes for the Laureateship,” a volume of lively
satirical verse published after the appointment of Sir Thomas Warton to
that office on the death of William Whitehead, in 1785.--ED.]
[Footnote 18: See “Cecilia,” Book V. chap. 6.--ED.]
[Footnote 19: In “Cecilia.”--ED.]
[Footnote 20: The “Mr. Fairly” of “The Diary.”--ED. [21: Macaulay is mistaken.
Fanny did receive the gown, a “lilac tabby,” and wore it on the princess
royal's birthday, September 29, 1786.--ED.]
[Footnote 22: The fifth volume of “The Diary” concludes with Fanny's marriage
to M. d'Arblay. The seven volumes of the original edition were published
at intervals, from 1842 to 1846.---ED.]
[Footnote 23: The rumour was probably not far from correct. “Camilla” was
published by subscription, at one guinea the set, and the subscribers
numbered over eleven hundred. Four thousand copies were printed, and
three thousand five hundred were sold in three months. Within six weeks
of its publication, Dr. Burney told Lord Orford that about two thousand
pounds had already been realized.--ED.]
[Footnote 24: Fanny's tragedy of “Edwy and Elgiva”, written during the period of
her slavery at court, was produced by Sheridan at Drury-lane in March,
1795. It proved a failure, although the leading parts were played by
Kemble and Mrs. Siddons. This tragedy, which was never published,
is occasionally referred to in her letters of that year. See also an
article by Mr. E. S. Shuckburgh, in “Macmillan's Magazine” for February,
1896.---ED.]
[Footnote 25: We find it difficult to understand Macaulay's estimate of “The
Wanderer.” Later critics appear, in general, to have echoed Macaulay
without being at the pains of reading the book. If it has not the
naive freshness of “Evelina,” nor the sustained excellence of style of
“Cecilia,” “The Wanderer” is inferior to neither in the “exhibition of
human passions and whims.” The story is interesting and full of variety;
the characters live, as none but the greatest novelists have known how
to make them. In Juliet, Fanny has given us one of her most
fascinating heroines, while her pictures of the fashionable society
of Brighthelmstone are distinguished by a force and vivacity of satire
which she has rarely surpassed. It is true that in both “The Wanderer”
and “Camilla” we meet with occasional touches of that peculiar
extravagance of style which disfigure, the “Memoirs of Dr. Burney,” but
these passages, in the novels, are SO comparatively inoffensive, and
so nearly forgotten in the general power and charm of the story that we
scarcely care to instance them as serious blemishes--ED.]
[Footnote 26: This criticism of Madame D'Arblay appears to us somewhat too
sweeping. It must be remembered that the persons of “one propensity,”
instanced by Macaulay, are all to be found among the minor characters
in her novels. The circumstances, moreover, under which they are
introduced, are frequently such as to render the display of their
particular humours not only excusable, but natural. But surely in others
of her creations, in her heroines especially, she is justly entitled to
the praise of having portrayed “characters in which no single feature is
extravagantly overcharged.”--ED.]
[Footnote 27: This conjecture may be considered as finally disposed of by Dr.
Johnson's explicit declaration that he never saw one word of “Cecilia”
before it was printed.--ED.]
[Footnote 28: The above “flowers of rhetoric” are taken from the “Memoirs of
Dr. Burney,” published in 1832; but it is scarcely just--indeed, it is
wholly unjust--to include “Camilla” and “The Wanderer” under the same
censure with that book. The literary style of the “Memoirs” is the more
amazing, since we find Madame D'Arblay, in 1815, correcting in her son
the very fault which is there indulged to so unfortunate an extent. She
writes to him--“I beg you, when you write to me, to let your pen paint
Your thoughts as they rise, not as you seek or labour to embellish them.
I remember you once wrote me a letter so very fine from Cambridge, that,
if it had not made me laugh, it would have made me sick.”--ED.]
[Footnote 29: “The Female Quixote” is the title of a novel by Charlotte Lenox,
published in 1752. It was written as a satire upon the Heroic Romances,
so popular in England during the seventeenth century, and the early part
of the eighteenth; and scarcely claims to be considered as a picture of
life and manners. It is a delightful book however, and the character of
the heroine, Arabella, is invested with a charm which never, even in the
midst of her wildest extravagancies, fails to make itself felt.--ED.]
[Footnote 30: Author of the famous “Short View of the Immorality and the
Profaneness of the English Stage,” published in 1698; a book which,
no doubt, struck at a real evil, but which is written in a spirit of
violence and bigotry productive rather of amusement than of conviction.
It caused, however, a tremendous sensation at the time, and its effect
upon the English drama was very considerable; not an unmixed blessing
either.--ED.]
[Footnote 31: Fanny Burney's step-mother.--ED.]
[Footnote 32: Dr. Burney's daughter by his second wife.]
[Footnote 33: “Evelina; or a Young Lady's Entrance into the World.--This novel
has given us so much pleasure in the perusal, that we do not hesitate
to pronounce it one of the most sprightly, entertaining, and agreeable
productions of this kind that has of late fallen under our notice. A
great variety of natural incidents, some of the comic stamp, render the
narrative extremely interesting. The characters, which are agreeably
diversified, are conceived and drawn with propriety, and supported with
spirit. The whole is written with great ease and command of language.
From this commendation we must, however, except the character of a
son of Neptune, whose manners are rather those of a rough, uneducated
country squire than those of a genuine sea-captain.” Monthly Review,
April, 1778.]
[Footnote 34: “Evelina.--The history of a young lady exposed to very critical
situations. There is much more merit, as well respecting style as
character and incident, than is usually to be met with in modern
novels.” London Review, Feb., 1778.]
[Footnote 35: Fanny was no mistress of numbers; but the sincerity and warm
affection expressed in every line of the Ode prefixed to “Evelina,”
would excuse far weaker verses. We quote it in full.--ED.
“Oh, Author of my being!--far more dear
To me than light, than nourishment, or rest,
Hygeia's blessings, Rapture's burning tear,
Or the life-blood that mantles in-my breast!
If in my heart the love of Virtue glows,
'Twas planted there by an unerring rule
From thy example the pure flame arose,
Thy life, my precept,--thy good works, my school.
Could my weak pow'rs thy num'rous virtues trace,
By filial love each fear should be repress'd;
The blush of Incapacity I'd chace,
And stand, Recorder of thy worth, confess'd
But since my niggard stars that gift refuse,
Concealment is the only boon I claim
Obscure be still the unsuccessful Muse,
Who cannot raise, but would not sink, thy fame,
Oh! of my life at once the source and joy!
If e'er thy eyes these feeble lines survey,
Let not their folly their intent destroy;
Accept the tribute-but forget the lay.”]
[Footnote 36: Lady Hales was the mother of Miss Coussmaker, having been twice
married, the second time to Sir Thomas Pym Hales, Bart., who died in
1773. They were intimate friends of the Burneys.--ED.]
[Footnote 37: Dr. Burney had brought the work under the notice of Mrs. Thrale.
Mrs. Cholmondeley was a sister of the famous actress, Peg Woffington.
Her husband, the Hon. and Rev. Robert Cholmondeley, was the second son
of the Earl of Cholmondeley, and nephew of Horace Walpole.--ED.]
