She took away the reproach which lay on a most useful and delightful species of composition.  She vindicated the right of her sex to an equal share in a fair and noble province of letters.  Several accomplished women have followed in her track.  At present, the novels which we owe to English ladies form no small part of the literary glory of our Country.  No class of works is more honourably distinguished by fine observation, by grace, by delicate wit, by pure moral feeling.  Several among the successors of Madame D’Arblay have equalled her; two, we think, have surpassed her.  But the fact that she has been surpassed gives her an additional claim to our respect and gratitude; for, in truth, we owe to her not only “Evelina,” “Cecilia,” and “Camilla,” but also “Mansfield Park” and “The Absentee.”

(1) Dr. Arne.-Ed.

(2) The lady’s maiden name was Esther Sheepe.  She was, by the mother’s side, of French extraction, from a family of the name of Dubois—­a name which will be remembered as that of one of the characters in her daughter Fanny’s first novel, “Evelina."-Ed.

(3) She was born on the 13th of June, 1752-ed.

(4) This degree was conferred upon him on Friday, the 23rd of June, 1769.-Ed.

(5) The “Early Diary of Frances Burney, from 1768 to 1778,” recently published, throws some new light upon her education.  It is her own statement that her father’s library contained but one novel-’, Amelia " ; yet as a girl we find her acquainted with the works of Richardson and Sterne, of Marivaux and Pr6vost, with “Rasselas” and the “Vicar of Wakefield.” in history and poetry, moreover, she appears to have been fairly well read, and she found constant literary employment as her father’s amanuensis.  As to Voltaire, she notes, on her twenty-first birthday, that she has just finished the “Heoriade”; but her remarks upon the book prove how little she was acquainted with the author.  She thinks he “has made too free with religion in giving words to the Almighty.  But M. Voltaire, I understand, is not a man of very rigid principles at least not in religion” (!).-Ed.

(6) This is not quite accurate.  Burney secured the relic in the manner described, not, however, to gratify his own enthusiasm, but to comply with the request of his friend Mr. Bewley, of Massingham, Norfolk, that he would procure for him some memento of the great Dr. Johnson.  The tuft of the Doctor’s hearth-broom, which Burney sent him, half in jest, was preserved with the greatest care by its delighted recipient.  “He thinks it more precious than pearls,” wrote Fanny. ("Early Diary,” vol. i, p. 169.) This incident occurred in 1760.-Ed.

(7) The “Early Diary,” however, proves that, in spite of her shyness, Fanny was very much at home in the brilliant society which congregated at her father’s house, and occasionally took her full share in the conversation.  Nor do we find her by any means avoiding the diversions common to young ladies of her age and station.  She goes to dances, to the play, to the Opera, to Ranelagh, and even, on one memorable occasion, to a masquerade--"a very private one,” however."-Ed.