Monstrous Motherhood: Eighteenth-Century Culture and the Ideology of Domesticity

6 Pin the Tale on the Stepmother: Elizabeth Allen and the Burneys

ElizabethAllenBurneycouldnotevendieproperly.Lessthanamonthafterher death, the novelist Frances Burney d’Arblay, her stepdaughter, recounted the final scene: Letmenotforgettorecordonethingthatwastrulygenerous&tenderinmypoor Mother’s last voluntary exertions. She charged Sally & Molly both not to call my Father when she appeared to be dying—& not disturb him if her death should happen in the Night, nor let him hear it till he arose at his usual time. I feel sensibly the kindness of this sparing consideration & true feeling. Yet—Not so would I be served! O never should I forgive the misjudged prudence that should rob me of one little instant of remaining life in one who was truly dear to me! Nor do I believe my poor Father would have been any more thankful than myself had this been tried by our Mother—for his unmixed adoration covetted living upon her parting breath to its last sigh—but here, alas—so much was previously gone of happiness in the Union, that the tenderness of his pitying nature, not the penetrated affections of his heart, was all that seemed remaining.1 As her “sparing consideration & true feeling” were converted by Frances Burney d’Arblay into “misjudged prudence,” Elizabeth Allen Burney was recast deftly as a clueless wife in a loveless marriage. In part, Burney d’Arblay’s motive is to valorize her mother at the expense of her stepmother: her father adored “our Mother,” and he never would have left her side during her final moments. But that she felt compelled to criticize her dead stepmother’s judgment, even in the act of dying, seems ungenerous and gratuitous. Her remarks are in many ways typical of the Burney children’s response to their stepmother, who never met their standards of character, conduct, or style. Certainly Elizabeth could be as insensitive and uncouth as her stepchildren believed, but there is also Pin the Tale on the Stepmother Elizabeth Allen and the Burneys chapter six 150 monstrous motherhood evidence that once the Burney children had made their determination, they assumed the worst of their stepmother, with few concessions or regrets. Like the literary stepmother narratives in the previous chapter, the narratives of historical stepmothers tend to reinforce the wicked-stepmother stereotype: they are skewed toward the child’s perspective and emphasize stepmotherly ego, selfishness , and desire. The relationship between Elizabeth Allen Burney and her stepchildren provides valuable evidence about stepmotherhood in the second half of the eighteenth century. Of course, no single family can represent all the variables that affect stepfamily relations. Stepfamilies varied based on the circumstances of thelossofthespouse(suchasdivorce,deathbyaccident,prolongedillness);the length of time between marriages; the ages of the parents at the time of remarriage ; the socioeconomic status of the remarrying parents; and the number and ages of the children at the time of remarriage.2 But the Burneys are especially useful for a stepmother study because, unlike many blended families, they not only sustained an extended stepfamily structure but documented their steprelationships in extensive correspondence and journals.3 My primary purpose is to assess the Burney children’s characterization of their stepmother by exploring the mechanisms and narratives they used to position her in the manner they desired. But I also want to recuperate, insofar as it is possible, Elizabeth’s perspective as a stepmother. By exposing the constructed nature of the Burney narrative, which is often constructed like the stepmother literature of the period , I hope to elucidate the status of stepmothers and family history in the eighteenth century. j i Charles Burney married Esther Sleepe in 1749. When she died in 1762, she left her husband, a struggling musician, with six children ranging in age from ten months to thirteen years. In 1764 Burney proposed to Mrs. Elizabeth Allen, a wealthy young widow from Lynn who had three children. He was rejected initially , for her relatives were afraid that he was only interested in Elizabeth’s money. Burney persisted in his suit after Mrs. Allen lost much of her fortune in ill-advised investments.4 On October 2, 1767, Charles Burney and Elizabeth Allenmarriedsecretly ;whilethechildrenhadsomeideaofthecourtship,theydid not know if or when the marriage would take place. It took time to assess the family finances and housing and to reconcile Elizabeth’s family to the match; although they spent summers together in Lynn and winters together in London , the two families did not live under the same roof until the end of 1770. pin the tale on the stepmother 151 This three-year...