THE EARLY DIARY OF FRANCES B1JRNEY.* THE opinion of most
readers on perusing the Early Diary of Miss Burney would probably separate itself into three distinct expressions,—firstly, a feeling of gratified surprise at finding a diary so interesting; secondly, some astonishment at the youth of the writer; and, thirdly, a faint, indefinable sense of jealousy at the ease with which a comparatively uneducated woman of a hundred years ago could clothe her thoughts, record her observations of men and manners, and reproduce accurately pages and pages of animated dialogue. Her know- ledge of literature and her spelling were inferior to what the most casual application can effect in these days of cheap printing. The references to books which Miss Burney makes in ten years of diary can be counted on the fingers. We must not forget, indeed, the great social advantages she had. From the simple use of the gift which she possessed of observing quickly a few striking characteristics, and making a rapid mental sketch, we are enabled to see the men and women of the Diary move to and fro, bow to each other, and listen while they alternately flatter and make the retort courteous or a neat repartee. This gift of observing accurately and minutely, and expressing the result in good homely English, belongs in some degree to all women of quick sympathy and ready wit. Has not De Quincey told us that if we wish to read English written in its most nervous and idiomatic style, we must break open the letters of unmarried ladies between certain ages P No doubt letter- writing as an art has sunk greatly during the last fifty years. In those days, the opportunity was for all, both men and women ; in these, it is the prerogative of the women alone, and s few only of them. Fanny was not the only Burney who could write a good letter. The editor has put it within our power to compare her sisters' letters with her own. Charlotte Anne's and Susan's letters possess some of the qualities which make Fanny's correspondence so fascinating. Maria Allen, who was no Burney, could write a letter, full of the most grotesque spelling and revealing a thorough contempt for grammar, indeed, but which literally sparkles with playful wit, humorous allusions, and a rapidity of thought only equalled by the ease with which it flows. Even Fanny's letters were not more spontaneous, though superior in many other respects. Mr. Crisp was fully aware of the value of this spontaneity of thought. When Fanny hinted that her letters were probably not interesting to him, he wrote back in a half-fearful and half-angry tone, and rated her soundly for suggesting the idea. He is never tired of protesting with an almost painful anxiety his delight in the letters, and his greed for "more, more, more."
Mrs. Barrett's Diary of Madame D'Arblay, we may remind
• The Early Diary of Princes Burnt 17684778 with a Selection from her sp
Correondence, and from the Journals of her Sisters, Susan and Charlotte Burney. Edited by Annie Baum Ellis. 2 vole. London: George Bell and Son& our readers, covers the years 1778 to 1840. Annie Raine Ellis has edited the Diary up to 1778, when Evelina was published ; thus the Burney Memoirs are now complete. The Early Diary resembles the later inasmuch as it possesses the same qualities which distinguished Evelina, and delighted Dr. Johnson so much,—" observation, good sense, humour, discernment, and a power of expressing them." But the diaries of these first ten years possess other qualities which we might reasonably expect from the work of a young girl. They overflow with charming nonsense, and little affectionate touches which show how strong was the family loyalty of the Blarneys. Details of all sorts are put down, impressions, good or bad, of people she met, often hasty, but seldom unjust. Fanny had a keen eye for the ridiculous and the affected, and yet, in spite of her youth, she is ever ready to judge people apart from any unfortunate mannerisms they might have acquired. The hold which she gained over her friends' hearts was doubtless due to the fact that they recog- nised in her a charity rare in one so young, and unusual at any age. Dr. Johnson, it is pleasant to think, could appreciate at its worth what he, a man, and an old one too, found some difficulty in practising. Fanny's reason for keeping a journal was that she might have " some account of my thoughts, manners, acquaintances, and actions. It is to be a journal in which I must confess my every thought, must open my whole heart. But a thing of this kind," she adds, " must be addressed to somebody," and she goes on to explain that " Nobody" is the fittest person to confide in. That she kept her promise to be open and unreserved, the internal evidence of the Diary places beyond dispute. The fullness and redundancy of thought, the quickness with which she jumps from one line of thought to another, her easily aroused enthu- siasm, the use of strong adjectives, and particularly slang, each and all prove that she did not stop to exercise selection, but wrote everything down as it came into her head. And if we grant her the qualities of observation and discernment, the fact that she could turn a neat sentence, sketch a char- acter in a few well-chosen words, and occasionally sit in judgment on her acquaintances, need not cause us any sur- prise. The most useful gift which Fanny possessed, from the literary point of view, was the power of reproducing actual scenes and dialogue, a gift which, for want of a better word, we may call realism. It is this which ensured such instant recognition amongst her contemporaries for the characters in Evelina. Everybody, we are told, had some favourite man or woman whom they quoted frequently. Surer proof than this of the fact that they recognised a single or composite photograph of an individual or a class, we do not want. This quickness of observation, somewhat superficial it is true, becomes evident as soon as she begins to write. In the Diary for 1770, we have a lively and entertaining account of a masquerade, and the conversation which took place between. Fanny and a Nun. No better guide to the manners and modes of speech of that time could have been left to us, even by a shorthand reporter. In other parts of the Diary we are able to commiserate with Fanny over the customs of polite conversation, especially the prevailing fashion of gallantry. Mr. Crispen. and Mr. Twiss were masters of this art, which consisted in addressing the ladies of their acquaintance as if they were violently in love with all of them, and carried it to an absurd extent. We can imagine the torture which this pleasant fooling gave to the bashful Fanny; so strong was the custom, however, that she does not seem to have thought of retaliating. It was not until the devoted Barlow, who was seriously in love, avails himself of another custom and kisses her, that the shy, modest, and much. astonished Fanny rises in wrath. Mr. Barlow pressed his suit with an obstinacy that even won an unwilling admiration from its object. His letter of proposal is given, and is a most extraordinary specimen of its kind, fully bearing out the con- clusion Fanny drew from his conversation, that " he had read more than he had conversed." Miss Burney's enthusiastic readers declared that she ought to write a comedy. Mrs. Montague, indeed, sounded a note of warning, and pointed out the case of the great Fielding as one who, though a master in his own line, failed on the stage. It would have been well if Miss Burney had taken the hint. As we know, she was per- suaded into a delusion which has been and will be current to the end of time.
