My sister then played another duet with my father; but Dr. Johnson was
so deep in the Encyclopedie that, as he is very deaf, I question
if he even knew what was going forward. When this was over, Mrs. Thrale
in a laughing manner said, “Pray, Dr. Burney can you tell me what that
song was and whose, which Savoi sung last night at Bach’s concert, and
which you did not hear?” My father confessed himself by no means so good
a diviner, not having time to consult the stars, though in the house of
Sir Isaac Newton. However, wishing to draw Dr. Johnson into some
conversation, he told him
the question. The Doctor, seeing his drift,
good-naturedly put away his book, and said very drolly, “And pray,
Sir, who is Bach? is he a piper?”

—The Early Diaries of Frances Burney

If you look up “Frances Burney” in an encyclopedia you are likely to
find two listings. One will be under the name “Fanny Burney” since that
was a nickname that many people used—although Dr. Johnson, who was
especially fond of her, referred to her as “Fannikins.” You will also
find her listed as “Madame d’Arblay.” That is because in 1793, after a brief
courtship, much to the surprise of her family, probably to her own
surprise at the age of forty-one, she married Alexandre Gabriel
Jean-Baptiste Piochard d’Arblay, adjutant-general to
Lafayette.
How
Fanny Burney, in
midlife, met and married a French general is part