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Leader (1850-1860), 12th August 1854, Edition 2 of 2, Page 20, THE DIARY AND LETTEBS OF MADAME D'ARBLAY...

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      Lottr Teabs I*T Both Hemispheres. Fifty ...

      of ' Queen ' s Beach , ' by going bail for me . But week after week passed without my hearring further from him . I supposed him to be ill , but afterwards learned that he had followed the advice of a mutual acquaintance , to have nothing to do ¦ with a matter which must cost him trouble , and might cost money . I was again the plaything of a ruthless fate , and only got out of one scrape that I might fall into another . " I heard no more of friend Riicker , and remained a member of the large and varied society of the Queen ' Bench ; among which I found one old acquaintance , an Englishman , named Swaine , with whom I had become acquainted thirty years before in New York ; wliom I had frequently seen during my visits to London , and whom , from his neatness of dress , I had supposed to be wealthy , although a hard drinker . " There ought to be interest enough among my readers to accept here £ » description of the Queen ' s Bencli prison , of which I was an inmate for three months and a half . After passing through three well-watched gates , you enter a large ollong court , girt by a wall 50 or 55 feet high . To the right , in a corner , is a well-built three-story house , which is let at a high rent to noble prisoners . One gentleman had inhabited one story for fourteen years ; another , the great William Cobbett ' s son , had been eight years in the prison . From the left corner to the outer wall of the place stretched a double row ofchotxses , the furthest of which could be hired , furnished , by such as were able to pay ; the others were for those who lived on the allowance of their creditors . At the end of these houses is a small

      covered market , where one can boy at eight o ' clock , a . m ., fresh fish , flesh , vegetables , eggs , butter , & c . You either buy for yourself or trast servants , who are not always very conscientious . From the market you take your purchases to one of the cookshops in the neighbourhood , and get it prepared for your table . You get your breakfast from female attendants , who are here in plenty , and who are the wives of poor debtors . The large oblong place between the furthest row of houses and the wall is a ball-ground and promenade , where , when the weather permits , you can breathe the air , and , if you choose , imagine yourself at liberty . The space between the other row and the wall is much narrower . As soon as the doors are opened in the morning , in pours a torrent of outsiders , shop-keepers , visitors , newsmen , & c . To an Englishman , the newspaper is the first necessity ; the breakfast comes aftervyards ; with poor prisoners as long after as possible . ' Time is money , ' is not true in prison ; there time is a Durden , ¦ which grows day by day heavier , and must yet be borne with patience . A postman helps you to communicate with your friends , and a circulating library within the prison-bounds furnishes you with intellectual pastime . "

      764 Tffjs, Leader. [Saturday,

      764 TffJS , LEADER . [ Saturday ,

      The Diary And Lettebs Of Madame D'Arblay...

      THE DIARY AND LETTEBS OF MADAME D'ARBLAY . The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay . Edited by her Niece . Seven Volumes Published for Henry Colburn by his Successors , Hurst and Blackett . A chea p reproduction ^ by Messrs . Hurst and Blacked of the more expensive edition published by their predecessor , Mr . Colburn , in 1842 . At less than a third of the price , we have seven handsomely got up volumes , though we could have wished that a little more care had been taken in the correction of the dates and references to suit the present time , and that the biographical notes at" the end of each volume lad been made somewhat fuller and more general . In such an age of loir-priced literature as this , the public has a right to expect a new edition to be correct as well as cheap . Madame D'Arblay , better known by her maiden name of Miss Fanny Burney , had . the good fortune to live through a busy arid interesting time , arid to make herself famous at a comparatively early age . Her Diary , beginning with the success of her first novel , Evelina , in 1778 , Is one of the

      right sort , easy , pleasant , and gossipping , with much in it about the notabilities of the day , of whose sayings and doings the world is always glad to liear , ^ By her Diary Miss Burney would fain persuade us she was only "in her ¦ teens when her first book was published . But , as the whole world knows , she was six-and-twenty at the time , her birth having taken place at Lynn , m Norfolk , an 1752 . Evelina is forgotten by the present generation , but in its day it made a wondrous sensation . The work was published anonymously , and many were the guesses at its authorship . Once known , Miss Burney became a celebrity of the day . She was taken up by Mrs . Thrale , petted and complimented by Dr . Johnson , domesticated at Streatham , and installed as one of the great lights of that once famous coterie . The Diary from 1780 to 1784 chronicles her life during this timeand if we have

