Yes, my child, thy happiness is engraved in golden characters upon the tablets of my heart; and their impression is indelible: for, should the rude and deep-searching hand of Misfortune attempt to pluck them from their repository, the fleeting fabric of life would give way; and in tearing from my vitals the nourishment by which they are supported, she would but grasp at a shadow insensible to her touch.
Give thee my consent?-Oh thou joy, comfort, and pride of my life, how cold is that word to express the fervency of my approbation! Yes, I do indeed give thee my consent; and so thankfully, that, with the humblest gratitude to Providence, I would seal it with the remnant of my days.
Hasten then, my love, to bless me with thy presence, and to receive the blessings with which my fond heart overflows!-And oh, my Evelina, hear and assist in one only, humble, but ardent prayer, which yet animates my devotions: That the height of bliss to which thou art rising may not render thee giddy, but that the purity of thy mind may form the brightest splendour of thy prosperity!-and that the weak and aged frame of thy almost idolizing parent, nearly worn out by time, past afflictions, and infirmities, may yet be able to sustain a meeting with all its better part holds dear; and then, that all the wounds which the former severity of fortune inflicted, may be healed and purified by the ultimate consolation of pouring forth my dying words in blessings on my child!-closing these joy-streaming eyes in her presence, and breathing my last faint sighs in her loved arms!
Grieve not, oh child of my care! Grieve not at the inevitable moment! but may thy own end be equally propitious! Oh, may’st thou, when full of days, and full of honour, sink down as gently to rest!-be loved as kindly, watched as tenderly, as thy happy father! And mayest thou, when thy glass is run, be sweetly, but not bitterly, mourned by some remaining darling of thy affections-some yet surviving Evelina! ARTHUR VILLARS.
LETTER LXXXIV.
EVELINA TO THE REV. MR. VILLARS.
ALL is over, my dearest Sir; and the fate of your Evelina is decided! This morning, with fearful joy and trembling gratitude, she united herself for ever with the object of her dearest, her eternal affection.
I have time for no more; the chaise now waits which is to conduct me to dear Berry Hill, and to the arms of the best of men.
EVELINA. THE END.
CECILIA
OR, MEMOIRS OF AN HEIRESS
Cecilia: Or, Memories of an Heiress was first published in 1782 in London by T. Payne and Son, and T. Cadell. It was Burney’s second novel and like its predecessor proved to be a great commercial success at home and also in the international market. The author began to write the work in 1780 while she was staying with family friend Samuel Crisp, and finally completed it ready for publication eighteen months later. The process of composing the novel was a difficult and pressurised experience for Burney, as she suffered from familial stress and concerns about the need to capitalise on the success of her debut work. Cecilia was in some respects a more ambitious novel than Evelina; it was vastly greater in length and Burney switched narrative style from the epistolary form to third person narration, allowing greater breadth of characterisation and a more thorough exploration of London society. The novel was an influential text and was referenced in other books including Northanger Abbey, Persuasion and Thackeray’s Vanity Fair.
The novel centres on the young, naïve and generous Cecilia, who is a twenty-year-old orphan that will come into her uncle’s fortune when she is of age. However, an important stipulation regarding her inheritance is that any man she marries must take her surname. She leaves her country home to travel to London to stay with one of her three designated guardians, Mr Harrel, who is the husband of one of Cecilia’s old school friends. The heroine quickly meets a host of lively, but mostly dubious characters, including her other two unsuitable guardians, and her potential husbands, Mr Arnott, Sir Robert Floyer and Mortimer Delvile. The latter suitor is Cecilia’s preferred choice of partner, but as was common in Burney’s novels, their relationship is complex and often painful as they misinterpret the other’s behaviour and have their desires thwarted by their friends, families and associates. Burney undermines the difficulties and obstacles facing the young girl as she attempts to find her identity in a world of oppressive and inhibiting social rules.
An interesting feature of Cecilia is the author’s exploration of the pressures surrounding young women and their financial status and the potential dangers confronting them when matters of their wealth become public. Cecilia’s fortune is depleted by her unscrupulous and profligate guardian Mr Harrel, who squanders her money on gambling debts. She is an object of public scrutiny, not only as a woman, but as one with a specific financial situation that directly relates to her ‘marriageability’ and ability to transfer property from one man to another. A significant element contributing to the protagonist’s mental breakdown is the removal of her fortune; it results in a loss of independence and agency as she is mistaken for a prostitute and madwoman, and imprisoned in a shop, where she can be understood to be an object on display as a piece of property waiting to be owned.
