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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Frances Burney D'Arblay Biography D'ARBLAY, Frances Burney (1752–1840). An English novelist. She was a daughter of Charles Burney, a musician, and was born at King's Lynn, June 13, 1752. Eight years later the Burneys removed to London. At the famous musical assemblies given by her father Miss Burney saw, from the outside, fashionable life, and this she depicted with spirit and humor in her first novel, Evelina (1778). No novel since Clarissa Harlowe attracted more notice. It was read by Burke, Reynolds, and Johnson, and lavishly praised. This brilliant success was followed by Cecilia (1782), which, though not so fresh as Evelina and a little heavy, had a large sale. In 1786 Miss Burney was appointed second keeper of the robes to Queen Charlotte. Disliking the service, she resigned her position five years later. While visiting her sister at Mickleham, she became acquainted with a French refugee, General D'Arblay, whom she married in 1793. The rest of her life was passed partly in England and partly in France. She published two other novels, Camilla (1796) and The Wanderer (1814), neither of which is readable. A play of hers, Edwy and Elvina, was performed in 1795 and was unsuccessful, though Mrs. Siddons and Kemble took the leading parts. She also published memoirs of her father (1832), written in an affected style resembling her last novels. In 1842–46 appeared her interesting Letters and Diaries. A new edition in six volumes was published in London in 1904–05. The Early Diary, 1768–1778 (2 vols., New York, 1907) was edited by A. R. Ellis. Consult: Macaulay, Essays; Dobson, Fanny Burney, Madame D'Arblay (New York, 1903); C. Hill, Fanny Burney at the Court of Queen Charlotte (New York, 1912). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. VI (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 497. |