Power Generation Technologies Second Edition Paul Breeze
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- 5. Power Generation Technologies Second Edition Paul Breeze Digital Instant Download Author(s): Paul Breeze ISBN(s): 9780080983301, 0080983308 Edition: 2 File Details: PDF, 11.92 MB Year: 2014 Language: english
- 7. Power Generation Technologies Second edition
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- 9. Power Generation Technologies Second edition by Paul Breeze AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO • SYDNEY • TOKYO Newnes is an imprint of Elsevier
- 10. Newnes is an imprint of Elsevier The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK 225 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA 02451, USA Second Edition 2014 Copyright # 2014 Paul Breeze. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. First Edition 2005 Copyright # 2005 Paul Breeze. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone (+44) (0) 1865 843830; fax (+44) (0) 1865 853333; email: permissions@elsevier.com. Alternatively you can submit your request online by visiting the Elsevier web site at http://elsevier.com/locate/permissions, and selecting Obtaining permission to use Elsevier material. Notice No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress For information on all Newnes publications visit our web site at store.elsevier.com Printed and bound in United Kingdom 14 15 16 17 18 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN: 978-0-08-098330-1
- 11. Contents 1. An Introduction to Electricity Generation 1 History of Electricity Generation 2 Evolution of Electricity-Generating Technologies 3 Evolution of Electricity Networks 6 Renewable Energy and Distributed Generation 7 A Brief Political Diversion 9 Size of the Industry 10 2. Electricity Generation and the Environment 15 Evolution of Environmental Awareness 16 Environmental Effects of Power Generation 17 Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric Warming 18 Controlling Carbon Dioxide 20 Hydrogen Economy 21 Economics of Electricity Production 22 Externalities 23 Life-Cycle Assessment 24 The Bottom Line 26 3. Coal-Fired Power Plants 29 Types of Coal 31 Coal Reserves 32 Coal Cleaning and Processing 33 Traditional Coal-Fired Power Generation Technology 34 Boiler Technology 36 Steam Turbine Design 39 Generators 42 Fluidized Bed Combustion 43 Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle 46 Emission Control for Coal-Fired Power Plants 48 Coal Treatment 50 Low Nitrogen Oxide Combustion Strategies 51 Sulfur Dioxide Removal 52 Nitrogen Oxide Capture 54 Combined Sulfur and Nitrogen Oxide Removal 55 Particulate (Dust) Removal 55 Mercury Removal 56 v
- 12. Carbon Dioxide Removal 56 Post-Combustion Capture 57 Coal Gasification 58 Oxy-Fuel Combustion 59 Biomass Cofiring 60 Carbon Dioxide Sequestration 62 Cost of Coal-Fired Power Generation 63 4. Natural Gas–Fired Gas Turbines and Combined Cycle Power Plants 67 Natural Gas 68 Growth of Gas Turbine Technology 71 Gas Turbine Principle 72 Modern Gas Turbine Design for Power Generation 73 Gas Turbine Development 76 Advanced Gas Turbine Cycles 78 Reheating 78 Intercooling 79 Recuperation 80 Mass Injection 80 Combined Cycle Power Plants 81 Micro-Turbines 84 Emission Control for Gas Turbine Power Plants 85 Nitrogen Oxide 85 Carbon Monoxide 87 Carbon Dioxide 88 Cost of Gas Turbine–Based Power Generation 89 5. Piston Engine–Based Power Plants 93 Internal Combustion Engines 94 Engine Cycles 95 Engine Size and Engine Speed 97 Spark-Ignition Engines 98 Diesel Engines (Compression Engines) 100 Dual-Fuel Engines 101 Stirling Engines 103 Cogeneration 104 Combined Cycle 105 Emission Control 106 Nitrogen Oxide 107 Carbon Monoxide, VOCs, and Particulates 108 Sulfur Dioxide 108 Carbon Dioxide 109 Cost of Reciprocating Engine-Based Power Generation 109 Contents vi
- 13. 6. Combined Heat and Power 111 Historical Background for Combined Heat and Power Usage 112 Combined Heat and Power Principles and Applications 114 CHP Technology 116 Piston Engines 118 Steam Turbines 119 Gas Turbines 120 Micro-Turbines 123 Fuel Cells 123 Nuclear Power 125 Cost of CHP 125 7. Fuel Cells 129 History of Fuel Cells 130 Fuel Cell Principle 131 Catalysts 134 Hydrocarbon Gas Reformation 135 Fuel Cell Efficiency 136 Fuel Cell Types 136 Alkaline Fuel Cell 138 Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell 140 Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell 142 Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell 144 Solid Oxide Fuel Cell 146 Direct Methanol Fuel Cell 149 Fuel Cell Costs 151 8. Hydropower 153 Hydropower Resource 155 Hydropower Sites 157 Categories of Hydropower Plant 158 Large Hydropower Plants: Dams and Barrages 159 Run-of-River Scheme 159 Dam and Reservoir Projects 161 Dam Types 161 Embankment Dam 162 Concrete Gravity Dam 163 Concrete Arch Dam 163 Hydropower Turbines 164 Impulse Turbines 165 Reaction Turbines 167 Francis Turbine 167 Propeller and Kaplan Turbines 168 Deriaz Turbine 169 Generators 169 Contents vii
- 14. Small Hydropower 170 Environmental Considerations 173 Environmental Assessment 174 Resettlement 174 Biodiversity 175 Geological Effects 175 Sedimentation and Downstream Effects 176 Greenhouse Gases 176 Interregional Effects 177 Hydropower and Intermittent Renewable Generation 177 Cost of Electricity Generation from Hydropower Plants 177 9. Tidal Barrage Power Plants 181 Tidal Resource 182 Operating Tidal Barrage Power Plants 184 Tidal Power Plant Design 185 Two-Basin Projects 187 Bunded Reservoir 188 Tidal Barrage Construction Techniques 188 Turbines 189 Turbine Speed Regulation 191 Sluices and Shiplocks 192 Environmental Considerations 192 Cost of Electricity Generation from Tidal Barrage Power Plants 193 10. Power System Energy Storage Technologies 195 Types of Energy Storage 197 Pumped Storage Hydropower 199 Pumped Storage Technology 200 Variable-Speed Operation 201 Pumped Storage Sites 201 Performance 202 Costs 202 Compressed-Air Energy Storage 202 Compressed-Air Energy Storage Principle 203 Compressed-Air Storage Facilities 204 Turbine Technology and CAES Cycles 205 Costs 206 Large-Scale Batteries 206 Battery Principle 207 Lead-Acid Batteries 209 Nickel-Cadmium Batteries 210 Lithium Batteries 210 Sodium-Sulfur Batteries 210 Flow Batteries 211 Costs 212 Contents viii
- 15. Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage 212 Costs 214 Flywheels 214 Flywheel Principle 215 Flywheel Performance Characteristics 216 Costs 216 Capacitors 216 Energy Storage Capacitor Principles 217 Performance Characteristics 218 Applications 218 Costs 219 Hydrogen Energy Storage 219 Hydrogen Energy Essentials 219 Performance Characteristics 220 Costs 221 11. Wind Power 223 Wind Resources 224 Wind Turbine Technology 226 Wind Turbine Anatomy 228 Rotors 228 Yawing 230 Drive Trains and Generator 231 Towers 232 Offshore Wind Turbine Technology 233 Wind Farms 236 Environmental Effects of Wind Power 237 Wind Intermittency and Grid Issues 237 Wind Capacity Limits 239 Repowering 240 Cost of Wind Power 240 12. Geothermal Power 243 Geothermal Resource 244 Geothermal Fields 246 Brine-Methane Reservoirs 248 Hot Dry Rock 248 Exploiting the Magma 249 Location of Geothermal Resources 250 Size of the Resource 250 Geothermal Energy Conversion Technologies 250 Direct Steam Power Plants 251 Flash Steam Plants 252 Binary Cycle Power Plants 253 Geothermal Power and District Heating 255 Finding and Exploiting Geothermal Sources 255 Cost of Geothermal Power 256 Contents ix
- 16. 13. Solar Power 259 Solar Energy Resource 260 Solar Sites and Land Resources 261 Solar Power Generation Technologies 262 Solar Thermal Power Generation 262 Parabolic Troughs 263 Solar Towers 267 Solar Dishes 271 Fresnel Reflectors 273 Other Solar Thermal Technologies 274 Photovoltaic Devices 275 Solar Photovoltaic Technology 277 Types of Solar Cell 278 Cell Structures 279 Concentrating Solar Cells 281 Third-generation Solar Cells 281 Modules, Inverters, and Panels 282 System Types 283 Solar Photovoltaic Generation and Energy Storage 284 Cost of Solar Power 284 Solar Thermal Costs 285 Solar Photovoltaic Costs 286 14. Marine Power Generation Technologies 287 Marine Energy Resource 288 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion 289 OTEC Technology 291 Wave Power 294 Wave Power Technology 295 Shore and Near-shore Wave Converters 295 Offshore Devices 298 Marine Current Energy 301 Marine Current Energy Converters 302 Other Marine Current Devices 306 Marine Current Projects 308 Salinity Gradient Power Generation 308 Osmotic Power 309 Vapor Compression 310 Hydrocratic Power 310 Reverse Electrodialysis 310 Cost of Marine Power Generation 311 15. Biomass-Based Power Generation 313 Types of BIomass 315 Biomass Wastes 316 Fuelwood 317 Contents x
- 17. Energy Crops 318 Biomass Trade 320 Biomass Energy Conversion Technology 321 Direct Firing 321 Co-Firing 324 Biomass Gasification 326 Fuel Handling 328 Biomass Digesters 329 Liquid Fuels 330 Cost of Biomass Power Generation 331 Technology Costs 331 Fuel Costs 332 Cost of Electricity from Biomass 332 16. Power from Waste 335 Landfill Waste Disposal 337 Sources of Waste 337 Waste Composition 338 Waste Collection and Recycling 340 Waste Power Generation Technologies 341 Traditional Waste Incineration Plants 342 Gasification and Pyrolysis 344 Refuse-Derived Fuel 348 Environmental Issues 348 Waste Plant Emissions 349 Ash 349 Fly Ash and Flue-gas Treatment Residues 350 Flue Gas 350 Dioxins 350 Heavy Metals 351 Cost of Energy from Waste Plants 351 17. Nuclear Power 353 Global Nuclear Capacity 355 Fundamentals of Nuclear Power 356 Nuclear Fission 357 Controlled Nuclear Reaction 358 Nuclear Fusion 359 Nuclear Fission Reactor Designs 360 Boiling Water Reactor 361 Pressurized Water Reactor 362 Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (CANDU Reactor) 363 Gas-cooled Reactors 364 RBMK Reactor 365 High-temperature Gas-cooled Reactor 365 Nuclear Fast (Breeder) Reactors 367 Advanced Reactors 368 Contents xi
