Frances Burney's The Witlings

Forget Communication, It's About Literature... Or Whatever the Characters Know

By Author, Poet, and Playwright Valek Mitsuhide Akechi

There were great female writers during the eighteenth century in England, but Frances Burney could have easily been as great a playwright as she was a novelist. Her career began with Evelina and continued on with her other novels; however, her plays never saw the stage. It wasn’t because of quality or the general presentation, but rather what was actually being said through the satiric representation. The Witlings is a great example of this as it was written to critique people in society who merely pretended to be very knowledgeable about literature or used their shallow knowledge to uphold their positions in society. It’s about people who disrespect literature under the claim that it is a sacred thing. Earlier this year, I encountered reading Burney’s play for the first time upon recommendation. I had heard that The Witlings was about people in relation to literature and through reading with the lens of an author, I was able to notice it within the middle of the plot sandwich provided by Burney’s work. It was only from glancing back through that I noticed a note from the publisher declaring that it was based on the concept of “self-regard blocks communication.” But I argue that this is a rather shallow observation regarding the work as a whole and the actual subject matter is about the knowledge of literature.

On the surface, the plot is generally about English socialites; depicting figures of different status in society and their lives as well as struggles they face which causes the focus to shift to Cecilia and Beaufort’s situation within which she has lost all her fortune and is pushed away from him. This, by sticking with the sandwich analogy, is the top slice of bread. This superficial aspect of the plot is what easily allows for the conclusion that the play is only about communication as we see characters such as Lady Smatter and Mrs. Voluble who constantly interrupt other characters throughout the play; there are also the seemingly random appearances of Jack who only catches parts of conversations either due to disinterest or his constant running around, which ultimately causes confusion and annoyance. Whilst all of this makes for the greater portion of the storyline, it’s very superficial—far too easy to analyze as the main theme as it is something that has high prospects of being found in another work that does not deal with satire as an element. 

When using the elements of satire the writer has to be careful in how the piece is presented or presents itself which explains the draw of the outer plot that easily leads readers to draw the conclusion about communication. But the meat of the sandwich lies in Acts II through IV. We are then introduced to the centered characters in full context and detail and in order to begin understanding what Burney means to say one must do some research upon the names of members of the Esprit Party due to the many aptronyms  used. They are led by Lady Smatter whose name refers to having a smattering of knowledge, meaning that as a person she is only familiar with topics in a superficial manner. She forges a close friendship with Mr. Dabler under the impression that he is a great poet; however, his name has to do with dabbling in the art of poetry for his name is defined as interacting with activities on a surface level. The last main member of the party is Mrs. Sapient who is really no better than the other two. She takes common knowledge to use in her many attempts at seeming to be wise as her namesake suggests. Together they gather to supposedly discuss literature as if actual critics of the subject despite not actually knowing anything beyond the names of famous writers of the time. 

The Esprit Party sounds very much like a political party, but as mentioned briefly above it is Lady Smatter’s club that claims to study and discuss literature. All of the members, save poor Mr. Codger, don’t actually have much grounding in any of their declared activities. Mrs. Sapient is never actually shown looking at or reading any piece of literature throughout the whole play; nonetheless she says she has “made propriety of my peculiar study” in Act IV. This references a study of literature or at least she wishes to imply that’s what it means, but she soon follows this claim with thoughts of being deficient in this chosen study and adds “I must really take the liberty to observe that I must have thrown away a great deal of time to very little purpose.” Mrs. Sapient hones in on her own lack of knowledge even if it sounds rather discreet to the other characters present and it occurs shortly after Mr. Codger calls Lady Smatter out on an error she made before they began arguing about whose interpretation was correct.

Mrs. Sapient is not the only one who comes to this conclusion as Mr. Dabler and Lady Smatter also declare they have dedicated much of their time, if not their whole lives, to the subject; causing them to defend themselves against Mr. Codger’s accusations of error. The latter makes the argument that “it’s a rather hard case that, after so many years of intense study, & most laborious reading,” she ought to be able to “criticize a silly line of Pope.” In reality those readings went in one ear and out the other for there is even a moment in Act II where she attempts to recite a line from one of Mr. Dabler’s poems; to which he corrects her and in his correcting even mixes up his own words. Mr. Dabler is only praised as a poet by Lady Smatter and members of the Esprit Party and their acquaintances to which he often gives recitations or readings of his poems to. It’s learned in Act III , through Mrs. Voluble’s snooping in his room, that his poetry is more so about random occurrences he encounters in his day to day life. They don’t actually have any meaning beyond just being attempts at poetry which alludes to earlier comments in Act I where she describes the odd poet randomly saying words that rhyme out loud, but that don’t actually hold any meaning when put together. Mr. Dabler simply overturns her concern for what’s happening as just being what he calls the “Fit” being upon him which can be taken to mean he believes that he is destined to be a poet despite his lack of skill or even remembering the words to his own poems. 

Focusing further on Lady Smatter as the club’s leader, she seems inclined to use her façade of a literature scholar to her advantage in matters related to status. Lady Smatter is first seen with Cecilia while trying to discuss literature with her and makes hidden comments revealing her dislike of the young lady because of her lack of knowledge to which Cecilia openly confesses. Later when trying to talk Beaufort into leaving the girl he loves, Lady Smatter uses literature to justify her reasoning, leading to Beaufort getting offended and demanding she cease her mentions of literary figures. And it is through these words of Censor in Act III that we get a glimpse at the reality of the Esprit Party, “Heavens that woman whose utmost natural capacity will hardly enable her to understand the History of Tom Thumb, & whose comprehensive faculties would be absolutely baffled by the Lives of the Seven Champions of Christendom, should dare blaspheme the names of our noblest poets with words that convey no ideas, & sentences of which the sound listens in vain for the sense!” He easily pinpoints to the nonsensical discussions they actually partake in through expressing how literature would truly affect Lady Smatter had he truly been trying to understand it while also countering her later argument in advance.

To highlight the three main members of the party Burney provides characters who hold no link to literature, but that hold more understanding of the world around them and it is these figures who make up most of the initial plot. Mr. Codger has joined the Esprit Party despite finding it an unnecessary thing, doing so only out of politeness to Lady Smatter. When he is interacting with characters such as Lady Smatter and Mr. Dabler, he is shown to be deep in thought or expresses the need to examine a poem more, saying that he needs the proper time before making a comment upon it. It’s also through Mr. Codger that the party members are faced with the thought their knowledge is false. Cecilia is another who refuses to make any literary commentary as she lacks the knowledge to make a fair judgment. 

Beaufort and Jack are the least interested in literature and are rather attuned to the events happening around the small club. Beaufort is more worried about the fate of Cecilia instead of whichever writer Lady Smatter thinks she is referencing; even going as far as to yell at her to stop. Jack makes spontaneous and brief appearances throughout the work because he is always rushing about the city in haste. It’s only through him that anyone knows what is taking place outside of their own bubble. But despite his rushing, he is far more aware and actually knows what he talks about in comparison to other characters.