Frances Burney

Novelist, diarist, playwright also known as Fanny Burney and Madame d’Arblay. All Burney’s novels explore the lives of English aristocrats and satirise their social pretensions and personal foibles, with an eye to larger questions such as the politics of female identity. With one exception, Burney never succeeded in having her plays performed, largely due to objections from her father, who thought that publicity from such an effort would be damaging to her reputation. The exception was Edwy and Elgiva, which was not well received by the public and closed after the first night’s performance despite having Sarah Siddons in the cast.From her fifteenth year Frances lived in the midst of a brilliant social circle, gathered round her father in Poland Street, and later in St Martin’s Street. Garrick was a constant visitor, and would arrive before eight o’clock in the morning. Of the various “lyons” they entertained she leaves a graphic account, notably of Omai, the young man from Raiatea, and of Alexis Orlov, a favourite of Catherine the Great. She first met Dr Johnson at her father’s home in March 1777.Married General Alexandre d’Arblay, French emigre and supported the family through her writings.