OF THE
UNJTEtiilTY
r
Religious &vat, Society,
MEMOIR
AMELIA OPIE;
CECILIA LUCY BRIGHTWELL.
Still thankful alike, if the thorn or the rose
Was strew'd on the pathway that led her to God."
LA.YS FOE THE DEAD.
PUBLISHED BY
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,
56, PATERNOSTER ROW, & 164, PICCADILLY,
LONDON.
M.DCCC.LV.
PREFACE.
IT seems desirable, in bringing out a short
Memoir of Mrs. Opie, tinder the auspices of the
Religious Tract Society, to preface it by a few
observations, introductory and explanatory.
The present Life differs, in some essential re-
spects, from the larger " Memorials;" having
for its object more particularly the record of
Mrs. Opie's religious history; and, consequently,
it will be found to contain but a general sum-
mary of the events of the earlier years of her
life.
Since the publication of the former work, I
have received many pleasing letters, and extracts
from correspondence, communicated to me by
the friends of Mrs. Opie, which have been
thought likely to interest the general reader,
and to bring out into clearer light the character
of the departed, as a Christian woman.
While I do not desire to convey the impres-
M601482
IV PREFACE.
sion, that in writing this short Memoir, I feel
the wish to retract or alter anything I have
given in the " Memorials/' I avow the hope
and the expectation, that there will be found
in this little volume much additional and in-
teresting material. It is, therefore, with plea-
sure I indulge the belief that it will, through
the medium of this Society, be put within the
reach of a far larger number of readers than it
could otherwise have obtained.
Perhaps I may be permitted to say a few
words with reference to the sterling character
of Mrs. Opie's religious views and conduct.
There can be no stronger test of the genuine
nature of a change of heart, than corresponding
life and action ; and while, in her case, there
was simple reliance on the great fundamental
doctrine of salvation by faith in the Redeemer,
there was a " bright evidence " that this faith
was genuine in the fruits it produced.
For proof of this I must refer to the narrative
given in these pages, and I may further say,
that the character of Mrs. Opie's religious
reading, and of her favourite devotional authors,
also showed the soundness of her views. Dr.
PREFACE. V
Chalmers' " Horse Sabbaticse," was one of the
books in which she principally took delight
during the latter period of her life; and the
various marks of approval and feeling, traced
by her pencil, in the volumes she read, show the
bent of her heart and mind.
I know not that any doubt has ever been
entertained of the sincerity and truthfulness of
Mrs. Opie, in the change she adopted, when she
left the world, and gave -herself to Christ as his
disciple. The old reproach has indeed been
uttered by one critic, who says, "When she
began to grow elderly, Amelia Opie became
devote." Beneath the sting lies the honey-bag ;
and this trite sneer will only assure the Christian
reader that the object of it had not offered in
vain the prayer of the psalmist, " So teach us
to number our days, that we may apply our
hearts unto wisdom."
C. L. BRIGHTWELL,
Norwich.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE,
PART I.
CHAPTEE I.
THEBE is, perhaps, no kind of reading more
universally interesting than biography, or "life-
writing" as that word signifies. Some of the
most ancient literary compositions in existence are
works of biography, or of mixed biography and
history. The historical parts of the Old Testament
are the most remarkable examples of the kind,
and are everywhere intermixed with records of the
lives of individuals ; in some instances, the compo-
sition is purely biographical, as in the case of the
book of Euth. Who has not delighted himself in
that record of true friendship, so pure and disin-
terestedso abiding and faithful? Fresh with
Nature's own breath, that world-old tale is ever
new and attractive. The old and the young alike
take pleasure in it; and all hearts respond to
the touching appeal: "Entreat me not to leave
2 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
thee, or to return from following after thee : for
whither thou goest, I will go : thy people shall be
my people, and thy Grod my Grod: where thou
diest, will I die, and there will I be buried."*
The life-history of every man, indeed, could it be
faithfully given, would, in all probability, be found
to contain some points of interest peculiar to itself,
and distinct in character from the experience of all
others : so that a lesson of teaching, encourage-
ment, or warning might be learned thence, and
good might result from a discriminating reflection
upon its record. The consciousness of this general
love for biography, and the eager interest we all
take in the experience of each other, have prompted
multitudes to relate that which they have them-
selves seen and done, or induced them, in case
they have been conversant with individuals of note
and celebrity, to give to the world their recollections
of the distinguished persons with whom they have
associated.
It is from a feeling of this kind that I offer to
the readers of this little volume some remembrances
of one who will ever be dear to those who knew
her, and the history of whose long and eventful
life is full of much instruction and entertainment.
I refer to the late AMELIA OPIE, an authoress
whose earlier poems and tales procured her a repu-
tation in the world of letters, which is still main-
tained after the lapse of half a century, and whose
* Ruth i. 16, 17.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 3
later works of a very different character show
the honesty and truthfulness of her renewed heart,
and her sincere desire to do good. The principal
of these productions is a series of tales, illustrative
of the vice of lying ; and this book has been, and is
still, extensively read in America, in which country
it is acknowledged to have been widely useful,
having found its way into the cottages of " the
interior," where it is to be seen, "thumbed by
frequent use."
It is not, however, as an authoress that I wish
to present Mrs. Opie to my readers ; my object is,
rather to trace, in the experience of her life, the
goodness of G-od, and the infinite superiority of
religious principle to the highest attainments of
nature, as well as the superior happiness it yields
over all that the world can bestow on its votaries.
In the endeavour to illustrate these points, I shall,
almost necessarily, make a division of the memoir
into the two periods into which her life seems
naturally to fall. The earlier and longer part of
her history was one of youthful enjoyment, suc-
cessful aspiration, and worldly distinction ; when
she drank the full cup of earthly joy, and tasted,
with a glad spirit, the happiness of youth, health,
prosperity, and "all that earth calls good and
great."
Of this period of her life I cannot speak from
personal knowledge; my acquaintance with her
dates from a far later time, when she had long
4 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
retired from the gay circles of the world ; and
when, taught by experience, she could say, "I
would not exchange this sitting at the foot of the
cross for all the gaieties I once enjoyed." But,
though unable to narrate, from personal knowledge,
the history of her early days, I am possessed of
authentic information respecting them, and have
heard from her own lips many particulars of their
most striking and memorable events ; for she loved
to go back, on Memory's swift wings, to the days
of " auld lang syne," and would frequently while
away the hours in graphically depicting the scenes
arid personages of former times.
AMELIA ALDEBSON was the only child of a phy-
sician of some note, in the old cathedral town of
Norwich, in which place she was born, November
12th, 1769. Her mother, Amelia, was the daughter
of Joseph Briggs, of Cossambaza, up the Granges.
This gentleman was the son of Dr. Henry Briggs,
rector of Holt, in Norfolk, and went over, in the
Company's service, to Bengal. He died in India,
May, 1747. His widow did not survive him many
months, and their infant daughter and only child
was brought back to England, and committed to
the care of her father's family ; and there are still
in existence several letters from her paternal uncle
relative to the transfer of the child, which breathe
a spirit of devout piety, and affectionate interest
in the helpless orphan.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 5
Mrs. Opie has been heard to say, that many of
her " relations on the mother's side had been united
for generations past to the Wesleyan Methodists ;"
and I mention this circumstance, because it is
delightful to indulge in the thought, that the pro-
mises of Grod, made to the children of the righteous,
" even to the third and fourth generations," were
fulfilled in the present instance.
It appears that Mrs. Opie's mother was a woman
of good sense and judgment, and that she endea-
voured early to teach her child obedience and
self-denial. "Her word .was law;" and though
fragile in health, she seems to have been gifted
with much natural strength of character. She died
when her daughter was yet a girl, but it was per-
ceptible, even to the latest period of Mrs. Opie's life,
that the influence exerted by her mother never faded
from the daughter's memory, but left indelible traces
there ; and not unfrequently would she speak of her
mother with respect and veneration. One of the most
touching of Mrs. Opie's "Lays for the Dead" was
called forth by this filial affection, and, in a short
narrative of her own earlier days, she speaks of the
judicious training of her mother, saying she was as
" firm from principle, as she was gentle in disposi-
tion." Happy, indeed, would it have been for both
mother and child, had the seeds of early piety been
sown in that tender and susceptible heart ; but there
is no evidence that such was the case ; and while
we cannot but feel the wish to know more of the
6 LltfE OF AMELIA OPIE.
mother of Mrs. Opie, we are compelled to acknow-
ledge, with regret, that in the scanty information
we have, no mention is made of the religious train-
ing of her child.
Having referred to a record of Mrs. Opie's
childish days, I will quote, from this interesting
fragment, a little incident with which it opens,
very characteristic of the natural love for the beau-
tiful, and the sweet temper of the writer. She says :
" One of my earliest recollections is, of gazing on
the bright blue sky, as I lay in my little bed,
before my hour of rising came, and listening with
delighted attention to the ringing of a peal of
bells. I had heard that heaven was beyond those
blue skies, and I had been taught that there was
the home of the good; and I fanced that those
sweet bells were ringing in heaven. What a happy
error ! Neither illusion nor reality, at any subse-
quent period of my life, ever gave me such a sensa-
tion of pure, heartfelt delight, as I experienced,
when, morning after morning, I looked on that
blue sky, and listened to those bells, and fancied
that I heard the music of the home of the blessed,
pealing from the dwelling of the Most High.
Well do I remember the excessive mortification I
felt when I was told the truth, and had the nature
of bells explained to me ; and though I have since
had to awake often from illusions that were dear
to my heart, I am sure that I never woke from one
with more pain than I experienced when forced
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 7
to forego this sweet illusion of my imaginative
childhood."
This lively imagination was shown in various
ways, when she was still quite young, and was
joined to an eager curiosity and love of excitement,
of which she has related various instances. She
early gave signs of some of the peculiar tastes and
propensities which afterwards characterized her.
One of the most remarkable of these, was an eager
interest in insane persons ; and her sympathies
being excited on their behalf, she delighted in fre-
quently visiting them and -bestowing on them little
presents of pence, and flowers. Once, during a
visit to the interior of a lunatic asylum, she was so
much struck by the appearance of a patient, whom
she observed gazing at her with earnest and melan-
choly interest "a world of woe" written in his
looks that she said, " This poor man and his ex-
pression never left my memory ; and I thought of
him when, at a later period, I attempted to paint
the feelings I imputed to him, in the " Father and
Daughter." "When very young, too, she became
a frequenter of the assize courts at Norwich, de-
lighting in the excitement of the trials there;
thus early evincing a taste she ever after retained ;
but which, it will be seen, at the latter period of
her life, was brought under the influence of higher
motives than mere curiosity, or the love of ex-
citement.
Still a girl at the time of her mother's death,
8 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
Miss Alderson was placed by that event at the
head of her father's household, and introduced into
the very gay society of the Norwich circles of
that day. Dr. Alderson naturally delighted in his
daughter's talents. He made her his constant
companion, and to his instructions she was, in a
great degree, indebted for the information and ac-
quirements, which qualified her to take a part in
entertaining the numerous and clever guests whom
he gathered round him. It was a perilous situa-
tion for a young girl, deprived of a mother's watch-
ful care, and without the loving influence and sup-
port of other female relatives. There was plenty
to delight her lively, joyous temperament, but she
needed the salutary checks which maternal in-
fluence would have exerted, and for the want of
which even the devoted attachment of her proud
father could not compensate.
High spirits, uninterrupted health, a lively fancy,
and mental vigour, were natural advantages she pos-
sessed, and fully enjoyed and exercised. To these she
added great musical talent, and excelled to a most
remarkable degree in that expressive style of ballad-
singing, which seems no longer to be cultivated in
these days of musical science. " Those only who
have heard her can conceive the effect she produced
in the performance of her own ballads," said one
of her early friends; and this charming gift she
exerted in the days of her greatest success in so-
ciety ; on one occasion being honoured to sing to
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 9
the Prince R/egent. This fact reminds me, that,
after Mrs. Opie's death, among the relics care-
fully treasured in Dr. Alderson's writing desk, was
found a pair of faded gloves, which had been worn by
his daughter on that memorable occasion. Another
of Miss Alderson's early tastes was a love of the
drama; when not more than eighteen years of
age she wrote a tragedy, which she afterwards
assisted in acting for the amusement of her friends.
It was, probably, owing to this taste, that she early
formed an acquaintance with the Kemble family,
and became intimate with the celebrated Mrs.
Siddons.
A visit to London in 1794, introduced Miss
Aiderson to many celebrated characters. That was
a period of revolutionary ferment and unparalleled
political excitement ; and Dr. Alderson's views
being those of the ultra-liberal party, his daughter's
were naturally formed in accordance with them.
She attended the famous trials of Home Tooke,
Holcroft, and others, for high treason, and wrote
accounts of them to her father, full of passionate
interest and zeal on behalf of the accused.
Throughout her life, Mrs. Opie was a warm
sympathizer with the lower orders, though she had
many friends in the higher circles. She was never,
jit any period, untrue to this early-formed bias,
exhibiting a practical habit of tenderness towards
those who have to bear a large share of the heavier
burdens of life.
10 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
It is evident, that a fellowship in political
opinions was the only bond which united Miss
Alderson to many of those with whom, at this
time, she associated. Her good sense, and firm
rectitude of moral principle, happily preserved her
from the follies and errors into which not a few
of those around her were led, by their extravagant
zeal for a liberty which speedily degenerated into
licence ; and although she might, sometimes, be
betrayed by her native ardour into imprudence,
her own standard of duty ever remained pure and
high.
The following year found Miss Alderson again
entering into the exciting pleasures of the society
to which she had gained access. Many of the
Erench emigrants, the victims of the great Revo-
lution, were at that time in London, and among
them were men of high standing, and literary
talent and repute. The celebrated Count de Lally
Tollendal, and the Due d'Aiguillon, formed an
acquaintance with the lively and charming young
Englishwoman, which they afterwards carried on in
correspondence; and she wrote, as usual, to her
Norwich friends, telling of all the gay round of
visits and amusements in which she shared. Still,
she was not wholly blinded to the frivolity of
much she joined in, but spoke of the scene as " a
wilderness of pleasure, in which fruits and flowers
disputed with weeds."
Intellectual intercourse with Mrs. Barbauld,
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
Mr. Wrangham, Mr. Eogers, Dr. Geddes, and
many others of the same stamp, was the principal
attraction to her, and she was always on the alert
to gain instruction and information, which she
stored up for after use. At length, during one of
her London visits, she formed an acquaintance
which was destined to affect her future history
for life. In the house of a mutual friend, she was
introduced, one evening, to the painter Opie, then
enjoying a considerable degree of popular favour.
He was charmed and fascinated at first sight,
and pursued with eager earnestness the suit which
he instantly commenced. At first there seemed
doubts of his success, but eventually she inclined
to accept his proposal, and in the month of May,
1798, Mr. Opie and Miss Alderson were married
at Marylebone church.
From the glimpses we gain of Mr. Opie in the
Memoir, prefixed by his wife to the Lectures, pub-
lished after his decease, we perceive much that is
estimable in his private and domestic character;
and the letters she wrote during her married life
bear strong testimony to his honourable and truth-
ful character, to his feeling of love for his pro-
fession, and to his general worth and natural kind-
ness. He delighted to spend his leisure hours in
conversation with the woman to whom his heart
had surrendered itself at the first moment of their
meeting. He endeavoured to instruct and improve
her mind and talents ; he encouraged her to exer-
12 LIFE Or AMELIA OPIE.
cise her natural powers, as an author, and always
waged war against the indulgence of idleness and
frivolous pursuits ; and she repaid his affection by a
sincere regard, and a warm delight in his genius
and superior sense. "Knowing," she says in the
memoir of her husband, " at the time of our
marriage, that my most favourite amusement was
writing, he did not check my ambition to become
an author; on the contrary, he complained not
that I wrote so much, but that I did not write
more and better. Idleness was the fault he most
blamed in both sexes; and I shall ever regret
that I did not write more, when it was in my
power to profit by his criticisms and advice ; and
when, by employing myself more regularly in that
manner, I should have been sure to receive the
proudest and dearest reward of woman, the appro-
bation of a husband at once the object of her
respect and love."
Thus urged, Mrs. Opie gave to the world her
first acknowledged publication, the " Father and
Daughter." It appeared in the year 1801, and
was received with much warmth of approval by
the public at large, as well as by the more critical
judgment of the reviewers of "The Edinburgh,"
and of men of genius and repute. Sir "Walter
Scott declared, that he had shed more tears over
that tale than he had ever done over such things.
It was translated into almost every European lan-
guage, and was afterwards taken as the ground-
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 13
work of a popular Italian opera of the time the
" Agnese " of Paer. The next year Mrs. Opie
published a volume of " Poems/' which were thus
characterized by the celebrated critic, Dr. Brown :
" The verses of feeling, on which Mrs. Opie must
rely for the establishment of her fame, are cer-
tainly among the best in our opuscular poetry."
In the midst of these scenes of domestic happi-
ness, and successful effort, there were clouds gather-
ing around the painter and his wife, which occa-
sion e,d anxiety and care for the future. Mr. Opie's
talents were not rewarded by so much remunera-
tive employment as they deserved, and after a
time, obtained. Despondency occasionally possessed
his mind, and dark broodings overshadowed his
spirit. His aspiring mind yearned after professional
excellence, and never rested in present attainments.
And now the hopeful spirit of his wife sustained
him. She was sanguine in temperament, and
cheerful by nature, and well and happily ministered
to him by encouraging his nagging spirits.
In time these difficulties were surmounted, and,
she says in her Memoir, "a torrent of business
set in towards him, which never ceased to flow till
the day of his death."
One of the very few relaxations which Mr. Opie
allowed to himself, was a visit to the French
capital, and great was the delight which this journey
occasioned his wife. She beheld the great master-
pieces of art then assembled at the Louvre by the
14 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
victorious arms of Napoleon. She gazed with ad-
miring eyes on that mighty conqueror himself, and
saw and conversed with her political idol, Charles
Jaihes Fox. Many persons of note, including the
Polish hero, Kosciusko, were introduced to her
acquaintance, and the days were too short to ac-
complish the various schemes of amusement and
pleasure with which she filled the hours. Her
health and spirits were boundless, and her enjoy-
ment fully equal to both.
Seventeen years after, Mrs. Opie again visited
Prance, and as, looking back at the past, she recalled
with mingled emotions the widely different cir-
cumstances under which she first saw those shores,
filled with grateful feelings, she exclaimed, " "When
I again beheld Calais, and recollected what I was
when I first saw it in 1802, I felt overwhelmed and
humbled with a sense of being richer, wiser, and
happier in one sense than I was then ; for I had
learned to know my Saviour, and not as a Teacher
and a Prophet only, but as the Eedeemer as Him
who died that I might live, and through whose
merits alone I am to be saved. Glory be to the
Most High for this greatest of all his mercies ! "
Ee turning from this delightful journey, Mr. and
Mrs. Opie resumed the usual routine of their life,
and the pen and the pencil were industriously
exercised. She produced some new tales, and
frequently visited her Norwich friends ; her letters
to whom, when she was in London, were filled
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 15
with accounts of all the various incidents she
judged worthy of record, and varied with descrip-
tions of the "celebrities" to whom she had access.
"In her own house," said her early friend, Mrs.
J. Taylor, " where Mr. Opie's talents drew a
constant succession of the learned, the gay, and
the fashionable, she delighted all by the sweetness
of her manners, and the unstudied and benevolent
politeness with which she adapted herself to the
taste of each individual."
These days passed swiftly away, and all seemed
to promise fair for the future. The talents of her
husband had now obtained for him both fame and
success, and his happy wife wrote : " He now saw
himself justly rewarded for all his labour and per-
severance ; his circumstances were such as to
enable us to have more of the comforts and ele-
gancies of life." ..... In short, the hill of worldly
prosperity was climbed, and the difficulty of the
ascent conquered. The labour and anxiety, how-
ever, had told upon the health, and undermined
the energies, of the successful man of genius ; and
in the spring of the year 1807, just nine years
after his marriage, Mr. Opie, after a few weeks'
illness, sank and died. His wife did all that was
in her power to soothe and comfort him. Alas !
she could not point the eye of the sufferer to the
only true source of hope to the Saviour of sinners.
She did not know the only refuge of the soul in
the hour of calamity ; she had not learned the
16 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
lesson of believing confidence in Jesus as the way
of safety, of holiness, and of peace the lesson
which, by G-od's grace and mercy, she was taught
in after years, when, under a similar afflic-
tion, (the last illness of her father,) she wrote,
" I humbly hope, that in my hour of need, if it
should come, I shall be permitted to feel that ' my
help cometh from the Lord; and that, though I
walk in the midst of trouble, he will deliver me.' "
There is something exceedingly touching and
painful in the history of Mr. Opie ; and it is
probable that my readers, as they drop a tear of
regret over his untimely end, may utter, in their
hearts, the words of the wise "preacher" of old,
and say, " Vanity of vanities ; all is vanity. What
profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh
under the sun ? " * Should they stop there, they will
but learn the melancholy lesson, that all the joys of
earth, and all its works and deeds, perish and come
to nought are, indeed, nothing, and less than
nothing, and vanity :
" False as the smooth, deceitful sea,
And empty as the whistling wind."
But the Christian will go further; he will re-
member the words of the Lord Jesus, and the
solemn question he put, which none on earth, or
under the earth, has ever been able to answer,
" "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul?"t
* Eccl. i. 2, 3. t Mark viii. 36.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 17
That inquiry is still put by the Saviour to all
who, sinking beneath the labours of earth, or
goaded to sacrifice everything in pursuit of its
rewards, ask, in the bitterness of disappointment,
"Who will show us any good?" To them the
voice of love says, " What shall it profit you, though
you gain all that you pant to acquire, if the one
thing needful be not yours ? Seek first the king-
dom of Grod, and his righteousness, and all things
else shall then be added unto you."
CHAPTEE II.
AFTER Mr. Opie's death, his widow returned to
her early home, and continued during the remainder
of Dr. Alderson's life to live with him. Her at-
tachment to her father was of an ardent and devoted
character ; she loved him with an intense affection,
and as he was the only object united to her by the
dearest ties of nature, all her tenderness seemed to
be concentrated upon him. It w r as now her duty
and delight to cheer and soothe his declining years,
and love, and duty joined to aid her in the per-
formance of the task. For a while her intercourse
with the world and its society was laid aside. She
gave her time and thoughts to quiet literary labours,
published her husband's lectures, with her memoir
of him, and wrote a second volume of poems.
After a period of retirement, she resumed her
intercourse with London friends, and visited the
metropolis, usually in the spring of each year.