- 18. Nuclear Fusion 370 Magnetic Confinement 371 Inertial Confinement 373 Tritium Production 374 Environmental Question 374 Radioactive Waste 375 Waste Categories 376 Decommissioning 377 Cost of Nuclear Power 377 Index 379 Contents xii
- 19. Chapter 1 An Introduction to Electricity Generation Electricity is at the root of everything that we think of as modern. In a practical sense it defines modernity. All of those adjuncts to living in an advanced society that began to appear from the end of the 19th century—electric lighting then electric motors, radio, television, home appliances, and, in the last part of the 20th century, the myriad of electronic devices that have been spawned by the development of the transistor including computers and portable telephones—rely exclusively on electricity for their operation. Their wide- spread use would not be possible without electricity and the complex electricity supply system that has evolved to deliver it. Not only is electricity one of the foundations of a modern developed society, electricity is also capable of nourishing the advancement of a society. Some- thing as simple as the availability of electric lighting can lead to enormous ben- efits in terms of levels of education and quality of life. In consequence, electricity supply is a key element of international development aid. Meanwhile the citizens of many less-developed nations yearn for an adequate electricity supply and all the benefits that it can bring. Ironically, most of the citizens of the world’s advanced societies take it for granted. The industry that supplies electricity and maintains the network that allows it to be delivered to virtually any location on the planet makes up what is prob- ably the largest single industrial endeavor in the world. At the same time, the supply of electricity is a complex operation. Electricity is not a physical com- modity like steel or maize even though it is often bought and sold as if it were such a commodity. Electricity is an ephemeral energy source that must be con- sumed immediately after it is produced. This means that any power station that is producing electrical power must have a customer ready to use it. This careful balancing act is carried out across a network of electricity supply lines con- trolled by network operators whose primary job is to ensure that the balance between demand and supply is maintained at all times. Electricity supply is also a security issue. While people untouched by modernity can still live their lives without electricity, a modern industrial nation deprived of its electricity supply is like a great ocean liner without it engines. It becomes helpless. Consequently, governments must ensure that their people Power Generation Technologies Copyright # 2014 Paul Breeze. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1
- 20. and their industries are kept supplied, and national electricity supply strategies will often have security of supply as one of their main considerations. This book is primarily about the ways of generating electricity. It does not cover in depth the means of transporting electricity and delivering it to those who wish to use it. Nor does it treat, except obliquely, the political issues that attach themselves to electricity supply. What it does attempt is to provide an explanation of all the myriad ways that humans have devised to produce this most elusive of energy forms. The book is divided into chapters each devoted to one type of electricity gen- eration. The explanations provided are thorough and technical where necessary, but do not resort to overly technical language where it can be avoided. Readers who are seeking a full analysis of the thermodynamics of the heat engine or the differential equations for solving the problem of turbine flow, will need to look elsewhere, but those who seek a thorough understanding of electricity genera- tion will find it here. The aim of this book is to provide a description of every type of power gen- eration. Even so, there will be occasional lacunas; there is no description of magnetohydrodynamic power generation, for example, although even this obscure phenomenon does earn a brief mention in Chapter 14 on marine power generation. That aside, all practical and some still experimental means of pro- ducing electricity are included. HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION The roots of the modern electricity-generating industry are found in the early and middle years of the 19th century and in the work of men such as André Ampère, Michael Faraday, Benjamin Franklin, and Alessandro Volta. It was during this period that scientists began to forge an understanding of the nature of electrical charge and magnetic fields. The chemical battery that converted chemical energy into electricity had also been discovered and permitted the properties of a flowing electrical charge (an electric current) to be explored. This also allowed the development of the telegraph, the first electrical means of communication. It was Faraday who was able to establish the relationship between electric currents and magnetism, a relationship that makes it possible to generate electricity with moving machinery rather than taking it exclusively from chemical batteries. His discoveries opened the way to the use of rotating engines as a source of electrical power. The widening understanding of electricity coincided with the development of the steam engine as well as the widespread use of gas for fuel and lighting. Lighting, in particular, caught the public’s imagination and one of the first major uses for electricity was as a source of light. In the United States, Thomas Edison developed the carbon filament that produced light from an electric cur- rent. Similar work was carried out in the United Kingdom by Sir Joseph Swan. Power Generation Technologies 2
- 21. Some of the first rotating machines used for electricity generation were based on water wheels and dynamos. However, water was not always available where power was needed and the trend among municipal power stations, the first important type of public power plant, was often to utilize steam engines and generators. These stations were initially built to provide electricity for light- ing in cites. Early plants were generally small with a limited number of cus- tomers, but the area supplied by each power station gradually grew in size. At the same time there was little standardization and supply voltages varied from place to place and company to company. Meanwhile, there was an extended debate about the comparative merits of direct current and alternating current as the means of supplying electrical power. This was not resolved until well into the 20th century. Lighting offered the first commercial use for electricity, but it proved an insufficient foundation for an industry. What accelerated the growth of electric- ity generation was its use for traction power, such as electric trams for urban transport and the underground railway systems in London and Paris. These were the kinds of projects that stimulated the construction of large power stations at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century. From here the industry spread rapidly, particularly with the use of electric motors in commerce and industry. The piecemeal development of the supply industry eventually became a problem and nationalization and standardization became common during the first half of the 20th century. Ironically, the first of these, nationalization, would be reversed in many countries during the last part of the same century. By that time electricity had become indispensable. Although its origins are in the 19th century, few would dispute the argument that the growth of the electricity industry was a 20th-century phenomenon. There is little doubt, too, that by the end of the 21st century it will have become the world’s most important source of energy. It is already starting to move into transportation with electric vehicles so that most types of energy needed can now be supplied electrically. It is worth remembering, however, that most of the key elements necessary for electricity generation, transmission, and distri- bution were developed during the 19th century. EVOLUTION OF ELECTRICITY-GENERATING TECHNOLOGIES The development of the electric power industry can be dated from the develop- ment of the dynamo or alternator. This allowed rotating machinery to be used to generate electricity. There were two sorts of generator used in the industry initially: the dynamo, which produced direct current, and the alternator, which produced and alternating current (the word “generator” can be used for both but it has become associated with the latter). The first practical dynamo was devel- oped independently by Werner Siemens and Charles Wheatstone in 1867 and it was through the dynamo that the electric motor was discovered. However, the dynamo became displaced in most uses by the alternator, because alternating Chapter 1 An Introduction to Electricity Generation 3