[Footnote 38: The sum originally paid for “Evelina” was twenty pounds, to which
ten Pounds more were added after the third edition. “Evelina” passed
through four editions within a year.--ED.]
[Footnote 39: Mrs. Greville, the wife of Dr. Burney's friend and early patron,
Fulke Greville, was Fanny's godmother, and the author of a much admired
“Ode to Indifference.”--ED.]
[Footnote 40: Her cousin, Charles Rousseau Burney-Hetty's husband.--ED.]
[Footnote 41: A French authoress, who wrote about the middle of the eighteenth
century. Her novels, according to Dunlop “A History of Fiction,” (chap.
xiii.), “are distinguished by their delicacy and spirit.” Her best works
ar: “Miss Jenny Salisbury,” “Le Marquis de Cressy,” “Letters of Lady
Catesby,” etc.--ED.]
[Footnote 42: Mrs. Williams, the blind poetess, who resided in Dr. Johnson's
house. She had written to Dr. Burney, requesting the loan of a copy of
“Evelina.”--ED.]
[Footnote 43: William Seward “a great favourite at Streatham,” was the son of an
eminent brewer, Mr. Seward, of the firm of Calvert and Seward, and was
born in 1747. He was not yet a “literary lion,” but he published some
volumes--“Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons”--at a later date. He died
in 1799.--ED.]
[Footnote 44: Miss Frances Reynolds--Dr. Johnson's “Renny”--was the sister of the
great Sir Joshua, and a miniature painter of some talent.--ED.]
[Footnote 45: Her brother.--ED.]
[Footnote 46: Bennet Lampton, of Langton in Lincolnshire, was an old and much
loved friend of Dr. Johnson, and is frequently mentioned in Boswell's
“Life.” He was born about 1737, was educated at Oxford, was a good Greek
scholar, and, says Boswell, “a gentleman eminent not only for worth, and
learning but for an inexhaustible fund of entertaining conversation.” He
succeeded Johnson, on the death of the latter, as Professor of Ancient
History to the Royal Academy, and died in 1801. Boswell has printed a
charming letter, written by Johnson, a few months before his death, to
Langton's little daughter Jane, then in her seventh year.--ED.]
[Footnote 47: “My master” was a Common appellation for Mr. Thrale,--and one which
he seems, in earnest, to have deserved. “I know no man,” said Johnson,
“who is more master of his wife and family than Thrale, he but holds up
a finger, he is obeyed.” (Boswell.)--ED.]
[Footnote 48: Suspirius the Screech Owl. See “Rambler” for Oct. 9, 1750. (This is
unjust to Goldsmith. The general idea of the character of Croaker, no
doubt, closely resembles that of Suspirius, and was probably borrowed
from Johnson; but the details which make the part so diverting are
entirely of Goldsmith's invention, as anyone may see by comparing “The
Good-natured Man” with “The Rambler.”)--ED.]]
[Footnote 49: Mrs. Thrale tells a good story of Johnson's irrational antipathy
to the Scotch. A Scotch gentleman in London, “at his return from the
Hebrides, asked him, with a firm tone of voice, 'what he thought of his
country?' 'That it is a very vile country, to be sure, sir,' returned
for answer Dr. Johnson. 'Well sir!' replies the other, somewhat
mortified, 'God made it!' 'Certainly he did,' answers Mr. Johnson,
again, 'but we must always remember that He made it for Scotchmen;
and--comparisons are odious.” Mr. S.--“but God made hell!”--(Anecdotes of
Dr. Johnson)--ED.]
[Footnote 50: Fanny's step-mother.--ED.]
[Footnote 51: Boswell prints these lines as follows:
“When first I drew my vital breath,
A little minikin I came upon earth
And then I came from a dark abode,
Into this gay and gaudy world,”--ED,]
[Footnote 52: Malone gives some further particulars about Bet Flint in a note to
Boswell's “Life of Johnson.” She was tried, and acquitted, at the Old
Bailey in September, 1758, the prosecutrix, Mary Walthow, being unable
to prove “that the goods charged to have been stolen (a counterpane, a
silver spoon, two napkins, etc.) were her property. Bet does not appear
to have lived at that time in a very genteel style; for she paid for
her ready-furnished room in Meard's-court, Dean-street, Soho, from
which these articles were alleged to be stolen, only five shillings a
week.”--ED.]
[Footnote 53: Margaret Caroline Rudd was in great notoriety about the year 1776,
from the fame of her powers of fascination, which, it was said, had
brought a man to the gallows. This man, her lover, was hanged in
January, 1776, for forgery, and the fascinating Margaret appeared as
evidence against him. Boswell visited her in that year, and to a lady
who expressed her disapprobation of such proceedings, Johnson said:
“Nay, madam, Boswell is right: I should have visited her myself, were
it not that they have got a trick of putting every thing into the
newspapers.”--ED.]
[Footnote 54: Kitty Fisher--more correctly, Fischer, her father being a
German--an even more famous courtesan, who enjoyed the distinction of
having been twice painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds--ED.]
[Footnote 55: The blind poetess, and inmate of Dr. Johnson's house.--ED.]
[Footnote 56: Michael Lort, D.D., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge,
and subsequently Greek Professor. He was born in 1725, and died in
1799.--ED.]
[Footnote 57: “I wished the man a dinner and sat still.”--Pope.]
[Footnote 58: The Miss Palmers were the nieces of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Mary,
the elder, married, in 1792, the Earl of Inchiquin, afterwards created
Marquis of Thomond; the younger, Theophila (“Offy”), married Robert
Lovell Gwatkin, Esq. One of Sir Joshua's most charming pictures
(“Simplicity”) was painted, in 1788, from Offy's little daughter. Lady
Ladd was the sister of Mr. Thrale.--ED.]
[Footnote 59: Miss Thrale.--ED.]
[Footnote 60: Edmund Burke, our “greatest man since Milton,” as Macaulay called
him.--ED.]
[Footnote 61: At Sir Joshua's town house, in Leicester Square. The house is now
occupied by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, the auctioneers.--ED.]
[Footnote 62: “de Mullin” is Mrs. Desmoulins, the daughter of Johnson's
godfather, Dr. Swinfen, a physician in Lichfield. Left in extreme
indigence by the deaths of her father and husband, she found for many
years an asylum in the house of Dr. Johnson, whom she survived.--ED.]
[Footnote 63: Macbean was sometime Johnson's amanuensis. His “Dictionary of
Ancient Geography” was published in 1773, with a Preface by Johnson.--ED.]
[Footnote 64: Robert Levett--not Levat, as Fanny writes it--was a Lichfield man,
“an obscure practiser in physick amongst the lower people,” and an old
acquaintance of Dr. Johnson's, in whose house he was supported for many
years, until his death, at a very advanced age, in 1782, “So ended the
long life of a very useful and very blameless man,” Johnson wrote, in
communicating the intelligence to Dr. Lawrence.--ED.]