Her letters and reminiscences (the latter were
written several years after the events they recorded)
are full of lively pictures of the personages and
events of the time. Many of those who figure in
them are names of the first celebrity: Lord
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. . 19
Erskine and Madame de Stael, Sheridan, Lord
Byron, Sir James Mackintosh, Mrs. Siddons, Baron
Humboldt, and many others, were there, witty,
brilliant, learned, and attractive, contributing of
their various stores to the general fund of enjoy-
ment. These yearly visits to London did not
interfere with Mrs. Opie's literary pursuits. She
continued diligently to use her pen, and in the
year 1812 published "Temper" a tale, in which
she adopted more the character of a moralist, aim-
ing at practical usefulness ; and she had the satis-
faction of receiving assurances that it had exerted
a beneficial influence on some of her readers. In
the following year appeared the " Tales of Eeal
Life," and we mention them, especially from the
wish to say, that the one entitled " Love and Duty"
was a favourite with herself a fact incidentally
mentioned by her at an evening party, when she
was told that a young friend, who had hoped to
meet her on that occasion, was consoling herself by
reading this tale. "With great naivete, Mrs. Opie
acknowledged that these early productions of her
mind still possessed an interest for her, and she
added, that "Lcve and Duty" was her favourite
among them.
We now pass on to the summer of the year 1814.
when, to use her own words, " the emperor of
Russia, the king of Prussia, and other royal and
distinguished foreigners, were, as everybody knows,
in London." It was a stirring time, and she was
20 ^ L1EE OF AMELIA OPIE.
present, amidst all the gaiety and whirl, chasing
the imperial strangers when they appeared in
public, sharing in the gay amusements of her
friends, balls, and masquerades, and concerts;
and on Sundays, alas ! receiving her guests, and
doing as the multitude around her did, not observ-
ing " the ordinances of the Lord, nor obeying his
commandments."
From the midst of all this worldliness and vanity
Mrs. Opie was suddenly and painfully summoned,
by an event which excited deep feeling in her heart,
and which must have been the more impressive and
distressing, by the contrast in which it stood with
all that had occupied her thoughts during the
months of her absence from home. Among the
friends of her early days were the well-known and
much-honoured family of the Griirneys. Her inter-
course with them dated from a very early period,
and when Mrs. -Fry, on her marriage, settled in
London, Mrs. Opie visited her there. After her
return to Norwich, on the death of her husband,
she resumed her former habits of intimacy with the
family at Earlham, and formed a warm friendship
with Priscilla, the youngest sister, whose lovely and
Christian character especially endeared her to those
around her, and whose influence on Mrs. Opie,
combined with that of her brother, the admirable
and lamented Joseph John Gurney, appears to
have been the principal means of producing that
gradual change of sentiment which eventually led
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 21
to her joining the Society of Friends. The melan-
choly event of which we have spoken as the occa-
sion of Mrs. Opie's sudden recall from her London
visit, was the death of Mr. John G-urney, the elder
brother of Mr. Joseph John Gurney. He had been
for some time in a declining state of health, but the
end seems to have been unexpectedly rapid, and
happened precisely at this period. To the memory
of this lamented friend, Mrs. Opie dedicated the
second of her " Lays for the Dead," which was
written (as she says in the title to it) after attend-
ing his funeral in the Friends' burying-ground at
Norwich ; she having travelled all night in order to
arrive in time.
From this period Mrs. Opie attended the reli-
gious services of the Friends ; and continued to do
so until she united herself to their communion,
eleven years after ; and in a note, written the year
of Mr. Gurney's death, (1847,) to the writer of
these pages, she says, " In 1814 I left the Unita-
rians." It does not appear, indeed, that she was
ever in actual communion with that body. It
seems most likely that in her youth she had no
settled opinions on religious subjects ; and that the
mere circumstances of her birth and education
associated her with the Unitarians. One thing is
evident, from the whole tenor of her conversation,
as well as from her subsequent acknowledgment,
when she had been brought to know " the grace of
God. in truth," that at this time she had not
^2 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
experienced the great vital change of which the
Lord Jesus Christ spoke in these impressive words,
" Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of Grod." Prom this period, however, as we
have said, she ceased to attend the religious services
at the Octagon Chapel, and though she did not at
once sever herself from her former associates and
pursuits, yet there was a gradual and steady pro-
gress ; and an entire change in her principles and
conduct eventually ensued.
During the next five or six years, Mrs. Opie
published two or three tales, one of which, called
"Valentine's Eve," is interesting, as showing the
state of her religious feelings at the time it was
written. The lesson it inculcates is, the superiority
of religious principle as a rule of action, and as a
support under affliction and unmerited calumny.
The heroine of the story, pronouncing it to be her
conviction that " moral virtues are only durable
and precious as they are derived from religious be-
lief, and are the result of it," says, " Some suppose
that morality can stand alone, without the aid of
religion, and even fancy that republican firmness
will enable us to bear affliction; but I feel, that
the only refuge in sorrow and in trial is the R/ock
of ages, and the promises of the gospel." Happy,
indeed, was it for her, that these sentiments were
those of her own heart ; for the time was approach-
ing when she was to stand in need of all the sup-
port which the " exceeding great and precious
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 23
promises" of Grod's word alone can impart, Not
many months after, she mentions, in writing to
Mr. Hayley, that her father had been indisposed,
had accidentally lamed himself, and been " unwell,
dispirited, and broken down in mind and body for
weeks, nay, months." From this attack Dr. Alder-
son rallied, but his illness returned, and assumed a
more serious aspect in the latter part of the year
1820 ; and his daughter, anxious that he should
have the best medical advice, accompanied him to
London, though without any beneficial results ; for
he was seized while there'with extreme depression
of spirits, and shortly returned to Norwich, and
from this time till his death he hardly ever left his
own house.
Those only who were acquainted with the intense
and devoted attachment of Mrs. Opie to her father,
can fully appreciate the anguish of that feeling
which drew from her the words, " I suffered much.
Oh ! it was the most bitter trial I ever experienced,
when I was obliged to tell the poor afflicted people
to whom he gave advice daily in our large hall, that
their kind physician was no longer able to receive
them and to try and heal their diseases. For many
years he prescribed for about four or five hundred
persons at his house every week. As long as he
could, he continued to see them ; and when unable
to go down stairs, he admitted them into my little
drawing-room, till at length he said he could see
no one again. He wept, and so did I ; and they
24 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
were bitter tears, for I feared lie would not long
survive the loss of his usefulness." For nearly
five years the continued and increasing illness of '
Dr. A. occupied the time and constant thought of
his daughter, and there are many interesting evi-
dences that this afflictive visitation was a " blessing
in disguise," sent by her heavenly Father to wean
her from the world, and call her wholly to himself.
Two touching prayers, written at this time, were
found preserved among her papers affecting testi-
monials of her love and filial piety. In one of
them occurs the following petition : " . . . Deign,
Lord, to hear the prayers of a child for a beloved
parent. Enable me to be the humble means of
leading him to thee. Oh, let us ' thirst' and come
together ' to the waters, and buy wine and milk
without money and without price.' Grant, O
Lord, that ere we go hence and are no more seen,
our united voices may ascend to thee in praises
and in blessings ; and may we together call upon
the name of Him who has redeemed us by his most
precious blood, that in that blood our manifold
sins ' may be washed away.'"
About this time happened the death of Miss
Priscilla G-urney an event deeply lamented by
Mrs. Opie, who lost in her a true Christian friend
and helper. In some lines, written in memory of
her, she thus tenderly apostrophizes her :
" Oh, how vast thy loss to me !
I miss thy soothing smile of love ;
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 25
Thy voice, that could my fears control,
Thy words, that bade my doubts remove,
And breathed conviction o'er my soul."
It is pleasing to observe the interest hencefor-
ward taken by Mrs. Opie in the spiritual well-being
of others. Naturally benevolent, when the in-
fluences of Divine love began to operate in her
heart, she sought to communicate to others the
light and joy vouchsafed to her own soul. In the
Eible and Anti-Slavery Societies she took a deep
interest, which became increasingly warm, and
induced her, after a time, to engage actively in
promoting their interests. After uniting herself
to the Society of Friends, she constantly attended
the public meetings, and took a share, for many
years, in the duties of a Eible collector. Those
who were in the habit of attending the religious
anniversaries held in St. Andrew's Hall, will re-
member her striking figure, erect and stately,
seated upon the platform, surrounded by the
numerous friends who congregated there. What
pure benevolence, what fervent eloquence, what
devoted charity, characterized the speakers on these
occasions ! Mr. Grurney attracted to his hospitable
mansion a goodly company of philanthropists and
Christians of various denominations, who met to
promote these great objects ; and the meetings,
annually renewed, were a source of rich enjoyment,
as well as true profit to many.
In the year 1823, Mrs. Opie published the work
26 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
on " Lying in all its Branches," of which mention
has been made at the commencement of this
memoir. The subject is one affording ample scope
for the moralist, and it is handled in a manner at
once novel and ingenious.* It received the best of
all sanctions, that of the Divine blessing. Writing
shortly after to Mrs. Pry, Mrs. Opie says : " Joseph
and Catherine are highly pleased with my new
book on lying, (each sort of lie is illustrated by a
simple anecdote or tale,) and they think it must
do good My dear father is better, I
think, on the whole. I am at times very low ; but
there is safety in lowness for some people, and I am
one of them. I know a tortoise-pace is a safe pace ;
but still I am dissatisfied with my slow progress."
Dr. Alderson attained the age of fourscore in
* It has recently come to my knowledge, that this work was
made the means of lasting benefit to a young lady, who being
convinced, from its perusal, of the wickedness she was guilty of
in lying merely through inconsideration and carelessness, was
gradually induced to think seriously of her true spiritual con-
dition. By the blessing of God, this serious thought issued in
sincere repentance and conversion. There is only one drawback
to the great satisfaction I feel in this fact ; I mean, that she to
whom the knowledge of it would have given such happiness,
remained in ignorance of it, and knew not that she had reaped
this fruit of her labour.
I cannot forbear to add the testimony of a Christian friend in
America, who, speaking of the wide circulation of this book in,
that country, and its great usefulness there, added, significantly,
" Had Mrs. Opie only lived for the purpose of writing that one
book, she would have done a life's work of good."
C. L. B.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 27
the spring of this year, and his daughter thus
greeted him on the return of his birthday :
" TO MY FATHER.
"7th April, 1823.
" And thou art eighty ! 'tis thy natal day.
Then, oh, forgive me, that I dare to pray,
( Since from so dear a tie 'tis hard to part,
A tie, bole treasure of this lonely heart,)
That many a year thou yet may'st with me stay,
Resign'd in pain, and cheerful in decay.
While the bright hopes redeeming love has taught,
Prompting each pious, purifying thought,
Live in thy soul, to tell of sins forgiven,
And plume its pinions for its flight to heaven."
Several years had now passed since Mrs. Opie
first attended the religious services of the Eriends.
Her attachment to some among their number,
whose influence had tended so greatly to promote her
best interests, and by whose counsels and prayers
she had been so much aided, had become more and
more deep-rooted; and at length she decided to
" cast in her lot" among them. This decision cost
her, indeed, much anxiety and long deliberation.
It was not without many a pang that she finally
renounced the prepossessions and friendships of
former days, and resolved to sacrifice so much that
had been endeared to her by the ties and habits of
early years. It was no small self-denial, not only
to yield up the gaieties and friendships of the
world, but to adopt the strict and more precise
28 LIFE Or AMELIA OPIE.
views and principles of the Society to which she
now applied for membership. Of the perplexities
and difficulties she experienced at this time, her
letters, written to Mrs. Fry, give sufficient proof.
In January, 1824, she thus expressed her feelings :
"It is indeed true, that I never feel so com-
forted as when I am humbled, and experience a
deep sense of my own sinfulness ; when I rise from
my knees, or leave meeting with an arrow striking
in my heart, as it were, I feel a sort of pleasure
which I now would not exchange for aught the
world can give. I hope this will not seem to thee
unreal or fantastical ; but no, I think thou wilt
understand it Meantime I feel my reliance
on my Saviour growing stronger every day. But
no one, save that wise, and merciful, and just
Being, who has tried, and is now trying me, knows,
or ever will know, what I have to endure from the
many unseen peculiarities of my situation. How-
ever, I take comfort and encouragement from my
difficulties ; I know that I am most vile, and that
I ought to be for ever striving to show my grati-
tude to my blessed Eedeemer, by devoting myself
entirely to his service. I feel a repose and peace,
in spite of my conscious sins, which the world
cannot give, or take away ; and which, I humbly
hope, will continue to bear me up unto the end.
Above all, I am conscious of a daily increasing spirit
of prayer, and a constant desire of communion with
the Bestower of it What a letter of egotism !
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 29
But I know thy mind will be interested in the
' dealings ' with mine ; and I wish thee, dearest
Betsy, always to know whereabouts I am."
To those who have themselves experienced similar
trials, hopes, and fears, the sentiments expressed
in the above letter will appear far from " unreal
and fantastic ;" they will see in them evidences of
a " good work" begun in the heart, and will rejoice
in the belief that the hope of the writer was justi-
fied by her subsequent experience. She had been
brought to the point at which the great apostle
had arrived, when the messenger was sent to tell
him what he must do. " Behold, he prayeth," it
was said of Paul ; and from henceforward, having
openly given himself to Christ, he went on his
way rejoicing, to run in all the commandments of
his God and Saviour.
Several months elapsed after this letter was
written, before Mrs. Opie finally united herself to
the Society of Friends. The intervening period
was one of trial and deep anxiety to her. Long
and sadly did she watch the painful and lingering
decline of her beloved father, as she tended him
with unwearying love and care, and endeavoured to
while away the tedious hours by every device her
ingenious affection could suggest. She played to
him on the piano, and, at his request, sang to him
the psalms and hymns of Dr. Watts. He appeared
to find great consolation in listening to her, as, in
rich, full tones, she sang the versions of the divine
30 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
songs of the "sweet psalmist of Israel." Often
he asked to have the hymn repeated, and that
music soothed him to rest when any other medicine
might have been administered in vain. And when,
worn by pain, and enfeebled by the infirmities of age,
he sank to sleep, and enjoyed a temporary ease, with
fond eagerness she sketched him as he lay, and
again and again traced the features she loved to
gaze upon, conscious that, ere long, she must see
them no more. Her sketch-book was filled with
numerous pencilled outlines, which she delighted
to take of all her friends and acquaintance ; and
among them were repeated likenesses of Dr. Alder-
son, usually representing him in sleep.
Some notes addressed by her at this time to a
friend residing at a distance, bear touching evidence
of her grief, and also show how she was sustained
through the season of trial, and from what sources
her support was derived. One or two short ex-
tracts may be given from these affecting memo-
randa. " I shall not be quite easy (she writes,
under date 23rd, 7th month, 1825,) till my dear
father is better. Nor can I help remembering with
pain that Hudson Grurney and Joseph John
Grurney, I believe, are absent. But I humbly
hope, that in my hour of need, if it should come,
I shall be permitted to feel that ' my help cometh
from the Lord which made heaven and earth,' and
that c though I walk in the midst of trouble, he will
And again, writing shortly after to
LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE. 31
the same friend, she says " .... I fell into
deep depression yesterday evening, and during the
night; and this morning I still feel that ' all his
waves and billows are gone over me : ' never did
I pass such a night, or wake to such a morning.
Tet all is as it was. JSTo one came near me for
hours in the evening, and I felt the bitterness of
the anticipated solitude of my life to come a tie-
less being. I also seem as if the light of his coun-
tenance were turned away from me, and all is dark.
Doubtless, this is a new trial of faith and trial it
is. My only moments of comfort yesterday even-
ing, were when I sang repeatedly to my precious
charge, my own hymn,^ ' Great Grod, let thy con-
straining power,' repeating the last verse several
times ; on which verse he said he wished to sleep.
"Well! the darkest cloud has oft a silver lining,
and so may mine "
* This hymn was afterwards published in a collection of poeti-
cal pieces ; as it is short, I give it entire :
" Great God, let thy constraining power
To thee our wandering feelings draw,
And let us give this sacred hour
To humble fear and holy awe.
" And should the sense of conscious sin
Our trembling hearts with anguish shake,
And hope thy pardoning love to win,
Our fainting, sinking souls forsake,
" Oh, let thy grace such strength supply,
Lord, breathe the thought which comfort gi res,
And point to faith's uplifted eye
The Lamb who died, the God who lives;"
32 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
In this note there is a passing allusion to Mr.
Joseph John Grurney. During the lengthened
period of Dr. Alderson's gradual decline, he had
been much comforted and assisted by the atten-
tions and religious counsels of this excellent and
devoted man ; and there is reason to believe that
the well-known work of Mr. Grurney, on the " Evi-
dences of Christianity," had been of use to him.
When Mrs. Opie joined the Society of Friends,
Dr. Alderson expressed his warm approval of the
step his daughter had taken. He had, during the
time of his illness, greatly changed in his feelings
on the all-important subject of religion. He read
the books which his child brought under his notice ;
above all, he read the Holy Scriptures, and sought
the wisdom which should enable him to see the
"wonderful things" that are hidden from the mind
of the natural man, and can only be revealed to the
soul by the Spirit of Grod.
There exists an affecting record of the last two
years of his life, in a ledger-like book, into which
he entered all his medical cases, day by day. The
first entry is dated January 25, 1824 ; and the last,
September 7, 1825, little more than a month before
his death. In this book he has, every now and
then, in the midst of his professional notes, made
an entry of some personal feeling or event. Thus,
under date January 27, 1824, he writes : " Southey
came his portrait taken his hair grey." March
4, 1825, "Miserere mei, Domine, precor;" and
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 33
again, August 16 : " Never felt so like dying as I
have just now done ; the sensation was indescrib-
ably bad." At length, on the closing page of the
book, he writes : " I never thought I should live
to finish this book. If I live till to-morrow, I shall
begin a new one. My pain, at this moment, is
bad ; my intellects clear, and I look forward to my
being saved for happiness hereafter. How much I
long for my last end ! but in this I act wrongly ;
for a man ought to wait patiently till his end
comes ; for I can live no longer than Grod pleases,
let a man talk to me ever so long about curing my
legs." On the cover of this book Dr. A. has
written the following verse of Dr. Watts :
" Let all the heathen writers join
To form one perfect book ;
Great God, when once compared with thine,
How mean their writings look ! "
Shortly before his death he was visited by Mr.
G-urney, and, in reply to an observation made by
him, expressed, with great feeling, his humble con-
fidence in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
So died the father of Amelia Opie. As she
gazed upon his lifeless countenance, she was able
to entertain a hope that supported her soul, and
preserved her from sinking under the blow. How
deeply and enduringly she lamented him, and how
tenderly she cherished his memory, was evident in
every day of her after life. He had expressed a
34 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
wish to be permitted to find his last resting-place
in the Friends' burial-ground, and in compliance
with his desire, he was interred there, in the grave
which is now shared by her who loved him so
dearly.
PAET II.
MUS. OPIE S HOUSE, CASTLE MEADOW, NORWICH.
CHAPTEE I.
WE have now arrived at a period in this short
biography, from which I wish to invite the reader
to look back on the past history of her, whose path
through life we are tracing. I said, at the com-
mencement of these pages, that I believed we
should find in that history much to illustrate the
36 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
goodness of God, and to show the infinite supe-
riority of religious principle to the highest attain-
ments of nature, as well as the greater happiness
of which it is productive. If we endeavour now
to recall the incidents that have been touched upon
as we passed along, I think we cannot fail to ob-
serve many striking proofs of the providence of G-od
and his overruling care on behalf of his servant.
Adverse as the circumstances of her early history
assuredly were to the formation of anything like
Christian character leaving her exposed to various
dangerous and seductive influences, and assailed by
numerous snares and temptations she was, never-
theless, preserved from running into the extrava-
gances of many others, who shared, with her, the
enthusiasm and exaggerated opinions of an age of
excitement arid revolution. Had her affections un-
happily become interested on behalf of any of those
" friends of change," it is but too probable that
her course would have been a very different one.
But, guarded by the influence of early attachments,
she clung to the home and the friendships of her
girlhood ; and when, at a later period, she became
the wife of Mr. Opie although, unhappily, this
union was not one that brought her within the
influence of the high and happy sanctions of true
religion, yet there was much about her husband
calculated to check her natural inclination to gay
pleasures and company, and suited to excite in her
mind a spirit of diligence in the cultivation of her
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 37
natural powers. The impression produced on her
character by the few short years of her married
life, seems to have been, on the whole, a healthful
and useful one. She was roused to energy, and
quickened by the example of her husband's earnest-
ness and self-denial, to industry and self-culture.
Prom the natural character of Mrs, Opie it
might have been expected, as was actually the
case, that she would be greatly influenced both in
her general conduct, and the formation of her opi-
nions, by those who had power over her affections.
Accordingly, it was by this means the Spirit of
God operating through the medium of her affec-
tions and friendships that her mind was gradually
turned to the consideration of religious subjects.
There is something very significant, as it appears
to me, in the coincidences of events at this period
of her history. Brought, on her return to her
father's house, after she became a widow, into con-
stant intercourse with those friends whose influ-
ence so powerfully affected her future history, she
was arrested, at a season of gaiety and worldly
excitement, by the death of one of their circle, and
recalled from town, to share in the affecting solem-
nities consequent on that event. Her friendship
was thus more closely cemented with those who
used all their influence to direct her mind to the
knowledge of " the truth as it is in Jesus." Good
and amiable, of cultivated minds, and actuated by
holy principle, they hailed with joy the first dawning
38 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
symptoms of awakened spiritual interest in her
mind. How touchingly has Mrs. Opie spoken of
the fostering care and Christian love of her sweet
friend, Priscilla Grurney! And when that lovely
being was summoned " to her kindred skies," she
left behind her the remembrance of her example,
and the effect of her counsels and prayers.
Those who knew the late lamented Mr. Joseph
John Grurney will feel, that his friendship, his in-
fluence, and his ministry, were peculiarly adapted
to meet the wants and feelings of his sister's friend.
He has himself said, in his diary, given in his life,
that her friendship with his sister Priscilla and
himself appeared to be the principal means of pro-
ducing the gradual change in her sentiments on
religious subjects.
But, above all, the inmost depths of her nature
were stirred by the illness and death of Dr. Alder-
son. Filial love was, through life, her strongest
passion; and all the affection of which she was
capable was centred on her father. It is evident
that, so soon as. she was alarmed by the symp-
toms of approaching decay and death in this be-
loved being, the fountains of her soul were broken
up. She felt anxious concern ; and her care, not
only for his present but future happiness, was
quickened into anguish : " I suffered (she said)
much and deeply." From various hints in letters
to her friends, as well as from occasional references
elsewhere, it seems evident that she was dissatis-
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 39
fied with his mental and spiritual condition. He
had not been orthodox in his opinions, he had
not " lived to God in the world." The eyes of her
soul were opened to a perception of the absolute
necessity of a change of heart. She felt that for
him, as well as for herself, the vital transition
"from death unto life" was needed; and humbly,
earnestly, and prayerfully she sought, by every
means in her power, to direct the mind of her aged
and sinking parent to the only and all-sufficient
source of hope and salvation, the Eedeenier of
sinners.