      , rather too much about Miss Burney and her book , and too many repetitions of the nattering things that were said to the one , and about the other , they may fairly enough be set down to the score of pardonable and allowable vamty . JJor after all , Miss Burney ' s heart was in the right place from first to last . Witness her strong family affections , and her correspondence with her father s old friend and her own " second daddy , " Mr . Crisp . Nothin « can be more charming than the letters of this literary recluse and " his Fannikin , ' as ho termed her . The fondest affection and respect on her side , the kindest consideration , the most sensible advice , the gentlest chiding upon his . Through Mrs . Thrale , Miss Burney made acquaintance with all the famous people of the day , including of course , tie " blue-stocki ™ lnrim , "

      and their set- But it is the foolish , not the wise people , that make pleasant reading . » Sweet Sophy Streathfield » with her pretty face , and her tears at w « l , is better far than Mrs . Montague , Mrs . Chaponc , or Mrs . Crew . The old gentleman at Brighton , with the initial letters-small need surely forsuch mystery , seventy-hve years after date—with his opinion of Johnson , Not much ot a fine gentleman indeed , but a clever fellow-a deal of knowledge , but a douced good understanding , " i 8 better reading than all the wise sayings of the Doctor himself . to ' fa * »" Four years after Evelina , Miss Burney brought out her second novel of Cccifta ,, with nearly equal success . The growth of her literary reputation m the times shown by that best of all teats—the money one . As the un ~ ;* ° Si ^™ f ° ? -EwKn « , sho got twenty pounds , and was thankful for \ t- ~ tor Cecilia she is said to have had two thousand .

      mStJ ,,. ? J" ? tlme >™ . " ^ the highest of her reputation , that Miss Burney ost her earl y fnond , Mrs . Thrale , who had estranged herself from most of her old associates by her second marriage . Miss Burney and Dr . Johnson were amongst the number . The latter was furious , ho burnt their correspondonco , and , m his wrath , passed sentenco on hia former favourite . "I never speak of her , * md I desire never to hear of her move . Jl drive her wholly from my mind . " It says much for Miss Burney , that all through her life , ns far as her Diary makes it known , she had tho good fortune to meet with kind , fust inonds . Mrs . 1 hrnle was gone , but her place was more than supplied by one who wa 8 , in all respects , her superior . Mr * . Dolnney , henceforth l . or principal adviser , was a lady of high birth and connexions , and still higher wi actions

      » . At this time aho had taken up her abode at Windsor , at the request of George the Third and the Quoon , who honoured her and themsolves muou more by cultivating her acquaintance and special intimacy . her ifffi ? 7 ° ' 2 , ° lanev Wilfl i" » situation to put in a good word for nor nttlc labourite . The Queen wonted a keeper of the rotes at the time

      and it was thought , no doubt , a good opportunity , for dispensing a little literary patronage , to give the place ; to one who was just then its female representative * : The appointment was offered and accepted in 1786 . With it came five long years of a very dreary existence for poor Miss Burney . In these days one wonders what made her take it , for she was at this time the most successful novel writer of the day , and a brilliant literary prospect lay before her . She had small liking for the place herself , and had anticipated , what turned out to be true , that she was not suited for it . However , Mrs . Delaney advised , and her father , a courtier and a tuft-hunter to boot , warmly approved . So poor Miss Burney accepted suit and service in a post that was almost menial . The consideration—a man and a maid , board and lodging , and two hundred a year—the offsets , constant and irksome attendance on the royal person , the giving up of all old friends and occupations , and worst of all—a foreed companionship with one Madame Schwellenberg ,

      an old German she dragon , the first keeper of the robes , and therefore Miss Burney ' s immediate superior . This woman , too , was a very incarnation of " hatred , malice , and all uncharitableness ; " and her treatment of her colleague literally infernal . The outer world knows that attendants on kings and queens must be crab-like , walk backwards rather than forwards , and neither be tired , hungry , nor thirsty in royal presence . But the world scarcely expects that acceptance of a court place requires the giving up of old friend s or early habits . Yet so it was in the present case . The time was one of high party strife ; the king and the prince at daggers drawn , and the friends of the one perforce the foe of the other . Poor Miss Burney had friends on both sides , but she soon found that she must know none but those of the Court , and she was given plainly to understand that all literary avocations were inconsistent with the discharge of the important duties of second keeper of the robes .

