and for the health which she had sacrificed, an annuity of one hundred pounds was granted to her, dependent on the queen’s pleasure. Then the prison was opened, and Frances was free once more.... Happy days and tranquil nights soon restored the health which the queen’s toilette and Madame Schwellenberg’s card-table had impaired. LORD MACAULAY: ‘Essay on Mme. D’Arblay.’ * * * * * [Sidenote: M. D’Arblay described.] He is tall, and a good figure, with an open and manly countenance; about forty, I imagine.... He seems to me a true _militaire, franc et loyal_--open as the day--warmly affectionate to his friends--intelligent, ready, and amusing in conversation, with a great share of _gaieté de cœur_, and at the same time of _naïveté_ and _bonne foi_. SUSAN BURNEY (Mrs. Phillips): _Letters to Frances Burney_, in the latter’s ‘Diary and Letters.’ * * * * * M. D’Arblay is one of the most singularly interesting characters that can ever have been formed. He has a sincerity, a frankness, an ingenuous openness of nature, that I had been unjust enough to think could not belong to a Frenchman. With all this, which is his military portion, he is passionately fond of literature, a most delicate critic in his own language, well versed in both Italian and German, and a very elegant poet. He has just undertaken to become my French master for pronunciation, and he gives me long daily lessons in reading. Pray expect wonderful improvements! In return, I hear him in English. FRANCES BURNEY: _Letter to Dr. Burney_, February, 1793, in ‘Diary and Letters.’ * * * * * [Sidenote: At work on ‘Camilla,’ after her marriage.] I have a long work, which a long time has been in hand, that I mean to publish soon--in about a year. Should it succeed ... it may be a little portion to our Bambino. We wish, therefore, to print it for ourselves in this hope; but the expenses of the press are so enormous, so raised by these late Acts, that it is out of all question for us to afford it. We have, therefore, been led by degrees to listen to counsel of some friends, and to print it by subscription. This is in many--many ways unpleasant and unpalatable to us both; but the real chance of real use and benefit to our little darling overcomes all scruples, and, therefore, to work we go! FRANCES D’ARBLAY: _Letter to a friend_, 1795, in ‘Diary and Letters.’ * * * * * [Sidenote: Its success.] I am quite happy in what I have escaped of greater severity [from the reviews], though my mate cannot bear that the palm should be contested by ‘Evelina’ and ‘Cecilia’; his partiality rates the last as so much the highest.... The essential success of ‘Camilla’ exceeds that of the elders. The sale is truly astonishing. Five hundred only remain of four thousand, and it has appeared scarcely three months. FRANCES D’ARBLAY: Letter to Dr. Burney, 1796, in ‘Diary and Letters.’