[Footnote 65: Boswell tells us nothing of Poll, except that she was a Miss
Carmichael. Domestic dissensions seem to have been the rule with this
happy family, but Johnson's long-suffering was inexhaustible, On one
occasion he writes Mrs. Thrale, “Williams hates everybody; Levett hates
Desmoulins, who does not love Williams; Desmoulins hates them both; Poll
loves none of them.”--ED.]
[Footnote 66: The lives of Cowley and Waller, from Johnson's “Lives of the
Poets.” They were not published till 1781, but were already in
print.--ED.]
[Footnote 67: “The Theory and Regulation of Love: A Moral Essay.” By the Rev.
John Norris, Oxford, 1688.--ED.]
[Footnote 68: Miss Gregory was the daughter of a Scotch physician. She married
the Rev. Archibald Alison, and was the mother of Sir Archibald Alison,
the historian.--ED.]
[Footnote 69: The house in which she died, in Portman Square.--ED.]
[Footnote 70: No doubt Simon Nicolas Henri Linguet, a French author, who
published numerous works, historical and political, both before and
after this date.--ED.]
[Footnote 71: In the original edition: perhaps “vexation” was the word
intended.--ED.]
[Footnote 72: Sir John Ladd, Mr. Thrale's sister's son, a young profligate who
subsequently married, not Miss Burney, but a woman of the town! Dr.
Johnson's satirical verses on his coming of age are printed near the end
of Boswell's “Life.”--ED.]
[Footnote 73: This was not the famous philosopher and statesman, but the Rev.
Thomas Franklin, D.D., who was born in 1721, and died in 1784. He
published various translations from the classics, as well as plays and
miscellaneous works; but is best known for his translation of Sophocles,
published in 1759.--ED.]
[Footnote 74: “Warley: a Satire,” then just published, by a Mr. Huddisford.
“Dear little Burney's” name was coupled in it with that of Sir Joshua
Reynolds, in a manner which seemed to imply that Sir Joshua had special
reasons for desiring her approbation. It will be remembered that, before
he knew that Miss Burney was the author of “Evelina,” Sir Joshua had
jestingly remarked that if the author proved to be a woman, he should be
sure to make love to her. See ante, p. 94.--ED.]
[Footnote 75: Mrs. Horneck and Mrs. Bunbury (her eldest daughter) had declared
that they would walk a hundred and sixty miles, to see the author of
“Evelina.”--ED.]
[Footnote 76: See note 37 ante.--ED,]
[Footnote 77: A kinsman of the great Edmund Burke, and, like him, a politician
and member of Parliament. Goldsmith has drawn his character in
“Retaliation.”
“Here lies honest William, whose heart was a mint,
While the owner ne'er knew half the good that was in 't;
The pupil of impulse, it forced him along,
His conduct still right, with his argument wrong
Still aiming at honour, yet fearing to roam,
The coachman was tipsy, the chariot drove home;
Would-you ask for his merits? alas! he had none;
What was good was spontaneous, his faults were his own.”--ED.]
[Footnote 78: Henry Temple, second Viscount Palmerston, and father of the
celebrated Lord Palmerston.--ED.]
[Footnote 79: Mrs. Cholmondeley imitates the language of Madame Duval, the French
woman in “Evelina.”--ED.]
[Footnote 80: A character in “Evelina.”--ED.]
[Footnote 81: Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was born at Plympton, in Devonshire, in
1723--ED.]
[Footnote 82: Mr. Qwatkin afterwards married Miss Offy Palmer.--ED.]
[Footnote 83: Afterwards Lady Crewe; the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Greville, and
a famous Political beauty. At a supper after the Westminster election
on the Prince of Wales toasting, “True blue and Mrs. Crewe,” the lady
responded, “True blue and all of you.”--ED.]
[Footnote 84: A celebrated Italian singer and intimate friend of the
Burneys.--ED.]
[Footnote 85: See note [15: ante, p. xxvi. The intended marriage above referred
to above came to nothing, Miss Cumberland, the eldest daughter of the
dramatist subsequently marrying Lord Edward Bentinck, son of the Duke of
Portland.--ED.]
[Footnote 86: Miss Hannah More, the authoress.--ED.]
[Footnote 87: Hannah More gave Dr. Johnson, when she was first introduced to him,
such a surfeit of flattery, that at last, losing patience, he turned to
her and said, “Madam, before you flatter a man so grossly to his
face, you should consider whether or not your flattery is worth his
having.”--ED.]
[Footnote 88: Mrs. Vesey was the lady at whose house were held the assemblies
from which the term “blue-stocking” first came into use. (See ante.)
Fanny writes of her in 1779, “She is an exceeding well-bred woman, and
of agreeable manners; but all her name in the world must, I think, have
been acquired by her dexterity and skill in selecting parties, and by
her address in rendering them easy with one another--an art, however,
that seems to imply no mean understanding.”--ED.]
[Footnote 89: Joseph Warton, author of the “Essay on the Genius and Writings of
Pope.”--ED.]
[Footnote 90: Sheridan was at this time manager of Drury-lane Theatre--ED.]
[Footnote 91: Sir P. J. Clerke's bill was moved on the 12th of February. It
passed the first and second readings, but was afterwards lost on the
motion for going into committee. It was entitled a “Bill for restraining
any person, being a member of the House of Commons, from being concerned
himself, or any person in trust for him, in any contract made by the
commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury, the commissioners of the Navy,
the board of Ordnance, or by any other person or persons for the
public service, Unless the said contract shall be made at a public
bidding.”--ED.]
[Footnote 93: Arthur Murphy, the well-known dramatic author, a very intimate
friend of the Thrales. He was born in Ireland in 1727, and died at
Knightsbridge in 1805. Among his most successful plays were “The Orphan
of China” and “The Way to Keep Him.”--ED.]
[Footnote 94: “The Good-natured Man.”--ED]
[Footnote 95: Sophy Streatfield, a young lady who understood Greek, and was
consequently looked upon as a prodigy of learning. Mrs. Thrale appears
to have been slightly jealous of her about this time, though without
serious cause. In January, 1779, she writes (in “Thraliana”): “Mr.
Thrale has fallen in love, really and seriously, with Sophy Streatfield;
but there is no wonder in that; she is very pretty, very gentle, soft
and insinuating; hangs about him, dances round him, cries when she parts
from him, squeezes his hand slily, and with her sweet eyes full of tears
looks fondly in his face--and all for love of me, as she pretends, that
I can hardly sometimes help laughing in her face. A man must not be a
man, but an it, to resist such artillery.”--ED.]
[Footnote 96: Characters in the comedy which Fanny was then engaged upon.--ED.]
[Footnote 97: Sir Philip Jennings Clerke--ED.]
[Footnote 98: The Rev. John Delap, D.D., born 1725, died 1812. He was a man “of
deep learning, but totally ignorant of life and manners,” and wrote
several tragedies, two or three of which were acted, but generally
without success,--ED.]
