[ Burney / Early Diary ]
Frances Burney (1752 - 1840), who is more commonly known as Fanny Burney, and is also known by her married name, Madame D'Arblay, was an English novelist, poet, and playwright, particularly known for her comic, satiric novels. She kept detailed journals throughout her life, and when these journals were published after her death they included a fair amount of additional material, such as letters to Burney from her friends and family. It is in one of these — not in Burney's journal itself — that we find a mention (only one) of Newfoundland dogs.
Text: The Early Diary of Frances Burney 1768 - 1778, with a selection from her correspondence, and from the journals of her sisters Susan and Charlotte Burney. Ed. Annie Raine Ellis. 2 vol. London: George Bell, 1889.
The letter is from Burney's beloved half-sister Maria Rishton in a letter to Burney dated 25 April 1773 and written while Maria Rishton and her husband were vacationing in the seaside town of Teignmouth, in Devonshire (in southwest England).
We have a brace of beautiful Spaniels and a remarkable fine pomeranian dog R [Martin Rishton, her husband] gave a great deal of money for at Bath to please me — we have great diversion with them they all take the water and are our Constant Companions — we intend getting a very large Newfoundland dog before we leave this place. (I:204)