CAMILLA LACEY

Leatherhead Local History Society - 2002

 

NOVEMBER - Fanny Burney in Surrey, given by our president, Linda Heath, on the 250th anniversary of the death of the writer, the first English authoress to make a name for herself, before Jane Austen, the Brontes or George Elliot.

Fanny was born in Kings Lynn the daughter of Charles Burney, a Doctor of Music and eminent musicologist. She was one of 8 children, joined by 5 more when her father married for a second time. She was especially close to her sister Susan and it was through her that she eventually came to live in Surrey. The family was a cultured one and Fanny met Dr. Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke and other celebrities when the family moved to live in London. She became influenced by a family friend, Samuel Crisp, who lived at Chessington, then in the depths of the Surrey countryside.

Fanny was of small build and in indifferent health throughout her life, always frail and easily fatigued. She was shy and hated publicity, and was a mixture of conservatism and progressiveness, with a desire to please, timid yet morally and physically courageous. She started writing her journal at the age of 15 and her first novel, Evelina, was written in 1778 when aged 26 and staying with Samuel Crisp at Chessington. It is written in the form of correspondence and is perhaps the most difficult of her novels for a modern reader to enjoy.

It was published anonymously and in great secrecy, her stepmother having warned her that to be known as a 'scribbler' would count against her eligibility in marriage. The book was an enormous success, everyone trying to guess who might have written it, no-one identifying Fanny as the author, or even that it was by a woman. Eventually the truth came out and she was hailed as a real authoress and achieved considerable fame and celebrity, though alas not a deal of money, owing to the terms of her contract.

In 1782 her second novel, Cecilia was published, again selling well and again making more money for the publisher than for Fanny. She was particularly good at writing of events and people and their dialogues, but rarely gave visual descriptions of places or people, maybe due to her poor eyesight. Jane Austen always gave due acknowledgement to the debt she owed to Fanny for her character writing. In 1786 Fanny, now 34, was offered a position at Court as second keeper of the Robes to Queen Charlotte, wife of George III. She took the post mainly to please her father, realising that it would curtail her writing. She left the court in 1791 with a pension of £100 p.a. for life.

Meanwhile the French Revolution had created havoc and a group of emigrés, known as Constitutionalists, came and settled in Juniper Hall at Mickleham. Fanny was appraised of this by her sister Susan who was living at Mickleham. Susan and her husband, Capt. Phillips were great friends of William Lock and his wife of Norbury. They all visited the emigrés at Juniper Hall and they in turn were welcome guests of the Locks. Fanny came to visit her sister in late January 1793 to find the emigrés in a state of distress following the execution of their king, Louis XVI.

At Juniper Hall she met General Comte Alexandre d'Arblay who had been adjutant to Lafayette but was now penniless in a foreign country. Fanny wrote to her father that she was staying on with her sister to teach d'Arblay English while he would teach her French. She could already read French but was diffident in speaking it.

Dr. Burney, a staunch royalist,  was unhappy, looking on all French emigrés as potential revolutionaries. Although Fanny was by now 40 her father forbade her to accept an invitation to stay at Juniper Hall. She reluctantly acquiesced, largely for fear of upsetting Queen Charlotte and jeopardising her pension which was her sole source of income.

d'Arblay, within two months of meeting Fanny, proposed marriage, but he had neither money or position, his estates had been confiscated, he was a Catholic and England was at war with France. Dr. Burney was dismayed and Fanny realised the potential social ostracism that she would face if she married d'Arblay and was worried that their financial impecunity might ultimately cause him regrets, for they would only have Fanny's £100 pension to live on.

They decided to marry anyway and the ceremony took place at Mickleham church on 28 July 1793, six months after they had met. They started life in rented rooms at Phenice Farm in Dorking Road at the foot of Blagden Hill. By November they moved to the house now known as The Hermitage in Lower Road. Bookham, opposite the church.

Dr. Burney became reconciled to the marriage and corresponded regularly with Fanny. In December 1794, when Fanny was 41, their only child was born. He was christened Alexandre in St. Nicholas church by the Rev. Samuel Cooke, Jane Austen's godfather. Fanny revised a play, Edwy and Edwiga which was read by Sheridan and performed in London in March 1795. It was under-rehearsed and poorly produced and was taken off after one performance.

Fanny now published her third novel, Camilla, or A Picture of Youth, which was written almost entirely at Bookham in less than six months. It is in five volumes, reaching over 900 pages in today's paperback edition. It had mixed reviews but sold well, 3,500 copies being bought in the first three months. Fanny was delighted as it turned out a financial success for her.

With the money from Camilla the d'Arblays built a cottage on a plot of land given them by William Lock, which was called Camilla Lacey. Unfortunately they did not own the land and when William Lock's son in due course sold Norbury Park the cottage too had to be sold. In 1801, d'Arblay was free once more to return to France, which he did with his family. Unfortunately war once again broke out and it was not until after Waterloo that Fanny was able to return to England. She subsequently said that her years in Surrey were the happiest of her life.

To conclude her most informative and interesting lecture Linda read extracts from Fanny Burney's work and showed some excellent slides of the area in which Fanny and her husband had lived in Surrey.
Gordon Knowles