Under these circumstances it is naturally less fresh and spontaneous
than _Evelina_, but it is more mature. The touch is surer and
the plot more elaborate. We cannot to-day fully appreciate the
"conflict scene between mother and son," for which, Miss Burney
tells us, the book was written; but the pictures of eighteenth
century affectations are all alive, and the story is thoroughly
absorbing, except, perhaps, in the last book.

Miss Burney often took the name of her characters from her
acquaintances, and it seems probable that some of the "types" in
_Cecilia_ are also drawn from real life. The title of Miss
Austen's _Pride and Prejudice_ was borrowed from _Cecilia_,
and some points of resemblance may be traced between
the two novels.

The present edition is reprinted from:--

CECILIA, or, Memoirs of an Heiress. By the author of Evelina. In
five volumes. London: Printed for T. Payne and Son, at the Newsgate,
and T. Cadell in the Strand. MDCCLXXXII. R. B. J.

THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE TO MISS F. BURNEY. (AFTER READING
CECILIA.)

Madam,--I should feel exceedingly to blame if I could refuse to
myself the natural satisfaction, and to you the just but poor
return, of my best thanks for the very great instruction and
entertainment I have received from the new present you have bestowed
on the public. There are few--I believe I may say fairly there are
none at all--that will not find themselves better informed