Title page from the first edition
CONTENTS
VOLUME I.
PREFACE
THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE TO MISS F. BURNEY. (AFTER READING CECILIA.)
EDM. BURKE
ADVERTISEMENT.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I. — A JOURNEY.
CHAPTER II. — AN ARGUMENT.
CHAPTER III. — AN ARRIVAL.
CHAPTER IV. — A SKETCH OF HIGH LIFE.
CHAPTER V. — AN ASSEMBLY.
CHAPTER VI. — A BREAKFAST.
CHAPTER VII. — A PROJECT.
CHAPTER VIII. — AN OPERA REHEARSAL.
CHAPTER IX. — A SUPPLICATION.
CHAPTER X. — A PROVOCATION.
CHAPTER XI. — A NARRATION.
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I. — A MAN OF WEALTH
CHAPTER II. — A MAN OF FAMILY.
CHAPTER III. — A MASQUERADE.
CHAPTER IV. — AN AFFRAY.
CHAPTER V. — A FASHIONABLE FRIEND.
CHAPTER VI. — A FAMILY PARTY.
CHAPTER VII. — AN EXAMINATION.
CHAPTER VIII. — A TETE A TETE.
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I. — AN APPLICATION.
CHAPTER II. — A PERPLEXITY.
CHAPTER III. — AN ADMONITION.
CHAPTER IV. — AN EVASION.
CHAPTER V. — AN ADVENTURE.
CHAPTER VI. — A MAN OF GENIUS.
CHAPTER VII. — AN EXPEDIENT.
CHAPTER VIII. — A REMONSTRANCE.
CHAPTER IX. — A VICTORY.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I. — A COMPLAINT.
CHAPTER II. — A SYMPATHY.
CHAPTER III. — A CONFLICT.
CHAPTER IV. — AN EXPECTATION.
CHAPTER V. — AN AGITATION.
CHAPTER VI. — A MAN OF THE TON.
CHAPTER VII. — A REPROOF.
CHAPTER VIII. — A MISTAKE.
CHAPTER IX. — AN EXPLANATION.
VOLUME II.
CHAPTER X. — A MURMURING.
BOOK V.
CHAPTER I. — A ROUT.
CHAPTER II. — A BROAD HINT.
CHAPTER III. — AN ACCOMMODATION.
CHAPTER IV. — A DETECTION.
CHAPTER V. — A SARCASM.
CHAPTER VI. — A SURMISE.
CHAPTER VII. — A BOLD STROKE.
CHAPTER VIII. — A MISER’S MANSION.
CHAPTER IX. — A DECLARATION.
CHAPTER X. — A GAMESTER’S CONSCIENCE.
CHAPTER XI. — A PERSECUTION.
CHAPTER XII. — A MAN OF BUSINESS.
CHAPTER XIII. — A SOLUTION.
BOOK VI
CHAPTER I. — A DEBATE.
CHAPTER II. — A RAILING.
CHAPTER III. — AN ANTIQUE MANSION.
CHAPTER IV. — A RATTLE.
CHAPTER V. — A STORM.
CHAPTER
VI. — A MYSTERY.
CHAPTER VII. — AN ANECDOTE.
CHAPTER VIII. — A CONFERENCE.
CHAPTER IX. — AN ATTACK.
CHAPTER X. — A RETREAT.
CHAPTER XI. — A WORRY.
BOOK VII.
CHAPTER I. — A RENOVATION.
CHAPTER II. — A VISIT.
CHAPTER III. — AN INCIDENT.
CHAPTER IV. — A PROPOSITION.
CHAPTER V. — A LETTER.
CHAPTER VI. — A DISCUSSION.
CHAPTER VII. — A RETROSPECTION.
CHAPTER VIII. — AN EMBARRASSMENT.
CHAPTER IX. — A TORMENT.
BOOK VIII.
CHAPTER I
AN INTERRUPTION.
VOLUME III.
CHAPTER II. — AN EVENT.