It was a delicate and difficult task, to teach while
seeming rather to inquire ; to lead him to whom
she had been wont to look for guidance. But she
persevered in her work of faith and love, and at
length she rejoiced in hope that her desire was
fulfilled, and she was able to yield up the father
whom she loved, in submission to the Divine will ;
for she felt that there was hope in his death.
It is to this period in the history of Mrs. Opie's
life that we have now arrived ; and I purpose, in
accordance with my original design, to give a more
detailed account of her future career, endeavouring,
as much as possible, to let her speak for herself in
her letters and journals, from which the reader will
gain the best and truest picture of her life, and be
able with most satisfaction to judge as to the true
excellence of her moral and religious character. I
can, with the greater pleasure, dwell on this latter
40 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
time, as it was then I personally knew her, and
enjoyed the happiness (especially in the last years
of her life) of a frequent and intimate intercourse
with her. Alas ! I now speak of this as a plea-
sure that I had; and its loss has taught me more
highly to appreciate its value.
During the first months which followed her
father's death, Mrs. Opie, though suffering deeply,
was sustained by her faith in the promises of Him
whose voice she had heard and obeyed, and for
whose service she had renounced the approval
and the pleasures of the world. In the kindness
and sympathy of her friends she found comfort,
and thankfully acknowledged that there is " good
in friendship, arid delight in holy love ;" and, in her
turn, she sought to " bind up the heart that was
broken," and to minister to the consolation of
others one of the surest and best means of
obtaining relief under the pressure of sorrow. It
is impossible to read her journals and letters of
this time, without recognizing in them a depth of
piety and Christian experience that could only
spring from a divine source. Her tender com-
passion for the afflicted, and her labours of love, in
visiting the sick, the prisoner, and the necessitous,
remind one of Horace Walpole's words to Hannah
More : "Tour heart is always aching for others, and
your head for yourself." Writing to the friend,
in correspondence with whom she experienced the
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 41
relief of disburdening her sorrows, she told of the
paroxysms of grief that sometimes threatened to
overwhelm her, and of the help afforded in her
time of need.
These letters are deeply affecting, and a few pas-
sages from them will not, perhaps, be unacceptable
to the reader. ..." He who is a ' Father of the
fatherless ' (she says, a few weeks after her be-
reavement), permits the storm that beats upon me
to pass away soon ; and I am really better, on the
whole, than I could expect to be. I am thankful
to say that my nights are good, and so favoured ! 1
am then permitted to feel, more sensibly than at
other times, a conviction of the happiness of him
whom I have lost ; and that He who has removed
my father from me, listens, and will continue to
listen, to the cry of my penitence and my prayer."
Yet sore was the conflict of her troubled heart ;
and shortly after, speaking of her distress and
anguish, she says : " I must not proceed on this
subject, or thou wilt think me rebellious to the
just and merciful dispensations of the Most High ;
which is by no means the case. I trust that I am
resigned and thankful ; but thou wilt own, that if
one does not deeply feel a trial, it is no trial. . . .
The sense of my loss increases upon me indeed, yet
I am more cheerful to-day ; and, in time, I hope to
be more even in spirits, and more what I used to
be in cheerfulness, I mean; for never, never
may I, in other respects, resemble my former self,
42 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
that thoughtless trifler along the path of life here
so long forgetful of the only path that is worthy
to be trodden, and which leads to life hereafter
the road to Zion, that city of the saints' solemni-
ties. But I must watch and pray, lest I enter
into temptation, and ever distrust myself and my
own deceitful heart."
The following letter, written to another friend
shortly after, shows a gradual improvement in her
spirits, and evinces much Christian submission, as
well as watchful alacrity to do good, as opportunity
presented itself.
" Norwich, 3rd mo., 26th, 1826.
"My BELOYEB FRIEKD, .... I had thought
that I could never feel anything again, but thy
news really affected me. I am, I own, uneasy at
thy present state of suffering. What a mercy it
is that thou wast enabled, through faith, to bear
thy apparent sentence, so abruptly pronounced!
In nothing are the Lord's dealings with us so
wonderful and gracious as when he enables us to
bear trials, which we should once have expected to
shrink from and to sink under. How have I been
permitted to experience this ! My health is quite
restored, my recent journey having, I think, been
beneficial. On my way home, I was alone, from
Scole to Norwich, with a young man, apparently
dying of decline ; and I felt it a duty to talk on
religious subjects, and found him, I trust, teach-
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 43
able ; and I promised to send him J. J. G-urney's
letter, and others. He was so delighted! but,
poor thing ! he was full of hopes of recovery.
" I have been tolerably tranquil for some days ;
and to-day I visited my dear father's grave : he
hoped I would sometimes do so. I felt peace, both
for him and myself, while I gazed on it, and looked
forward with cheerfulness to sleeping beside him.
H. G-irdlestone comforted me much, the other
day, by reminding me how often, in mercy, the
child was summoned away soon after the parent.
The idea brought closer the prospects of eternity,
and the necessity, therefore, of preparation as more
urgent, that the day's work may be done in the day.
" May my attention be fixed on present duty, that
my remaining time may be usefully and well spent,
and that I may be ready when the summons shall
come to call me hence ! Oh, my dear friend, let us
offer up our prayers to Him who heareth prayer,
that we may both humbly endeavour to improve the
present, and, relying on him who careth for us,
be contented to let the future remain, compara-
tively, uncared for. I believe, that even for me,
one of his most unworthy servants, he will ' make
a way through the wilderness,' if he intends my
tarrying here ; and if it is his gracious will to
summon me away, I trust that he will be with me
in the valley of the shadow of death, and that
through the merits of the Redeemer, and his
merits alone, I shall find acceptance." ....
44 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
A few months later (the 26th July), she writes .
. . . . " "What a privilege is that of prayer ! what
power is vouchsafed to us, when enabled to hold
communion with the God who heareth prayer!
There is no satisfaction equal to lying at the foot
of his throne, and pouring out the inmost soul
before him, even though it be in self-abasement
and conscious sinfulness. My beloved friend,
continue ' instant in prayer,' and then, I trust,
thou wilt find, even here, thy reward, and all thy
wants will be supplied." ....
In the autumn of this year (1826) Mrs. Opie
went on a visit to some friends residing near the
Lakes. The change of scene, and friendly inter-
course, were beneficial to her, and she returned
refreshed to her now solitary home. During her
stay at Grasmere, she wrote to some dear friends,
residing near London, a letter of details respecting
her journey, so full of natural feeling, and so char-
acteristic of the writer, that I give it at some
length ; the rather because it is not published in
the Memorials.
" Grasmere Cottage, 9th mo., 15th, 1826.
. . . . "I think this spot the most beautiful
I ever beheld ; it surpasses all my conceptions and
expectations, and baffles all my powers of descrip-
tion. I want to see a little more of the lake as I
sit. But I would not touch a bristle of the beard
LIFE OF AMELIA OP1E. 45
of the venerable oak that stretches its arms across
the lawn, as if in kind protection of its beauties.
I saw the moon double itself in the lake last
night; and to-day the water is almost equally
lovely in sunshine. What a drive I had from Ken-
dal hither ! yet I seemed in a dream ; and I
wanted then, as I do now, to write all I saw and
felt to the beloved being who used to double my
enjoyments by more than sharing them. This is, 1
think, a sort of insanity, but one that time only
can remove ; and it has, I hope, its use, by keep-
ing me low and bowed down before Him whose
chastisements are in reality mercies.
" My journey in all respects has been comfort-
able, nor did I feel fatigued till yesterday at noon.
Then my strength and spirits suddenly gave way ;
for I had undergone much excitement on the road.
I had met with interesting persons and things, and
1 really think I could make something amusing
out of my three days' journey.
. ..." I was alone some time in the evening
of the first day, when the guard put in a poor girl,
who was too thinly clad to continue outside ; and
in spite of her sleepiness and her reluctance, I
chose to make her answer my questions, and I
learned much to shock me every way. The poor
pretty thing (for very pretty she was) had been up
to London from Wellington, to work in the gar-
dens at Eulham ; and I find that scores of girls,
and young men also, I dare say, go up from the
46 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
country for this purpose, and that they work all
the sabbath day also, and no care whatever seeins
taken of them, religiously or morally. I do hope
that, lost and ignorant as I know this poor thing
to be, there may yet be found means to save her ;
at least, it is worth the trial. But, to think of
the yearly victims to this frightful system of sum-
mer w r ork and sabbath-breaking ! We ought to
send missionaries to Eulham, I think.
"My second day's journey found me in com-
pany with a London tradesman's handsome wife,
going to Trentham, and a young man well dressed,
who was going to Stafford. My tracts ' burnt in
my pocket,' as the saying is ; but how to pave the
way to a delivery of .them, I knew not. At last,
after a long silence, I took out my tiny Bible, and
said I did not like, in company, to read to myself;
therefore, with their leave, I would read a chapter
aloud. They consented, in a way, and I read
'The woman of Samaria.' They seemed pleased,
and both commented well on it. My way was
now opened, and I gave each of them J. J. G-ur-
ney's Letters, and the young man William Allen's
tract, and that against theatrical amusements ; and
the lady the extracts from Judge Hale. They
seemed grateful, and we parted with mutual good
wishes. Now, my dear friend, I must say that I
feel it very difficult to give to persons in general,
tracts, without stories, to get the wholesome but
severe truths down. No one, when administering
LIFE OF AMELIA OP1E. 47
a salutary pill or medicine, scruples to clothe it in
currant jelly, and I really believe that your Tract
Society would do more good by letting the ca-
terers for it provide suitable moral stories and
anecdotes. Among the ever- varying passengers of
a stage coach, was a lady who at last said she
thought she had seen me before; and we found
that twenty years ago we had met at a Lady
Bush's, and she said that she thought she had
heard Lady Hamilton and Mrs. Opie sing a duet
together. I was glad to be able to contradict this.
I never sang with that talented but disreputable
woman. The other passenger, then, was a little
boy, who told me he was sent for from school to
Manchester, where he lived, because his mamma
was very ill, and wished to see him. Twelve miles
from Manchester, the boy spoke to some one at the
coach door, and said, How is mamma ? ' ' Oh,
never you mind,' was the reply ; ' do you go on
to Manchester.' On hearing this, I looked out,
and saw a man dressed in black, with red eyes, and
evidently much affected ; and I concluded the
poor child was motherless. So did he. At first
his tears fell in silence ; and I asked him who was
that person that spoke to him ? He said it was
his papa, and no doubt his poor mamma was <Jpad ;
but we reassured him, thinking, if so, the husband
could not be where we saw him. His young grief
affected me much
" Thy attached friend,
"A. OPIE."
48 LIFE OP AMELIA OPIE.
Mrs. Opie appears from this time to have kept
a diary, in which she noted passing events, and re-
corded her states of mind and feeling. These
private memoranda, intended evidently as aids to
self-government, and as means of exciting herself
to diligence and zeal, evinced the constant care she
exercised over her daily walk and conversation.
The first of them is headed
" 1827. My Journal, New Year's Day.
" Too unwell to venture to the Sick Poor Com-
mittee to-day. Sorry to begin the year with the
omission of a duty The day was calm, on
the whole ; but I was not satisfied with myself;
nay, far otherwise. Read the 46th Psalm to the
servants. Felt the force of the words, 'Be still,
and know that I am Grod ; ' and also the comfort
of ' G-od is our refuge, a very present help in
trouble/ "
" (21st of 1st mo,) Eose better in health, after
a peaceful night, and felt calm and thankful.
"Walked to Bracondale ; made calls there, and at-
tended the Infant School Committee. In the
evening was at a party ; the conversation not gene-
ral, Jmt rather pleasant. I believe things and
public persons, not private individuals, were talked
of; this is always desirable, but rare. . . . Had
only time to read a psalm to the servants, which I
regret. On looking over the day, I had, in one
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 49
respect, much self-blame to undergo. Night peace-
ful and favoured, but my morning thoughts full of
painful recollections of little slights and trials.
, Oh, my pride of heart ! not subdued yet. ' Oh
for a broken, contrite heart ! ' '
In these entries there are allusions to two or
three particulars which deserve attention. The
habit of daily reading the Scriptures to her serv-
ants was one which Mrs. Opie constantly main-
tained. She preserved it sacredly even to the end ;
and very shortly before her decease, calling for the
Bible, she sat up in her bed, and read aloud to her
maids.
She speaks here also of the Sick Poor Soci-
ety, and of the Bracondale Infant School. Both
these excellent institutions were great favourites
with her. Of the former she was a devoted friend
and supporter through the rest of her life. As
long as she was able she visited for this charity,
frequenting the yards and lanes where the sick
and destitute resided, and ministering to their
wants, temporal and spiritual ; and when she
could no longer visit in person, she had her pen-
sioners, whom she relieved by her bounty, and
cheered by kindly messages and gifts. Truly her
heart overflowed with compassion for the afflicted
of her kind; she "wept with those that wept,"
and was to all mankind a friend and well-wisher.
There is a passing touch here, in allusion to the
kind of conversation usually kept up in social in-
E
50 LIEE OE AMELIA OPIE.
tercourse, which is very characteristic of her. She
disliked, on principle, the personal talk, so prone to
degenerate into gossip and scandal, which is too
frequently indulged in ; and discountenanced it
not only by her own example, but by unmistak-
able marks of her disapproval. She aimed at mak-
ing conversation on these occasions, as much as
possible, general ; and scouted the selfishness which
leads to the tete-a-tete chats of individuals, to the
exclusion of general converse and the discussion
of points of interest and instruction to all.
The journal continues " (4th day). Had a
sweet, sleepful night ; but have passed a self-indul-
gent day. Head I\ Hemans' poetry ; it is unique
and exquisite, breathing always of salvation and
heaven. I felt comfort while reading A. L. Bar-
bauld's beautiful hymn, ' Behold, where breathing
love divine ! ' I hoped I was not slow to kind
offices ; but other convictions kept me full of coun-
teracting humility .... I am so dissatisfied with
myself that I dare hardly ask, or expect, a blessing
on my labours for others. How cold and dead in
the spirit I feel to-night ! but I know ' we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the right-
eous,' and how I need one !
" (7th, 1st day.) A quiet night, and very sa-
tisfactory morning meeting . . . "Wrote a serious
letter, with Scripture quotations, to L. E., with
two copies of J. J. Gurney's Letter ; may the gift
be blessed to him ! E-ead about eighty pages of a
book lent me by Dr. Ash, called, ' The Grounds of
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 51
a Holy Life.' Bead Paul's fine address to Agrippa
to the servants, and remarks on the Epistle to
Titus, by H. Tarford. I hope they understood it :
it explains the nature of grace, and clearly. Cough
very troublesome to-day, and now to bed, thank-
ful for the mercies and favours of the day. The
poor Duke of York! would I knew what his
death-bed hopes and feelings were, and on what
grounded !
" (14th.) A night of cough, but of comfort,
and rose in spirits ; had a painfully windy walk to
meeting. An agreeable surprise there. J. J. Gr.
returned this morning unexpectedly from London :
he was much favoured in his ministry to-day,
morning and evening. Afterwards I called on
poor old B. and read the 43rd Isaiah to him ; and
on poor P. TJ., and found her very low indeed and
no wonder; these are early times with her yet,
poor bereaved being ! The sight of such upsetting
and destroying grief is very affecting, and I have
only too much sympathy with her. "We have both
lost our earthly all. I was prevented, by the
weather, from calling on the M.'s, and this was
fortunate, as the wind had brought down their
chimneys in a most destructive manner, though
providentially no lives were lost, as they had
taken alarm, and removed the children : truly ' His
tender mercies are over all his works.' A quiet
evening; read to the servants, and hope they un-
derstood."
The next few entries record a short visit to
52 LITE OF AMELIA OPIE.
Earlham, which " I left (she says) grateful for
many happy hours spent there. On my return,
was alone all the afternoon and evening ; read in
the Italian Bible, and to the servants, and am
going to bed comforted and thankful ; but I had,
during the morning, one of my paroxysms of regret
for ill-fulfilled duties, and was ' brought very low ; '
but He ' helped me/ and all is peace again, and I
shall lie down in quiet. (25th.) To meeting ; after-
wards went a round of visits to invalid friends, and
a poor woman. In the afternoon went out again,
and visited another afflicted invalid ; and felt my
mind tenderly impressed with pity, and with thank-
fulness for my own health . . . (30th.) Eose well
and happy, and settled my weekly accounts ; in the
evening wrote letters. I have been comforted all
day, through the tender, sorrowful remembrance
of him who is gone ; and the memory of his deep
and ever-enduring and unselfish love is frequently
recurring and clinging to me ; and death alone, I
believe, can ever banish him from my daily and
fond, grateful recollection ; but ' it is well.' I can
say so from the bottom of my heart, and though I
remain, I murmur not. Now to bed, with thank-
fulness, though with tears.
" (2nd February, 2nd mo.) An idle, and so far,
I fear, a sinful day ; gave 11. to a case that touched
me ; it was, I fear, too much, but could not help
it. . . Dear O. Woodhouse here ; glad to feel that a
son of my beloved cousin, and bearing his name,
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 53
is under my roof. Our evening has been placid;
spent part in talk, and part in reading. Now to
bed, feeling rather depressed that I have done
nothing to-day to improve myself, except reading
in the Bible. I begin to feel that my time must
be made profitable, or I cannot be happy ; my
solitary evenings are my shortest time, and hap-
piest, because employed. Oh that I had earlier
thought thus ! ; Then would i my peace have flowed
as a river, and. my righteousness as the waves of
the sea,' perhaps but I am, and was vile.
" (5th.) E,ose cheerful, and went to visit various
friends. To my dear father's grave and the other
graves of those dear to me. How I wished he
might see me and read my heart ! "
A few days after the last entry, Mrs. Opie's
diary records a visit to her much-beloved friends,
Miss Buxton and Miss Gurney, at Northrepps
Cottage. Each day, during her stay there, has its
memorabilia noted. It is evident from the tone of
these short reminiscences, that her spirits were
revived and braced by this change of scene and
friendly companionship. Returning home on the
23rd of the month, she says on the preceding
evening, " I leave N. C. with a heart full of grate-
ful love to its dear possessors. Alas ! to-bed for
the last time here, this year, and perhaps for ever.
Peace be to this house ! " . . .
During this visit the following letter was written
to the friend with whom she was at this time in
54 LIFE OF AMELIA OFEE.
such frequent correspondence. There is so much
in it that shows the spiritual mindedness and
growth in grace of the writer, that it seemed desir-
able not to curtail it. It is dated,
" 18th 2nd mo., 1827.
" MY DEAR FKIEND, .... I wish to tell thee,
that I have felt so satisfied in mind, and so bene-
fited during the last ten years, that I have daily
read and studied the Scriptures ; still more during
the last two years, when I have read them every
morning and every night, and often in the day,
besides making a perusal of them my earliest and
latest duty that I earnestly wish all whom I love,
and in whose welfare here and hereafter 1 am
warmly interested, to do the same.
"Whatever tends to deepen our faith, and in-
crease our knowledge of our Grod and Saviour, in-
creases our happiness, and gives us weapons against
the deceitfulness of our own hearts, and bestows
strength wherewith to meet and overcome the
assaults of our souls' enemies. I would say to
every young man and woman, ' Study the Scrip-
tures daily, and be watchful unto prayer;' and
having said this r I should feel that I had given
advice, which, however common-place, would, if
acted upon, insure peace here and happiness here-
after
" (19th.) I had no sleep at first, last night ; and
the painful past, the London part, I mean, lived
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 65
before me, and I wished I had not told thee of the
masquerade there, ' a charity ball' it was called.
So worldlings cheat the soul's adversary! I do
repent of former follies in dust and ashes. Be
thankful that thou wast born out of the world, and
never even wish to enter it. I solemnly declare
that I would not, for its highest enjoyments, ex-
change one of my most tearful hours, or my mo-
ments of most painful regret and self-abase-
ment!" ....
The diary continues as before, after her return
from JSTorthrepps. The entries are daily, and men-
tion the events of the passing hour, and the vari-
ous engagements of the writer her visits to the
sick poor ; to the workhouse ; * to the jail ; to the
Magdalen, and to the school. Occasionally re-
marks of point and interest occur, and of these
some are selected for insertion here.
" (26th.) Wrote letters. A time of storm and
calm ; one of my paroxysms of grief for the dead,
and self-blame for neglected duties, succeeded by
calm and peacefulness. Paid three visits of charity,
and went to the workhouse. Carried coquilles
and oranges. Saw the child, and thought her
perhaps obstinate, but still an object of pity and
interest. Saw the girl, P. C. Death was in her
face. Seemingly she was contrite ; but even then,
* The reader is referred to ch. viii. for an account of Mrs-
O.'s prison visits.
56 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
I find, she told me a lie. Oh, that workhouse !
1 There 's something rotten in the state of Den-
mark ! ' Spent a happy evening : good intentions if
not good deeds. (5th of the 3rd mo.) Had a good
night and peace of mind when awake. Visited poor
B. and admired his thankfulness for living where he
can see the blue sky, the birds, and a rainbow as
he lies in bed. Went to the S. Poor Committee
monthly meeting ; but too low to enjoy it. One
of my sad, sad fits of regret for omitted filial
duties, and for things done and undone, said and
unsaid; but feel this ever-recurring trial to be
inflicted in mercy, and to keep me lowly and hum-
ble before my Creator. Fear, however, that the
feeling increases, and that it may be a temptation.
Find what H. Girdle stone said to me once, the
most comforting reply to my fears: 'You seem
to have expected that a sinful being should have
performed a duty perfectly ; but it was not in
human nature to do it.' Well ! I have only to
hope that my tears and agonies will keep me hum-
ble, as they spring from a sense of my own vile-
ness. . . . To the school. Attentive and orderly
class. Grave a cake to each child ; afterwards had
the sale of the work. Dined at my uncle's at
six My friends looking well and in
spirits. Thankful to see them so. All good be
with them! Finished reading the 'Hedge of
Thorns' to the servants. I lost a great deal of
time to-day reading an old favourite ; felt after-
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 57
wards displeased, and shocked even, at my waste of
time, and my life so far spent. ' God be merciful
to me a sinner.' To bed, thankful for the enjoy-
ment of so many and unmerited mercies. What
a generous Master we serve !