- 22. current distribution of power proved more efficient based on the technologies available at the time. The first recorded power station appears to have been built in the Bavarian town of Ettal in 1878. This station used a steam engine to drive 24 dynamos, with the electricity used to provide lighting for a grotto in the gardens of the Linderhof Palace. Meanwhile, the first public power station was built in 1881 in Godalming in Surrey, United Kingdom. This station used two water- wheels to drive an alternator and provided power to two circuits—one at 250 V supplying power to 7 arc lights, and the second at 40 V providing power for 35 incandescent lamps. As this brief historical snapshot demonstrates, both hydropower and steam power were already being used in the early days of the industry. Steam power was at this stage based on reciprocating steam engines, similar in concept to a piston engine. These engines were not ideal for the purpose because they could not easily develop the high rotational speeds needed to drive a generator effec- tively. This difficulty was eventually overcome with the invention of the steam turbine by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884. Fuel for these steam plants was usually coal, used to raise steam in a boiler. Hydropower was an established source of mechanical power long before the steam engine was invented, so it was natural that it should provide one of the first engines used to drive dynamos and alternators. Water wheels were not the most efficient way of harnessing the power in flowing water but new turbine designs soon evolved. Much of the work on the main turbine types that are used today to capture power from flowing water—designs such as the Pelton and Francis turbines—was carried out in the second half of the 19th century. By the beginning of the 20th century both the spark-ignition engine and the diesel engine had been developed. These too could be used to make electricity. Before World War II, work also began on the use of wind power as a way of generating power. Even so, steam turbine power stations burning coal, and sometimes oil or gas, together with hydropower stations provided the bulk of the global power generation capacity until the beginning of the 1960s. In the 1950s the age of nuclear power was born. Once the principles were established, construction of nuclear power stations accelerated. Here, it was widely believed, was a modern source of energy for the modern age—it was cheap, clean, and technically exciting. Nuclear power continued to expand rap- idly in the United States up to the late 1970s. In other parts of the world, uptake was less rapid but in western Europe, Great Britain, France, and Germany invested heavily, and in Scandinavia, Sweden developed a significant fleet of plants. In the Far East, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea worked more slowly. Russia developed its own plants, which were used widely in eastern Europe, and India and China each began a nuclear program. From the end of the 1970s the once-lustrous nuclear industry began to tarnish. Since then its progress has slowed dramatically, particularly in the west. Power Generation Technologies 4
- 23. In Asia, however, the dream remains alive, although Japan’s nuclear industry has been seriously damaged by the Fukushima disaster in 2011, the repercus- sions of which have reverberated around the world. At the beginning of the same decade that saw nuclear fortunes turn, in 1973 to be precise, the Arab–Israeli war caused a major upheaval in world oil prices. These rose dramatically. By then oil had also become a major fuel for power stations. Countries that were burning it extensively began to seek new ways of generating electricity, and interest in renewable energy sources began to take off while the use of oil for power generation began to wane in all but the oil- producing countries of the Middle East. The stimulus of rising oil prices led to the investigation of a wide variety of different alternative energy technologies, such as wave power, hot-rock geo- thermal power, and the use of ethanol derived from crops instead of petrol or oil. However, the main winners were solar power and wind power. Develop- ment took a long time, but by the end of the century solar and wind technologies had reached the stage where they were both technically and economically via- ble. By the end of the first decade of the 21st century both were growing strongly in overall installed capacity and, with prices coming down, this trend appears set to continue well into the century. One further legacy of the early 1970s that began to be felt in the electricity industry during the 1980s was a widespread concern for the environment. This forced the industry to implement wide-ranging measures to reduce environmen- tal emissions from fossil fuel–fired power plants. Other power generation tech- nologies, such as hydropower, were affected too as their impact on local environments and people were reassessed. The gas turbine began to make a major impact during the 1980s as an engine for power stations. The machine was perfected during and after World War II as an aviation power unit but soon transferred to the power industry for use in power plants supplying peak demand. During the 1980s the first large base-load power stations using both gas turbines and steam turbines in a configuration known as the combined cycle plant were built. This configuration has become the main source of new base-load capacity in many countries where natural gas is readily available. The first years of the 21st century have seen increased emphasis on new and renewable sources of electricity. Fuel cells, a technically advanced but expen- sive source of electricity, are approaching commercial viability. There is renewed interest in deriving energy from ocean waves and currents, and from the heat in tropical seas. Offshore wind farms have started to multiply around the shores of Europe. The story of power generation across the 21st century is likely to be the con- test between these new technologies and the old combustion technologies for dominance within the power generation industry. And while they battle for supremacy there remains one technology—nuclear fusion—that has yet to prove itself but just might sweep the board. Chapter 1 An Introduction to Electricity Generation 5
- 24. EVOLUTION OF ELECTRICITY NETWORKS For electricity from a power station or power-generating unit to be delivered to a customer, the two must be connected by an electricity network. Over the past century these networks have developed into massive systems. When the industry was in its infancy, networks were a simple pattern of lines radiating from a power station to the small number of customers that each power station supplied, usually with a number of customers on each line. When the number of customers was small and the distances over which electricity was transported were short, these lines could operate with either direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC). As the distances increased, it became necessary to raise the voltage at which the electricity was transmitted to reduce the current and the resistive losses in the lines when high currents were flowing. The AC transformer allowed the voltage on an AC line to be increased and then decreased again efficiently and with relatively ease, whereas this was not possible for the DC system. As a consequence, alternating current became the standard for most electricity networks. Alternating current continued to dominate across the 20th century, but developments in power electronics led to a resurgence in interest in the DC transmission of power at the end of the century in the form of high-voltage DC lines. These are increasingly used for sending large amounts of power over long distances for which they are proving more efficient than conventional AC lines. Back at the start of the 20th century, the growth in size of what was initially a myriad of independent electricity networks soon led to overlap between service areas. While competition was good for the electricity market, the range of dif- ferent operating standards, particularly voltages and frequencies, made actual competition difficult. A proliferation of independent networks was also costly, and in the final analysis it was unnecessary because if different operators stan- dardized on their voltages, the suppliers of electric power could all use the same network rather than each building its own. Standardization was pushed through in many countries during the first half of the 20th century and national grid systems were established that were either government owned or controlled by legislation to ensure that the monopoly they created could not be exploited. However, there are still vestiges of the early market proliferation of standards to be found today in regional variations, such as the delivery of alternating current at either 50 Hz or 60 Hz and the different standard voltage levels used. As national networks were built up, a hierarchical structure became estab- lished based on the industry model in which electric power was generated in large central power stations. These large power plants fed their power into what is now the transmission network, a high-voltage backbone that carries electric- ity at high voltage from region to region. From this transmission network, power Power Generation Technologies 6