CHAPTER III. — A CONSTERNATION.
CHAPTER IV. — A PERTURBATION.
CHAPTER V. — A COTTAGE.
CHAPTER VI. — A CONTEST.
CHAPTER VII. — A MESSAGE.
CHAPTER VII. — A PARTING.
CHAPTER VIII. — A TALE.
CHAPTER IX. — A SHOCK.
BOOK IX.
CHAPTER I. — A COGITATION.
CHAPTER II. — A SURPRIZE.
CHAPTER III. — A CONFABULATION.
CHAPTER IV. — A WRANGLING.
CHAPTER V. — A SUSPICION.
CHAPTER VI. — A DISTURBANCE.
CHAPTER VII. — A CALM.
CHAPTER VIII. — AN ALARM.
CHAPTER IX. — A SUSPENSE.
CHAPTER X. — A RELATION.
CHAPTER XI. — AN ENTERPRISE.
BOOK X.
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II. — AN INTERVIEW.
CHAPTER III. — A SUMMONS.
CHAPTER IV. — A DELIBERATION.
CHAPTER V. — A DECISION.
CHAPTER VI. — A PRATING.
CHAPTER VII. — A PURSUIT.
CHAPTER VII. — AN ENCOUNTER.
CHAPTER IX. — A TRIBUTE.
CHAPTER X. — A TERMINATION.
VOLUME I.
PREFACE
“Fanny’s Cecilia came out last summer, and is as much liked and read, I believe, as any book ever was,” wrote Charlotte Burney in Jan. 1783. “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 two thousand at the first edition, and Lowndes told me five hundred was the common number for a novel.” {Footnote: The Early Diary of Frances Burney, with a selection from her correspondence, and from the journals of her sisters Susan and Charlotte Burney. Edited by Annie Raine Ellis. 1889. Vol. II. .}
The manuscript of Cecilia was submitted to Dr Burney and Mr Crisp during its composition, and their suggestions were in some cases adopted, as we learn from the Diary. Dr Johnson was not consulted, but a desire at once to imitate and to please him evidently controlled the work.
Under these circumstances it is naturally less fresh and spontaneous than Evelina, but it is more mature. The touch is surer and the plot more elaborate. We cannot to-day fully appreciate the “conflict scene between mother and son,” for which, Miss Burney tells us, the book was written; but the pictures of eighteenth century affectations are all alive, and the story is thoroughly absorbing, except, perhaps, in the last book.
Miss Burney often took the name of her characters from her acquaintances, and it seems probable that some of the “types” in Cecilia are also drawn from real life. The title of Miss Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was borrowed from Cecilia, and some points of resemblance may be traced between the two novels.
The present edition is reprinted from: —
CECILIA, or, Memoirs of an Heiress. By the author of Evelina. In five volumes. London: Printed for T. Payne and Son, at the Newsgate, and T. Cadell in the Strand. MDCCLXXXII. R. B. J.
THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE TO MISS F. BURNEY. (AFTER READING CECILIA.)
Madam, — I should feel exceedingly to blame if I could refuse to myself the natural satisfaction, and to you the just but poor return, of my best thanks for the very great instruction and entertainment I have received from the new present you have bestowed on the public. There are few — I believe I may say fairly there are none at all — that will not find themselves better informed concerning human nature, and their stock of observation enriched, by reading your “Cecilia.” They certainly will, let their experience in life and manners be what it may. The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth. You have crowded into a few small volumes an incredible variety of characters; most of them well planned, well supported, and well contrasted with each other. If there be any fault in this respect, it is one in which you are in no great danger of being imitated. Justly as your characters are drawn, perhaps they are too numerous. But I beg pardon; I fear it is quite in vain to preach economy to those who are come young to excessive and sudden opulence.
I might trespass on your delicacy if I should fill my letter to you with what I fill my conversation to others. I should be troublesome to you alone if I should tell you all I feel and think on the natural vein of humour, the tender pathetic, the comprehensive and noble moral, and the sagacious observation, that appear quite throughout that extraordinary performance.
In an age distinguished by producing extraordinary women, I hardly dare to tell you where my opinion would place you amongst them. I respect your modesty, that will not endure the commendations which your merit forces from everybody.