" (6th of the 5th mo.) Sad indolence and neg-
lect; not a line written in my journal since the
21st of last month. Oh for a power to be more
diligent in future; but how soon, through life,
have I been weary in well-doing ! To-day at meet-
ing I felt deeply and solemnly engaged in secret
prayer. Two of my friends to dinner. How little
either of them, poor things, seemed to think of
their great change, though one is seventy-six, the
other seventy- three ! Dress, cards, the world. But '
let me look to my own blindness and worldliness,
and not censure theirs ; and to me the voice has
spoken ' Come/ and how have I obeyed it ? Alas !
Visited a sick friend, and a poor lost girl, just
released from jail. Read Rutherford's Letters all
the afternoon. Wrote for votes for a charity-boy.
Read to the servants, and to bed, not so dissatisfied
as usual with my day's work. May I be humbled,
and enabled to rise early to my work to-morrow,
and may the labours of my pen be blessed ! "
The last entry in this journal is dated the 3rd
of the 7th mo. " Rose early. To Infant School.
Little boys idle and ignorant in my class; one,
however, good and diligent. Went to the jail;
have hopes of one woman ; the other is sorry for
58 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
detection, not for sin ; but these are early times
yet. Her temper seems bad ; that is, if expression
is to be trusted. Two calls on my way home.
Tired, but not displeased with my day."
* * =& * ^
I will close this chapter with an extract from a
letter written in the autumn of this year, to her
friends at Northrepps Cottage. ..." How every
day teems with eventful changes ! P. and C., dear
ones, have to inhabit a new abode; but death,
death is the change of changes. How trumpery,
how unimportant, seem all changes compared to
that ; and how that changes even the very look of
existence to many of us ! Sometimes it is almost
unbearable to me ; and I could run into the next
room to look for what I cannot find and cannot
see again and which, yet, seems blooming beside
me, and cheerful and living, and likely to live;
and then I think how little I prized him while I
had him with me. Oh ! you know something of
these feelings, and can deeply sympathize with me
in what a child alone can feel. How deeply have
I entered into the sorrows of my estimable friend
T. E. (an only child), on the loss of his mother,
who lived with him. I expressed my feelings as
follows :
At length, then, the tenderest of mothers is gone !
Her smiles, her love-accents, can glad thee no more ;
That once cheerful chamber is silent and lone,
And for thee all a child's precious duties are o'er.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 59
Her welcome at morning, her blessing at night,
No longer the crown of thy comforts can be ;
And the friend, seen and loved, since thine eyes first saw light,
Thou canst ne'er see again ! thou art orphan'd like me.
Oh, change ! from which nature must shrink overpower'd,
Till faith shall the anguish remove and condemn ;
For the change to those blest ones who ' die in the Lord,'
Though to us it brings sorrow, gives glory to them."
" 9th mo., 1827."
CHAPTER, II.
FROM the time Mrs. Opie joined the Friends,
she regularly attended the yearly meetings of the
Society, held in London during the month of May.
At these seasons she met numerous friends and
acquaintances, and had an opportunity of attend-
ing the meetings of various societies in whose
objects she sympathized, and of which the Bible,
and the British and Foreign School, and Anti-
Slavery Societies, were among the most valued.
What cordial interest she always evinced on these
occasions, and with how much animation and lively
description she loved to detail afterwards what she
had heard and seen ! Her eye kindled as she recalled
the eloquent address of some friend of the wronged
and helpless, and her delighted approval was a
meed which a good man might well rejoice to have
earned.
Shortly after the entry in her journal with
which the preceding chapter concluded, she went
to London for the purpose of attending the yearly
meeting. Many painful regrets and memories of
the past were unavoidable ; but she bore up against
them, and the effect was beneficial. Solitude, pro-
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 61
longed solitude, preyed upon her spirits, and her
essentially social nature languished and pined
under it. One letter, written at this time, con-
tains some interesting particulars of her proceed-
ings during this visit.
" Bradpole, Uriel/port, Dorsetshire,
" 6th mo., 29th, 1827.
" MY YEEY DEAR FRIEND, .... Pray excuse
my long silence. I know nothing of N since
I left it. I have had a feeling which has made me
indifferent, not only to ' writing letters, but to
receiving them. It was so different once, and my
life, during the last three weeks in London, has
realized my loss to me more than ever My
time during and after the meeting has been very
happily spent. Yearly meeting .was peculiarly
sweet to me this year, and satisfactory to friends.
I attended the African meeting at the Freemasons'
Tavern ; it was this year quite thin. Spring Eice,
Charles Barclay, and the Duke of Gloucester, were
among the speakers.
" On the 6th day morning, I went to Lord
Boden's, to hear him read and expound the Scrip-
tures. At two o'clock every Friday he had this
meeting during his stay in London. The company
was numerous, and several persons of quality among
them. He is, indeed, a highly-gifted man; but,
my dear, I have since been at a meeting which will
interest thee more. Since I came to London, I
62 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
have heard of many whom I left in the world being
come out of it ; among the rest, Thos. Erskine and
his wife. At a bazaar for the schools in St. Giles',
held at the Hanover Square Booms, (at which
many of the sellers were Irish nobility,) I saw some
friends, who prevailed on me to go and dine with
them ; and there I met Caroline Pry, with whom
I talked of thee. At dinner, they spoke of Mrs.
Stephens, who, they said, was to expound this
evening at a friend's house near, and I consented
to go with them to hear her. It was a large
assembly, and I found there many of my bazaar
friends. I was warmly welcomed, especially by
the fair expounder. Sir J. Mackintosh's daughter
(the widow of M. Bich) introduced me to Lady Gr.
"W . Though tired with the bazaar, etc., and as
sleepy as possible, that extraordinary and gifted being
kept my attention fixed an hour and a half. How
eloquent and touching were her words ! When it
was over, I went up to her ; and as I could not
express my feelings, I gave her a kiss, and she
afterwards embraced me, and we promised to meet
if ever we came near each other's habitation. I
then stole away. It is certainly an extraordinary
power, and many of the clergy, who disapprove of
woman's ministry, have been brought round to
approve ; but I do not call hers ministry, except in
prayer. She has done this twenty-two years, and
still she does not seem old. How I wish thou
hadst been there!
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 63
" I came here quite knocked up ; but this green,
flowery, sequestered nest, among hills, and the
sweet society of dear friends, will, I trust, soon
restore me. Pray write to thy attached friend,
"A. OPIE."
In the following year (1828) "Detraction Dis-
played" was published. Among the many acknow-
ledgments Mrs. Opie received from her friends
on this occasion, was a letter from Archdeacon
Wrangham, to whom she had alluded in her work.
He expresses the pleasure he had derived from its
perusal, and says : " It is the conscientious work of
a very gifted writer, and cannot be read without
producing, by Grod's accompanying blessing, excel-
lent effects. The subtilty of the spirit which you
have endeavoured to lay is such, that even the
worthy, in many cases, inhale and exhale it almost
unawares persons who require only putting upon
their guard to avoid it scrupulously for the future.
I don't believe the Greek alphabet, (if such be
the probable result of your volume,) and its Alphas
and Betas, etc., ever accomplished a more valuable
service since the days of Cadmus, its reputed
inventor. So far do morals outgo mere litera-
ture." ....
These observations, emanating from such a mind,
deserve to be pondered. The " subtilty of the
spirit" here spoken of is one against which almost
every one needs to be guarded ; for there are few
64 LIFE OP AMELIA OPIE.
indeed who have escaped its influence. Assuredly
there could hardly have been found a censor so
free from the fault she exposed and against which
she warned others, as Mrs. Opie. She hated back-
biting, and set her face resolutely against the
indulgence of it in her presence. She was of the
opinion of Mr. S. W. Landor, who has remarked,
(in his " Pentameron and Pentalogia,") that " pro-
pensity to censure not only excites suspicion of
malevolence, but reminds the hearer of what he
cannot disentangle from his earliest ideas of vul-
garity."
In the course of the spring and summer, Mrs.
Opie was again in town, and afterwards on a visit
to her friends at Upton, from whence she wrote,
giving a lively narration of her proceedings, and
telling how she had enjoyed the great " delight of
hearing and seeing some of the very first men in
the country assembled to celebrate the repeal of
the sacramental test." Returning to her solitary
home after these occasional periods of change and
intercourse with her numerous friends, Mrs. Opie
resumed, with diligence and interest, her customary
habits. As has already been remarked, there was
something in her nature and turn of thought that
was productive of great variety and diversity of
feeling and interest. It was also a matter of prin-
ciple with her to turn to the best account the
resources of the passing season. But, pre-eminently,
she was actuated by a true and innate sympathy,
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 65
which, when brought under the influence of Chris-
tian principle, ripened into the charity of the
gospel ; and it was this which gave a life to all her
actions, and made her so unwearied in works of
benevolence.
In a letter written about this time, she gives an
account of a serious accident that befell her while
engaged in one of her visits of mercy: it was
written to her friends at Tottenham, and con-
cludes thus :
. . . . " Now, I will finish by telling thee of the
fresh mercy I have received from my gracious
Creator. I have had, my surgeon says, ' a miracu-
lous escape,' and I say, a merciful deliverance.
Danger the first, strangulation ; danger the second,
concussion of the brain. I was visiting a poor
bedridden woman, and fell backwards down many
very steep stairs ; but my fall was checked by my
sticking fast in the turn of the stairs, wedged in,
and my head fast as in a vice ; my clothes tight,
and tightening round me, and suffocation very near.
It was, indeed, a struggle for life ; and I was gra-
ciously permitted not to struggle in vain: my
bonnet-string gave way, my head was freed, arid
I was glad, though I came down four more steep
stairs, and a brick floor was my pillow at the end of
them. There I lay -the woman of the house too
much alarmed to help me, and the child screaming,
* The lady is killed ! ' But a man came in and took
F
06 LIFE OF AMELIA OP1E.
me up; and I found, with deep thankfulness, that'
I could stand. I sent for a sedan, and was brought
home to my frightened maids, looking like a corpse,
but calm, and, as I thought, only bruised. Happily
a surgeon from the country got to my door just as
I arrived, and helped me upstairs. He was alarmed,
and alarmed me into sending for advice, by telling
me I was in danger of concussion of the brain. My
head was indeed swelled and bleeding ; and well it
might, for a lock of my hair was torn up by the roots,
and found in my cap, showing the violence I came
down with : a side-comb, no doubt, did it. "Well !
my friend Martineau came, was alarmed also, and
came again to watch the progress of symptoms,
but none came on ; and here I am, on the eighth
day, unbled, unblistered, (though not unphysicked,)
and without having had even a quickened pulse or
hot hands. But I am sadly bruised, and the pec-
toral muscles have suffered. However, as I am in
perfect health, the pain and difficulty of moving
tire nothing. Oh ! it is sweet to have to acknow-
ledge the tender mercies of the Lord, and to enter
his courts with thanksgiving, though subdued and
bent low before him, with a deep sense of one's
own unworthiness. But he remembers that we
are dust, and loves to perfect his strength in our
weakness. Farewell.
" I am ever thy affectionate,
"A. OPIE."
LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE. 67
That the Divine strength in weakness, for which
she sought, was necessary to uphold her spirit
during the many conflicts of this period of her
life, is evident, from the tone of her letters to
those, whose sympathy on such subjects she sought.
In the month of August of this year, she wrote
with a full heart : .... " I am in such deep
waters, that I almost feared to take up my pen ;
and yet I would not exchange this sitting at the
foot of the cross for all . the gay pleasures I once
experienced. Did my room look on a running
river, I should have nothing to wish for as to situa-
tion; but every day convinces me, that if one's
mind and soul are but right, one may do without
rocks and vales, mountains and rivers ; and if not,
all such things are thrown away on their possessor."
In the course of this autumn, Mrs. Opie repaired
to Cromer. This place seems to have been, through-
out life, very dear to her ; owing, doubtless, in part,
to the fact, that she had frequently spent the
summer season there with her mother, in the days
of her childhood ; hence it became associated in her
mind with these early recollections. There still
exists an old MS. book, containing many of her
earlier poems. Among them is a sonnet written
to the memory of her mother, in the year 1791.
Some of these "Verses written at Cromer," as
they are inscribed, were afterwards published.
They are full of descriptions of the scenery that
charmed her youthful fancy, and paint the pleasures
68 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
she experienced while passing the long summer
days roaming along the shore, indulging in fond
hopes and memories, and weaving her thoughts
into verse, grave or gay. She thus apostrophizes
her favourite spot :
" Hail ! scene beloved, upon whose tranquil shores,
Thoughtless of ill, I breathed my earliest song,
While childish sports and hopes a joyous throng
In soft enchantment bound the guiltless hours."
And again :
" Here I would wander, from day's earliest dawn,
Till o'er the western summit steals dark night,
And, from the rugged cliff or dewy lawn,
Keluctant fades the last pale gleam of light."
Even amidst the gay scenes of her London life,
in the days of her youth, she carried the remem-
brance of this loved retreat in her mind, and wrote
home : " I am now about to enjoy agreeable society
in a pleasant country one of the first luxuries at
this season of the year ; but I still sigh for home
and its confidential intercourse, and long to wash
off the dirt of London in the sea of Cromer, to
write poetry on the shore, and to live over again
every scene there that memory loves." And never
did she love them so dearly as now. In after
years this predilection remained in full force, and
latterly her visits were annually paid thither. On
the present occasion some poetical pieces were
added to her note-book, of which I give the fol-
lowing :
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 69
LINES WRITTEN ON THE SEA-SHORE.
llth mo., 1828.
" Above, lo ! cloud to cloud succee ds ;
Below, the waves in surges roll,
Bounding and white, as Grecian steeds,
That bore their monarch to the goal.
" Now his swift wings the sea-bird lowers,
For well he reads the angry skies ;
And ere the storm its fury pours,
For shelter to the rock he flies.
" Bird of the wave, when dangers threat,
When life looks dark, and conflicts roar,
Should deep remorse and vain regret
Rouse in my heart desponding fear,
" May I for shelter seek, like thee
Shelter which can all fears remove,
And to my Rock of refuge flee,
A dying Saviour's pardoning love."
From Cromer Mrs. Opie went to Northrepps, on
a visit to her friends at the cottage, and, while
there, she resumed the journal, which had for a
time been discontinued.
" New Tear's day, 1829. Eose at seven o'clock,
after a good night, feeling thankful to be once
more under the hospitable roof of friends so very
dear and so very kind At the close of the
day, went to my room, grateful for the enjoyment
I have had ; but, as far as Christian duty goes, I fear
it has been a day of selfish enjoyment only a day
for tim e, b ut what for eternity ? (3rd) . Eose, very
thankful for a refreshing night ; but my dreame
were affecting in the retrospect. They carried me
70 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
back to the second house I ever lived in, and where
my mother died. I saw her, and my dear father,
and the room, etc., plainly, and all the past came
rushing over me. Both gone ! What a comfort
to remember what my father said to me, when he
announced her death to me, ' She is gone ! and
may you, Amelia, never have cause to blush when
you see her again.' How often, during my suc-
ceeding years, did these words of parental warning
recur to me, and pleasantly! Surely, when
parents do their duty, children can never know a
tie stronger, or as strong, as their earliest depend-
ence on a parent's love produces ; and, after the
lapse of many years, how fresh and vivid still are
the recollections of parental and filial love ! At
least, I feel them so."
These words are most characteristic of the writer.
In conversing with Mrs. Opie, one was continually
reminded of the strong hold her earliest attach-
ments had retained on her mind. Tears did not
efface the recollection of those who had then been
her guides and companions. Often would she
refer to the early instructions of her mother, from
whom she seems to have learned that careful atten-
tion to minute duties, and trifling attentions, which
contribute so much to the happiness of social life,
and which adorned her own conduct. " Be careful,"
she would say, " to fulfil the small duties. Deli-
cate attentions, constantly yielded, prove that the
heart is anxious to please." Above all, she con-
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 71
tinually guarded, with anxious care, against inflict-
ing pain. I can remember many little instances of
this. She once administered a rebuke to me when
she heard me call some one "old." "Never call
a person ' old,' " she said ; " it is a vulgar habit, and
one calculated to wound the feelings of others.
My dear mother early taught me to avoid this un-
courteous epithet/'
Not unfrequently would she urge, most strenu-
ously, the duty of parents and instructors to attend
to the very earliest development of mind, and to
watch over the first indications of disposition and
temper ; enforcing these exhortations by referring
to the early influence exerted on her own mind,
and the habits and maxims then inculcated, and
never afterwards forgotten. Her standard of filial
duty was proportionately high. " Honour thy
father and thy mother," was a precept which seemed
graven on her heart, and she could ill brook any
levity of feeling, or undutifulness of conduct in
children towards their parents.
My readers will, I hope, excuse this digression,
and return to the diary, which continues : " (6th.)
Sleet and snow abounding ; made drawings of three
of my friends, and rode out in a snow-storm, and
enjoyed it To bed latish, with pleasant
recollections of the day, though burdened with the
sin of having desired the accession of great wealth
that is, of power and the means of self-gratifica-
tion. "Who is to be trusted with such a gift ?
72 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
Not I, I am sure ; and I ought to know that wishes
are a species of murmurs, and that, ' Nevertheless,
thy will, not mine, be done,' is the only proper
language. (9th.) Head Washington Irving's Co-
lumbus.' How interesting ! As well satisfied as
I can be while doing nothing for the good of others.
.... After dinner we had a most charming drive.
It was a bright afternoon, and the sky over the
sea was full of tints ; and such a glorious setting
sun, which clothed the church steeple and many
other prominent objects in sunshine, as we came
down the rode from Eoughton. Drove to D
B 's, to see my epitaph on the stone, and felt
thankful to have given pleasure, by these lines to
the son. Oh that, like the epitaph named by
Legh Richmond, in his i Young Cottager,' they
may be made the means of good ! Next day, drove
to see that house where I had so often been with
those most dear, now in their graves my husband
and my cousin, O. Woodhouse. Dear O. ! "When
he went away, and sold this estate, he hoped to
return and repurchase it ; but he is in his Indian
grave ! What a trial his death was to me ! But
my last loss annihilated, in a great measure, the
sense of every other.
" (19th.) .... Went to see the skaters. Lord
Suffield came up to us ; and, while we admired the
tints of the sky which were pale green over the
sea, melting into pale blue and then gradually deep-
ening, till they became the deepest, richest indigo
LIFE OF AMELIA OP1E. 73
and purple, over our heads he observed that he
had often, but vainly, tried to convince distant
friends, that our skies in Norfolk, near the sea,
have the finest tints he ever saw, and pale green
particularly.
" (23rd.) We read as usual this morning. After-
wards dear A went in her hand-chair to visit
the cottages and the sea. The cold, on going out,
was intense ; the wind was a keen north-easter, and
blew full in our faces ; while I, though shuddering
in the blast, ankle deep in snow, and with fingers
in agony, romantically attempted to convince my-
self how delightful the walk was, by repeating a
sonnet to winter, written in the days of my youth.
But even my own fictions had not power to warm
me ; and as, with blue and quivering lip, I spouted
my tuneful admiration of what was taking away
my breath, and inflicting pain on me besides, I
ended in a hearty laugh at my own absurdity ; in
which, as my companion was not sensible of what
I was doing, since the wind blew my words away
from her, she, happily, could not join, and I kept
my own counsel On our return, I drew
three likenesses ; two reckoned very good. Alas !
it was my last evening at the dear cottage, and it
was one of love and interest, and, to me, of thank-
fulness that I have such friends."
The following day Mrs. Opie returned to Nor-
wich, and the next entry in her journal is made
from her own house :
74 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
" Returned in safety to my lonely home. What
a contrast to the scene I had left ! but I am deeply
thankful for three weeks and two days so happily
spent, and for the real and many comforts to which
I return."
Shortly after this time, she records the illness
and death of one of her early friends, to whom,
in her time of trial, bereavement, and sickness,
Mrs. Opie ministered with tenderness and sym-
pathy, watching throughout her illness, and at
length closing her eyes. After dwelling on the
particulars connected with this event, in the entries
of her daily journal, she at length writes of the final
scene a touching tribute to her generous kindness,
the affecting gratitude of the poor sufferer, and her
own painful emotion. She closes this account, a
day or two after the death of her friend, in these
words : " How thankful was I, as I stood by her
breathless clay, to know, that she who had shed so
many tears was gone where ' tears are wiped from
all eyes,' and to picture the re-union of mother and
daughter, where separation comes not ! She sur-
vived her mother only a fortnight. Oh, what a
mercy ! Blessed be He who willed it so to be !"
Just at this time appeared Mr. Southey's " Col-
loquies," in which he referred to Mrs. Opie in
these terms :
" I have another woman in my mind's eye one
who has been the liveliest of the lively, the gayest
of the gay ; admired for her talents by those who
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 75
knew her only in ner writings, and esteemed for
her worth by those who were acquainted with her
in the relations of private life ; one who, having
grown up in the laxest sect of semi- Christians, felt
the necessity of vital religion, while attending upon
her father, with dutiful affection, during the long
and painful infirmities of his old age; and who
has now joined a sect, among whose members she
first found the lively faith for which her soul
thirsted, not losing, in, the change, her warmth of
heart and cheerfulness of spirit, nor gaining by it
any increase of sincerity and frankness ; for with
these nature had endued her ; and society, even
that of the great, had not corrupted them. The
resolution, the activity, the genius, the benevolence,
which are required for such a work, are to be found
in her ; and were she present in person, as she is in
imagination, I would say to her, . . . . l Thou art
the woman ! ' :
The work to which the poet refers, and in which
he was anxious to engage the sympathies and aid
of Mrs. Try and Mrs. Opie, was the establishment
of societies for reforming the internal management
of hospitals and infirmaries, so as " to do for the
hospitals what Mrs. Fry had already done for
the prisons."
This eloquent eulogy was written, as Mr. Southey
afterwards said, in a letter to Mrs. Opie, " under
the influence of strong feeling;" "but," he adds,
76 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
"I have ever since been calmly convinced that I
never spoke too strongly, nor said too much."
"What feelings were uppermost in the mind of
her who was thus honoured, on reading this flatter-
ing testimony to her worth, we learn from a letter
written soon after :
, 4th mo., 1829.
" MY DEAE FRIEKD, .... I will venture to
tell thee the effect that reading this eulogy on my
unworthy self produced on me. It made me burst
into tears of agony ; and wherefore ? Because I
felt how little I deserved such praise, or any praise.
I felt my own short-coming and sinfulness, and
I uttered these words to Him who reads the secret
heart, ' Thou knowest ; thou knowest ! ' And then
he who would have enjoyed to read my praises,
could not read these. It is sad to say, that what-
ever good happens to me is dashed by this con-
sciousness at first ; though gratitude abounds in a
moment, and I am, I believe, happier than ever
I was in my life May this sabbath day be
blessed to my dear friend, and tend, with each suc-
ceeding one, to prepare him for an eternal sabbath !