- 25. is fed into lower-voltage distribution networks and these then deliver the power to the customers. An electricity network of any type must be kept in balance if voltage and frequency conditions are to be maintained at a stable level. This is a conse- quence of the ephemeral nature of electricity. The balance between the actual demand for electricity on the network and the power being fed into it must be maintained within narrow limits. Any deviation from balance leads to changes in frequency and voltage and, if these become too large, can lead to a system failure. The organization charged with maintaining the balance is called the system operator. This organization has limited control over the demand level but it must be able to control the output of the power plants connected to its network. For most networks this has traditionally involved having a variety of different types of power stations supplying power. The first of these are base-load power plants. These are usually large fossil fuel and nuclear power plants (but they may also include hydropower) that keep running at maximum output all the time, supplying the basic demand on the network. Next are intermediate-load power plants, often gas turbine based, which do not run all the time but might start up in the morning to meet the daytime rise in demand and then close down in the evening when demand begins to fall again. These two types can supply the broad level of demand during both day and night but there will always be a need for even faster-acting plants that can provide the power to meet sudden peaks in demand. These are called peak-load or peaking power plants. In general, the power from base-load power plants is the cheapest available, that from interme- diate load plants is more expensive, and that from peak-load plants is the most expensive. RENEWABLE ENERGY AND DISTRIBUTED GENERATION Most forms of renewable energy do not fit happily into this operational struc- ture. When electricity from them is available it must be used as if it were from a base-load plant, but because their output is intermittent, they cannot be relied on in the same way as a base-load plant. As a consequence, the introduction of large quantities of renewable energy into electricity systems that began at the beginning of the 21st century is leading to important changes in the way grid stability is maintained. While the output of a conventional power plant will, barring accidents, remain steady and predictable, many renewable sources including wind and solar energy are, as just noted, intermittent and often unpredictable. This means that system operators must now manage not only variable demand from cus- tomers but also a variable supply. New strategies are being adopted by the sys- tem operators, including the use of highly detailed weather forecasting, so that the output from variable renewable plants can be predicted ahead of time and Chapter 1 An Introduction to Electricity Generation 7
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- 27. CHAPTER XXXII Doctor Burney sat for a long time staring at a point high above his wife’s head. The eldest daughter, Hetty, standing at the other side of the writing-table, was radiant; her eyes were dancing. The two others were standing together—huddled together, it might be said, for they suggested a pair of lambs recently frightened—doubtful of what is going to happen next and feeling that the closer they are to each other the safer they will be. “Did you ever hear of anything so funny?” said Hetty, glancing around and still radiant. Her father got upon his feet. “And she was the only one that never had any attention,” said he, as if he had not heard Hetty’s remark. “Fanny was left to make her own way as pleased her best—no one troubled about her education. She was left to pick up knowledge as best she could—the crumbs that fell from the others’ table—that was how she picked up French when the others came back from school, and now she speaks it with the best of them.... And so shy! Tell me, if you can, how she got her knowledge of things—the things in that book—the pictures red with life—the real life-blood of men and women—love—emotion—pathos —all that make up life—and don’t forget the characterization—that’s what seems to me all but miraculous. Hogarth—we all know that Hogarth drew his characters and fitted them into his pictures because he made it a point to walk among them and look at them with observant eyes; but tell me, if you can, what chance that child had of seeing anything; and yet she has filled her canvas, and every bit is made up of firm, true drawing. That is the chief wonder.” He spoke evidently under the impulse of a great excitement at first, not looking at anyone in particular—just skimming them all with
- 28. his eyes as he paced the room. But he seemed gradually to recover himself as he talked, and he appeared to address his last words to his wife. This assisted her to recover herself also—a minute or so in advance of him. “You seem to be sure that Fanny wrote it,” she said, when he had done. “Is it fair to condemn her before you make sure?” Everyone looked at Mrs. Burney; but only her husband laughed. “Condemn her—condemn her for having written the finest novel since Fielding?” he said, with the laugh still on his face. There was no laugh on hers; on the contrary, its expression was more serious than ever. “A novel is a novel,” she said. “I told Mr. Crisp—but that was only about the reading of novels—the cleverer they are the more mischievous—dangerous—even the reading—I never dreamt of her going so far as to write one, clever or otherwise. But a novel is still a novel—she must have neglected her duties in the house, though I failed to observe it ... and sending it to a bookseller without saying a word to us! Who would have believed that a young woman with her training—” “It flashed across me when I read the verses addressed to myself at the beginning that she had asked my permission some months ago, and that I had given it—I did so laughing at the poor child’s credulousness in believing that any bookseller would print it for her and pay her for the privilege—the privilege of making a thousand pounds out of her book.” “What! are you serious?—a thousand pounds, did you say?” “Mr. Lowndes will make more than a thousand pounds by the sale of the book—Hetty tells me that he only paid Fanny twenty for it.” “What is the world coming to—a fortune in a single book! And we talked about her being portionless, when all the time she was more richly endowed than all the rest of the family; for if she has written
- 29. one book, she can certainly write another equally remunerative. Perhaps she has another ready for the printers.” Mrs. Burney was blessed with the capacity to look at matters, however artistic they might be, from the standpoint of the practical housekeeper. The mention of so sonorous a sum as a thousand pounds caused the scales of prejudice to fall from the eyes through which she had regarded the act of authorship, and at that instant she perceived that it should not be thought of as a delinquency but as a merit. And, after all, it appeared that the girl had obtained the permission of her father to print it—that put quite a different complexion upon the transaction, did it not? And a thousand pounds—that appealed to the good sense of a practical person and swept away the last cobweb of prejudice that she had had respecting novels and their writers. “Has she another book written, think you?” she inquired in a tone full of interest. “Of course we shall see that she gets a better share of Mr. Lowndes’ thousand pounds than she did for her first.” “She has not written a line since ‘Evelina,’” said Esther. “To be sure, I have not been her confidante since I got married, but I know that she was so frightened at the thought of what she had done that she would not write another page.” “Frightened! What had she to be frightened about?” cried Mrs. Burney in a tone of actual amazement. “Goodness knows,” said Esther with a laugh. The sound of the dinner-bell coming at that moment had about it also something of the quality of a long, loud, sonorous outburst of laughter with a cynical tinkle at the last. The group in that room dissolved in all directions with exclamations of dismay at being overtaken by the dinner-hour so unprepared.
- 30. “It is all over now,” said Susy to Lottie, when they were alone in their room. “I was afraid when she ushered us so formally into the library that we would be forced to tell our secret.” “I made up my mind that no torture of the rack or wild horses would unseal my lips,” said Susy, earnestly. “Do you know, Lottie, I feel quite lonely without our secret.” “It is just the same with me, dear,” said Lottie. “I feel as if I were suddenly cut off from some great interest in life—as if I had gone downstairs one morning and found that someone had stolen the piano. I wonder if it was Hetty who told the padre.” “Make haste and we shall soon learn all,” said Susy. Before they had finished dinner they learned from their father how he had got to the bottom of the secret that they had so cherished. He had gone as usual to give a music lesson to Queenie Thrale, and when partaking of some refreshment before setting out for London, Mrs. Thrale had talked to him in terms of the highest praise of “Evelina.” She had read the book twice over, she told him, and had lent it to Dr. Johnson, who could talk of nothing else. Then Mrs. Cholmondeley had arrived on a visit to Thrale Hall, and she, too, was full of praise of the book. She, too, had lent her copy to someone else—to no less important a person than Mr. Edmund Burke, and he had declared himself as greatly captivated by it as his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds had been. Everybody was talking about it, and the question of the authorship had been as widely discussed as before; Mrs. Cholmondeley had declared that she would give twenty guineas to find out for certain who it was that had written the book. Mrs. Thrale had thereupon suggested that Dr. Burney was in a better position than most people for solving the mystery, going about as he was from one part of the town to another and being in close touch with all manner of people.
