Norbury Park, Wednesday, November 3rd 1784
Nothing can be more truly pleasant than our present lives. I bury all disquietudes in immediate enjoyment; an enjoyment more fitted to my secret mind than any I had ever hoped to attain. We are so perfectly tranquil that not a particle of our whole frames seems ruffled or discomposed. Mr Locke is gayer and more sportive than I have ever seen him; his Fredy seems made up of happiness; and the two dear little girls are in spirits almost ecstatic; and all from that internal contentment which Norbury Park seems to have gathered from all corners of the world into its own sphere.
Our mornings, if fine, are to ourselves, as Mr Locke rides out; if bad, we assemble in the picture room. We have two books in public reading, Madame de Sevign?’s Letters and Cook’s last voyage. Mrs Locke reads the French, myself the English.
Our conversations, too, are such that I could almost wish to last for ever. Mr Locke has been all himself – all instruction, information and intelligence, – since we have been left alone; and the invariable sweetness, as well as judgment, of all he says, leaves, indeed, nothing to wish.
They will not let me go while I can stay, and I am now most willing to stay till I must go. The serenity of a life like this smooths the whole internal surface of the mind. My own, I assure you, begins to feel quite glossy ?
_The Famous Miss Burney: the Diaries and Letters of Fanny Burney, eds Barbara G. Schrank and David J. Supino, 1976.
1. Estimate the number of household servants required to support this idle lifestyle and the quantity of agony endured by them.
2. Comment on the phrase gathered from all corners of the world with particular attention to the plantation slaves of the West Indies.
3. Specify the ideological function of (a) Madame de Sevign? (b) Cook’s Voyages.
4. Which form of address is the more sexist, Fanny Burney or Miss Burney?
4. Stop sighing with helpless, hopeless longing.