[Footnote 99: Mrs. Piozzi (then Mrs. Thrale) relates this story in her “Anecdotes
of Dr. Johnson.” “I came into the room one evening where he [Johnson]
and a gentleman [Seward], whose abilities we all respect exceedingly,
were sitting. A lady [Miss Streatfield], who walked in two minutes
before me, had blown 'em both into a flame by whispering something to
Mr. S--d, which he endeavoured to explain away so as not to affront the
doctor, whose suspicions were all alive. 'And have a care, sir,' said
he, just as I came in, 'the Old Lion will not bear to be tickled.' The
other was pale with rage, the lady wept at the confusion she had caused,
and I could only say with Lady Macbeth--'Soh! you've displaced the
mirth, broke the good meeting with most admired disorder.'”--ED.]
[Footnote 100: The following note is in the hand-writing of Miss Burney, at a
subsequent period. The objection of Mr. Crisp to the MS play of 'The
Witlings,' was its resemblance to Moliere's 'Femmes Savantes,' and
consequent immense inferiority. It is, however, a curious fact, and
to the author a consolatory one, that she had literally never read the
'Femmes Savantes' when she composed 'The Witlings.']
[Footnote 101: Mr. Rose Fuller.--ED.]
[Footnote 102: Anthony Chamier, M.P. for Tamworth, and an intimate friend of Dr.
Burney's. He was Under Secretary of State from 1775 till his death in
1780. We find him at one of Dr. Burney's famous music-parties in 1775.
Fanny writes of him then as “an extremely agreeable man, and the very
pink of gallantry.” (“Early Diary,” vol, ii. p. 106.)--ED.]
[Footnote 103: Afterwards Sir William Weller Pepys, Master in Chancery, and
brother of the physician, Sir Lucas Pepys. He was an ardent lover
of literature, and gave “blue-stocking” parties, which Dr. Burney
frequently attended. Fanny extols his urbanity and benevolence. See
“Memoirs of Dr. Burney,” vol. ii. p. 285.--ED.]
[Footnote 104: His dog.--ED.]
[Footnote 105: Mrs. Pleydell was a friend of Dr. Burney's, and greatly admired
for her beauty and the sweetness of her disposition. She was the
daughter of Governor Holwell, one of the survivors from the Black Hole of
Calcutta.--ED.]
[Footnote 106: Mr. Thrale was Member of Parliament for Southwark.--ED.]
[Footnote 107: Samuel Foote, the famous actor and writer of farces,--ED.]
[Footnote 108: Lady Diana Spencer, eldest daughter of Charles, second Duke
of Marlborough. She was born in 1734, married in 1760 to Viscount
Bolingbroke, divorced from him in 1768, and married soon after to Dr.
Johnson's friend, Topham Beauclerk. Lady Di was an amateur artist, and
the productions of her pencil were much admired by Horace Walpole and
other persons of fashion. Elizabeth, Countess of Pembroke, was the
sister of Lady Di Beauclerk, being the second daughter of the Duke of
Marlborough.--ED.]
[Footnote 109: See note 15 ante.--ED.]
[Footnote 110: Young Cumberland, son of the author.--ED.]
[Footnote 111: General Blakeney.--ED.]
[Footnote 112: A character in Fanny's suppressed comedy, “The Witlings.”--ED.]
[Footnote 113: Not the celebrated George Selwyn, but a wealthy banker of that
name.--ED.]
[Footnote 114: Lucrezia Agujari was one of the most admired Italian singers of
the day. She died at Parma in 1783.--ED.]
[Footnote 115: The Rev. Henry Bate, afterwards Sir Henry Bate Dudley, editor of
the “Morning Post” from its establishment in 1772 till 1780, in which
year his connection with that paper came to an end in consequence of a
quarrel with his coadjutors. On the 1st of November, 1780, he brought
out the “Morning Herald” in opposition to his old paper, the “Post.” He
assumed the name of Dudley in 1784, was created a baronet in 1813, and
died in 1824. Gainsborough has painted the portrait of this ornament
of the Church, who was notorious, in his younger days, for his physical
strength, and not less so for the very unclerical use which he made of
it. He was popularly known as the “Fighting Parson.”--ED.]
[Footnote 116: Mr. Smelt was a friend of Dr. Burney's, and highly esteemed by
Fanny both for his character and talents. He had been tutor to the
Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.). We shall meet with him
later.--ED.]
[Footnote 117: This boy was afterwards the celebrated painter, Sir Thomas
Lawrence, President of the Royal Academy.--ED.]
[Footnote 118: Constantine John Phipps, second Baron Mulgrave in the Irish
peerage. He was born in 1744; served with distinction in the navy, and
made a voyage of discovery towards the North Pole in 1773. His account
of this voyage was published in the following year. He became Baron
Mulgrave on the death of his father, the first Baron, in 1775; was
raised to the English peerage under the title of Lord Mulgrave in 1790,
and died in 1792.--ED.]
[Footnote 119: Mrs. Byron was the wife of Admiral the Hon. John Byron
(“Foul-weather Jack”), and grandmother of the poet. Her daughter Augusta
subsequently married Vice-Admiral Parker, and died in 1824.--ED.]
[Footnote 120: Mrs. Dobson was authoress of an abridged translation of
“Petrarch's Life,” and of the “History of the Troubadours.”--ED.]
[Footnote 121: Dr. Harrington was a physician, and a friend of Dr. Burney. His
son, “Mr. Henry”--the Rev. Henry Harrington--was the editor of “Nugaae
Antiquae.”--ED.]
[Footnote 122: The rough-mannered, brutal sea-captain in “Evelina.”--ED.]
[Footnote 123: Lady Miller, of Bath Easton--the lady of the Vase. Horace Walpole
gives an amusing description of the flummery which was indulged in every
week at Bath Easton under her presidency. “You must know, that near Bath
is erected a new Parnassus, composed of three laurels, a myrtle-tree,
a weeping-willow, and a view of the Avon, which has now been christened
Helicon. Ten years ago there lived a Madam [Briggs], an old rough
humourist, who passed for a wit; her daughter, who passed for nothing,
married to a captain [Miller], full of good-natured officiousness. These
good folks were friends of Miss Rich, who carried me to dine with them
at Bath Easton, now Pindus. They caught a little of what was then called
taste, built, and planted, and begot children, till the whole caravan
were forced to go abroad to retrieve. Alas! Mrs. Miller is returned a
beauty, a genius, a Sappho, a tenth muse, as romantic as Mademoiselle
Scuderi, and as sophisticated as Mrs. Vesey. The captain's fingers are
loaded with cameos, his tongue runs over with virtu; and that both may
contribute to the improvement of their own country, they have introduced
bouts-rimes as a new discovery. They hold a Parnassus-fair every
Thursday, give out rhymes and themes, and all the flux of quality at
Bath contend for the prizes. A Roman vase, dressed with pink ribands
and myrtles, receives the poetry, which is drawn out every festival:
six judges of these Olympic games retire and select the brightest
compositions, which the respective successful acknowledge, kneel to
Mrs. Calliope (Miller), kiss her fair hand, and are crowned by it with
myrtle.” Works, vol. v. P. 183--ED.]
[Footnote 124: Not our old acquaintance, Mrs. Cholmondeley, but a lady whom Fanny
met for the first time during this season at Bath.--ED.]
[Footnote 125: See ante, note 121.--ED.]
