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Cecilia by Fanny Burney
Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress was published in July 1782. Frances Burney had begun working on the novel in 1780, after her first attempt at writing for the stage in a lively and promising comedy, The Witlings, had been suppressed by her father, Dr Charles Burney, and her literary mentor, Samuel Crisp. The disappointment of this veto on her dramatic venture, and the pressure she felt to produce a work in the more acceptable genre of fiction in order to capitalize on the success of her first novel Evelina, seems to have placed considerable strain on Burney, and may have coloured the tone and content of her second published work.
Cecilia relates the history of Cecilia Beverley, an orphaned heiress who on reaching the age of twenty-one will come into possession of an income of three thousand pounds a year, together with a personal fortune of ten thousand pounds. Her retention of the income, however, is conditional on her future husband's adoption of the name of Beverley upon their marriage. Three guardians act for Cecilia until she reaches her majority: Mr Harrel, a spendthrift man of fashion, Mr Briggs, a miser who has care of Cecilia's fortune, and Mr Delvile, a man of rank who is both foolish and insufferably proud. Pursued by several fortune-hunting suitors, Cecilia lives with the Harrels only to be caught in the toils of their financial ruin as Mr Harrel gambles away his fortune.
By threatening suicide, he is able to extort from Cecilia sums equal to almost all of her personal fortune, and he holds another creditor, Sir Robert Floyer, at bay by promising to promote a marriage with his wealthy ward, despite Cecilia's dislike of the Baronet. Ruined by gambling, Harrel commits suicide at the Vauxhall pleasure gardens, and Cecilia takes up residence in the Delvile household.....