Miss Burney, had she chosen, might have charmed us with
some sketches of country life, for she went to Lynn, Teign- mouth, Worcester, and Chesington. And in her Teignmouth journal she does give us a bright and lively description of some horse-races, an adventure at sea, and the fisherwomen and their rowing. In all these scenes, however, she has an eye more for the human aspect of things than for any natural or scenic effects. Nothing reveals this looking at things from a merely social standpoint more plainly than the story of the boating cruise to Torbay, and the failure of the party to return further than Brigham. In imminent danger of being wrecked, and much frightened, she is yet able to note the behaviour of all on board,—how Mr. Harrel so far forgot his cloth as to swear, always, however, 'asking forgiveness the next moment ; how Mrs. Harrel burst into tears, and wanted him to put back to Brigham, and Mr. Hurrel's answer : " But where are we to dine ?" She admires Teignmonth for its beautiful situation, and speaks, it is true casually, of the "rural beauties" of Devonshire. But Miss Burney no doubt agreed with Pope that " the proper study of mankind is man ;" and it is in the department of elegant life and its finer distinc- tions of character, that she is more at home. For an example of Miss Burney's skill in delineating with plenty of detail a great number of people, there is nothing better in these two volumes than the Worcester journal of the year 1777. It is easy enough, indeed, for the most careless reader to detect a difference between this and the earlier portions of her journals. Miss Burney was writing Evelina, and it appears to have exercised some effect on her style, which she takes more pains to render pointed and antithetical. Some critics will declare that Dr. Johnson's influence was already beginning to affect her style for the worse; and they would not, we think, be hasty in doing so. It must be confessed that while the first years of the Diary depend for their charm on a sustained freshness and flow, when this wears off, not even the increased confidence which the writer• undoubtedly felt quite reconciles us to the loss. If we were asked to compare these volumes with the Diary of Madame D'Arblay, we should un- hesitatingly prefer the earlier work to the later. Both are equally bright and readable; perhaps Miss Burney is at her best in the Court journal, which is written, indeed, with an extraordinary sympathy for the sufferings of the Royal family. The Diary up to the year 1778 has, however, one advantage ; it is her Early Diary. We can trace the growth and expansion of her art. She did not, we say, lose that art, but it remained at a standstill. In after-life she expresses herself more soberly, and we miss, too, that continuous flow of spirits. The feeling that she, a woman of great sensibility, expresses at the exposure of her own " innermost thoughts " to everybody, sufficiently explains the change we must expect to find in her journal after the publication of Evelina. That event divides her writing into two distinct portions, one by a girl who laid bare the secrets of her heart, the other by a woman ; and in this seemingly unjust comparison lies the whole difference.
It is time now that the labours of the editor should receive the mention they well deserve. Miss Burney has been for- tunate in possessing so sympathetic and painstaking an editor. The biographical notes are of the most interesting character, and must embody a vast amount of research. So interesting are they as sometimes to distract the reader's attention. The Burneys, indeed, knew everybody, from Omai, the Pacific Islander, to Eugene Aram, the gentle usher. We are given the fullest possible account of the journals and letters, of the condition in which they have come down to us, and of the extent to which Madame D'Arblay edited her youthful recollections. Of the labour of examining and tran- scribing them we can have no adequate idea, but it must have been considerable. The editor tells us that the work has been its own reward ; and that we can well believe. The editor's judgment is well shown by her incorporation of several interesting letters from Fanny's sisters and other members of the Burney circle. These two volumes are really full of interest, and we are sure that no one who wishes to learn more about Miss Burney and the social life of the last century will long delay the perusal of them.
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