[Footnote 126: Beattie's “Essay on Truth,” published in 1770, and containing a
feeble attack on Hume. Commonplace as the book is, it was received with
rapture by the Orthodox, and Reynolds painted a fine picture of Beattie,
standing with the “Essay” under his arm, while the angel of Truth
beside him, drives away three demonic figures, in whose faces we trace
a resemblance to the portraits of Hume, Voltaire, and Gibbon. For this
piece of flattery the painter was justly rebuked by Goldsmith, whose
sympathies were certainly not on the side of infidelity. “It very ill
becomes a mann of your eminence and character,” said the poet, “to
debase so high a genius as Voltaire before so mean a writer as Beattie.
Beattie and his book will be forgotten in ten years, while Voltaire's
fame will last for ever. Take care it does not perpetuate this picture,
to the shame of such a man as you.”--ED.]
[Footnote 127: Charlotte Lewis.--ED.]
[Footnote 128: Sir Clement Willoughby, a rakish baronet in “Evelina.”--ED.]
[Footnote 129: This flirtation came to nothing, as Captain Brisbane proved
himself a jilt. The following month Miss Burney wrote to Mrs. Thrale as
follows:--“Your account of Miss M--'s being taken in, and taken in by
Captain Brisbane, astonishes me! surely not half we have heard either of
her adorers, or her talents, can have been true. Mrs. Byron has lost
too little to have anything to lament, except, indeed, the time she
sacrificed to foolish conversation, and the civilities she threw away
upon so worthless a subject. Augusta has nothing to reproach herself
with, and riches and wisdom must be rare indeed, if she fares not as
well with respect to both, as she would have done with an adventurer
whose pocket, it seems, was as empty as his head.”--ED.]
[Footnote 130: Sir John Fielding, the magistrate; brother of the novelist.--ED.]
[Footnote 131: Mr. Thrale's brewery in Southwark. His town house in Grosvenor
Square was threatened by the mob, but escaped destruction.--ED.]
[Footnote 132: The manager of Mr. Thrale's brewery.--ED.]
[Footnote 133: James Harris, of Salisbury, and his family. Mr. Harris was the
author of “Hermes, an Enquiry concerning Universal Grammar,” and was
characterised by Dr. Johnson as a “sound, solid scholar.” He was
an enthusiast on the subject of music, and had made Dr. Burney's
acquaintance at the opera in 1773.--ED.]
[Footnote 134: Fanny's younger sister, some of whose lively and amusing letters
and fragments of journal are printed in the “Early Diary.” Unlike Fanny,
she was a bit of a flirt, and she seems to have been altogether a very
charming young woman, who fully sustained the Burney reputation for
sprightliness and good humour.--ED.]
[Footnote 135: This letter was written in reply to a few words from Mrs. Thrale,
in which, alluding to her husband's sudden death, she begs Miss Burney
to “write to me--pray for me!” The hurried note from Mrs. Thrale is thus
endorsed by Miss Burney:--“Written a few hours after the death of Mr.
Thrale, which happened by a sudden stroke of apoplexy, on the morning
of a day on which half the fashion of London had been invited to an
intended assembly at his house in Grosvenor Square.” [Mr. Thrale, who
had long suffered from ill health, had been contemplating a journey to
Spa, and thence to Italy. His physicians, however, were strongly opposed
to the scheme, and Fanny writes, just before his death, that it was
settled that a great meeting of hi friends should take place, and that
they should endeavour to prevail with him to give it up; in which she
has little doubt of their succeeding.]--ED.]
[Footnote 136: Sir Philip Jennings Clerke.--ED.]
[Footnote 137: Mauritius Lowe, a natural son of Lord Southwell. He sent a
large picture of the Deluge to the Royal Academy in 1783, and was so
distressed at its rejection, that Johnson compassionately wrote to
Sirjoshua Reynolds in his behalf, entreating that the verdict might
be re-considered. His intercession was successful, and the picture was
admitted. We know nothing of Mr. Lowe's work.--ED.]
[Footnote 138: Afterwards Sir William P. Weller Pepys. See note 103, ante.--ED.]
[Footnote 139: “The moment he was gone, 'Now,' says Dr. Johnson, 'is Pepys gone
home hating me, who love him better than I did before. He spoke in
defence of his dead friend; but though I hope I spoke better, who spoke
against him, yet all my eloquence will gain me nothing but an honest man
for my enemy!'” (Mrs. Piozzi's “Anecdotes of Johnson.”)--ED.]
[Footnote 140: The celebrated Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, equally famous
for her personal attractions and her political enthusiasm in the
Whig interest. Her canvassing, and, it is said, her kisses, largely
contributed to the return of Charles james Fox for Westminster in the
election of 1784. She was the daughter of John, first Earl Spencer;
was born 1757; married, 1774, to William, fifth Duke of Devonshire; and
died, 1806. Her portrait was painted by both Reynolds and Gainsborough.
Mary Isabella, Duchess of Rutland, was the youngest daughter of the Duke
of Beaufort, and was married, in 1775, to Charles Mariners, fourth Duke
of Rutland. She died, 1831.--ED.]
[Footnote 141: Susan and Sophy were younger daughters of Mrs. Thrale--ED.]
[Footnote 142: The manager of Mr. Thrale's brewery.--ED.]
[Footnote 143: i.e. To Streatham: Fanny had been home in the interval.--ED.]
[Footnote 144: Of Bath Easton: husband of the lady of the “Vase.” See note [123],
ante, P. 174.--ED.]
[Footnote 145: Captain Molesworth Phillips, who had recently married Susan
Burney.--ED.]
[Footnote 146: Gasparo Pacchierotti, a celebrated Italian singer, and a very
intimate friend of the Burney family.--ED.]
[Footnote 147: “Variety,” a comedy, was produced at Drury Lane, Feb. 25, 1782,
and ran nine nights. Genest calls it a dull play, with little or no
plot. The author is unknown.--ED.]
[Footnote 148: Dr. Jonathan Shipley.--ED.]
[Footnote 149: The husband of Fanny Burney's sister, Susan.--ED.]
[Footnote 150: Poor Lady Di was throughout unfortunate in her marriages. Her
first husband, Lord Bolingbroke, to whom she was married in 1757,
brutally used her, and drove her to seek elsewhere the affection which
he failed to bestow. She was divorced from him in 1768, and married,
immediately afterwards, to Topham Beauclerk, who, in his turn,
ill-treated her. Mr. Beauclerk died in March, 1780. He was greatly
esteemed by Johnson, but his good qualities appear to have been rather
of the head than of the heart.--ED.]
[Footnote 151: Her cousin Edward Burney, the painter. A reproduction of his
portrait of Fanny forms the frontispiece to the present volume.--ED.]
[Footnote 152: Pasquale Paoli, the famous Corsican general and patriot. He
maintained the independence of his country against the Genoese for
nearly ten years. In 1769, upon the submission of Corsica to France,
to which the Genoese had ceded it, Paoli settled in England, where he
enjoyed a pension of 1200 pounds a year from the English Government.
More details respecting this delightful interview between Fanny and the
General are given in the “Memoirs of Dr. Burney” (vol. ii. p. 255), from
which we select the following extracts:--
“He is a very pleasing man; tall and genteel in his person, remarkably
attentive, obliging, and polite; and as soft and mild in his speech, as
if he came from feeding sheep in Corsica, like a shepherd; rather than
as if he had left the warlike field where he had led his armies to
battle.
