Frances Burney

**Frances Burney** (13 June 1752&nbsp;– 6 January 1840) was an English novelist, diarist and playwright. She was also known as **Fanny Burney**. After her marriage, she was known as **Madame d’Arblay**. She was born in King's Lynn, England. She was born to musician Dr Charles Burney (1726&nbsp;– 1814) and Mrs Esther Sleepe Burney (1725&nbsp;– 62). She mostly taught herself. She began writing what she called her "scribblings" when she was ten. Her first novel, *Evelina*, was published in 1778. This novel made her very famous. *Cecilia* came out in 1782. It was an even greater critical . Her major novels, *Evelina*, *Cecilia*, and *Camilla* are about a young girl. The girls are clever and beautiful, but does not have a lot of . The girl goes out into the world and grows in . Her books were liked by Jane Austen. In 1786, she became Second Keeper of the Robes to Queen Charlotte. She wrote many journals and letters. Her journals and letters have interested historians. In 1793, she married a French exile, General Alexandre D'Arblay. They had a son in 1794. His name was Alexander. He was their only son. While living in France from 1802 to 1812, Burney wrote *The Wanderer*. It was a novel about the French Revolution. It was published in 1814. Her last published work was the *Memoirs of Doctor Burney* (1832). She died in London in 6 January 1840. She was buried in Bath near her husband and son.

## Family life 
On 13 June 1752, Frances Burney was born in King's Lynn. She was baptized on the 7th of July. Her older brothers and sisters were Ester (Hetty) (1749&nbsp;– 1832) and James (1750&nbsp;– 1821). Her younger brothers and sisters were Susanna Elizabeth (1755-1800), Charles (1757-1817) and Charlotte Ann (1761&nbsp;– 1838). Susanna Elizabeth became Frances Burney's close friend. James Burney became an admiral. He sailed with Captain James Cook on his second and third trips. The younger Charles Burney was a . Her younger half-sister, Sarah Burney (1772&nbsp;– 1844), also became a novelist. She published five works that she wrote herself. Esther Sleepe Burney also had two boys who died at birth.

### First mother 
Esther Sleepe Burney was three years older than Charles Burney. She had her oldest daughter, Esther, with Charles before they married. She was described by historians as a gentle woman of "warmth and intelligence". It is possible that Esther Burney's French birth influenced Burney's writing. One example is the  between Madame Duval and Captain Mirvan in *Evelina*. It may also have been one reason for her love of and marriage to Alexandre D'Arblay. Fanny was very shocked and sad when she heard that her mother was dead. Her neighbor, Mrs. Pringle, commented. She later said, "...she never saw such affliction" and that Fanny would "take no comfort--& was almost killed with [*sic*] Crying".

Some people have said that Burney may have been shy because of her father. Her brother used to play tricks on her by pretending to teach her to read and giving her a book upside-down. She did not find out that it was actually upside down and tried to read it. William Makepeace Thackeray, the writer of Vanity Fair, was also influenced by Burney. Her first novel, *Evelina*, was a new kind of fiction in English. It was a fiction where women in society were shown in realistic,  ways - the novel of manners. "She showed the manners and morals of polite society with a relish (liking) for the ridiculous (funny) and a respect for the conventional (traditional)".(*Norton Anthology of Literature by Women*, p.&nbsp;242) Burney was the first woman to make the writing of novels "respectable". Her second novel, *Cecilia*, published in 1782, was an even greater critical success. Her third novel, *Camilla*, was very popular; the sale was "4 times that of *Evelina*, & nearly double that of *Cecilia*".

## References
## Other websites 
Verses written with Hester Thrale
Works by Fanny Burney at Project Gutenberg
* Essays by Fanny Burney at Quotidiana.org
* http://www.mytimemachine.co.uk/operation.htm  Fanny Burney's own account of the mastectomy she underwent in 1811.
* Burney Centre at McGill University http://burneycentre.mcgill.ca/ 
* http://dc37.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/burney/  The Burney Society
* Valerie Patten, author biography of Frances Burney (1752-1840)