Revisions and Revelations in Frances Burney’s Cecilia Manuscript

In fixating on Frances Burney’s determination not to change Cecilia’s confrontation scene and ending, we have neglected to detect her willingness to make other changes. Unlike Evelina, which was written in secret, members of Burney’s family circle read and commented on Cecilia as a novel-in-progress. An examination of the manuscript draft held at the Berg Collection of The New York Public Library confirms the extent to which Burney amputated Cecilia. She systematically softened her most trenchant sarcasm and even suppressed a description of satanic rites, which is undeniably one of her darkest and most intriguing prose set pieces.