Let us ' watch unto prayer,' let us endeavour to be
at the foot of the cross, and let those who i think
they stand take heed lest they fall.' How often
these texts occur to me ! May I lay them to heart,
that I may keep my feet from sliding, and feel and
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 77
know, that 'in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting
strength.' '
In the month of May of this year, Mrs. Opie
was, as usual, in London ; and, writing to her
friends at Northrepps Cottage, she says :
" 5th mo., IWi, 1829.
"My YERY DEAR FRIENDS, I would write
' histories,' if I could ; but for even short tales
I have no time ; and I am always led to feel myself
very ' infirm of purpose ' when I come to London.
I meant to have written down what I composed on
the road, and sent it to dear Northrepps Cottage ;
but I have not had any adequate leisure. I was ill all
the way hither with a feverish cold, and kept the
house next day, but was well enough by dinner to
enjoy our admirable guest, B N , and he
was our only one ; and we did, indeed, enjoy him !
One word is sufficient to express him, and in-
cludes his mind, heart, manners, conversation, and
character delightful !
" In the evening came the T. Erskines. With-
out any affectation, B N leads the con-
versation to religious subjects ; and happy the
young, as well as the old, who can frequently asso-
ciate with such a man ! It was a rich day. The
next morning we drove to Christie's ; he was very
kind, and on the 23rd, my pictures, which now I
rather pine after, are to be exhibited and sold with
78 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
some by Ward and Gainsborough. He advises
immediate sale, as times grow worse and worse.
" H E having given me a reserved
ticket for the Jews' meeting, I then drove to the
Freemasons' Hall, which I found nearly full. As
they passed, I had an opportunity of shaking
hands with F. C. Wilberforce and Simeon. Sir
Thomas Baring was in the chair; and I heard
twelve speakers, and was there from twelve to near
half-past five ; but I was so deeply interested, that
I was not tired. There was much eloquence, and,
what was better, a Christian spirit and Christian
humility, I think, pervading all, and manifested
very visibly. You will read the whole proceedings
in the Record ; therefore, I will not name the
speakers. "We are going now to the British and
Foreign School Society meeting." ....
In the month of June following, Mrs. Opie
visited Paris, and spent some months there. An
account of this trip is given in the next chapter.
CHAPTEE III.
IT had long been the intention of Mrs. Opie to
visit the Continent, and especially Paris. While
Dr. Alderson was living, she found herself unaDle,
of course, to carry out this wish, but now that she
was left entirely free, she availed herself of the
favourable opportunity. A short account of this
trip, and of one she made in the course of a few
months later, was written by her, some two or
three years after her return; and from this little
narrative, the reader will perceive what were the
impressions produced on her mind by her sojourn
in Paris, and what lessons she drew from the
varied and striking scenes she witnessed. She
writes :
" In the summer of 1829, I set off for Paris, to
visit a dear relation who had married a French
gentleman, and was residing there. It was not
without mixed emotions, in which, however, those
of pleasure predominated, that I re-entered that
France, which, in 1802, I had left a republic, but
which, in 1829, was once more a monarchy, and
under the government of the Bourbons. The
morning after my arrival, I felt impatient to re-
80 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
visit those streets which I had, in former days,
found so full of interest ; but still more impatient
to go to the Jardin des Plantes, and deliver the
letter of introduction I had to Sophie D., the
daughter-in-law of Cuvier.
" Little did I think, while leaving my address
and letter at the house, that it would lead to an
intimacy with its beloved and distinguished in-
habitant, which formed the delight of my residence
in Paris ; that I should become the constant visiter
at the tea-table of la Baronne Cuvier every seventh-
day evening for many months, during the years
1829, '30, and '31 ; and that I should learn to love,
as well as to admire, the great man of the house,
around whom, as the centre, I saw so many stars
in science and literature delighting to assemble.
" Alas ! still less did I imagine that the time
was not far distant when death should again hover
over that unique and hospitable mansion, to carry
off the highly gifted father, as it had, only four
years before, removed his admirable and pious
daughter ; and that we should have to deplore the
loss of him whom France, and even the world,
have united to lament as the first of scientific dis-
coverers, and most enlightened of philosophers.*
* Mrs. Opie addressed the following touching lines to his
memory :
" While his fair fame was spread from zone to zone,
Within his circle like a sun he shone ;
And while the world his powers of mind admired,
At home, his heart devoted love inspired. ...
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 81
" As little also did I think, while contemplating
the Hotel de' Yille, as the frowning memorial of
scenes of blood and horror, that I should, in the
succeeding year, behold it with such different asso-
ciations ; that I should see the (comparatively)
bloodless flag of the tricolour waving from its
ancient roof, and that I should drive within its
ponderous gates, and ascend its gloomy staircase,
to enter the illuminated ' salons ' of its inhabitant,
0. B., the Prefet de la Seine ; and while partaking
of tea, a TAnglaise, from the' hands of the young
and charming wife, should listen to the captivating
conversation of the eloquent husband.
"Little, too, did I expect that the Place de G-reve,
that spot so full of appalling recollections, would
in future be sacred to the triumphs of constitu-
tional freedom, and that the Hotel de Yille would
become the scene of entertainments given tc
Lafayette and the citizen-king.
'Twas sweet that voice of melody to hear,
Distinct, sonorous, stealing on the ear ;
And watch, to mark some sudden gesture throw
The hair aside, that veil'd that wondrous brow
That brow, the throne of genius and of thought,
And mind, which all the depths of science sought
Alas ! that voice is mute, and on that brow
No eye can mark the kindling radiance now :
Death's seal is there a seal no power can more,
Not e'en the prayer of agonizing love.
And while all nations share their deep regr. i .
His home's sad circle feel their sun has set."
G
82 LIPE OF AMELIA OPIE.
"And, marked as everything in this world is
by the certainty of change, what changes did I
not behold, in a few short months, during my last
visit to Paris ! I found my friend, Lafayette,
General-in-chief of the National Gruard. I left
him about to return, like Cincinnatus, to his farm.
I found 0. B., Prefet de la Seine, and residing at
the. Hotel de Yille. I left him, returned with
simple dignity to comparatively private life, and
to those legal duties by which his talents and his
industry had led him to fame and honours.
"What other changes may await him or me, pri-
vate or public individuals, the kingdom of France,
or our own beloved land, is known only to Him
in whose hands are the issues of life and death.
How blessed, even here, must those be who are
enabled to fix their hopes and affections on that
futurity where no change comes, and on that
Being who is ' the same yesterday, to-day, and
for ever ! ' '
During both these visits to Paris, Mrs. Opie
wrote numerous letters to her friends in England,
giving lively pictures of what she saw and heard
passing around her ; and her journal recorded the
daily incidents that occurred. It is not my inten-
tion to dwell on these, and I will only give the
reader one extract from her note book, written
shortly before the close of her first stay in Paris.
It is her account of a visit she paid to La Grange,
the country residence of General Lafayette.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 83
" I thought (she writes) the approach to La
Grange beautiful, an ancient castle with a lawn,
a 1'Anglaise. The general was, as usual, fresh,
benevolent looking, and admirable in all ways. His
uncle, the celebrated Segur, was staying there.
His daughters, son-in-law, and grandchildren, all
pleased me. After a most happy day I retired to
rest, thankful at heart for the unmerited mercies
I had enjoyed.
" The next morning, at ten, we assembled in the
salon. The general led me down to breakfast,
composed of hot meat and pottage, wines and fruit,
and ending with coffee and dry toast. After break-
fast the weather cleared, and the general showed
his guests his farm ; all but the Norfolk and other
cows, which were out. The evening was most in-
teresting. The general gave us an account of the
early events of the Eevolution ; the other gentle-
men who were present, assisting. The time passed
only too quickly ; but when in my own room, I sat
up and read the memoirs of Segur; and with a
curious feeling laid me down, knowing that I
should see both him and Lafayette next day."
On the 20th of October, "the saddest of anniver-
saries " (that of her father's death), she left Paris,
and three days after arrived, "thankful for safe
return," in her native country. After visiting
some friends in town she pursued her homeward
course, and there was immediately occupied with
those varied engagements which had, for a season,
84 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
been interrupted. Writing about a month after
her return (2nd of Nov.), she says: "My silence,
dear friend, has not been without excuse ; I have
had committee on committee, and a sick servant
also. ... In the midst of all this, I have expe-
rienced such a sense of Divine guidance, such
peace of mind, and conviction of the emptiness of
everything but what tends to the Saviour, and
almost a ,total negation of self ; a feeling, as if this
little fireside bounded my every wish, and that
after a morning spent in Christian objects, I wanted
nothing but my solitary sitting, my Bible, and com-
munion with the Most High ; and is not this a
wonderful mercy shown to such a sinner as I have
been?" ....
Three weeks after, Mrs. Opie wrote to Mr.
Southey as follows :
" Norwich, llth mo., 24tfA, 1829.
" MY DEAR FRIEND, Illness, and other circum-
stances, over which I have seemed to have no power,
have, since my return to Norwich, prevented my
writing to thee. Thy letter reached me at Paris ;
I did not for a moment think of answering it then,
because I was wholly unacquainted with the so-
cieties to which it alludes, and could not obtain
the necessary information; but on my return to
England I found E. Fry deep in thy book, and
believing that she had already made a few steps, at
. LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 85
least, in the career to which thou hast pointed in
thy eloquent address to me
"Thy letter was truly gratifying to me, but
humbling also, as it led me to look into myself, and
feel how little worthy I am of such an appeal, and
how little able to answer it as it ought to be
answered. I left Paris (where I stayed four months
and a fortnight at the house of a near and dear
relation) with a heart full of love and gratitude
towards every person there, but also filled with
pity, strong disapprobation, and alarm. Still, when
I consider the efforts making by many pious and
good persons to spread the knowledge of the truth
as it is in Christ Jesus amongst them, I can answer
the question, ' Can these bones live ? ' not only
* Thou knowest,' but that I think they will.
Farewell.
" I am thy grateful and affectionate friend,
"A. O."
To this letter Mr. Southey replied, under date
29th November, stating that he had been in cor-
respondence with Mr. Hornby, the rector of
"Winwick, who, in concert with a gentleman of
Liverpool, had undertaken to set on foot an insti-
tution for the purpose of educating a better class
of persons as nurses for the poor. In this infant
project Mr. Southey expresses his satisfaction, and
urges the great necessity for such exertions on a
large scale ; so that nurses might be trained, " on
86 LIFE OP AMELIA OPIE.
whose competent knowledge and probity, not to
say piety," reliance might be placed ; whereas " at
present there are no wickeder wretches on earth
than some of the women who follow this way of
life." He adds, that nothing in the system need
be adopted at variance with the feelings of a Pro-
testant country, and says : " If the Roman Catholics
take up the scheme before us, I know no other
means, even at this time, whereby they would be
so likely to extend their pestilent superstition."
He concludes with expressing his desire that Mrs.
Opie and Mrs. Fry would turn their thoughts to
this subject, that the sick might be " rescued from
the hard hand of mercenary ignorance" through
their assistance. In the P.S. to this letter, he
mentions a droll incident : " I must tell you that
Thomas Wilkinson told me the other day, when you
were in the country, it was said at Carlisle, that
Amelia Opie was expected to speak at the meeting
there. The name was improperly caught, and a re-
port spread that an Ethiopian was to speak there !"
This letter Mrs. Opie sent to Mrs. Fry, who, in
reply, said : .... "I think there is much truth
in its contents. I also wish thee to weigh the
subject, and if thou feelest, as well as seest thy road
open to it, I shall be glad ; because I have seen
the thing wanted to be done ever since the days of
my youth." However, it seems that Mrs. Fry
questioned the eligibleness of commencing such a
LIEE OF AMELIA OPTE. 87
trial in the country ; for she asks, " Is not London
the place to begin such a work ?"
Some years subsequently the thoughts of this
admirable woman, Mrs. Ery, reverted to the sub-
ject; and she commenced a small society on the
plan of Mr. Miedner's establishment at Kaisers-
werth, with the assistance of her sister, Mrs. S.
Grurney, and some other ladies.
<k The exertions of this little society (says a
passage in Mrs. Fry's Life, vol. ii., p. 383) have
been greatly circumscribed, 'and it may be looked
on more as an experiment, than as an object
attained. The help of the ' nursing sisters' has
been sought, and greatly valued, by persons of all
classes, from royalty to the poorest and most
destitute."
At the present day much interest and effort have
been directed to this most important and Christian
object ; and now all hearts are sympathizing with
those who have voluntarily offered themselves for
this service of love on behalf of our poor sick and
wounded soldiers, and with the heroic woman who
has placed herself at their head.
The summer of the following year (1830) was
productive of great and alarming events at Paris ;
and it was natural, irideed inevitable, that the feel-
ings of Mrs. Opie should be deeply and painfully
interested in watching their progress. She had so
recently left the spot where these scenes of alarm
were transpiring, that her thoughts would revert
88 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
with a special concern to those who were now in
hourly jeopardy, and exposed to dangers of a terrible
nature. She wrote, in the month of August, a
letter to her friends at Northrepps, expressing her
emotions, and an extract from that letter will best
show the excitement of her feelings :
" Norwich, 8th mo., 2nd, 1830.
. . . . " What alarming news from Paris ! The
Chamber of Deputies dissolved for ever, and the
liberty of the press abolished ! We saw the result
of these tidings in the fearful prospective, and yes-
terday came the affecting news that the National
G-uard had reorganized themselves ; that Lafayette
was at their head ; that the Chamber had assembled
and voted their sitting perpetual, and had declared
the throne vacant ; that the king, ministers, court,
and ambassadors, had left Paris, and were at Vin-
cennes, or Brussels ; that cannon was planted
against the city ; that it had fired and killed 5000
persons, and the beautiful Rue de Bivoli was run-
ning with blood, and that they are to be starved into
submission. I humbly hope I shall be enabled to
pray for my friends there, which is all I can do.
You will readily believe how anxious, interested,
and excited I feel. I was, and am, writing on the
scenes of the former Eevolution, little dreaming
that another was so near, in which some whom I
love and reverence must be actors. Well ! I must
endeavour to turn from the thought of it as much
as I can."
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 89
Unable, probably, to keep the prudential resolve
with which she concludes this letter, Mrs. Opie,
full of irrepressible anxiety to be on the scene of
action, very shortly came to the resolution to repair
to Paris. She seems to have allowed but few of
her friends to know of her determination, perhaps
anticipating their remonstrances and objections.
Her anxiety, however, was so great as to affect her
health and spirits ; and, after a few weeks' irreso-
lution, her plans were arranged, and she was on the
way to Paris. Her stay there proved longer in the
event than she had probably intended or anticipated.
Of the letters she wrote home during this period,
many are still in existence. I will give but one of
them, addressed to her old friend " Sarah Bose,"
and descriptive of various subjects in which she
was interested at the time ; it bears date,
" Hotel de Douvres, Rue de la Paix,
IltJi mo., 3(M, 1830.
. . . . " This shall be a letter- writing day, dear
friend. Hitherto all has prospered with me, and
will, I trust, continue to do so. We are more
quiet here than you seem to be in my dear native
land. Even the ex-ministers seem forgotten ; the
people threaten them no longer audibly, at least.
Violent excitements, if not kept alive, soon wear
themselves out. I had such an interesting morn-
ing yesterday at the Halle aux Draps. It was the
distribution of prizes at the boys' and girls' schools.
90 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
I went alone, and had time to contemplate, with
great interest, the young population before me.
The boys were dressed in a dark brown tunic, a
little a la Grecque, and this added to the illusion,
when I fancied that I beheld a race of young
republicans. A very good liberal address was given
by the mayor of the arrondissement, and imme-
diately after, the young voices of the children were
lifted up in songs of joy and praise. I felt my
eyes fill, and my heart beat, as I remembered how
lately blood had run along the streets of Paris, and
that probably some of the singers had been orphaned
by the late revolution
" I was interrupted here by a visit from Quatre-
fuges du Fesq, Commandant de la Garde Rationale
du departement du Gard, a Protestant gentleman
of large estate. He seems a worthy man, and I
was glad to find that he belongs to a Bible Society,
chez lui ; and he is going to present me to its
president. He is delighted at being one of my
agents, and I have met two English clergymen,
who are equally willing. To go on with the schools :
when the crowns of flowers and greens and the
books were all distributed, a letter from Appert,
the philanthropist, was read, announcing one prize
from the queen, which was given to the girl who
had already won the prize for good conduct ; and
she came, looking so meek and pretty, in her crown
of white roses. One child who got a prize was
only six years old.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 91
"The parties on the 7th day evening at the
Jardin des Plantes (Baron Cuvier's) are pleasanter
than ever : ambassadeurs, savans, sages, deputes,
historiens, etc., etc. Sophie D., the worthy sister
of the admirable and lamented Clementine, has, in
conjunction with some other ladies, instituted a
committee of management, for so many poor deaf
and dumb girls. The object is to teach them the
means of maintaining themselves ; but it is sad
up-hill work. May He who alone can bless such
labours of love, bless these ! .
"The Paris intellectual world, just now, runs
after a new sect the St. Simoniens : the founder
is a St. Simon, of the Due de St. Simon's family ;
but his disciples preach up equality of property.
The thing is, I suspect, more political than any-
thing else in its object ; but on a 1st day there is
a religious preaching, and the room overflows ; so
it does on a week-day evening, when there are only
lectures. I am sometimes tempted to go one
evening, as they agree with the Friends on two
points. Nous verrons." ....
"I2th mo., 1st, 1830. To-day I have had an un-
expected and most welcome visit from E. M. Her
account of the state of the religious world here was
cheering. May her hopes for this great, but, on
some points, blinded country, be realized ; and may
the prayers of her Christian heart be fulfilled.
There are many labourers in the field. Oh may
it truly be white for the harvest !
92 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
" My friends here have persuaded me to be ' at
home,' on one particular day, and so, on 7th day
morning I receive from one to five, and I have
' beaucoup de mondc? . . . With love, thine,
"A. OPIE."
Mrs, Opie continued in Paris till the month of
April, 1831. During that time she saw " many
and different scenes," and events of a stirring
nature transpired. It is not, perhaps, to be won-
dered at that some of her most sincere and attached
friends felt a degree of anxiety, lest her lengthened
residence in the gay capital of France, where she
was surrounded by admirers, and found so much to
gratify and charm her taste and feelings, should be
injurious to her best and highest interests. They
feared lest she should be " drawn away from the
simplicity" of faith and manners, which must ever
characterize the true Christian in his intercourse
with the world. These anxieties were natural, and
the expression of them salutary. The knowledge
that such care was felt on her behalf, that such
watchful eyes of love followed her movements,
awakened her gratitude and influenced her conduct.
The union that subsisted between her and the
Friends with whom she had united herself, was a
true and efficient one, exerting an abiding and
happy influence, and having a deep hold on her
affections as well as her principles. Traces of this
feeling are everywhere to be found in her journals,
LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE. 93
which continually refer to the dear friends whom
she had left behind in her native city, and in reli-
gious fellowship with whom she rejoiced, even when
severed from them in "a strange land." Her
favourite tract, Mr. G-urney's " Letter to a Friend
on the Authority, Purposes, and Effects of Christ-
ianity," she got translated into French, during her
stay in Paris, and largely circulated among her friends
there. That it "was in her heart" to use all the
influence she possessed over others for good, her
frequent aspirations, recorded in secret, touchingly
evince. It was " a longing," though, as she some-
times feared, " a vain desire," prompting her to speak
the word in season, or to indite the friendly line of
pious expostulation. There were among her loose
papers, several rough copies of verses composed in
this spirit, and, as I have said, her diary abounds
in entries indicative of her sympathy with all that
was good and holy in others, and of her readiness
to seize every favourable opportunity for winning
the attention of the thoughtless and the unbeliev-
ing to the great truths of the gospel.
Those who best knew Mrs. Opie will readily
comprehend how it was that she could, in a manner
somewhat peculiar to herself, and partly perhaps
resulting from her early habits, as well as from her
natural temperament, take so lively an interest in
all the varied forms of life and society. Her nature
was many-sided and pliant; she divided her
thoughts, her sympathy, and her efforts among all
94 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
that asked a share in her regard, and could turn
with undiminished interest from scenes of high
excitement, to small and apparently uncongenial
subjects. To each claim she responded in turn,
and the tale of every human heart had power to
interest her. Hence, when she returned to her
solitary home, and once more resumed the quiet
and comparatively monotonous life she led there,
she lost none of her spring, nor appeared in the
smallest degree less keenly alive to all that claimed
her attention.
The society of her friends and the works of
charity she had laid aside awhile, were returned to
and resumed with complacency and zeal. She was
especially engaged, about this time, in the cause of
the Ladies' Branch Bible Society in Norwich. Mr.
C. Dudley was anxious to effect improvements in
its management, and to enlarge its operations, and
there were meetings and committees at the Friends'
chapel in Groat-lane, for the purpose, at which
Mrs. Opie assisted. She took a district, and visited
among the poor, as a collector of their weekly
pence; and thus was brought into contact with
many scenes of want, and sorrow, and suffering,
that drew forth all the yearning pity of her heart,
and found employment for its charitable prompt-
ings.
In a letter, written shortly after her return, she
gives a lively description of her journey from
London, and shows the feelings of her heart at this
time.
LIEE OF AMELIA OPIE. 95
" Norwich, 6th mo., 30^, 1832.
" MY DEAR FRIEND, . . . I had a pleasant
journey down, with a most agreeable companion,
who never contradicted me ; had the same opinions
on all subjects as myself; had read all my works,
and admired them of course ! who slept when I
slept, and woke when I did, which was at three
o'clock in the morning ; but at that hour my com-
panion ceased to be agreeable, for she began to
preach to me :
1 And, like the dread handwriting on the wall,
To hold past actions up to my review ; '
till, at last, unable to say nay to her accusations,
and overpowered by their force, I happily recol-
lected I had a pocket edition of the Psalms with
me, and Isaac Crewdson's ' Spirit of Prayer ' and
I took refuge in them from my troublesome moni-
tor, who was no other than the egregious Amelia
Opie my own self. She and I came alone together
all the way. I found my garden a wilderness, and
very like the sluggard's ; but my roses were bloom-
ing in the midst, seemingly undisturbed by the
slovenly appearance around them, like a poet full
of glowing thoughts and fine images, though writing
in a garret in Grub-street. On 2nd day I hope
to see the long grass disappear, and order come out
of chaos.
" E. E. came on 5th day to visit me. I took
her a walk to see the Cathedral Close, Bishop's
Palace, and my poor uncle's pretty garden, around
96 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
which I had the pain of seeing him dragged, a
wreck of former days. That was a sight I could
have spared. Yet, no. Such mementos of the
frailness of everything of mortal tenure are not
to be avoided, and ought to be salutary. In the
evening we walked round our Castle Hill, and I
found in my companion an amiable aptitude to be
pleased with all she saw, and enjoy everything.