- 31. “But I had not, as you know, so much as read the book for myself —I seemed to be the only one in town who had not done so—and on getting home I sent William post haste to Mr. Lowndes to purchase a set. This done, I sat down to peruse the first volume. The page opened on the Ode; it lay beneath my eyes, and I tell you truly that I did not seem to read it: I seemed to hear Fanny’s voice reading the verses in my ear, and the truth came upon me in a flash —incredible though it appeared, I knew that it was she who had written the book. Hetty came in before my eyes were dry—she saw the volume in my hand, and she understood all. ‘You know,’ was all that she said. I think that the greatest marvel was the keeping of the secret of the book! To think of its being known to four girls and never becoming too great for them to bear!” He was appealing to his wife, but she only nodded a cold acquiescence in his surprise. She remained silent, however, and this was something to be grateful for, the girls thought: they knew just what she was thinking, and they also knew that if they had some little trouble in keeping their secret, she had very much more in restraining herself from uttering some comment upon their reticence —their culpable reticence, she would think it. They could see that she was greatly displeased at having been excluded from their secret, since such an exclusion had forced her into a false position more than once—notably in the presence of Mr. Crisp, when she had become the assailant of novels and novel reading generally, and also when she had scolded them on their return in the chaise. But they were good girls, and they were ready to allow that they were in the wrong, even though they did not think so; that is what really good girls do in their desire for peace in their homes. And Lottie and Susy made up their minds that should their stepmother tax them with double-dealing and deceit, they would not try to defend themselves. The reflection that they had kept their sister’s secret would more than compensate them for any possible humiliation they might suffer at Mrs. Burney’s hands. All that Mrs. Burney said at the conclusion of her husband’s further rhapsody about the marvel of Fanny’s achievement, considering how
- 32. she had been generally thought the dunce of the family, was comprised in a few phrases uttered in a hurt tone: “While no one is more pleased than myself to witness her success, I cannot but feel that she would have shown herself possessed of a higher sense of her duty as a daughter if she had consulted her father or his wife in the matter,” she said. “That may be true enough,” said Dr. Burney; “but if she had done so, would she have achieved her purpose any more fully than she has, I ask you? No, my dear, I do not feel, with any measure of certainty, that I would have gone far in my encouragement of her efforts, nor do I think that you would have felt it consistent with your principles to do so.” “I was only referring to the question of a simple girl’s duty in regard to her parents,” said Mrs. Burney. “And your judgment on that point is, I am certain, unassailable,” said he. “But here we have a girl who is no simple girl, but a genius; and I think that a good deal of latitude should be allowed to a genius—a little departure from the hard and fast line of the duties expected from a simple girl may be permitted in such a one as Fanny.” “Well, she has succeeded in her aims—so much is plain,” said Mrs. Burney. “But I hope that should any of her sisters set about a similar enterprise—” But the ringing laughter that came from the sisters, their father joining in with great heartiness, saved the need for her to complete her sentence. At first she felt hurt, but she quickly yielded to the exuberant spirit that pervaded the atmosphere of the room, and smiled indulgently, after the manner of a staid elderly lady who is compelled to take part in the romp of her girls and boys at Christmas time. She continued smiling, and the others continued laughing, and this spirit of good humour was maintained until bedtime.
- 33. The girls knew that they would not be scolded for their participation in Fanny’s secret; for Fanny by her success had justified any amount of double-dealing. If Fanny had made a fool of herself they would feel that they deserved to participate in her scolding; but success is easily pardoned, and so they rightly counted upon a general amnesty. What was it that their father had said about a thousand pounds? They went to bed quite happy, in spite of being deprived of the fearful joy of having a secret to keep.
- 34. CHAPTER XXXIII Dr. Burney had given instructions that Fanny was not to be communicated with at Chessington until he had seen her; but that the third volume of the book was to be sent to Mr. Crisp without delay. He was to go to Streatham again in two days’ time, and thence to Chessington, where he would make Mr. Crisp aware of the identity of the writer of “Evelina.” He anticipated an interesting hour with Mr. Crisp, but a very much more interesting half-hour with Mrs. Thrale; for he meant, of course, to lose no time in letting that lady into the secret: he knew that she would make the most of the information he could impart to her; to be the first to learn what all her friends were striving to learn would at once place her above Mrs. Cholmondeley, who was willing to pay twenty guineas for the knowledge, and even Mrs. Montagu, who was inclined to patronize Mrs. Thrale and a good many other ladies, in spite of the fact that Dr. Johnson dined usually five days out of every week with Mrs. Thrale, but had only dined once with Mrs. Montagu since she had gone to her new house. Dr. Burney was well aware how valuable the Thrale connection was to him; a teacher of music is apt to look with sparkling eyes at a houseful of girls whose father possesses the possibilities of such wealth as was defined by Dr. Johnson in this particular case as beyond the dreams of avarice. Dr. Burney had a very nice judgment on the subject of an influential connection, and so was delighted to have a chance of doing a signal good turn to so deserving a patroness as Mrs. Thrale. Yes, he felt sure that his half-hour at Streatham Hall would be the most interesting of the many half-hours he had spent under the same hospitable roof. And he was not mistaken in his surmise.
- 35. Mrs. Thrale had, as usual, several friends coming to partake of an early repast with her; and Dr. Burney had pictured to himself the effect of his announcement to the company that his daughter had written the book upon which he was pretty sure the conversation would turn—indeed, he felt that he would be greatly surprised if the conversation did not immediately rush to the question of “Evelina” and remain there for the rest of the afternoon; for the enterprising ladies would doubtless bring with them some fresh suggestions or new cues to its authorship. He pictured himself allowing them to go on for some time until perhaps a statement would be made which he should have to contradict point-blank. They would all look at him in surprise. What did he know about the matter? Was he interested in the question? Had he found out anything? How he would smile while saying quietly: “Well, I am more or less interested in the matter, the fact being that ‘Evelina’ is the work of my daughter, Fanny Burney!” That would be, he thought, a fitting moment in which to divulge the secret; he saw the whole scene clearly before him. But before he had reached his destination that intuition of what would commend itself to a patron which had been so important an auxiliary to his ability in placing him above his rivals in his profession, overcame his desire to play the most important part in a dramatic scene; he perceived that such a rôle should be taken by an influential patroness, and not by himself. Thus it was that when Mrs. Thrale was giving him a cup of chocolate after his journey he smiled, saying: “I was greatly interested in the conversation between Mrs. Cholmondeley and the other ladies when I was last here.” “About ‘Evelina’?” she inquired. “Ah, I wonder if Mrs. Cholmondeley has yet paid over her twenty guineas to the discoverer of the author. It seems that she has as arduous a task in regard to ‘Evelina’ as Raleigh had in regard to his El Dorado.”
- 36. “So it would appear,” said Dr. Burney. “Let us hope that his efforts will be more highly valued than those of poor Sir Walter. Have you yourself no suspicions on the subject, madam?” “Oh, suspicions? There have been as many suspicions set going on this subject within the month as would be entertained only by the most imaginative Bow Street runner. For my own part, I maintain that the book could only have been writ by our friend Horace Walpole. He found that his ‘Otranto’ excited so much curiosity when published without a name, he came to the conclusion that he would produce another novel with the same amount of mystery attached to it. The only point against this assumption is that—” “That the book was assuredly written by another person,” said Burney, smiling in a way that he designed to be somewhat enigmatical. Mrs. Thrale tried to interpret his smile. “What!” she exclaimed, “you have formed another theory—you— you have heard something since you were last here?” “Not something, madam—not a mere something, but everything— everything that is to be known regarding the writer of that book.” “Is’t possible? Who is your informant?—the value of all that you have heard is dependent upon the accuracy of your informant.” “The book was written by the person whom I fancied I knew best of all the people in the world, and yet the last person whom I would believe capable of such a feat. The author of the book—I am the author of her being—she is none other than my daughter Fanny.” Mrs. Thrale sat staring at him, one arm resting upon the table, her lips parted as if about to utter an exclamation of surprise, but unable to do so by reason of her surprise. More than a minute had passed before she was able to speak, and then she could do no more than repeat his words.