      x et it is but fair to say that in the Diary before us , the queen and the royal family are almost always drawn in a pleasing and amiable light . The blunt , dull old king , with his " What ! what ! how was it , how came it ! " just as Peter Pandar _ makes him talk , and as his sons talked after him . The queen , as considerate as it was in her nature to be , and the princess always smootb . and gentle . Yet it g ives a strange idea of the strength of court trammels and the bad effect of royal etiquette , that this family , so observant , should be apparently quite unconscious of the many discomforts the observance of such rules entailed on all about them . Even

      when after five years of a dreary , monotonous court life , Misa Burney ' s health entirely gave way , under the effects of uncongenial duties , constant confinement , and the annoyances of an existence spent with Madame Schwellenberg , it was the queen alone who did not notice the change or its cause . Indeed , when Miss Burney at last mustered up courage enough to resign , tbe queen was more annoyed at her for retiring , than at herself for having obliged her to go . During Miss Burney ' s court life the king ' s first attack of insanity occurred , and she was at Kew and Windsor at the time of his strange medical treatment and final recovery . It was on the latter event that the king , being at Weymouth , was saluted , as the royal head emerged from the waves , after its first p lunge , by loyal strains from a loyalist ih an adjoining bathingmachine . It was here , too , that the one-legged mayor , on presentation to the queen , shocked an indignant equerry by taking the royal hand . " You must kneel , sir , " says the offended official . " Alas ! sir , " replies the crestfallen functionary , " I cannot kneel , I have a wooden leg ! ' '

      In 1791 Miss Burney proved herself once more a free woman . Naturally enough she took advantage of the situation , and , within little more than two years , married General D'Arblay . He was a French refugee who had come over from France in 1792 , in company with that more prudent section of the Royalist party , who had vainly tried to stem the torrent of the coming revolution by temperate counsels and attempts at constitutional government . It may liave been the romance of her disposition , or possibly because she was on what we may venture to call the wrong side of forty , and not likely to have another oiler ; but Miss Burney certainly made , what the world calls , a bad match , though , like many such , it turned out a happy one in the main . They had nothing to live on but her literary court allowance of 100 / . a year , and what her writings might bring in . But on this they got along in a humble , scrambling , yet pleasant , free-and-easy way enough .

      Her husband was a very Monsieur de Vortpre in hia love and ignorance ot horticulture . He dug up the asparagus , talcing it pour les mauvaises herbes ; he planted in the autumn what he should have sown in the spring , and vice versa ; ho carefully cut the young wood out of his fruit trees ; in a word , in all " common things , " he was remarkable for a zeal without knowledge . During this early part of her married life , Madame D'Arblay wrote her third and last novel , Camilla , but with , a success far inferior to that of Evelina or Cecilia . In fact her day was gone by , and from this time the world ceases to hear of her as an authoress . In 1799 her husband was permitted to return tp JYancewherelaterlie obtained a civil appointment .

      , , , His native country from this time , till nearly the close of the war , became that of Madame D'Arblay ' s , who returned to England more Trench than English in tastes , habits , and ideas . But , 88 with other ladies , the reader ' s interest in her ceases ¦ when she changes her name . Before her court service the Diary is amusing , because her early fame brought her in contact with a society worthy of being chronicled . The account of the next five years of her lifts , as Keeper of the Robes to Queen Charlotte , is also interesting as a picture of court life and court discomforts . But when Miss Burney becomes Madame D'Arblay uho ceases to be anything more than any othor middleaged married lady .

      Un this account , indeed , the later volumes are rather painful than amusing . . The record of the doaitha of curly friends and associates grows more and more frequent , and between the earlier and the later volumes almost all the well-known names of Miss Uiimoy ' s early time have disappeared . A now goncrntion has grown up— tho French Revolution and its consequences have given the world now notions and wider ideas . Madame D'Arblay , though still interesting as a connecting link between a past and the next generation , has ceased to « ntorcst us in herself or her concerns . But an a pleasant and gossiping record of at former day , the book will always be vuluublo , and wo have httlo doubt that tko present cheap edition will command , as it deserves , a wido-Bpread circulation .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 12, 1854, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12081854/page/20/