"How differently one feels towards persons
when one believes their days to be numbered
visibly so, I mean to what one does when one
first sees them, and judges them without beholding
the grave in their horizon. How lenient one be-
comes to their faults ! What an air of interest is
thrown around them ! One listens with more
attention and indulgence to their remarks, and
seeks eagerly to discover in their conversation a,
moral preparation for death, more agreeable than
the physical one, which we discover with so much
pain. If these feelings are entertained towards
those whose days are visibly numbered, the same
indulgence ought to be shown to every one, for all
are alike ' appointed to die,' holding their mortal
tenure only at the pleasure of the Most High. I
therefore earnestly desire that I may not be found
among the backbiters, the haters, and the severe
animadverters on the faults of others : amongst
them, however, my travelling companion, A. Opie,
had the impertinence to rank me. ... I can
write no more. . .
" A. 0."
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 97
The feelings expressed in this letter exerted an
habitual influence on the mind of the writer. Thus,
she says to one of her friends, after expressing the
pleasure she felt in having been able to render a
kind attention to a deceased friend: "I often
think that, if we did but consider the brevity of
life, we should be more eager in our endeavours to
serve and please our friends and neighbours than
we are, and more careful to avoid giving them
pain. It is, I know, a truism but it is one 1 often
try, though in vain, to remember and be guided
by that, if we could but recollect, even in youth,
that we may be cut off from life and repentance
and amendment, in a moment, we could not help
acting in a very different, and more creditable, man-
ner towards others. What would then become of
the jeers, and the flings, and the censures, the
misapprehensions and hatreds, in w r hich so many
of us think it allowable to indulge ?" . . .
In the year 1832, Mrs. Opie sold her house in
St. George's, which she had been desirous to do
from the time of her father's death. In this resi-
dence Dr. Alderson lived durjng the latter years
of his life, and Mrs. Opie had continued to inhabit
it, with one short interval, until this time. There
it was that I first saw her. The rooms in which
she received her friends were hung with many of
Mr. Opie's paintings ; one, the well-known picture
of "The Secret Correspondence, or Love-letter,"
was hung over the mantel-piece of the drawing -
ii
98 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
room, while the "Shepherd Boy" occupied the
same place of honour in the dining-room. There
were, besides these, many others, including the
portraits which formed the subjects of six of her
" Lays for the Dead." Parties of friends fre-
quently assembled in these apartments, among
whom were some whose memory is still cherished
with love and regret. Of these, the E-ev. Joseph
Kinghorn was one of the most endeared and
honoured. To his conversation Mrs. Opie listened
with respectful interest ; and, indeed, it was always
worthy to be attentively considered, for rarely or
never did he speak, without imparting information,
or suggesting some topic of interest. After the
death of Mr. Kinghorn, the "Father and Daughter"
was found among the books of his library. It was
probably the only work of fiction admitted into
that sanctum, destined only to contain ponderous
tomes of divinity, and erudite treatises on theo-
logical subjects ; and much pleased was Mrs. Opie
when she was told of the circumstance. This ex-
cellent, learned, and holy man died in the month of
September,1832; and Mrs. Opie did not see, without
a tribute of heartfelt regret, the departure of one so
venerated, She listened to the account of his dying
moments, and wrote the following
".LINES" ON HEARING IT SAID CONTINUALLY, THAT OUR LATK
REVERED FRIEND, J. KINGHORN, WAS ' FIT TO DIE.'
" Hail, words of truth ! that Christian comfort give;
But then, ' the fit to die,' how fit to live !
LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE. 99
To live, a bright example to mankind ;
* Feet to the lame, and eyesight to the blind ; '
To lift the lamp, the word of God, on high,
Direct to Calvary's mount the sinner's eye;
To tread the path the first apostles trod,
And earn that precious name, ' a man of God.'
And thence the grief, he lives for us no more,
Whose loss alike all Christian hearts deplore :
But faith, exulting, joins the general cry,
The fit to live was greatly ' fit to die ! ' "
Another of the guests occasionally to be seen
under Mrs. Opie's roof, in 'those days, was "William
Toungman, of honoured memory; famed (and
somewhat feared) for his critical acumen and keen-
ness in debate. His fine head, brilliant eye, and
acute glance, immediately attracted attention,
which was riveted when he talked; and when it
pleased him to communicate his stores, it was well
to listen and to learn.*
To all her guests Mrs. Opie delighted to show
* He was one of those who frequented a social monthly meeting
for religious intercourse and conversation, held during many
years, principally at the suggestion and through the influence of
Mr. Kinghorn. Portions of Scripture were read and freely dis-
cussed on these occasions, and Mr. Youngman's remarks were
usually full of point and suggestion. As these meetings were
held at the houses of the different families whose principals
united in them, the young people of the household were always
present ; and I shall never forget the interest and pleasure they
afforded me, nor can I help wishing that something similar were
in general use among the friendly circles of good people now-a-
days. I know of nothing more likely to inform and improve
young and inquiring minds just awakening to interest on religious
subjects, and needing direction and assistance in their researches
100 LIFE OP AMELIA OPIE.
the pictures that surrounded her ; and it was with
evident complacency that she received any tribute
to the genius of her husband : she felt proud and
pleased when his works were duly appreciated.
The mention of this reminds me of a trifling inci-
dent that occurred about this time. The Eev.
Edward Irving, being then on a visit at Norwich,
went to pay his respects to her. He was charmed
by the fascination of her manner and appearance,
and on being asked afterwards, by the friend who
accompanied him, what he thought of her pictures,
(to which, as usual, she had pointed attention,) he
responded, with eager haste : " I thought nought
o' the paintings ; it was the bonnie livin' picture I
saw."
It will be readily imagined that Mrs. Opie could
not quit the house, endeared to her by so many
tender reflections, without much and poignant
regret. Yet there were many causes that combined
to make it desirable she should do so. Not only
was it far too large to suit the convenience of a
single individual, but it necessarily involved the
maintenance of a considerable establishment ; and
this was incompatible with her wishes, which in-
duced her to prefer some arrangements that would
allow her to be occasionally absent from Norwich.
That she might be the more entirely free in her
. movements, she determined to give up housekeep-
ing for some time.
On the eve of her departure, she thus expressed
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 101
her emotions in writing to a friend : . . . "I
wrote my last letter to thee at a moment full of
care and anxiety, and I now write at one of the most
painful epochs of my life. I shall, in two hours,
quit for ever the house where I have lived twenty-
four years, and passed the most important and in
teresting period of my life. But write I would ; I
could not bear to delay my apology for what may
have appeared harsh and unjust. . . .
" Earewell. I write in great haste and some
agitation.
"A. OPIE."
CHAPTEE IY.
S; OPIE, having succeeded in effecting the
sale of her house, and completed the necessary
arrangements, dismissed her servants, and found
herself free to accomplish a desire which, she said,
had for many years been near her heart, namely, to
visit Cornwall, her husband's native county; in-
tending to make her stay there as long as she found
it desirable. On the 20th of September she left
London for Falmouth, via Plymouth ; and, on
finding herself in Cornwall, wrote thus :
" I cannot describe the sensation I felt at being
in my poor husband's native county, which I had
so often heard him lavish in praise of ; but his part
of it was bold and rocky, and without trees ; this
was rich and wooded, though rocky, and the low
walls, made of a red stone, appeared to me
particularly picturesque. Indeed, at every mo-
ment, scenery of increasing beauty presented itself
to the view. Before we arrived at Truro, I was
extremely pleased with a long dell, called ' The
Forest,' extending to a considerable length. Across
this dell very large forest trees bent over, forming
a natural bower, beautiful and magnificent ; and, as
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 103
I concluded must be the case, a fine stream ran
through the hollow ; and, at its termination, there
is a gentleman's seat. I fear that I envied the
owner his delightful residence.
"Bocks, woods, and river, were the constant
succession of objects which my delighted eyes
gazed on, as we proceeded on our way ; and the
Yale of Perran fully equalled my expectations,
though I could not explore its heights and look
down on its lovely valley. Penryn is a striking
scene, from the business going forward there, and
the romantic scenery around its river. Next came
the beautiful harbour of Ealmouth, on which we
looked down as we drew near: it quite realized
my high-raised expectations.
"At the inn, I found my friend awaiting my
arrival. He drove me up an almost perpendicular
street, which reminded me of Whitby, where
the streets are all precipitous. "When I reached
~W. Place, and the kind inhabitants introduced
me into the house, I was overpowered, as it
were, by the sense of beauty with which the
view from the window impressed me. The bay
was blue as heaven, and there seemed nothing
between us and it but a gently undulating
lawn, enamelled with flowering shrubs. To the
left rose the Castle of Pendennis, on its high
and verdant promontory ; and the whole was so
like an Italian scene, that I could scarcely fancy
myself in England. I felt deep thankfulness when
104 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
I retired to my charming room at night, not only
for my safe arrival, but that the lines were fallen
to me in such pleasant places."
Mrs. Opie, after remaining a month at Palmouth,
left her friends there on the 22nd of October, and
proceeded to Perran, on a visit to another branch
of the same family ; and from this time she seems
to have kept a journal, from which I purpose
giving occasional extracts. On her way to Perran
she visited a mine, in which was " the largest
steam-engine, perhaps, in Europe." The whole
thing, she said, was "vast even to sublimity;" and
the tremendous volume of sound occasioned by
letting off the steam, completely overcame her
nerves. "Afterwards," she writes, "we went to
see the women at work. The first sight of the
mining district exceeded all my ideas of its deso-
lation a desolation only equalled by its popu-
lation."
The next entry in her diary tells of her arrival
at Perran Yale " and all its loveliness," where she
settled down most comfortably, although her
thoughts reverted with regret to the dear friends
whom she had left. The following weeks were spent,
with much enjoyment, in the society of those
around, and in making visits and calls ; and the
long autumnal evenings passed most agreeably in
drawing, reading, and working ; occasionally, too,
themes on a given subject were written. One of
these, on " Punctuality," was preserved among her
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 105
papers ; and, as this was especially a virtue in
which she delighted, it was evidently written con
amore. Its conclusion is amusing, and as it is not
long, I venture to give it.
" There is a habit so injurious to the practice ot
punctuality, that I must mention it before I con-
clude. I call it a habit of lianging fire. There are
persons who get up to go away, an hour perhaps
before they really depart ; and who linger at the door
of the room, make a full stop on the landing-place or
in the hall ; and if one attend them to the door,
linger still on the threshold ; and even when in the
street, calling up fresh energies, elevate their voices
in a few parting words. How can such as these
ever be strictly punctual ? I would particularly
warn young persons against such a habit. I would
say, ' When you are going, go ; for, remember, the
moments you thus waste in loitering, are bringing
even you, the young, nearer every instant to eter-
nity.' I feel that it will become me to conclude
my imperfect sketch as fast as possible, and I will
do so by giving an anecdote of George, commonly
called Beau Brummell.
"Amongst his other follies, B. had that of
choosing to be always too late for dinner. Where-
ever he was invited he liked to be waited for. He
thought it was a proof of his fashion and conse-
quence ; and the higher the rank of his entertainer,
the later was the arrival of this impudent parvenu.
The Marquis of Abercorn had, for some time, sub-
106 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
mitted to this oft-repeated trial of his patience,
but at length he would bear it no longer. Accord-
ingly, one day when he had invited Bruramell to
dine, he desired to have the dinner on the table
punctually at the time appointed. The servants
obeyed, and Brummell and the cheese arrived toge-
ther. The wondering beau was desired by the
master of the house to sit down. He vouchsafed
no apology for what had happened, but coolly said,
* I hope, Mr. B., cheese is not disagreeable to you.'
It is said that Brummell was never late at that
house in future ; and here selfishness became the
source of punctuality.
"Perran Vale, "A. OPIE.
mo., 7th., 1832."
On the 21st of November, taking a " sorrowful
farewell of dear Perran," our traveller proceeded
to St. Agnes, where she received a kindly welcome
from her worthy relatives, and a few days after
wrote the following letter :
" To Sarah Rose, Bracondale, Norwich.
" St. Agnes, llth mo., 26th, 1832.
" MY YEEY DEAR FBIEIST),
" I shall begin by what is uppermost with me
just now. Last night, in the papers, I had the
shock of seeing the death of Lady Stafford. "What a
loss ! what a wide-spreading loss! How sudden
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 107
her removal! But it is those who are left that
must mourn. One cannot think but all is well
with her, poor dear. I used to lament I knew
so little of her, but now I rejoice. . . .
"I am here with my poor husband's nephew,
and his wife and family, which consists of Edward
Opie, the painter ; a boy of ten, and of a gentle
and pleasing young woman named Amelia, after
me, at the desire of my poor sister.* They have
just lost a lovely girl of thirteen, whose loss has
sunk deep into the hearts of her parents. The
whole family have soft, pleasing manners ; in short,
I like them all. . . . Yesterday I dined &t
Harmony Cot, where my husband and all the
family were born and bred. It is a most seques-
tered cottage, whitewashed and thatched ; a hill
rising high above it, and another in front ; trees
and flower-beds before it, which, in summer, must
mak e it a pretty spot. Now, it is not a tempting
abode, but there are two good rooms in it, and I
am glad I have seen it.
* This was Mr. Opie's sister, who during his last illness most
tenderly aided in nursing him. Mrs. Opie, in her Memoir of her
hushand, speaks of her with affectionate regard in these words ;
" Let me be thankful for the presence of that sister so dear to
him, who, by sharing with me the painful yet precious tasks of
affection, enabled me to keep from his bed all hired nurses all
attendants, indeed, but our deeply interested selves that was,
indeed, a consolation." 33uring this Cornish visit, Mrs. O. fre-
quently alludes to the regret she experienced, that one whom she
had always remembered with affection was no longer living, to
welcome her, and to go over with her the memories of the past.
108 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
" I was at Palinouth one month, at E. W. Pox's ;
and at his mother's, at Perran and Falmouth,
another month, and came hither last 4th day ; and
I go to Truro to stay till the beginning of next
month, when I go to Burncoose ; and I hope to
take up my abode in lodgings of my own, at Pen-
zance, by the 2nd of the next year, if not before ;
but I have so many invitations. I was, on 5th
day, up St. Anne's Beacon: such a magnificent
sea- view !
" How many persons have died even in the short
time of my absence ! To-day I have had a letter
from Lady M , like herself, admirable. How I
wish I were what I am not, and fear I never may
be, weaned from the pleasures of this life, and
given only to preparation for another ! I some-
times reprove myself for the happiness I feel, and
my health is so perfect. . . .
" I am thy ever affectionate friend,
"A. OPIE."
Her journal proceeds : " (7th day, 1st of 12th
mo.) Went to see the market, and institution, or
museum. (1st day, 2nd.) Went to meeting.
Snowy. In the evening came on an awful storm,
thunder loud, lightning vivid. When it subsided,
W. T. opened the windows for me to see what he
called his illumination. It was the large Methodist
meeting-house lighted up, and towering in radiance
in the valley on the left. (4th day, 5th.) Quar-
LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
169
terly Meeting. A full attendance of Friends from
all parts of the country. Several Friends spoke to
great edification, and the meeting was well attended
in the evening. Next morning our friends left,
with a solemn, sweet, though short, parting bene-
diction, (1st day, 9th.) Lodgings suitable pro-
cured for me at Penzance : much pleased to hear
it. After dinner we walked up the hill beyond the
house, to see to advantage the remarkable and
sublime appearance of the clouds, which resembled
the glaciers, and formed ridges of ice, like those
on the Mont de Grlace. It was a sublime spectacle."
On the 10th of January, 1833, she left St. Agnes
for Penzance. The day was one of incessant wind
and rain. Her first glimpse of the Mount and its
bay was a momentary one, caught in passing. " I
turned," she says, "to the coach window on the
left, just in time to see it in all its glory, and quite
near me, the billows lashing its rocky sides." The
lodgings which had been provided proved quite to
her mind. " A good drawing-room, a decent bed-
room, and a fine sea- view, are my possessions here,"
she says, and significantly adds, " with leisure :
may I employ it well." The next day her diary
mentions her first walk on the shore, and shr
prettily apostrophizes the Mount. " Beautiful
Mount ! I long to be better acquainted with thee.
When I first saw it, it was very dark ; then it was
sunlit ; then dark and misty ; then light again,
and green as an emerald was the flood swelling
gainst it, and edged with snow-white feathers."
110 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
The letter that follows, addressed to her " dear
and long-attached friend, Sarah Eose," never
reached her ; for, only the day after it was written,
Mrs. Opie received the tidings of her death, which
she recorded in her diary, with an expression of
pain and regret, yet at the same time with thank-
fulness for the assurance she felt that it was indeed
a mercy to her, who had long suffered under a fatal
malady, and who was prepared, by Divine grace, for
the great change.
" To S. Rose, Bracondale, Norwich.
" Regent's Terrace, Penzance,
" 1** mo., I4th, 1833.
" It is long since the receipt of any letter has
given me so much pleasure as the one I received
from thee, beloved friend. ... I intend to write
to my friend, J. Beecroft, but I defer doing so till
I have visited St. Michael's Mount. I am to enjoy
the great pleasure of passing a night in that rocky
wonder, and of visiting the rock and ramparts by
moonlight. I shall also see the sun rise and set
there a great privilege ; whether I may have the
bells set a-ringing or not, I can't tell, but I should
like to judge of all the effects possible in that
unique spot.
" I have lately been staying at Lord de Dunstan-
ville's, and he it was who wrote to Sir John St.
Aubyn's housekeeper, desiring a bed to be pre-
pared for me, whenever I choose to go ; and that
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. Ill
is at the next full moon, (a suspicious circumstance
rfest ce pas ?) But, dear me ! how should there
be any moon where there is no sun ? Only once
have I seen the latter since I came here, last 5th
day, the 10th. "Wind, rain, and no fish ! and I
usually live on fish ; but then, in two minutes I
can be on the beach, and see the Mount
" Oh, what a blessing is leisure, and its promoter,
solitude ! I can say, with deep thankfulness, that
I have been only too happy with my dear Cornish
friends ; too happy, because I have been idle and
useless ; but, much as I have enjoyed this very
precious society, I cannot express my delight at
feeling that I have fourteen hours before me when
I rise, or more, to do what I will in, and write and
read as I choose At Paris, the glass
is many degrees below freezing point ; here there
is rain and wind, but no frost. I fear, indeed know,
that you have frost, but I hope thou feelest it not.
I will add that my health is perfect, and I need
the sorrows of my friends to soler my spirits. My
drawing-room commands the bay, and on one side
the town and hills of N., washed by the sea.
" Now, to talk of thyself. I am cheered much
by thy letter, and I humbly trust that the best of
all cheerfulness, that which results from entire
resignation, is thine now, and will be to the end.
If we * live to the Lord,' we shall also ' die to the
Lord ;' and, I believe, persons afflicted with incur-
able complaints are permitted to live on and suffer,
112 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
that they may be made profitable examples
.... To-morrow I am going to dine and sleep at
Sir Eose Price's. I have many letters yet unac-
knowledged ; I like to put my friends in my debt.
I am paying off mine : I sent seven yesterday to
the post. Farewell. [Remember, I must hear from
thee again.
" Thine affectionate friend,
"A. OPIE."
The journal proceeds : " (18th.) The day lovely ;
walked to find the tombs of my cousins. Such a
walk ! the air balmy, the bay blue and gold, the
Mount darkly grand. I saw it almost all the
way. The churchyard is pretty, the tomb simple ;
in its railing is another like it, over a mother and
son, friends of Philothea.* On our return, the
Mount was bright : saw the granite rocks ; and the
sea was, first green, and then a bright blue. So
lovely ! Not at all tired ; enjoyed my walk and my
dinner. In the evening 1 wrote to General La-
fayette, and E. M. (5th day, 24th.) A bright and
dazzling sun, silvering over the bellowing sea, like
great wit and talent throwing a lustre over turbu-
lent passions, under an agreeable surface. This
day four months I came to dear Palmouth. "What
* In her "Lays," p. 72, there are some lines " On a Mother and
Daughter, relations of mine, who died at Penzance within a short
time of each other ; " beginning :
" Pure, lovely, learned, pious, wise,
There, by her mother's side, Philothea lies."
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 113
happy months ! Blessed be His goodness, who
willed them so to be !
" (1st day, 27th.)-To meeting. Bead Newton's
Cardiphoma,* and in the Acts: an edifying even-
ing. Still, to bed discouraged, though much
enabled to pray during the day. (28th.) -A dis-
turbed night; but woke with "My grace 'is suffi-
cient for thee" on my lips; hoped it was an
answer to prayer. Slept again, and woke with the
same text. Eose encouraged T}ri s
evening, went on with my remarks on the sons of
Eli and the Eechabites. Bead Game's " Letters
from the East," which, though not new to me, were
most pleasing. So absorbed with his accounts of
the Holy Land, I could scarcely quit them to go
to bed."
A few days after the last entry (on the 6th of
February) Mrs. Opie proceeded to Marazion, and
carried out her purpose of visiting Mount St.
Michael. The ascent she found "very steep"
and was " surprised at the difficulty and pain of
the effort;" but the "novelty of the situation"
charmed her, and she stayed two days and nights,
instead of one, as she had purposed. The accom-
panying letter graphically depicts the scene she
witnessed, and her feelings on the occasion.
* In one of Mrs. O.'s notes, she writes, " Of all the books I ever
read, Newton's Cardiphonia (the Bible excepted) did me the
most good."
114 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
" To Thos. BrigUwell, Norwich.
" Regent Terrace, Penzance,
" 2nd mo., Ilth, 1833. Evening.
" MY DEAR FRIEND, If I were now at my dear
old house at Norwich, I should, perhaps, have the
pleasure of passing this evening with thee ; but as
we are separated by a distance of nearly 400 miles,
this pleasure I cannot have. I am, therefore, de-
sirous to make myself amends for a privation which
I frequently regret, by holding with thee that
communication, imperfect though it be, which I
can enjoy through the medium of pen, ink, and
paper. * * * *
" One of the most interesting sights I have seen
is THE PIT, where Wesley, almost at the hazard
of his life, addressed the Cornish men for the first
time. It is now an immense punchbowl of green
turf, cut into circular steps, from the top to the
bottom ; steps left to ascend and descend, dividing
the area into four parts. At the top of the last one
are two posts of granite, on which, when any one
preaches, there is laid a board, to support whatever
the preacher may require. On every "Whit-Sun-
day, one of their most distinguished ministers
holds forth to an immense congregation immense
indeed! for the place holds above ten thousand
persons, and it is often quite full. I could fancy, as
I stood there, those ten thousand of uplifted faces,
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 115
rapt in devout attention, and, as I hope, drinking
in water from the well of salvation.