- 37. “Your daughter Fanny—your daughter—but is not Fanny the little shy one that goes into a corner when you have company?” she asked, in a tone that suggested that she had heard something too ridiculous to be believed. “She is that one, madam,” he replied. “It would seem as if the corner of a room has its advantages in enabling one to observe life from a true standpoint. Two eyes looking out from a corner with a brain behind them—there you have the true writer of a novel of life and character. Poor Fanny! How often have not I talked of her as ‘poor Fanny’? She had no education except what she contrived to pick up haphazard—a sweet child—a lovable daughter, but the last person in the world to be suspected of such a book as ‘Evelina.’” “You are sure, sir—you have seen—heard—you know?” “Beyond any doubt. Her sisters were let into the secret, but neither of her parents. I know now why that was—no want of duty— no lack of respect—she began the book for her own amusement, and it grew under her hand; she sent it to a bookseller, more as a jest than in the belief that anything would come of it, and up to the last it was treated by her and her sisters as a schoolroom mystery—a nursery secret—and Mrs. Burney and I were kept out of it solely because we were not of the nursery or the schoolroom. And when it became a serious matter we were excluded because they were afraid to reveal it to us—Fanny herself, dear child!—feared that we would be concerned if it were still born. It was only when it was at the point of being published by Mr. Lowndes that she came to me saying that she had been writing something and wanted my leave to send it forth, promising that no name would appear upon the title page. I gave my leave with a smile, and when I had my laugh at the innocence of the girl in fancying that any bookseller would pay for the printing of what she might scribble, I forgot all about the matter. It was only when I sent for the book and read the Ode addressed to myself that I seemed to hear Fanny’s voice speaking the words in my ear—I told the others so when they returned from visiting her at
- 38. Chessington. But meantime Esther had come to me, and she told me all that was known to her about the book and its secret.” “The most wonderful story ever known—more wonderful than the story of Evelina herself!” cried Mrs. Thrale. “How people—Mrs. Cholmondeley and the rest—will lift up their hands! Who among them will believe it all possible? List, my dear doctor, you must bring her to me in the first instance—all the others will be clamouring for her to visit them—I know them! You must bring her to me without delay—why not to-day? I can easily send a chaise for her—a coach if necessary. Well, if not to-day, to-morrow. I must have her here. We will understand each other—she and I; and Dr. Johnson will be with us—quite a little company—for dinner. You will promise me?” “Be assured, dear madam, that there is no house apart from her home where I feel she would be happier than in this,” said Dr. Burney. “She has often expressed the warmest admiration for you, and I know that her dearest wish is to be on terms of intimacy with you.” “The sweet girl! she shall have her dearest wish gratified to the fullest extent, sir. You will bring her as early to-morrow as it suits you. Good heavens! to think of that dear retiring child taking the town by storm! Dr. Johnson wrote to me no later than last evening, expressing once more his delight in reading the book, and Mr. Burke, too—but you heard about Mr. Burke. I will never forget your courtesy in telling me first of all your friends that she was the author, dear doctor.” “If not you, madam, whom would I have told?” “I shall be ever grateful. You will give me leave to make the revelation to my friends who will be here to-day?” “It is open for you to tell them all that I have told you, my dear madam; and you may truthfully add that if the writing of the book will bring her into closer intimacy with Mrs. Thrale, the author will feel that it has not been written in vain.”
- 39. He made his lowest bow on rising from the table to receive his pupil, who entered the room at that moment. He had confidence that he was right in his intuition that his patroness would act with good effect the rôle which he had relinquished in her favour, when her friends would arrive in another hour for their “collation”; and he was ready to allow that none could have played the part more neatly than she did when the time came to prove how much better-informed she was than the rest of the world. She might have been possessed of the knowledge that Miss Burney was the writer of “Evelina” from the first, from the easy and natural way in which she said: “Pray do not trouble yourselves telling me what Mrs. Cholmondeley said to Mr. Lowndes, or what Mr. Lowndes said to someone else about the writer of the novel; for it happens that I know, and have known for—for some time the name of the author.” There were a few little exclamations of surprise, and a very pretty uplifting of several pairs of jewelled hands at this calm announcement. “Oh, yes,” she continued, “the writer is a friend of my own, and the daughter of one of my most valued friends, and if any people talk to you in future of ‘Evelina’ being the work of Mr. Walpole or Mr. Anstey or any man of letters, pay no attention to these astute investigators, but tell them that I said the book is the work of Miss Fanny Burney, one of the daughters of the celebrated Dr. Charles Burney, himself the author of a History of Music’ that will live so long as the English language has a literature of its own.” Mrs. Thrale did it all with amazing neatness, Dr. Burney thought; and the attempt that she made to conceal the expression of triumph in the glance that she gave to her guests let him know that his tact had been exercised in the right direction. Mrs. Thrale was not the woman to forget that he had given her such a chance of proving to her friends how intimate was her association with the literary history of the day. She had been for several years the patroness of Dr.
- 40. Johnson, who had written the best dictionary, and now she was about to take under her protection Miss Burney, who had written the best novel. He knew that Mrs. Thrale was almost as glad to be able to reveal the secret of “Evelina” as if she had written the book herself. And everyone else at the table felt that Mrs. Thrale was indeed an amazingly clever woman; and wondered how Mrs. Cholmondeley would feel when she had learned that she had been forestalled in her quest after the information on which she had placed a value of twenty guineas.
- 41. CHAPTER XXXIV It had all come to her now. She had had her dreams from time to time when working at her novel—dreams of recognition—of being received on terms of equality by some of the lesser literary people who had visited the house in St. Martin’s Street, and had gone away praising the musical talents of her sisters, but leaving her unnoticed. Her aspirations had been humble, but it seemed to her so stupid to be stupid in the midst of a brilliant household, that she longed to be able to do something that would, at least, cause their visitors of distinction to glance into her corner and recognize her name when it was spoken in their hearing. That was all she longed for at first—to be recognized as “the one who writes,” as people recognized “the one who plays.” But since Signor Rauzzini had come upon the scene her ambitions had widened. She dreamt not merely of recognition, but of distinction, so that he might be proud of her, and that she might not merely be spoken of as the wife of the Roman singer. That dream of hers had invariably been followed by a feeling of depression as she reflected upon the improbability of its ever being realized, and if it should not be realized, all hope of happiness would pass from her life. Thus it was that for some months she had lived with the cold finger of despair constantly pressing upon her heart. She was so practical—so reasonable—that she could never yield herself up to the fascination of the Fool’s Paradise of dreams; she was ready to estimate her chances of literary success, and the result of the operation was depressing. How could any young woman who had seen so little of life, and who had been so imperfectly educated, have any hope to be received as a writer of distinction? What claim to distinction could such a girl as she advance in the face of the competition that was going on around her in every branch of distinctive work?
- 42. For some months her good sense and her clear head were her greatest enemies; evermore bringing her back to the logic of a life in which everything is represented by figures, from a great artistic success to a butcher’s bill—a life in which dreams play a part of no greater significance than the splendid colours clinging about the West in the unalterable routine of the setting sun. Many times she had awakened in the night to weep as she felt the bitterness of defeat; for her book had been given to the world and the world had received it as the sea receives a stone that is flung upon its surface. That simile of the stone and the sea was constantly recurring to her, and every time she saw that it was weak—that it fell short of meeting her case, for her book had made no stir whatsoever in the world, whereas a stone, however small it might be, could not be given to the sea without creating some stir on the surface of the waters. And then, quite unexpectedly, had come a whisper from the world to tell her that her book had not been submerged: the whisper had increased in volume until it had sounded in her ears like a shout of acclamation, telling her that the reality had far surpassed her most sanguine dreams, and that common-sense reasoning is sometimes farther astray in its operation than are the promptings of the most unreasonable ambition. These were her rose-tinted reflections while driving with her father from Chessington to Streatham, a journey which represented to her the passing from obscurity to distinction, the crossing of the Jordan and the entering into the Land of Promise. Fanny Burney has herself told the story of her father’s coming to her at Chessington, and of her dear old friend’s reception of the marvellous news that Dr. Burney brought to him—of the phrases which she overheard while the two men were in a room together— the incredulous exclamations—“Wonderful—it’s wonderful!”—“Why, she has had very little education but what she has given herself— less than any of the others”—“The variety of characters—the variety of scenes, and the language”—“Wonderful!” And then Mr. Crisp’s
- 43. meeting her, catching her by the hands as she was going in to supper, and crying, “Why, you little hussy, ain’t you ashamed to look me in the face you—you ‘Evelina,’ you! Why, what a dance you have led me about it!” Miss Burney has brought the scene vividly before our eyes in her Diary. It was one of the happiest days of her life; she saw the pride with which her father regarded her, for Dr. Burney was a practical man who valued achievement as it deserved, and was, besides, the best of fathers, and the most anxious to advance the interests of his children. He looked with pride upon his daughter, and talked of her having made Mr. Lowndes a wealthy man. His estimate of her earning powers had increased: he now declared that even if Lowndes had paid a thousand pounds for the book, his profits off it would enable him to buy an estate! It was the happiest evening of her life; and now she was in the chaise with her beloved father, driving to Streatham, where they were to dine, and Dr. Johnson was to be of the party. This meant more than recognition, it meant the Land of Promise of her ambitious dreams. She had many matters to reflect upon at this time, but all her reflections led to the one point—her next meeting with Rauzzini. The truth that had been revealed to her among Sir Joshua Reynolds’ superb canvases, that love was more than all else that the world could give her, remained before her, as a luminous fixed star, to be a guide to her life; and the happiness that she now felt was due to the thought that she could go to the man whom she loved, without a misgiving, without fearing that he would hear those dreaded voices of the world saying that he had been a fool to ally himself with a nonentity, or that she would hear the whispers of those who might suggest that she had done very well for herself. She had long before made her resolution only to go to him when she could do so on terms of equality. At that time her resolution seemed to shut her out from all chances of happiness; she knew this, but at the same time
- 44. she believed that it would shut both of them out from every chance of unhappiness; and so she had allowed it to dominate her life. That was where her common-sense and her reasonableness had their way, prevailing over that blind impulse which she now and again had, to trust to chance—and love—to overcome every other consideration, and to give her lover and herself happiness solely by being together. It was such impulses as this that caused love to be referred to as blind. But she was now ready to thank heaven for having given her strength to overcome it and so to give the victory to reason and good sense. She made up her mind to write to him before she slept that very night, telling him what her resolution had been—he had called it a mystery, not knowing anything about it—and asking him to rejoice with her that she had been able to maintain it, so that the barrier which she had seen between them was now swept away. “Come to me—come to me”—that would be the burden of her letter to him; she would send it to him and he would come. The thought made her lean back among the cushions of the chaise and shut her eyes, the better to enclose the vision of happiness that came from her heart. He would come to her and her happiness would be complete. So she arrived with her father at Thrale Hall and was welcomed by Mrs. Thrale in the porch. When she had made her toilet for dinner she was shown into the drawing-room. As she entered, she was conscious of the presence of several men, and the one nearest to her was, she saw, Signor Rauzzini. All the men in the room were looking toward her except Rauzzini. He was standing by the side of a small table, presenting his profile to her, and his eyes were gazing across the room at a picture that hung between the windows, a frown on his face.
