The reputation of Frances Burney (1752-1840) was largely established with her first novel, Evelina. Published anonymously in 1778, it is an epistolary account of a sheltered young woman's entrance into society and her experience of family. Its comedy ranges from the violent practical joking reminiscent of Smollett's fiction to witty repartee that influenced Austen.

The Broadview edition is based on the second edition of the novel (1779), which incorporates Burney's revisions and corrections. Its appendices include contemporary reviews of Evelina as well as eighteenth-century works on the family and on comedy.

Comments:

"Longtime admirers of Frances Burney's delightful eighteenth-century comedy of manners, Evelina, will no doubt rejoice in Broadview's impressive new edition of the work, here ably introduced and annotated by Susan Kubica Howard. Readers new to the novel have a treat in store. Evelina remains, quite simply, the most accomplished and insouciant comic novel written by an Englishwoman before Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and coruscates anew in the handsome presentation it is given here." - Terry Castle, Stanford University

"Susan Kubica Howard's research is impressively detailed, yet accessibly presented so that the edition will serve both seasoned scholars in the field and readers who may be encountering Evelina for the first time." - Audrey Bilger, Claremont McKenna College

Susan Kubica Howard is an associate professor of English at Duquesne University, and the editor of Charlotte Lennox's The Life of Harriet Stuart, Written by Herself (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1995).

Table of Contents: [Back to Top]

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Frances Burney: A Brief Chronology

Note on the Text

Evelina

Introduction to Appendices

Appendix A: Contemporary Reviews

1. London Review (February 1778)
2. Monthly Review (April 1778)
3. Westminster Magazine (June 1778)
4. Gentleman's Magazine (September 1778)
5. Critical Review (September 1778)

Appendix B: Contemporary Works on Family

1. George Savile, Marquis of Halifax, The Lady’s New-Year's-Gift
2. William Fleetwood, The Relative Duties of Parents and Children, Husbands and Wives, Masters and Servants
3. Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, "Correspondence with her Granddaughter, Diana, Duchess of Bedford, 1732-35." Letters of a Grandmother 1732-35
4. Samuel Richardson, Letters Written To and For Particular Friends, on the Most Important Occasions
5. [John Hill]. On the Management and Education of Children
6. Samuel Richardson, A Collection of the Moral and Instructive Sentiments, Maxims, Cautions, and Reflexions, Contained in the Histories of PAMELA
7. James Nelson, An Essay on the Government of Children
8. Eliza Haywood, The Female Spectator
9. Lady Sarah Pennington, An Unfortunate Mother’s Advice to Her Absent Daughters
10. "Portia" [pseud.], The Polite Lady
11. Hester Mulso Chapone, Letters on the Improvement of the Mind
12. Clara Reeve, Plans of Education
13. Mrs. Bonhote, The Parental Monitor
14. Thomas Gisborne, An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex
15. Maria Edgeworth and Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Practical Education
16. Frances Burney D'Arblay, Memoirs of Doctor Burney

Appendix C: Contemporary Works on Comedy

1. Anon., Pasquil’s Jests, Mixed with Mother Bunches Merriments
2. Joseph Addison, The Spectator (1711)
3. Anon., Scogin’s Jests (1626)
4. [John Mottley], Joe Miller's Jest Book (1739)
5. [Corbyn Morris], An Essay Towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Raillery, Satire, and Ridicule
6. Eliza Haywood, The Female Spectator (1744-46)
7. Jane Collier, An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting
8. Christopher Anstey, The New Bath Guide
9. [James Quin], Quin’s Jests
10. Anon., An Essay on Laughter
11. William Hazlitt, Lectures on the English Comic Writers

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