"The greatest sight, and, perhaps, one of the
most unique in Europe, is St. Michael's Mount, as
it is stupidly called, for the term mount gives one
no idea of vastness, but the contrary ; and who
would expect to find a place called a mount a
rock, a mountain, and a castle ? Tet, such is St.
Michael's Mount, one of the seats of Sir John St.
Aubyn ; where I passed two days and two nights,
alone, last week ; and where I had leave to stay as
long as I liked ; but I felt a scruple against taking
possession of a man's house in his absence, and
putting his housekeeper to the trouble of waiting
upon me, and cooking for me. She said she wished
me to stay a week ; but I thought she would, in
her heart, be very glad to get rid of a crazy old
gentlewoman, who came to look at the moon from
the ramparts of the castle, as if she had no moon
in her own country; and I don't doubt but she
fancied me moonstruck, which idea was, I daresay,
confirmed, by her catching me drawing the faces
and figures I saw in the fire a new, but, I assure
thee, a very amusing occupation. I advise Lucy to
set about it directly.
"The sea is closed round this magnificent
mountain, with its masses of rock frowning midway
down its verdant sides, during the greater part of
the day ; and such a sea as it is in winter !
They are shipless waters, for no vessel could live in
116 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
them ; and I did enjoy to see the waves of the
Atlantic rolling proudly on one side of the castle,
telling of greater and more fearful power beyond,
where my eye could not penetrate. The first night
I was there the weather was so rough, that I went
to bed, supposing the moon would not shine. But
when the tide unclosed, (as the saying is,) the
moon shone, and I, on awaking past midnight, saw
her light, but could not see her. So the next night
I sat up till she rose, and leaning on the balcony,
witnessed her fight with the wind and rain, and
her ultimate victory. Such was the roughness of
the sea, that the white foam made the ( darkness
light about it ' without the aid of the moon ; but
where she did not shine on their jutting points,
dark as Erebus were the turrets, the ramparts, and
the walls of the castle ; while the little town at the
foot of the mountain, and the more distant town
beyond, lay in a sort of half tint of moonshine ; and
the noble rocks over which I leaned, were softened
into beauty by the mellowing rays that rested on
them. It was interesting to watch the lights from
the habitations, far and near, as they gradually dis-
appeared ; and to feel that I, probably, was the only
being awake and moving in that vast space of land
and water. I walked, and gazed, and leaned upon
the ramparts, till the consciousness of my solitude
became oppressive to me, and I hastened along the
corridor, so often trodden in times long past by the
monk or the warrior, to my repose.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 117
" This castle was once a monastery, and I entered
a dungeon, which was found, a few years ago, bricked
up, with the skeleton of a large man in it, no doubt
that of an offending monk, left there to die by
inches. Mont St. Michel, in Normandy, is the
counterpart of this ; but, though the castle is larger,
the rock is only half as high. Both are conical,
and so like in shape and external appearance, that
the coloured drawings of the Norman castle I took
for those of the English one. I have seen pictures
of the Mount by my husband, but no painting can
do it justice in detail ; those masses of granite must
be seen to be conceived of.
" It is five months and three weeks to-day since
I left Norwich ; and eventful months, indeed, they
have been to my frientls there, and the city in
general I can say, with thankfulness, that
my spirits have been so high since I have been in
this lovely county, that the misfortunes of those
amongst whom I have been living were necessary
to sober me a little ; and death has been busy here,
especially among children.
" I have been reading Newton's Cardiphonia.
I am now reading the Prophets, in Adam Clarke's
Bible. What a loss he must be to the religious
world !
" Well ! by this time, I daresay thou art as
much tired of me as the housekeeper was, and art
tempted to think her opinion of me a just one.
I intend to be in Norfolk in the 6th month j no
118 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
house vacant for me, I suppose ; nor do I intend
to settle yet ; I have Devonshire to see, and the
north to revisit. I remain here probably till the
25th, when I return to Falmouth. Farewell.
With affectionate remembrance to thy belongings,
" I am thy attached friend,
"A. OPIE."
" 2nd mo., 10th. A day of storm and rain; but
my dear friends came, and we went to meeting,
which was still and solemn. (2nd mo., llth.) Rose
low ; read St. John's Gospel, as well as a psalm ;
wrote letters. A. C. called, and stayed some time ;
very agreeable. Evening pleasant, but in my heart
I felt sad and self-judged. To bed sorrowing for
my sinfulness.
" (1st day.) A good night, but dared not go to
meeting. Rain again ! ' The rain it raineth every
day.' Eead some notes of Matt. Henry's Psalms,
and Job ; copied his note on the Rechabites ; read
to Mary, then to bed calm and encouraged.
" (2nd day.) Went to the workhouse and jail.
Found one of the committee there, who was very
civil, and, with the governor, went about with me.
The workhouse well conducted and comfortable.
Mad patients there also. Saw one poor woman.
In the prison not one person, but a woman debtor ;
going out soon. Grave 5s. to the fund, and 2s. 6d.
to the poor woman. They promised to send me
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 119
an account of the average expense of the esta-
blishment per week, to the fund collected by poor's-
rates ; he thinks it not more than 2s. and a
few pence each person. This gentleman called
to tell me that what I had given, with a little
added, would give the poor people a treat of cake
and tea at five, next fourth day, and asked me
to go and see them enjoy it. It was kindly meant,
but I should think it ostentatious Went to
the shore to see the Mount by moonlight. I saw
that poor young Irishman, A- , at No. 1, walking
to-day, and I met him. He looks thinner and
weaker, but his colour grows more and more bril-
liant. How I wish I dare speak to him, and ask
him how he does. He comes from the north of
Ireland. It is a comfort his brother is with him.
(22nd.) My last day at Penzance. I felt quitting
a spot so endeared to me by hours of refreshing,
and, I trust, beneficial solitude. A pleasing note
from poor young B. A., (the lame invalid I saw
daily from my window,) returning my books, and
regretting my departure.*
* He afterwards corresponded with Mrs. O., on religions snb-
jects, and she lent him books, and wrote, giving him Christian
advice and instruction. He eventually died in Cornwall; and
there is reason to believe that her efforts were not in vain, and that
she was instrumental in leading him to the only " hiding place
from the wind, and covert from the tempest" *' I shall always
believe (she afterwards said) that I was constrained to speak to
him, and offer him books, before I had even learned his name, by a
power higher than myself, and who, to effect any important purpose,
deigns to make use even of a weak and unworthy instrument."
120 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
Mrs. Opie returned from Penzance to Falmouth,
where she remained some weeks, visiting her
friends, and enjoying their warm-hearted hospitality
and kindness. She makes daily entries in her
journal, and details the domestic every-day life,
and the occasional fetes or troubles of her friends.
Especially she dwells, with evident delight and
cordial satisfaction, on the religious communion
and true sympathy of spirit in divine things, which
she enjoyed in such congenial society. At length,
on the 29th of April she writes :
" Alas ! the day of my departure from dear Corn-
wall therefore unwelcome. I bade a reluctant
adieu to all my dear Cornish friends, deeply thankful
for the happiness I have enjoyed during seven
months' stay in this charming country, and with this
interesting family and others ; and endeavouring
to prepare mentally for other scenes and other
persons."
She spent a few days with friends at Combe, on
her way to Bristol, where she arrived on the 4th
instant, and closes her diary shortly after, with
these words :
" Here ends my journal of my Cornish visit (and
its appendix at Combe), for the health, safety,
benefit, and enjoyment of which, I feel deep thank-
fulness to the (river of all good."
I cannot forbear, in closing this chapter, to
quote a few lines, in which Mrs. Opie has, I think,
beautifully painted the scene of her midnight watch
LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE. 121
on St. Michael's Mount, described in the letter to
Mr. Brightwell. These lines are taken from her
four "Sketches of St. Michael's Mount," appended
to the volume of her " Lays for the Dead."
The time was midnight ; and the wintry wind
Howl'd o'er the bosom of the foaming deep,
Which to its voice in louder war replied,
When, on the ramparts of that castled rock,
Sea-girt, which bears the great archangel's name,
I held my lonely watch and held it, awestruck.
* * # * * *
But happier thoughts stole on me, as the wind
Ceased its wild roar and round the castle's walls
I took my solitary walk, and hoped
The dark Atlantic heaved with gentler swell
Its mighty billows while the eastern waves
Began to wear a soft and pallid hue,
As yet the source unseen that unseen source
The cause that led me to my midnight watch
On that tall rock, braving the driving storm ;
For I was come to see the beauteous moon
In cloudless majesty her state assume.
But I was forced to wait upon her smile
As courtiers watch the smile of earthly queen,
And long I waited on the battlements
With folded arms ; with pensive eye
Marking the scene below, wide, billowy, dark,
Save where, from lowly cottages, which lay
Scatter'd around the mountain's foot below,
And from the dwellings on the distant shores,
As yet, some lights put forth faint twinkling rays.
But, when the distant clock, upon the wind
Gave solemn notice of the midnight hour,
Lo! one by one I saw those welcome lights
Fade from the view, till not a single beam
Was left to tell, that in the dark expanse
122 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
And near that wilderness of waters then
Another eye than mine a vigil kept ;
But J, alone, seem'd waking. Thus, methought,
As life advances, one by one, we mark
Our dearest friends and relatives expire.
No eye of love remains to cheer our age,
And we are left alone.
CHAPTEE Y.
AFTER her lengthened absence, which was ex-
tended to the month of July, 1833, Mrs. Opie,
returning to Norwich, established herself in lodg-
ings in St. Giles'-street. Immediately after, we
find her resuming the daily entries in her note-
book ; but they were soon discontinued, evidently
in consequence of her frequent visits and short
absences from -home.
The journal commences: "(25th of 6th mo.) Ar-
rived at 70, St. Griles'-street ; breakfasted, and went
to bed ; thankful for my safe arrival, and also that
I did not feel not coming to my own house and ser-
vants. At three, P.M., arose, and went to call on
my aunt, and other friends. Then to the bury ing-
ground ; found my dear father's grave well done,
and the l forget-me-not' on it, in full bloom;
thankful for that.* On my way homeward, I was
* Mrs. 0., in one of her letters written after visiting Pere la
Chaise, said, " I envy the power of planting flowers on the graves
of those we love." She appears to have indulged this feeling as
long as she lived, in having Dr. Alderson's grave carefully pre-
served from weeds, etc., and she paid an annual sum to have it
kept, and flowers planted round it. The " forget-me-not" was a
favourite with Dr. A., and she endeavoured to naturalize it, but
in vain, the soil and air being inimical to its growth.
124 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
kindly greeted by some poor people I met, and
welcomed back. I must call on poor Lizzy's pa-
rents as soon as I can, her death me tient au coeur. I
know she was well cared for in temporals ; but more
I know not. (3rd day.) Having dined, I went out
at seven ; took tea at my own dear ci-devant house,
and saw the improvements. It is now perfect.
Went home by the A.'s, and learned there the
death of poor T. S. How thankful I am that before
I went away I put her under the care of friends ;
so that I know all was done for her that she
needed. She was a truly pious Methodist, and
needed not the preparation of a deathbed, I be-
lieve, to fit her to meet the Lord.
" (1st day, 29th.) Rose, after a restless night.
Meeting at the Grildencroft ; felt favoured and
encouraged. Went with S. Mackie to visit the
graves : forbade the culture of that yellow flower
(name unknown to me) on them, in future. After
dinner, called on A. B. Surprised and pleased to
find her so well in body. Her mind is always well.
He is the great Physician of souls. My room north,
and cold ; I have a fire. Read again Matt. Henry's
life. (2nd day, 30th.) H. Girdlestone called. Went
to see poor at her desire ; she thought I
should do her good. I did my best, having asked
Divine assistance. Sent her Wesley's hymns for
all states, and a tractate on self-resignation. What
a dreadful feeling for any one to feel themselves
spiritually deserted, and unable to pray ! But then
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 125
the case is one of physical as well as moral disease.
May I be permitted to do her good, by leading her
to throw herself wholly upon her Saviour ! Called
on my dear old friends, the Bogers' (3rd day, 1st
of mo.) Went to the Infant School, called on
various friends, and went to tea at the Martineaus'.
(5th day, 3rd.) Came to the Grove for a week." . .
After remaining a few days at the Grove, Mrs.
Opie went to Earlham, where she enjoyed the
great pleasure of meeting Dr. Chalmers, who was
then on a visit to Mr. J. J. Gurney. In his
journal (given in his Memoirs) Dr. C. has made
very pleasant mention of this occurrence. After
noticing various incidents that had impressed him,
he writes :
" Friday, July 26th Lastly, I must men-
tion a lady who dined, and spent the night one
who, in early life, was one of the most distin-
guished of our literary women; whose works,
thirty years ago, I read with great delight no
less a person than the celebrated Mrs. Opie,
authoress of the most exquisite feminine tales, and
for which I used to place her by the side of Miss
Edgeworth. It was curious to myself, that, though
told by Mr. Gurney, in the morning, of her being
to dine, I had forgotten the circumstance ; and the
idea of the accomplished novelist and poet was
never once suggested by the image of this plain-
looking Quakeress ; till it rushed upon me, after
126 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
dinner, when it suddenly and inconceivably aug-
mented the interest I felt in her. "We had much
conversation and drew greatly together, walking
and talking with each other on the beautiful lawn,
after dinner. She has had access into all kinds of
society, and her conversation is all the more rich and
interesting. I complained to her of one thing in
Quakerism, and that is their mode of introductions ;
that I could have recognised in Mrs. Opie an ac-
quaintance of thirty years' standing, but that I
did not, and could not feel the charm of any such
reminiscence, when Joseph John simply bade me
lead out Amelia from his drawing-room to his
dining-room. I felt, however, my new acquaint-
ance with this said Amelia to be one of the great
acquisitions of my present journey ; and this union
of rank, opulence, literature, and polish of mind,
with plainness of manners, forms one of the great
charms of society in this house. "We had much
and cordial talk all the evening, a family exposition
before supper ; and at length, a general breaking-
up, somewhere about eleven o'clock, terminated
this day, at once of delightful recreation and need-
ful repose. Saturday, July 27th. Mrs. Opie left
us early, and we parted from each other most
cordially."
Mrs. Opie was much gratified with this meeting,
and afterwards addressed these
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 127
LINES TO DR. CHALMERS,
On reading his description of Dr. Brown, in his Chapter on the
Connexion between the Intellect and the Will.
When Eve, (by Milton's magic muse portrayed)
In the clear stream her new-born self survey'd,
Surprised she gazed, with admiration fired,
Nor knew she was the being she admired ;
And, while describing what had charm'd her view,
Suspected not she her own portrait drew.
Chalmers, however strange the thought may be,
To our first mother I resemble thee.
In what, with all thy generous warmth of praise,
Thy pen lamented Brown's vast powers displays ;
Paints him, diffusing Fancy's genial hue
O'er the cold paths philosophers pursue,
Intent to bid, round Reason's thoughtful brow,
Imagination's varying garlands glow,
Till "Intellectual Power" attention lends,
And from its " awful throne " soft " smiling bends;"
Paints him, on mind's most arduous summit placed,
The scene still decking with the flowers of taste,
As if call'd forth by wand of fairy elf:
Then trust me, Chalmers, thou describ'st thyself;
And all the charms which in Brown's picture shine,
By thy unconscious hand portray 'd, are thine.
The letter that follows, written about two months
later, gives us some account of the manner in which
the intervening weeks were passed.
" To D. F. Tottenham.
" 10th mo., Wth, 1833.
" MY VEBY DEAR FRIEND,
"... I returned home in full feather ;
but just now the illness of one of my old servants
128 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
confines me, and I cannot go out till she is better,
or all is over. This (her illness) is to me a little
sorrow. I have passed a very pleasant autumn. I
was at Bradfield House, near "Woodbridge, for ten
days : but alas ! to go there, I made such a sacri-
fice ; and had I not been engaged to go, I must
have remained at Earlham, for there 1 left Dr.
Chalmers. Such a companion ! Such a man ! How-
ever, I had a long tete-a-tete with him, and made
the most of my time. Such simplicity, with such
true Christian humility, I never saw before, united
to such genius and learning.
" I was ten days, previously, at the Grove. Since
then I have been to Euncton, and at Earlham, to
meet the Bishop of "W.'s wife and family ; who
(especially the bishop) are uncommon and delight-
ful persons. Also, at Lowestofb, staying with the
Judge (Alderson), and since then at JSTorthrepps
Cottage, which I left with great regret. It is such
a treat to me to be with them, and I have promised
to return thither on the 12th of 1st mo.
" Since my return from them, I have been stay-
ing with H. T., the highly gifted and learned man
who is so kind as to be my chief critic. I have been
over my Book of Lays twice with him ; and I trust
that, in a month or two, I shall be in the press. I
have been about this little volume twenty years ;
still, it is with trembling that I shall give it to the
public ; though many whom I esteem good judges,
and even severe critics, are very encouraging.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 129
" .... In the case of that dear friend whom we
have recently lost, I see another proof that the
Lord's choicest ones are thus tried for the good of
others, and of his church militant on earth, to
show, not only a bright example, but to prove how
sufficiently potent to make the tortured rise su-
perior to physical suffering, is the hope that is in
Christ Jesus Dear friend, I must conclude.
" Thy ever attached
"A. OPIE."
The " Lays for the Dead" did, as their authoress
anticipated, make their appearance " in print," very
shortly after the date of this letter. Among them
are many which have reference to friends and
events connected with the history of her life
through successive years ; and some are very
touching tributes to the memory of those whom
she had loved, and lost. This little volume was
the last connected work she ever published : the
number of pieces it contains is fifty, including the
" Sketches of St. Michael's Mount, inscribed to
Lord de Dunstanville and Sir John St. Aub} r n,
with which it concludes.
Six of the Lays are inscribed, " On the Portraits
of Deceased Eelatives and Friends which hang
around me." These portraits, as I have said, she
retained in her possession, and cherished as her
choicest treasures. Gazing on them, she seemed
K
130 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
to find consolation ; and when she penned her
"Lays of Death," it was fitting they should wake
her lyre's fondest and saddest chord. Thus she
apostrophizes them :
" I am left
Alone on the earth. Yet, not alone while thus
My solitude is peopled. Precious art !
I am alone : the fireside vacant now,
Once fill'd so happily. But when I gaze
On you, art's fair creations, I no more
Seem desolate and left ; for fancy, fired
While gazing on you, o'er the present throws
The bright, heart- warming radiance of the past."
These pictures are so associated in my mind
with all my recollections of her, from seeing them
constantly in the rooms she inhabited, and from
hearing her so frequently speak of them and point
attention to them, that I cannot resist the wish I
feel to make my readers acquainted with them, and
especially as they will thus learn some interesting
particulars respecting the early history and friends
of Mrs. Opie.
"PonTKAiT THE FiBST " was "Augustine Briggs,
M.P. for Norwich, who lived in the days of Charles
the First, and left as an heir-loom, a long sword
with a label, in his own handwriting, tied to it,"
purporting that it was worn "in the service of
the royal martyr." Honourable mention is made
of him in Blomfield's History of Norfolk, and he
was a public benefactor to his native city, which
still enjoys the benefit of his generous bequests.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 131
He was Mrs. Opie's " great, great, great grand-
father," and she was evidently not a little proud
of him ; she addresses him as her
" . . . . honour'd ancestor,
Who for his sovereign drew the loyal sword,
Yet civic chain, well earn'd by civic worth,
Respected bore. In childhood's earliest days
That picture was my conscience. I delight
To gaze upon it still, bound in thy spell,
Association ! of the moral world
The unfading ivy."
" POETBAIT THE SECOND" was the subject of
one of Mrs. Opie's first-published lays, written
the year after her marriage, and addressed to her
husband, "on his having painted for (her) the
picture of Mrs. Twiss." The concluding lines
contained a pleasing tribute of affection to him
whose "gift of bridal love" it was, and a soft
sweet breath of love pervades the later verses
given in the series.
" POKTEAIT THE THiED " was one of the most
admirable, artistically speaking, and for the per-
sonage it depicted Mrs. Opie entertained a most
affectionate respect, dating from the days of her
girlhood. He was her " dear friend and French
master, John Bruckner," a Flemish clergyman,
who resided in Norwich for fifty-one years, during
which period he officiated as pastor of the Walloon
and Dutch churches in that city.
He was a proficient in the French language, and
132 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
for many years gave lessons in it, and Mrs. Opie
was one of his pupils. To this amiable and ac-
complished man she was also indebted for much
general information, which he was well qualified to
impart. Mr. Opie's picture of him was painted at
her request, and was an excellent likeness, as well
as an admirable work of art.
"THE FOURTH PORTRAIT" was that of Dr.
Alderson. It was a profile view of his face, and
considered a fine likeness. His daughter, in the
verses she has devoted to this picture, dwells on
the latter period of his life, and expresses her deep
thankfulness for the bright hopes that shone on
his declining days, and illumined the dark valley
of the shadow of death.
"THE FIFTH PORTRAIT" in the series repre-
sented Mr. Ollyett Woodhouse, the much-loved
cousin of Mrs. Opie. She styled him her " gay
childhood's darling, the beloved companion of (her)
youth," and ever entertained for him the warmest
affection. He went to India, and found an un-
timely grave on "the distant shore of Malabar."
There are other verses, in this volume, addressed
to him, and frequent allusions to him are scattered
about in her letters and diaries. "Well do I recol-
lect the burst of feeling with which she reproved
me, for having once made some disparaging re-
marks upon this portrait. What possessed me
I know not; I was young and unthinking, and
I was not aware that it was the likeness of one
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 133
dear to her. Alarmed and distressed, I begged her
forgiveness, and soon I received it in the following
note, which I preserved ; and some of its remarks
are so excellent that I think it deserves to find a
place here. It is dated
" 1st mo., 30, 1835.
" MY DEAR LUCY, I thank thee for thy note,
and can, en toute siirete de conscience, reply, that
I most sincerely excuse the' fault alluded to ; but
it went on growing so comically. Last came thy
dislike of the countenance of one whom I loved
better than any being I ever knew, except my
father ; he was my first cousin, and the most love-
.able of human beings. But I always am more
inclined to pity, than to blame, the fastidious
those who are not easily pleased ; for a power of
being easily pleased I look upon as one of the
surest sources of happiness ; and for that power
in myself, I every day, almost, thank my Creator.
"Nothing e"ver prejudices me more in favour of
any one, than the prompt and candid avowal of an
error. Little dear ! does not the cap fit ?
" Pare well, in love,
"A. OPIE."
"PORTRAIT THE SIXTH," the subject of the
last of the Lays, is that of her husband. This
134 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
picture represented the painter, with his brush and
easel in hand, looking towards the spectator. It
seemed impossible, as you looked at it, to doubt
that it presented a faithful portraiture of him.