- 45. She was startled, and the blood rushed to her cheeks. It would have done so on her entering the room, even if she had not been surprised to see her lover there when she believed him to be still in France. She had stopped before reaching the middle of the room, and then she was hidden from the view of everybody by a huge mass of manhood in the person of Dr. Johnson. He seemed inclined to embrace her; and as he swung himself close to her, there was no one in the room that had not a moment of trepidation lest he should fall over her and crush her flat. Mrs. Thrale tripped alongside Fanny, as if ready to die with her. “Oh, come, Dr. Johnson,” she cried. “I have no intention of allowing you to monopolize Miss Burney, for that I perceive is your desire. The gentlemen must be presented to her in proper form.” “Madam,” said he, “I understood clearly that Miss Burney was coming hither for myself alone, and I have no mind to share so precious a morsel with others. Miss Burney and I are old friends, give me leave to say; I have more than once been interested in a book in the room where she was sitting in her father’s house. Come to my arms, Miss Burney, and we shall laugh together at the jealous glances the others cast at me.” “Miss Burney will sit beside you at dinner, sir, and that must suffice you for the present,” said Mrs. Thrale, taking Fanny by the hand. But Johnson had succeeded, after more than one ineffectual attempt, in grasping Miss Burney’s left hand, and in his ponderous playfulness, he refused to relinquish it, so that she had to make her curtsies to the gentlemen with Mrs. Thrale on one side of her and Johnson on the other. There was Mr. Seward and Sir Joshua Reynolds, and two others besides Signor Rauzzini. Each of them had a compliment to offer her, and did so very pleasantly and with great tact. “Now that is done, Miss Burney and I can sit together on the sofa, and she will tell me why she loves the Scotch and I will scold her for
- 46. it,” said Johnson complacently. “Nay, sir, Miss Burney has not yet greeted Signor Rauzzini,” said Mrs. Thrale. “You and Miss Burney are already acquainted, I know, Signor Rauzzini, though you did fancy that she was one of the musical girls of St. Martin’s Street.” Rauzzini took a single step away from the table at which he had remained immovable, and bowed low, without speaking a word. Fanny responded. They were separated by at least three yards. “Dinner is on the table, sir,” announced a servant from the door. “I am not sorry,” said Johnson. “Mrs. Thrale gave me a solemn promise that Miss Burney should sit next to me. That was why I kept my eye on Miss Burney.” “And hand too, sir,” remarked Mr. Seward. “Why, yes, sir, and hand too, if you insist,” said Johnson. “And let me tell you, sir, that a Lichfield man will keep his hand on anything he wishes to retain when another Lichfield man is in the same room.” His laughter set the ornaments on the mantelpiece a-jingling. And they went in to dinner before the echoes had died away. Mrs. Thrale kept her promise, and Fanny was placed next to Johnson. But even then he did not let go her hand. He held it in one of his own and patted it gently with the other. Fanny glanced down the table and saw that the eyes of the young Roman were looking in her direction, and that they were flaming. What could he mean, she wondered. She had been at first amazed at his bearing toward her in the drawing-room; but after a moment’s thought, she had supposed that he had assumed that distant manner to prevent anyone from suspecting the intimacy there was between them. But what could that angry look in his eyes portend? Was it possible that he could be jealous of Dr. Johnson’s awkward attention to her? She was greatly troubled.
- 47. But if he had, indeed, resented Johnson’s attention to her, such a plea was no longer valid after the first dish had been served, for in an instant Johnson’s attention was transferred, with increased force, to the plate before him, and during the solid part of the meal, at least, it was never turned in any other direction. Poor Fanny had never seen him eat, nor had she the same privilege in respect of Mr. Thrale. But she needed all the encouragement that her hostess could afford her to enable her to make even the most moderate meal while such distractions were in her immediate neighbourhood; and she came to the conclusion that she had been ridiculously fastidious over the prodigious tea and its service at Mr. Barlowe’s in the Poultry. But Mrs. Thrale was as tactful and as chatty as ever, and Mr. Seward made pleasant conversation for her, sitting, as he did, on the other side from Johnson. When Johnson was eating, his fellow guests understood that their chance was come to express their views without a dread of being contradicted by him. But from the feebleness of her contribution to the chat of the table, Mrs. Thrale as well as Mr. Seward perceived that all they had been told about the timidity of little Miss Burney was even less than the truth. But for that matter, Signor Rauzzini, who had been placed between Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Burney, was found by both of them to be also singularly averse from joining in the conversation, whether in reply to Burney, who addressed him in Italian, or to his hostess, who spoke French to him. As Mrs. Thrale talked a good deal herself, however, she rose with an impression that there had been no especial lack of brilliancy at the table. She took Fanny away with her, her determination being that if she should fail to draw this shy young creature out of her shell, she would at any rate convince her that her hostess was deserving of the reputation which she enjoyed for learning, combined with vivacity, so
- 48. that their companionship could not be otherwise than profitable after all.
- 49. CHAPTER XXXV It was not yet six o’clock and the sun was not due to set for more than another hour. The evening was a lovely one. From the shrubberies around the house came the liquid notes of countless blackbirds and thrushes, and above the trees of the park the cawing of the rooks as they wheeled above their nests and settled upon the branches. “We shall sit on the terrace for half an hour, if you have a mind to,” said Mrs. Thrale, taking Fanny through the drawing-room into a smaller room that opened upon a long terrace above the beds of the flower-garden. Here were several seats and a small table bearing writing materials. “Here I do most of my correspondence in the summer,” said Mrs. Thrale. “Sitting at that table in the open air, I have few distractions, unless I choose to accept the birds as such; and here I hope you will begin a new novel, or better still, a comedy that Mr. Sheridan will produce, with Mrs. Abington in her most charming gowns—you must give your namesake a chance of wearing a whole trunkful of gowns.” They seated themselves, and Mrs. Thrale continued: “Now I have confided in you how I do my simple work, and I wish to hear from you by what means you found time to write your novel. That is the greatest secret of all associated with ‘Evelina’—so your father thinks. Mrs. Burney I always knew as a model housekeeper—a model manager of a family, and how you could contrive to write a single page without her knowledge is what baffles me as well as your father.” “To tell you all would, I fear, be to confess to a lifetime of duplicity,” said Fanny. “I am sometimes shocked now when I reflect upon my double-dealing.”
