Witlings, The by Frances Burney

Frances Burney’s (1752–1840) first play The Witlings (1779) is a comedy-of-manners that satirizes the upper class and literary pretensions. When Lady Smatter—who runs a pretentious literary salon—opposes her nephew Beaufort’s marriage to the recently impoverished Cecilia, the young couple must navigate her manipulations and their own miscommunications before they can be united. The Witlings was never performed or published because the play was censored by Burney’s father, Dr. Charles Burney, and a family friend, Samuel Crisp. The two men condemned the play, believing it would be an embarrassment if staged. Though Burney abandoned the play, it continued to influence her other works. The Witlings was published and performed for the first time in the 1990s after feminist scholarship had ignited new interest in her theatrical works. Though she never succeeded professionally as a playwright, Burney is considered to have been an excellent dramatist and is remembered as one of the most important novelists of the late eighteenth century.