“When Mrs. Thrale named me, he started back, though smilingly, and said;
'I am very glad enough to see you in the face, Miss Evelina, which I
have wished for long enough. O charming book! I give it you my word I
have read it often enough. It is my favourite studioso for apprehending
the English language; which is difficult often. I pray you, Miss
Evelina, write some more little volumes of the quickest.'
“I disclaimed the name, and was walking away; but he followed me with
an apology. 'I pray your pardon, Mademoiselle. My ideas got in a blunder
often. It is Miss Borni what name I meant to accentuate, I pray your
pardon, Miss Evelina.'”--ED.]
[Footnote 153: “Memoirs of Dr. Burney,” vol. ii. p. 110.]
[Footnote 154: The physician, afterwards Sir Lucas Pepys.--ED.]
[Footnote 155: A character in “Cecilia.”--ED.]
[Footnote 156: The master of the ceremonies.]
[Footnote 157: Philip Metcalf, elected member of Parliament for Horsham, together
with Mr. Crutchley, in 1784.--ED.]
[Footnote 158: Miss Burney had seen this gentleman a few days previously and thus
speaks of him in her “Diary.”--“Mr. Kaye of the Dragoons,--a baronet's
son, and a very tall, handsome, and agreeable-looking young man; and, is
the folks say, it is he for whom all the belles here are sighing. I was
glad to see he seemed quite free from the nonchalance, impertinence of
the times.”--ED.]
[Footnote 159: Afterwards Countess of Cork and Orrery.]
[Footnote 160: The Thrales and Fanny were now again in London, whither they
returned from Brighton, November 20. Mrs. Thrale had taken a house in
Argyle-street,--ED.]
[Footnote 161: Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, daughter of Robert Harley, Earl of
Oxford; married, in 1734, to the second Duke of Portland, She inherited
from her father a taste for literature. She was the constant associate
of Mrs. Delaney, and an old friend of Mr. Crisp. Of Mrs. Delany we shall
give some account hereafter--ED.]
[Footnote 162: Mrs. Greville's maiden name was Frances Macartney.--ED.]
[Footnote 163: The miserly guardian of Cecilia, in Fanny's novel. Among the
“Fragments of the journal of Charlotte Anne Burney,” appended to the
“Early Diary,” occurs the following passage, written at the end of 1782.
“Fanny's Cecilia came out last summer, and is as much liked and read I
believe as any book ever was. She had 250 pounds for it from Payne and
Cadell. Most people say she ought to have had a thousand. It is now
going into the third edition, though Payne owns that they printed 2,000
at the first edition, and Lowndes told me five hundred was the common
number for a novel.” (“Early Diary,” vol. ii. P. 307.)--ED.]
[Footnote 164: Richard Burke, the only son of the great Edmund. He died in 1794,
before his father.--ED.]
[Footnote 165: Sir Joshua Reynolds was then in his sixtieth year; he was born in
1723.--ED.]
[Footnote 166: She copied pictures cleverly and painted portraits.--ED.]
[Footnote 167: Probably the Hon. Thomas Erskine, afterwards Lord Chancellor.--ED.]
[Footnote 168: Richard Owen Cambridge, a gentleman admired for his wit in
conversation, and esteemed as an author. “He wrote a burlesque poem
called 'The Scribleriad,' and was a principal contributor to the
periodical paper called 'The World.'” He died in 1802, at his villa on
the banks of the Thames, near Twickenham, aged eighty-five years.--ED.]
[Footnote 169: Mrs. Ord was a famous blue-stocking and giver of literary parties,
and a constant friend of Fanny's--ED.]
[Footnote 170: The Rev. George Owen Cambridge, second son of Richard Owen
Cambridge, whose works he edited, and whose memoir he wrote. He died at
Twickenham in 1841.--ED.]
[Footnote 171: John Hoole, the translator of Tasso.--ED.]
[Footnote 172: Frances Reynolds, the miniature painter--Sir Joshua's sister--ED.]
[Footnote 173: Soame Jenyns was one of the most celebrated of the “old wits.”
He was born in 1704; was for twenty-five years member of Parliament for
Cambridgeshire; died in 1787. His principal works were “A Free Enquiry
into the Origin of Evil,” and “A View of the Internal Evidence of the
Christian Religion.” Boswell writes of him: “Jenyns was possessed of
lively talents, and a style eminently pure and 'easy', and could very
happily play with a light subject, either in prose or verse; but when he
speculated on that most difficult and excruciating question, 'The
Origin of Evil,' he ventured far beyond his depth, and, accordingly,
was exposed by Johnson [in the 'Literary Magazine'], both with acute
argument and brilliant wit.”--ED.]
[Footnote 174: “Memoirs of Dr. Burney,” vol. iii. p. 169.]
[Footnote 175: Hester Mulso was born in 1727; she married, in 1760, an attorney
named Chapone, who died within a year of the marriage. Among the many
young ladies who surrounded and corresponded with Samuel Richardson,
Hester was a first favourite. The great novelist's letters to his “dear
Miss Mulso” are very pleasant to read. Mrs. Chapone enjoyed considerable
esteem as an authoress. Her “Letters on the Improvement of the Mind,”
dedicated to Mrs. Montagu, went through several editions. We should
like to praise them, but the truth must be owned--they are decidedly
commonplace and “goody-goody.” Still, they are written in a spirit of
tender earnestness, which raises our esteem for the writer, though it
fails to reconcile us to the book. Mrs. Chapone died on Christmas-day,
1801.--ED.]
[Footnote 176: Truly said, “my dear Miss Mulso,” but if they cannot feel the
wonderful charm and reality of “Clarissa” in the very first volume, they
may as well leave it alone.--ED.]
[Footnote 177: In a corner of the nave of the quaint little church at Chesington
is a large white marble tablet, marking the spot where Mr. Crisp lies
buried. The following lines from the pen of Fanny's father inscribed on
it do not, it must be confessed, exhibit the doctor's poetical talents
by any means in a favourable light.
“In memory Of SAMUEL CRISP, Esq., who died April 24, 1783, aged 76.
Reader, this cold and humble spot contains
The much lamented, much rever'd remains
Of one whose wisdom, learning, taste, and sense,
Good-humour'd wit and wide benevolence
Cheer'd and enlightened all this hamlet round,
Wherever genius, worth, or want was found.
To few it is that bounteous heav'n imparts
Such depth of knowledge, and such taste in arts
Such penetration, and enchanting pow'rs
Of brit'ning social and convivial hours.
Had he, through life, been blest by nature kind
With health robust of body as of mind,
With skill to serve and charm mankind, so great
In arts, in science, letters, church, or state,
His name the nation's annals had enroll'd
And virtues to remotest ages told.”]
“C. BURNEY.”]
[Footnote 177: Mr. Gibbon, “in stepping too lightly from, or to a boat of
Mr. Cambridge's, had slipt into the Thames; whence, however, he was
intrepidly and immediately rescued, with no other mischief than a wet
jacket, by one of that fearless, water-proof race, denominated, by
Mr. Gibbon, the amphibious family of the Cambridges.” (“Memoir of Dr.