- 50. “Tell me how you first came to stray from the paths of virtue— such a story is invariably interesting,” said Mrs. Thrale. “My story is like all the others,” replied Fanny. “I only meant to turn aside a little way, but soon I lost myself and I knew that there was no retracing my steps.” “Alas, alas, the old story!” said Mrs. Thrale, with a long-drawn sigh. “Well, happily, you were not able to retrace your steps.” “I had no idea that the story would grow upon me as it did,” said Fanny. “I really only meant it to be a diversion for our dear friend, Mr. Crisp, and an exercise for myself. I wrote a scrap now and again at odd moments—when I was supposed to be writing to Mr. Crisp, or copying out my father’s notes for his History, at home as well as at Chessington, and when I was staying at Lynn; and so the thing grew and grew until I was afraid to look at what I had perpetrated.” “You are paraphrasing Macbeth, my dear: ‘I am afeared to think what I have done: Look on’t again I dare not,’” said the elder lady. “But with all you were able to prepare your father’s great work for the press—he told me as much; so that what your double-dealing comes to is that you did his writing as well as your own, and at the same time neglected none of your ordinary household duties—if you had done so Mrs. Burney would have informed you of it, I have no doubt. An excellent housewife, Mrs. Burney! And now you shall tell me how you contrived to bring together so marvellous a group of characters—you who have lived so short a time in the world, and had so small an amount of experience.” “I should like someone to answer that question for me,” said Fanny. “It was not until I read the book in print that I began to be surprised at it, and to wonder how it came to be written and how those characters had found their way into it.” But this question was too interesting a one not to be pursued by Mrs. Thrale; and for half an hour she put inquiry after inquiry to Fanny respecting the characters, the incidents and the language of “Evelina.” Mrs. Thrale was certainly determined to place herself in a
- 51. position to prove to her friends that Miss Burney had made a confidante of her in all matters, down to the smallest detail of the book. In ordinary circumstances Fanny would have been delighted to give her her confidence in regard to these particulars—she had always a childlike pleasure in talking about her books—but at this time she only did so with a great effort. For while Mrs. Thrale was plying her with questions about “Evelina,” there was ever before Fanny the unanswered question as to what Rauzzini meant by his coldness and formality both before dinner and during that meal. What did he mean by looking at her with that reproachful frown upon his face? What did he mean by averting his eyes from her when he had a chance of exchanging confidences with her, as he had often done before? What did he mean by sitting at the table without addressing a single word to her? These were the questions which she was struggling in vain to answer to her own satisfaction all the time that Mrs. Thrale was putting inquiry after inquiry to her upon a matter that Fanny now regarded as insignificant compared with the one that she was trying to answer for herself. Mrs. Thrale was just beginning a series of questions on the subject of the comedy which she meant Miss Burney to write, when a servant appeared with a message for the former. “Tiresome!” exclaimed Fanny’s hostess, rising. “Here is some insignificant household matter that can only be dealt with by the mistress—summer frocks for two girls: the carrier has brought some boxes—the summer has come upon us before spring has prepared us for its arrival, and there has been a despairing cry heard in the nursery. I need not excuse myself to you, Miss Burney. You will spare me for ten minutes.” Miss Burney hoped that the feeling of relief of which she was conscious did not show itself on her face, when she expressed the
- 52. hope that Mrs. Thrale would not think of her; she would be quite happy with the birds. “And the comedy—do not forget the comedy.” Miss Burney laughed, but before her hostess had reached the door leading off the terrace, she was once more immersed in that question: “What does he mean by his change of attitude in regard to me?” It was serious—so much she knew. He had heard something that had caused him to change. But what could he have heard? What manner of man was he that would allow himself to be so influenced by anything that he might hear against her, without first coming to her for an explanation? Her mind went back to the evening when they had first met. It was in St. Martin’s Street. He was there on the invitation of Dr. Burney: but it seemed that he had become conscious of a sympathy existing between her and himself, for he had remained by her side for a full hour while the others in the room were singing and playing on the piano, and he had held her hand at parting, expressing the hope, which his eyes confirmed, that they would soon meet again. And they had met again and again until one evening they found themselves alone in an ante-room to the apartment where a musical programme was being performed at a great house. Then he had told her that his happiness depended on her returning the love which he bore her; and startled though she had been, yet when he took her hand all her shyness seemed to vanish and she confessed.... A sound behind her only served to make her memory seem more vivid, for it was his voice that reached her ear and it was singing the same aria that he had come from singing on that evening—the passionate “Lascia ch’io pianga” of Handel. Once more she was listening to the strains—they came from one of the rooms that opened upon the terrace—and now the chords of the accompaniment were struck with a vehemence that had been absent from her father’s playing to Rauzzini’s singing upon that occasion.
- 53. She listened as if in a dream while the noble, despairing strain went on to its close, and the melody sobbed itself into silence—a silence that the birds among the roses seemed unwilling to break, for only an occasional note of a thrush was in the air.... She heard the sound of the door opening a little way down the terrace—of a foot upon the flagged path. She did not raise her head, but she knew that he was there—only a few yards away from her. Through the silence there came the cawing of rooks far away among the trees of the park. Then all at once she heard his sudden exclamation of surprise. He had not seen her at first; he saw her now. “Dio mio! ella è qui!” Still she did not turn her head toward him. More than a minute had passed before she heard his slow steps as he approached her. He was beside her for quite as long before he spoke. “I did not know that you were here,” he said in a low voice. “But I am glad. It is but right that I should say good-bye to you alone.” Then she looked up. “Why—why—why?” she cried almost piteously. “Why should you say good-bye? What has made the change in you?” “It is not I who have changed: it is you,” said he. “I loved the sweet, modest, untarnished jewel of a girl—a pearl hidden away from the sight of men in dim sea-cave—a violet—ah, I told you how I loved the violet that hides itself from every eye—that was what you were when I loved you, and I hoped to return to your side and find you the same. Well, I return and—ah, where is the exquisite shrinking one that I looked for? Gone—gone—gone for ever, and in her place I find one whose name is in every mouth—not a soft, gentle girl, but a woman who has put her heart into a book—Dio mio! A woman who puts her heart into a book is like a woman who disrobes in a public place—worse—worse—she exposes a heart that
- 54. should be sacred—feelings that it would be a gross indelicacy to exhibit to the eyes of man!” “And that is how you think of me on account of what I have done?” said she. “How can I think anything else?” he cried. “I told you that I loved you because you were so unlike others—because you were like a child for timidity and innocence of the world. I told you on that last evening we were together how greatly I admired the act of Miss Linley in turning her back upon the platform where she had sung and vowing never to return to it—that was what I told you I loved—I who have seen how the nature—the womanly charm of every woman suffers by reason of her appealing to the public for money— for applause. That beautiful creature forsook the platform before it was too late—before the evil influence could work her ruin. But you —what do I hear the day I return to England?—you have put your heart—your soul, into a book that causes your name to be tossed about from mouth to mouth—Fanny Burney—Fanny Burney—Fanny Burney—I hear that name, which I regarded as sacred, spoken as freely as men speak the name of their Kitty Fisher—their Polly Kennedy—their Fanny Abington! These are public characters—so are you—oh, my God! so are you. You should have heard how you were discussed in that room behind us before you arrived to-day—that gross man Johnson—he called you by a dozen pet names as if he had a right—‘Fan’—‘Fannikin’—I know not what—‘a shy rogue’—that was another! They laughed! They did not see the degradation of it. You were a toy of the public—the vulgar crowd! Ah, you saw how that gross man, who fed himself as a wolf, tucked you under his arm and the others only smiled! Oh, I was shocked—shocked!” “And I felt proud—prouder than I have felt in my life,” said she. “But now I see what I have lost—forfeited. Listen to me and I will tell you what my dream was. I had written that book, but I had no hope of printing it until I met you and heard from your lips—all that I heard.” “It was the truth—then: I loved you—then.”
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