in this manner passed on, quick though occupied, and happy though toilsome, nine or ten years
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in norfolk; when the health of mr. burney being re-established, and his rising reputation demanding a wider field for expansion, a sort of cry was raised amongst his early friends to spur his return to the metropolis.
fully, however, as he felt the flattery of that cry, and ill as, in its origin, he had been satisfied with his lynn residence, he had now experienced from that town and its vicinity, so much true kindness, and cordial hospitality, that his reluctance to quit them was verging upon renouncing such a measure; when he received the following admonition upon the subject from his first friend, and earliest guide, mr. crisp.
“to mr. burney.
* * *
“i have no more to say, my dear burney, about harpsichords: and if you remain amongst your foggy aldermen, i shall be the more indifferent whether i have one or not. but really, among friends, is not settling at lynn, planting your youth, genius, hopes, fortune, &c., against a north wall? can you ever expect ripe, high-flavoured fruit, from such an aspect? your underrate prices in the town, and galloping about the country for higher, especially in the winter—are they worthy of your talents? in all professions, do you not see every thing that has the least pretence to genius, fly up to the capital—the centre of riches,
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luxury, taste, pride, extravagance,—all that ingenuity is to fatten upon? take, then, your spare person, your pretty mate, and your brats, to that propitious mart, and,
‘seize the glorious, golden opportunity,’
while yet you have youth, spirits, and vigour to give fair play to your abilities, for placing them and yourself in a proper point of view. and so i give you my blessing.
“samuel crisp.”
mr. crisp, almost immediately after this letter, visited, and for some years, the continent.
this exhortation, in common with whatever emanated from mr. crisp, proved decisive; and mr. burney fixed at once his resolve upon returning to the capital; though some years still passed ere he could put it in execution.
the following are his reflections, written at a much later period, upon this determination.
after enumerating, with warm regard, the many to whom he owed kindness in the county of norfolk, he adds:
“all of these, for nearly thirty miles round, had their houses and tables pressingly open to me: and, in the town of lynn, my wife, to all evening parties, though herself no card player, never failed to be equally invited; for she had a most delightful turn in conversation, seasoned with agreeable wit, and pleasing
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manners; and great powers of entering into the humours of her company; which, with the beauty of her person, occasioned her to receive more invitations than she wished; as she was truly domestic, had a young family on her hands, and, generally, one of them at her breast. but whenever we could spend an evening at home, without disappointing our almost too kind inviters, we had a course of reading so various and entertaining, in history, voyages, poetry, and, as far as chambers’ dictionary, the philosophical transactions, and the french encyclopedia, to the first edition of which i was a subscriber, could carry us, in science, that those tête à tête seclusions were what we enjoyed the most completely.
“this, of course, raised my wife far above all the females of lynn, who were, then, no readers, with the exception of mrs. stephen allen and dolly young. and this congeniality of taste brought on an intimacy of friendship in these three females, that lasted during their several lives.
“my wife was the delight of all her acquaintance; excellent mother—zealous friend—of highly superior intellects.
“we enjoyed at lynn tranquillity and social happiness—”
here again must be inserted another poetical epistle, written, during a short separation, while still at lynn; which shews that, with whatever fervour of passion he married, he himself was “that other happy man,” in the words of lord lyttleton, who had found “how much the wife is dearer than the bride.”
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“to mrs. burney.
“to thee, henceforth, my matchless mate,
my leisure hours i’ll dedicate;
to thee my inmost thoughts transmit,
whene’er the busy scene i quit.
for thee, companion dear! i feel
an unextinguishable zeal;
a love implanted in the mind,
from all the grosser dregs refined.
ah! tell me, must not love like mine
be planted by a hand divine,
which, when creation’s work was done,
our heart-strings tuned in unison?
if business, or domestic care
the vigour of my mind impair;
if forc’d by toil from thee to rove,
’till wearied limbs forget to move,
at night, reclin’d upon thy breast,
thy converse lulls my soul to rest.
if sickness her distemper’d brood
let loose,—to burn, or freeze my blood,
thy tender vigilance and care,
my feeble frame can soon repair.
when in some doubtful maze i stray,
’tis thou point’st out the unerring way;
if judgment float on wavering wings,
in notions vague of men and things;
if different views my mind divide,
thy nod instructs me to decide.
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my pliant soul ’tis thou can’st bend,
my help! companion! wife! and friend!
when, in the irksome day of trouble
the mental eye sees evils double,
sweet partner of my hopes and fears!