Burney,” vol. ii. P. 341.)--ED.]
[Footnote 178: The “Essex Head” club, just founded by Dr. Johnson. The meetings
were held thrice a week at the Essex Head, a tavern in Essex-street,
Strand, kept by Samuel Greaves, an old servant of Mr. Thrale's. Among
the rule's of the club, which were drawn up by Dr. Johnson, we find
the following: “Every member present at the club shall spend at least
sixpence; and every member who stays away shall forfeit threepence.”
He ought to have added, “to be spent by the company in punch.” (See
Goldsmith's delightful essay on the London clubs.)--ED.]
[Footnote 179: The Lockes, of Norbury Park, Surrey, were friends of Fanny's
sister, Mrs. Phillips, and, subsequently, among the most constant and
attached friends of Fanny herself.--ED.]
[Footnote 180: It must be borne in mind that the “Diary” is addressed to Fanny's
sister Susan (Mrs. Phillips),--ED.]
[Footnote 181: Mrs. Locke.--ED.]
[Footnote 182: Mrs. Phillips had lately gone to live at Boulogne for the benefit
of her health.--ED.]
[Footnote 183: Mrs. Phillips returned in less than a twelvemonth from Boulogne,
much recovered in health, and settled with her husband and family in a
house at Micklcham, at the foot of Norbury Park.]
[Footnote 184: Fanny had called upon Dr. Johnson the same day, but he was too ill
to see her.--ED.]
[Footnote 185: Sunday, December 12.--ED.]
[Footnote 186: Frank Barber, Dr. Johnson's negro servant.---ED.]
[Footnote 187: Mary Bruce Strange, daughter of Sir Robert Strange, the celebrated
engraver. She died, as Fanny tells us, on the same day with Dr. Johnson,
December 13, 1784, aged thirty-five. The Stranges were old and very
intimate friends of the Burneys--ED.]
[Footnote 188: Her brother--ED.]
[Footnote 189: “Memoirs of Dr. Burney,” vol. iii. p. 87. Fanny had, however, to
assist in dressing the queen. See postea, P--345.]
[Footnote 190: The death of the Duchess dowager of Portland.]
[Footnote 191: Miss Planta was English teacher to the two eldest princesses.--ED.]
[Footnote 192: One of the governesses to the princesses.--ED.]
[Footnote 193: Georgina Mary Anne Port, grandniece of Mrs. Delany, by whom she
was brought up from the age of seven until Mrs. Delany's death. She
was born in 1771, and mairied, in 1789, Mr. Waddington, afterwards Lord
Llanover. She was for many years on terms of friendship with Fanny, but
after Madame D'Arblay's death, Lady Llanover seized the opportunity of
publishing, in her edition of Mrs. Delany's Correspondence, an attack
upon her former friend, of which the ill-breeding is only equalled
by the inaccuracy. The view which she there takes of Fanny is justly
characterised by Mr. Shuckburgh as “the lady-in-waiting's lady's-maid's
view.” (See Macmillan's magazine for February, 1890.)--ED.]
[Footnote 194: Joseph Baretti, author of an Italian and English Dictionary, and
other works; the friend Of JOhnson, well known to readers of Boswell.
He had long been acquainted with the Burneys. Fanny writes in her “Early
Diary” (March, 1773): “Mr. Baretti appears to be very facetious; he
amused himself very much with Charlotte, whom he calls Churlotte,
and kisses whether she will or no, always calmly saying, 'Kiss a me,
Churlotte!'” Charlotte Burney was then about fourteen; she was known
after this in the family as Mrs. Baretti.--ED.]
[Footnote 195: A character in “Cecilia.”--ED.]
[Footnote 196: Mrs. Phillips (Susan)--ED.]
[Footnote 197: Madame de Genlis had visited England during the spring of 1785,
and made the acquaintance of Dr. Burney and his daughter Fanny. In July
Fanny writes of her as “the sweetest as well as the most accomplished
Frenchwoman I ever met with,” and in the same month Madame de Genlis
writes to Fanny: “Je vous aime depuis l'instant ou j'ai lu Evelina
et Cecilia, et le bonheur de vous entendre et de vous conneitre
personellement a rendu ce sentiment aussi tendre qu'il est bien fonde.”
The acquaintance, however, was not kept up.--ED.]
[Footnote 198: The famous actress, Kitty Clive. She had quitted the stage in
1760. Genest says of her, “If ever there was a true Comic Genius, Mrs.
Clive was one.”---ED.]
[Footnote 199: John Henderson was by many people considered second only to
Garrick, especially in Shakspearean parts. He too was lately dead,
having made his last appearance on the stage on the 8th of November,
1785, within less than a month of his death.--ED.]
[Footnote 200: “Adele et Theodore, ou Lettres sur l'education” by Madame de
Genlis, first published in 1782.--ED.]
[Footnote 201: We shall hear again of 'Mr. and Mrs. Hastings, and of the scandal
which was caused by the lady's reception at Court. She was bought by
Hastings of her former husband for 10,000 pounds. The story is briefly
as follows:--
Among the fellow-passengers of Hastings on the ship which conveyed him
to India in 1769, were a German portrait-painter, named Imhoff, and
his wife, who were going out to Madras in the hope of bettering their
circumstances. During the voyage a strong attachment sprang up between
Hastings and the lady, who nursed him through an illness. The husband,
it seems, had as little affection for his wife as she had for him, and
was easily prevailed upon to enter into an amicable arrangement, by
virtue of which Madame Imhoff instituted proceedings for divorce against
him in the German courts. Pending the result, the Imhoffs continued
to live together ostensibly as man and wife to avoid scandal. The
proceedings--were long protracted, but a decree of divorce was finally
procured in 1772, when Hastings married the lady and paid to the
complaisant husband a sum, it is said, exceeding, 10,000 pounds.
The favourable reception accorded by the queen to Mrs. Hastings, when,
in 1784, she returned to England as wife of the Governor-general of
Bengal, passed not without public comment. Her husband, however, was in
high esteem at Court from his great services, and she had an additional
recommendation to the queen's favour in the friendship of Mrs.
Schwellenberg, the keeper of the robes, whom she had known before her
voyage to India.--ED.]
[Footnote 202: Fanny's sister Charlotte, who had mairied Clement Francis, Feb.
11, 1786. They were now settled at Aylesham, in Norfolk, where Mr.
Francis was practising as a surgeon.--ED.]
[Footnote 203: Dr. Burney's daughter by his second wife--ED.]
[Footnote 204: Sir Thomas Clarges, whose wife was a dear friend of Susan Burney.
Sir Thomas died in December, 1782. In the “Early Diary” he is mentioned
once or twice, as a visitor at Dr. Burney's. Fanny writes of him in May,
1775, as “a young baronet, who was formerly so desperately enamoured
of Miss Linley, now Mrs. Sheridan, that his friends made a point of his
going abroad to recover himself: he is now just returned from italy, and
I hope cured. He still retains all the schoolboy English mauvaise
honte; scarce speaks but to make an answer, and is as shy as if his last
residence had been at Eton instead of Paris.”--ED.]