I have the honour to be, with great gratitude, respect, and esteem, madam, your most obedient and most humble servant,
EDM. BURKE
WHITEHALL, July 19, 1782.
My best compliments and congratulations to Dr Burney on the great honour acquired to his family.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The indulgence shewn by the Public to Evelina, which, unpatronized, unaided, and unowned, past through Four Editions in one Year, has encouraged its Author to risk this SECOND attempt. The animation of success is too universally acknowledged, to make the writer of the following sheets dread much censure of temerity; though the precariousness of any power to give pleasure, suppresses all vanity of confidence, and sends CECILIA into the world with scarce more hope, though far more encouragement, than attended her highly-honoured predecessor, Evelina.
July, 1782
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I. — A JOURNEY.
“Peace to the spirits of my honoured parents, respected be their remains, and immortalized their virtues! may time, while it moulders their frail relicks to dust, commit to tradition the record of their goodness; and Oh, may their orphan-descendant be influenced through life by the remembrance of their purity, and be solaced in death, that by her it was unsullied!”
Such was the secret prayer with which the only survivor of the Beverley family quitted the abode of her youth, and residence of her forefathers; while tears of recollecting sorrow filled her eyes, and obstructed the last view of her native town which had excited them.
Cecilia, this fair traveller, had lately entered into the one-and-twentieth year of her age. Her ancestors had been rich farmers in the county of Suffolk, though her father, in whom a spirit of elegance had supplanted the rapacity of wealth, had spent his time as a private country gentleman, satisfied, without increasing his store, to live upon what he inherited from the labours of his predecessors. She had lost him in her early youth, and her mother had not long survived him. They had bequeathed to her 10,000 pounds, and consigned her to the care of the Dean of —— — , her uncle. With this gentleman, in whom, by various contingencies, the accumulated possessions of a rising and prosperous family were centred, she had passed the last four years of her life; and a few weeks only had yet elapsed since his death, which, by depriving her of her last relation, made her heiress to an estate of 3000 pounds per annum; with no other restriction than that of annexing her name, if she married, to the disposal of her hand and her riches.
But
though thus largely indebted to fortune, to nature she had yet greater obligations: her form was elegant, her heart was liberal; her countenance announced the intelligence of her mind, her complexion varied with every emotion of her soul, and her eyes, the heralds of her speech, now beamed with understanding and now glistened with sensibility.
For the short period of her minority, the management of her fortune and the care of her person, had by the Dean been entrusted to three guardians, among whom her own choice was to settle her residence: but her mind, saddened by the loss of all her natural friends, coveted to regain its serenity in the quietness of the country, and in the bosom of an aged and maternal counsellor, whom she loved as her mother, and to whom she had been known from her childhood.
The Deanery, indeed, she was obliged to relinquish, a long repining expectant being eager, by entering it, to bequeath to another the anxiety and suspense he had suffered himself; though probably without much impatience to shorten their duration in favour of the next successor; but the house of Mrs Charlton, her benevolent friend, was open for her reception, and the alleviating tenderness of her conversation took from her all wish of changing it.
Here she had dwelt since the interment of her uncle; and here, from the affectionate gratitude of her disposition, she had perhaps been content to dwell till her own, had not her guardians interfered to remove her.
Reluctantly she complied; she quitted her early companions, the friend she most revered, and the spot which contained the relicks of all she had yet lived to lament; and, accompanied by one of her guardians, and attended by two servants, she began her journey from Bury to London.
Mr Harrel, this gentleman, though in the prime of his life, though gay, fashionable and splendid, had been appointed by her uncle to be one of her trustees; a choice which had for object the peculiar gratification of his niece, whose most favourite young friend Mr Harrel had married, and in whose house he therefore knew she would most wish to live.
Whatever good-nature could dictate or politeness suggest to dispel her melancholy, Mr Harrel failed not to urge; and Cecilia, in whose disposition sweetness was tempered with dignity, and gentleness with fortitude, suffered not his kind offices to seem ineffectual; she kissed her hand at the last glimpse a friendly hill afforded of her native town, and made an effort to forget the regret with which she lost sight of it. She revived her spirits by plans of future happiness, dwelt upon the delight with which she should meet her young friend, and, by accepting his consolation, amply rewarded his trouble.
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