’tis thou alone can’st dry my tears.
’tis thou alone can’st bring relief,
partner of every joy and grief!
e’en when encompass’d with distress,
thy smile can every ill redress.
on thee, my lovely, faithful friend,
my worldly blessings all depend:
but if a cloud thy visage low’r, }
not all the wealth in plutus’ power, }
could buy my heart one peaceful hour. }
then, lodg’d within that aching heart,
is sorrow’s sympathetic dart.
but when upon that brow, the seat
of sense refin’d, and beauty sweet,
the graces and the loves are seen,
and venus sits by wisdom’s queen;
pale sadness takes her heavy flight,
and, envious, shuns the blissful sight.
so when the sun has long endur’d
his radiant face to be obscur’d
by baleful mists and vapours dense,
all nature mourns with grief intense:
but the refulgent god of day
soon shews himself in bright array;
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and as his glorious visage clears,
the globe itself in smiles appears.”
“lynn, 1753.”
the last act of mr. burney in relinquishing his residence in norfolk, was drawing up a petition to lord orford to allow park-room in the haughton grounds, for the rest of its life, to his excellent, faithful mare, the intelligent peggy; whose truly useful services he could not bear to requite, according to the unfeeling usage of the many, by selling her to hard labour in the decline of her existence.
lord orford good-humouredly complied with the request; and the justly-prized peggy, after enjoying for several years the most perfect ease and freedom, died the death of old age, in haughton park.
london.
in 1760 mr. burney, with his wife and young family, returned to london; but no longer to the city, which has the peculiar fate, whilst praised and reverenced by the many who to its noble encouragement owe their first dawn of prosperity, of
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being almost always set aside and relinquished, when that prosperity is effected. is it that fortune, like the sun, while it rises, cold, though of fairest promise, in the east, must ever, in its more luxuriant splendour, set in the west?
the new establishment was in poland-street; which was not then, as it is now, a sort of street that, like the rest of its neighbourhood, appears to be left in the lurch. house-fanciers were not yet as fastidious as they are become at present, from the endless variety of new habitations. oxford-road, as, at that time, oxford-street was called, into which poland-street terminated, had little on its further side but fields, gardeners’ grounds, or uncultivated suburbs. portman, manchester, russel, belgrave squares, portland-place, &c. &c., had not yet a single stone or brick laid, in signal of intended erection: while in plain poland-street, mr. burney, then, had successively for his neighbours, the duke of chandos, lady augusta bridges, the hon. john smith and the miss barrys, sir willoughby and the miss astons; and, well noted by mr. burney’s little family, on the visit of his black majesty to england, sojourned, almost immediately opposite to it, the cherokee king.
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the opening of this new plan of life, was as successful to mr. burney as its projection had been promising. pupils of rank, wealth, and talents, were continually proposed to him; and, in a very short time, he had hardly an hour unappropriated to some fair disciple.
lady tankerville, amongst the rest, resumed her lessons with her early master, obligingly submitting her time to his convenience, be it what it might, rather than change her first favourite instructor. ere long, however, she resided almost wholly abroad, having attached herself with enthusiastic fervour to the princess amelia, sister to frederick the great of prussia. the countess even accepted the place of dame d’atour to that accomplished princess; whose charms, according to poetical record, banished for a while their too daring admirer, voltaire, from the court of berlin.
this enterprising countess retained her spirit of whim, singularity, and activity, through a long life; for when, many years later, she returned to her own country, quite old, while dr. burney had not yet reached the zenith of his fame, she again applied to him for musical tuition; and when he told her, with regret, that his day was completely filled up,
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from eight o’clock in the morning; “come to me, then,” cried she, with vivacity, “at seven!” which appointment literally, and twice a week, took place.
all the first friends of mr. burney were happy to renew with him their social intercourse. mrs. greville, when in town, was foremost in eagerly seeking his esther; and mr. greville met again his early favourite with all his original impetuosity of regard: while their joint newer friends of norfolk, mrs. stephen allen and miss dorothy young in particular, warmly sustained an unremitting communication by letters: and lords orford, eglinton, and march, general lord townshend, charles boone, and many others, sought this enlivening couple, with an unabating sense of their worth, upon every occasion that either music or conversation offered, for accepting, or desiring, admission to their small parties: for so uncommon were the powers of pleasing which they possessed, that all idea of condescension in their worldly superiors seemed superseded, if not annihilated, by personal eagerness to enjoy their rare society.