[Footnote 205: 'Tis amazing what nonsense sensible people can write, when their
heads are turned by considerations of rank and flummery!--ED.]
[Footnote 206: The wife of Warren Hastings. Fanny had made the acquaintance
of Mr. and Mrs. Hastings from her friend Mr. Cambridge, some months
previously. (See note [201], ante, p. 327).--ED.]
[Footnote 207: The name of the poor woman was Margaret Nicholson. She was, of
course, insane, and had, a few days previously, presented a petition,
which had probably been left unread at the time, but which turned out
on investigation to be full of incoherent nonsense. On her examination
before the Privy Council she declared that “the crown was hers, and that
if she had not her rights England would be deluged with blood.” She was
ultimately consigned to Bedlam.--ED.]
[Footnote 208: Fanny's bitter experience of Mrs. Schwellenberg is now
commencing.--ED.]
[Footnote 209: The wife and daughter of Dr. William Heberden, an eminent
physician, and author of “Medical Commentaries on the History and Cure
of Disease.” Fanny had met these ladies recently at Mrs. Delany's--ED.]
[Footnote 210: “Colonel Fairly” is the name given in the “Diary” to the Hon.
Stephen Digby. His first wife, Lady Lucy Strangwayes Fox, youngest
daughter of Lord Ilchester, died in 1787. He married, in 1790, Miss
Gunning, “Miss Fuzilier,” of the “Diary.”---ED.]
[Footnote 211: i.e. the University theatre.--ED.]
[Footnote 212: Colonel Digby, who from this time is always called Mr. Fairly
instead of Colonel Fairly, in the “Diary,”--ED.]
[Footnote 213: Dr. Joseph Warton, author of the “Essay on the Genius and Writings
of Pope.” He was headmaster of Winchester school--ED.]
[Footnote 214: Jacob Bryant, the distinguished classical scholar and author; born
1715; died 1804. His principal work was “A New System or an Analysis of
Ancient Mythology,” published in 1774. During the last part of his life
he resided at Cypenham, in Farnham Royal, near Windsor. One of Bryant's
friends said of him that “he was a very good scholar, and knew all
things up to Noah, but not a single thing in the world beyond the
Deluge!”--ED.]
[Footnote 215: Aime Argand, inventor of the argand lamp.--ED.]
[Footnote 216: Madame de Genlis was governess to the children of the Duke
D'Orleans (Philippe egalite), and, there is no doubt, his mistress.
The beautiful Pamela, who married Lord Edward Fitzgerald, was generally
supposed to be her daughter by the duke, but this appears to be
questionable.--ED.]
[Footnote 217: William Herschel, the famous astronomer. He was the son of a
German musician, and in early life followed his father's profession,
which he afterwards abandoned for the study of astronomy. He received
much encouragement from George III., was knighted in 1816, and died at
Slough, near Windsor, in 1822. His monster telescope, mentioned in the
text, was completed in 1787, and was forty feet in length.--ED.]
[Footnote 218: Maria Sophie de la Roche was a German authoress of sentimental
novels, of some distinction in her day, but now chiefly remembered as
the friend of Wieland and Goethe. The history of the attachment between
her and Wieland is very pretty, very idyllic, and very German. Sophie
was born in 1731, and the idyll commenced when she was nineteen, and
Wieland only seventeen years old. It lasted some time, too, for
a passion so very tender and tearful; but the fate, and, more
particularly, the parents, were unpropitious, and after about three
years it came to an end, the heart-broken Sophie consoling herself by
marrying M. de la Roche shortly afterwards. Her friendship with Wieland,
however was maintained to the end of her days, he editing the first and
last productions of her pen--the “History of Fraulein von Sternheim,”
published 1771, and “Melusinens Sommerabende,” 1806. Madame de la Roche
died in 1807--ED.]
[Footnote 219: Madame de la Fite had, however, translated her friend's “History
of Fraulein von Sternheim” into French, and the translation had been
published in 1773.--ED.]
[Footnote 220: “Clelia” and “Cassandra” were celebrated heroic romances of
the seventeenth century, the former (in ten volumes) written by Mdlle
Scuderi, the latter by the Sieur de la Calprende. One of the most
constant and tiresome characteristics of the heroes and heroines of the
romances of this school, is the readiness with which they seize every
opportunity of recounting, or causing their confidential attendants
to recount, their adventures, usually with the utmost minuteness of
detail--ED.]
[Footnote 221: See P. 434.--ED.]
[Footnote 222: Mrs. Schwellenberg found her health better in London, and was
prolonging her stay there in consequence.--ED.]
[Footnote 223: The reader will scarcely need to be told that allusion is made
here to the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV.--ED.]
[Footnote 224: It is hardly worth remembering, except for Fanny's sake; however,
it has the merit of brevity, and here it is.
“THE GREAT COAT.
“Thrice honour'd Robe! couldst thou espy
The form that deigns to show thy worth;
Hear the mild voice, view the arch eye,
That call thy panegyric forth;
“Wouldst thou not swell with vain delight?
With proud expansion sail along?
And deem thyself more grand and bright
Than aught that lives in ancient song,
“Than Venus' cestus, Dian's crest,
Minerva's helmet, fierce and bold,
Or all of emblem gay that dress'd
Capricious goddesses of old?
“Thee higher honours yet await:--
Haste, then, thy triumphs quick prepare,
Thy trophies spread in haughty state,
Sweep o'ei the earth, and scoff the air.
“Ah no!--retract!--retreat!--oh stay!
Learn, wiser, whence so well thou'st sped;
She whose behest produced this lay
By no false colours is misled.
“Suffice it for the buskin'd race
Plaudits by pomp and shew to win;
Those seek simplicity and grace
Whose dignity is from within.
“The cares, or joys, she soars above
That to the toilette's duties cleave;
Far other cares her bosom move,
Far other joys those cares relieve.
“The garb of state she inly scorn'd,
Glad from its trappings to be freed,
She saw thee humble, unadorn'd,
Quick of attire,--a child of speed.
“Still, then, thrice honour'd Robe! retain
Thy modest guise, thy decent ease;
Nor let thy favour prove thy bane
By turning from its fostering breeze.
“She views thee with a mental eye,
And from thee draws this moral end:--
Since hours are register'd on high,
The friend of Time is Virtue's friend.”]
For this precious production Fanny received quite as much as it
was worth,--the thanks of the queen, who added, “Indeed it is very
pretty--only! I don't deserve it.”---ED.]
[Footnote 225: Captain James Burney had married, on the 6th of September, 1785,
Miss Sally Payne, daughter of Mr. Thomas Payne, bookseller.--ED.]
[Footnote 226: “Mr. Turbulent” is the name given in the “Diary” to the Rev.
Charles de Guiffardiere, a French Protestant minister, who filled the
office of French reader to the queen and princesses.--ED.]
[Footnote 227: Mrs. Delany had been for a short time indisposed.--ED.]
[Footnote 228: The queen had spoken of Mrs. Hayes as a “very pretty kind of
woman,” and desired Fanny to invite her to tea.--ED.]
[Footnote 229: Herschel had discovered this planet in 1781, and named it in
honour of the king.--ED.