In compliance with Mrs. Opie's wish, it was sent,
after her decease, to Mr. Opie's native place,
Truro, to be placed in the public hall of that
town.
When this volume, so full of affecting memories,
that had so long engaged her thought and care,
was at length completed and given to the world,
its writer pensively recorded her feelings in these
words : . . . . " I have humbly endeavoured to
school my mind against the trial of its failure by
meditation and prayer. I feel that it must appear
sadly monotonous : the St. Michael's Mount Lays
are less gloomy, but all are tinged ; yet I hope
that it will touch a chord in the hearts of some of
my readers."
During the autumn and winter of this year,
Mrs. Opie's health was considerably impaired.
She already began to suffer from attacks of the
disorder which afflicted her throughout the re-
mainder of her life. She walked lame, and was
under medical treatment ; but still her spirits were
buoyant, and she wrote : " I am full of hope. It
is, after all, no bad thing for any of us to feel the
time for positive preparation come. Life ought,
indeed, to be a constant preparation for death ; but
few make it so, and I feel that I have not so
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 135
done I love home better than any other
place, and also solitude ; which is, considering my
lone condition, a mercy. This winter has been one
of much physical trial ; but I believe I can say,
without affectation, it has been one of the happiest
and most beneficial of my life."*
In the spring of 1834, she went to London, and
consulted Sir B. Brodie, who gave it as his opinion
that there was no radical disease. This was a
great relief to her; although she still suffered from
pain, her mind was " relieve'd of its burden ; " and
she decided upon carrying out an intention she
had long entertained, of visiting Scotland. Many
years had passed since she was there; and she
* The following extract, from a letter written in November of
this year, will interest the reader :
" llth mo., 1, 1833.
" Thou wilt have heard of dear S. H., jun.'s merciful release
from his bodily sufferings, and also that ' Lord, I am thine ! ' were
probably his last words. What an instructive lesson, both to
young and old, has the whole scene been ! The manner in which
he was enabled to bear his trial, (and what a trial ! giving up
every tie and everything that makes life valuable,) is a proof of
what importance it is for parents to give their children early
habits of piety and a knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ
Jesus. One may say of L. and her husband, that they had indeed
educated a child for heaven. And, another proof of what advan-
tage it is to a young man to choose for his wife a girl who had
been piously brought up, this sweet young widow was able to
meet her poor husband's mind on every point, to contemplate
with him the dark valley before him, and to rejoice with him in
the sustaining rod and staff. She was, indeed, his earthly helper
in his time of need."
136 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
much desired to see again the country for which,
from her earliest days, she had indulged the
warmest prepossession, and also to get a glimpse
of the Highlands. The month of August found
her on her way ; on the 9th inst. she went on
board the "Monarch" steamer; and her journal
gives an amusing account of the scene she wit-
nessed when she awoke during the night, and of
the inconveniences of the crowded vessel. The
next day was the sabhath, and divine service was
performed by a clergyman on board. "After-
wards," she writes, " I read some psalms, and have
been in spirit with my afflicted friends, the
Candlers, at their mother's interment, and have
thought of them and other friends there ; I hope,
too, I have been thought of and remembered before
the throne of grace."
On arriving at Edinburgh, our traveller thus
records her feelings : " Deeply thankful do I feel
for the mercy that has hitherto attended and
watched over me. Oh that beautiful and sublime
castle and rock, on which I gaze from my sit-
ting-room window ! how I delight to see them
again! "
Having rested for two or three days, she pro-
ceeded to Aberdeen, for the purpose of attending
a general meeting of Friends there. The journey
thither was delightful, " the skies blue, the waters
calm, the hills fine, and the corn golden." The
Firth of Tay strongly reminded one of her fellow-
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 137
travellers, who had lived many years in India, of
the mighty Ganges. From Aberdeen Mrs. Opie
proceeded to Stonehaven, and in her note-book
she thus describes an excursion she made in its
neighbourhood :
. . . "From Stonehaven I walked to TJry a
lovely place. Afterwards, my companion took me
in a boat to see the ruins of Dunnottar Castle.
We sailed past it, and went out to sea, in order to
view a most magnificent ridge of rocks, where the
sea-fowl live. I was rapt- in a sort of devout
astonishment at the size and height of the rocks
the highest on the coast and pleased with the
novel sight of the countless sea-anemones, just
under the waves, like a varied flower-garden, pink,
lilac, purple, white, yellow, orange, and variegated.
Nor was the sound of the birds, as they winged
their flight over our heads, without its appropriate
charm in such a scene. ... I was too tired to
visit the castle that day, but the next we drove
there ; the ruins are grand and vast, and the rock,
of which they form a part, sublime."
Returning to Aberdeen, she started again by the
' Highlander " coach for Braemar. She speaks
with ecstasy of the drive beside the Dee. " Words
can't do any justice to the magnificence of the
scene. The Grampians and 'their dark Logne-
gan,' sung by Lord Byron, defy description. . . .
The most remarkable objects were the immense
rocks and mountains around. Oh ! it was at times
138 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
a fearful pass. The road wound round the edge
of a precipice, spirally ; and there was (at least in
the worst part) no fence. They were, however,
so sublime, that I was sorry to part with them for
tamer scenery. The Spittal of Grlenshee is a deso-
late, wild, savage-looking place indeed; nothing
could possibly make me like to abide there, except
the wish to do good to some one."
The journal goes on to describe her progress to
Blair Growrie and Dunkeld, at which place the
Grampians " exchanged their bare grandeur for a
robe of verdure, feathering them up to the top."
She next visited the good town of Perth, and was
pleased to find in her landlady a Norfolk woman,
who expressed herself glad to see one who was
welcome both for her own and her country's sake.
The following day Mrs. Opie went, in a gig, to see
Scone. Of the Old Palace she found no vestige
remaining, save one doorway; but the furniture
being all transferred to the new one, she says, " I
saw there a bed and a screen worked by poor Mary,
when a prisoner at Lochleven, and her odious son's
bed, etc." The sight-seeing of the day was com-
pleted by a visit to Kinfauns, " a beautiful place
built of white granite ; from the terrace and the
windows grand wooded rocks are to be seen, and
the Tay glides through the vale beneath." Here
was the sword of Wallace, "which," she says,
"I lifted with great difficulty." Unfortunately,
at this point of her journey, Mrs. Opie became
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 139
really ill. She went in an open carriage to Crieff,
and got wet through ; the consequence of this im-
prudent act was a violent cold, succeeded by fever
and much suffering. Happily, some benevolent
strangers Dr. (now Sir J.) Eichardson, the well-
known Arctic traveller, and his lady came to
her assistance, and rendered her all necessary
succour.
Returning to Edinburgh, she remained there
about three weeks, enjoying much the company of
numerous friends, pleasing visits in the neighbour-
hood, interviews with Dr. Chalmers, and many
agreeable incidents which are recorded in her
journal. On the 22nd of September she com-
menced her proposed journey into the Highlands.
A few extracts from her letters and notes will
enable the reader to follow her steps.
" .... On the 22nd of September, I left Edin-
burgh for G-lasgow. I dined at the house of Sir "W.
Hooker. Next morning I set off by steam-boat,
along the Clyde to Dumbarton- from thence 1
went by coach to Loch Lomond. How glad was I
to find myself, at last, gliding up that lake full of
islands. One of these is appropriated to the use of
harmless insane people, who are permitted to wander
about it at will. Had I known this at the time,
my interest would have been greatly enhanced. . .
The afternoon was lovely ; the sky was blue, and
the clouds floated in silvery brightness above the
mountains, and even the lofty head of Ben Lomond
140 LIE OF AMELIA OPIE.
was unveiled. As I gazed upon his grandeur, and
listened to the gentle ripplings of the waters of
the lake as they broke against the shore, I felt a
soothing calm and a devotional enjoyment. When
a girl, I had delighted to read ' Grilpin on Pic-
turesque Scenery/ and particularly had admired
the coloured print of the Castle of Inverary, with
the sun setting behind it ; and now I had come to
see it ! How busy was my memory, as we rowed
over the clear and lovely waters, skirting the proud
domains of the house of Argyle !
" . . . . The morrow came, and what a lovely
scene did I gaze upon when I entered my sitting-
room ! The sea was so smooth that the vessels on
it, though all the sails were up, appeared quite
motionless. The top of Mull was cloudless ; but
the mists of night were slowly and gracefully un-
winding themselves from the verdant sides of
Morven ; and I was indeed gazing on the Western
Isles, so often imaged to my fancy, and so full to
me of Ossian and poetical associations. But regret
mingled with my pleasure, as I knew that I was
come too late in the year to visit Staffa and lona.
Still it was a satisfaction to look at them, and I
could not long keep away from the window.
" As we steamed past ' rocky Morven,' it was
clothed in lights, shadows, and tints, which no
pencil could paint nor pen describe. I gazed,
almost spell-bound, as I floated by. There was an
unearthly hue over the western side of the scene,
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 141
which would soon have assisted the fancy to trace
on it the forms of the heroes of Ossian. The
declining sun, while scattering over surrounding
objects the brightest hues, threw at the same time
over the Western Isles and their lofty boundary of
rocks, a mysterious, faintly coloured mantle of ever-
vanishing yet ever-renewed vapour. The rippling
waves were bright with gold and silver ; the black
shadows of the rocks of Morven were reflected in
the glassy bosom of the sea ; and the magic colour-
ing of the western vales, mountains, and waters,
rendered me insensible to the attractions of the
eastern shore, till there was pointed out to me the
land of Selma and of song."
The notes of this journal are closed with the
following lines : " How congenial to the High-
lands are solitude and silence ! "We may deplore
the present desolateness and depopulation of those
most interesting scenes, but they certainly increase
their beauty and solemnity. I always admire the
ocean most when there are no vessels whatever on
its waves ; and the solitude, stillness, and depopu-
lation of the Highlands were, to me, heighteners
of their charms."
Mrs. Opie afterwards visited Abbotsford. "I
will see," she said to herself, "the wonderful man's
house in life, and his house in death;" and so,
" at six o'clock on a misty wintry morning," she
set off for Melrose, from whence she took a post-
chaise and drove to Abbotsford. Eighteen years
142 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
had passed since first she crossed the Tweed. At
that time Abbotsford was not in existence; nor
did she see Sir "Walter when she visited Edinburgh
in 1816. He did not chance to be there, and she
was obliged to content herself with gazing on
E-aeburn's lifelike picture of him, the property of
Constable, whose guest she was. She had seen
him, indeed, a few months previously, at the
house of Sir George Phillips ; and her admira-
tion of him caused her to delight in recalling the
pleasure of that meeting. "Eagerly did I tell
everybody who would listen to me," she said, " of
the impression he had made on me; but I was
mortified when, on my praising the beauty of his
countenance, under strong excitement, and the
fire of his blue-grey eye, Dr. Brown, the cele-
brated professor, interrupted me with, ' Nay, nay,
Mrs. Opie, do not go on with these flights of
fancy; the face is nothing but a roast-beef and
plum-pudding face, say what you will.' "Whatever
that face was, would I had had the pleasure of
seeing it again ! The remembrance of the enjoy-
ment the morning I passed with him at Mount-
street gave me, I treasure as one of the greatest
which was ever afforded me by worldly inter-
course."
That pleasure she never enjoyed again. Very
different were the feelings she has depicted in her
account of the visit she paid to his deserted man-
sion and to his grave. " It was with considerable
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 143
emotion that I beheld the gates of Abbotsford,
that far-famed, but now untenanted house ; but the
mind of Sir W. Scott seemed yet to pervade every-
thing around. All the objects, all the furniture,
spoke of and realized, as it were, the creations of
his pen ; nay, evidently had helped to create them.
It was action and reaction. He began to write
with warlike weapons and things of 'auld lang
syne' about him, and these stores accumulating,
impressed themselves powerfully on his imagina-
tion ; and his imagination, in, turn, stamped them
upon his paper, till his pages resembled his rooms,
and his rooms resembled his pages. How much was
I interested in examining the varied curiosities
which the rooms contained the beauty of the
apartments themselves, the pictures, the gate of the
Tolbooth and its massy keys the silver vase, the
gift of Lord Byron, containing the ashes of the
Greeks, found under the walls of the Acropolis,
and the various other objects around me !
" But the sight of all these things did not tend
to elevate my spirits, and I quitted the place with
feelings suited to a scene more melancholy still.
.... The fatigue of my journey from Edinburgh
had disposed me to sleep, but I was aroused from
my slumbers by a strange sensation, like that
produced by the motion of a steam-vessel. We
were fording the Tweed, and going against a
very strong current ; and, in spite of my admira-
tion of that river, I did not relish the idea of
144 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
being drowned, even in its classic waters ; not that
there was any real danger, but the tide rolled
darkly and powerfully along, and I was tired and
depressed.
" I soon found a guide to the ruins (Dryburgh
Abbey), and followed her along a narrow path,
covered with fallen leaves, the emblems of decay
a fitting carpet for the road to the abode of death,
which now met my view in unmitigated dreariness ;
for, though the carved roof of the crypt remained
entire in its beauty, the sides of the ruin were open
to every wind that blew. The graves of Sir Walter
and Lady Scott, raised several feet from the ground,
were placed beneath the arch of the building, and
therefore, in a degree sheltered from the weather.
But not one blade of grass grew on those graves
of clay ; and, giving the unconscious dead my own
feelings, I was weak enough to wish, while the rain
fell and the wind whistled around, that their last
dwelling had been warmed, at least, by a covering
of vegetation. To my judgment, this seemed,
indeed, an idle desire ; but feeling, or rather, per-
haps, folly, was predominant. It was with many
affecting associations that I gazed on the grave
nearest me, that of Sir Walter ; and some minutes
elapsed before I could prevail on myself to quit
the spot, and go to the burying-ground of Lord
and Lady Buchan, where I experienced an absurd
feeling of satisfaction in finding that their remains
were deposited under stones of memorial, and in a
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 145
building covered in from the weather. But the
sight of those tombs did not call forth in me either
regret or emotion. Their inhabitants had died at
a good old age, surviving even the usual term of
man's existence ; but their far-famed neighbour
in the abode of death had fallen a victim to pre-
mature decay." ....
A short extract from a letter, written by Mrs.
Opie when at Edinburgh, shows her state of feel-
ing as she reviewed this journey. She writes : " My
tour, beloved friend, has been- a sort of epitome of
human life. I have been now in heights, now in
depths ; now it has been sunshine, and now dark
clouds ; smooth waters and rough ones ; now I
have been well, now ill ; now driving through
vales and over mountains, free as the denizens of
the air ; and now confined to my own room, a suf-
ferer and a prisoner. But, through all these vicis-
situdes, I have to acknowledge, with deep thank-
fulness, that I have been * kept in perfect peace ;'
and, were I to name one part of my life as more
uninterruptedly cheerful than another, I could,
with truth, name the period of my Highland wan-
derings, and of my visit to Scotland." . . .
CHAPTEE VI.
Iff 1835, Mrs. Opie again visited the continent.
As on former occasions, she kept a daily journal,
which was written in very fine characters, and in
pencil. Her route was directed through Bruges
and Ghent, to Brussels, where she was to join a
friend, with whom she purposed making a trip
up the Rhine. This journal commences : " On
board the Lord Liverpool packet for Ostend, the
25th of the 7th mo., 1835 What a lesson
for human pride, and what a leveller, is a steam-
boat ! Lords, ladies, nurses, ladies' maids, Quakers,
and Catholics, believers, and probably infidels, all
levelled by sea-sickness, and alike bowing to a
conscious sense of human infirmity ; and some, I
trust, with feelings of profound submission to the
humiliation inflicted by a higher Power." . . .
It was indeed a tedious and disagreeable passage.
The vessel was crowded, and the wind blew con-
trary the whole time. Glad was our traveller to
reach the shore early next morning ; and, after a
hasty breakfast, and a walk round the town, she
proceeded to Bruges, and thence by the passage-
boat to Ghent, where she visited the various cha-
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 147
ritable institutions of that city ; among others, the
lunatic asylums. In the one devoted to women,
she was much pleased with the superintendent, who
showed her over the establishment. Surprised at
the number of the patients, Mrs. Opie observed*
that they doubtless required many assistants.
" Such is not the case," was the woman's reply ;
" we need no aid. I myself sleep every night alone
with sixty or seventy of the women." The visitor
observed, " Astonishing ! but the great God knows
and protects those who are his." "True," she
answered ; " we trust in him, and are protected."
" As she said this," remarks Mrs. Opie, " I was
forcibly reminded of the same sentiment, so sweetly
expressed in the following lines :
" 'Jesus protects, my fears, begone.
What can the Eock of ages move ?
Safe in his care I lay me down,
Protected by a Father's love.' "
In the course of this conversation, Mrs. Opie
learned that, among the unfortunate inmates, there
was one of her countrywomen ; and, on her request-
ing to see her, a pleasing-looking young woman
was pointed out, whose appearance immediately
fixed her attention. She learned that the poor
creature had been there two years. She had been
found in the streets of Q-hent, where she had been
deserted by her husband, an Englishman, who had
literally left her to perish. The authorities had
directed her to be taken to the asylum, where she
148 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
was sometimes, apparently, nearly well ; but as she
could neither speak nor understand French, the
difficulty of treating her was great, and the phy-
sician had thought that the best chance for her
recovery would be restoration to her friends and
native country. For two years she had not at-
tempted to speak; nor did she answer the inquiries
which Mrs. Opie proceeded to address to her.
" Touched with compassion, I eagerly sought," says
Mrs. 0., " the necessary information. I found the
certificate of the birth and baptism of the poor
girl, and, copying the document, I promised to do
all in my power to restore the sufferer to her parents
and her country."*
I do not propose to accompany Mrs. Opie in her
* This pledge was faithfully fulfilled. Mrs. Opie, at the end
of three months, returned to Ghent, saw the chief physician
of the establishment, obtained from him an admirable statement
of the case, which she took with her to her friend, Dr. JL, of
London, who willingly undertook the task of getting the sufferer
conveyed to England. The necessary expenses were provided by
friends to whom Mrs. Opie had applied for aid ; and in a short
time the woman arrived safely at the Tower-stairs, where she was
met by her father, who had come up from Southampton to re-
ceive back his long-lost child. He carried her with him to her
native place, where, for a time, she seemed restored to reason ;
but afterwards the malady returned, and it was necessary to have
her removed to an asylum. Painful as this result doubtless was,
Mrs. Opie, nevertheless, expressed her satisfaction that she had
been permitted to procure for the unhappy sufferer so great an
alleviation as was afforded by her removal to her own country
and friends.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 149
visits to the numerous institutions, charitable and
religious, which attracted her notice during the
time of her sojourn in Ghent. She published a full
account of her " Eecollections in Belgium," in
"Tait's Magazine" for 1840, and to this I refer
the reader. From Grhent Mrs. Opie proceeded to
Brussels, where she was to meet a lady, who had
agreed to be her companion in making the tour of
the Ehine. Madame M having arrived, the
two ladies pursued their way to Antwerp. Mrs.
Opie was much impressed -with the celebrated
picture by Eubens, of the "Descent from the
Cross;" she exclaims, " "What grand conception!
What motion in all the figures ! The scene, the
subject, the sense of surpassing genius, and the
living effect of everything, quite overcame me, even
to tears."
Proceeding from Brussels to JSTamur, Huy, and
Liege, on the 16th the travellers were at Spa, of
which she speaks with admiration. " This is a
lovely spot indeed ; to me, how does it bring back
my earliest recollections ! Poor Amisant used to
give me bon bons and toys from Spa, and tell me
stories of it. We dined at the table d'htite, forty
persons present good company. Next day, we
went to see a famous cascade ; the drive thither,
through a deeply wooded ravine, was beautiful. On
the 20th, we were to have seen a curious grotto,
but could not get horses, on account of the odious
150 LIPE OF AMELIA OPIE.
races. "Well, money saved, and fatigue avoided.
A hundred persons dined at the table d'hote."
They left Spa for Aix-la-Chapelle, on the 21st,
where, much against Mrs. Opie's will, they were
obliged to remain five or six days. It happened to
be the time of the races, which occasioned much
turmoil and crowd ; and the sight of the gambling
constantly going forward in the "Salle de Eedoute,"
a licensed gambling-room, fitted up in splendid
style, caused her much painful feeling. The sab-
bath-breaking, too, shocked her, and it was doubly
distressing to see our own countrymen willing to
join in such profanation of that holy day, as they
would be ashamed or afraid to practise at home.*
* I am reminded by this remark, of an excellent " Address to
Travellers on the Continent, on the Observance of the Lord's
Day," which appeared in the " Christian Observer " for 1833
from which I am tempted to give the reader a short quotation.
" On that holy day, drinking and gaming, dancing, singing and
theatrical amusements abound in France and elsewhere. I be-
lieve all travellers will confess this is no exaggerated account of
the objects to which every Sunday is devoted throughout a con-
siderable portion of the continent. From this vortex, it will
become the Christian traveller to steer at a cautious distance ;
for it is hard to struggle against it, if carried by the current
within the sphere of its attraction. When once we are committed,
to a certain extent, in society, unforeseen circumstances unin-
tentional, or perhaps wilful, misapprehensions the fear of giving
offence the silence of hesitation construed into that of assent
and many similar causes, draw us, even without the aid of incli-
nation, far beyond our intended limits of concession. I do not
speak this merely from general observation, but from a case
directly in point. I happen to know, that a person who is in the
habit of avoiding public society on a Sunday, from conscientious
LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE. 151
She writes : " (23rd, 8th mo.) * . Eose depressed.
Sunday, no sabbath for me. This is an odious
place. However, I enjoyed my quiet sitting at
home, and was at Norwich meeting, with my dear
and endeared brethren and sisters, in spirit.
(24th.) All noise, bustle and carriages, come in
for the races. No one seems to think of anything
but les courses. We have bitten all nations now
with this vicious folly."
On the 28th, the travellers proceeded to Cologne,
which they reached after "a, pleasant drive," and
hastened to see the cathedral, which is described
in one word, " exquisite." Next day, the journal
proceeds : " My window looked on the river, and
I rose at half-past four to gaze at the Rhine ; the
sun was just rising behind a church with fine
towers, and the river reflected objects. No one
seemed waking but myself. It was a still, sublime,
and solemn moment. At seven we came on board the
steamer, where I now write, the E/hine, broad and
rapid, spreading around me. The banks are tame,
motives, having, when abroad, yielded this point once, on a par-
ticular occasion, was, in the end, so entangled hy a train of
unforeseen circumstances, as to find himself at the theatre in the
evening with the rest of the party, to his own surprise and
sorrow. A French writer confessed, that the sigh of some High-
landers on their way to church, made him and his friends feel
' rather ashamed of their Sunday travelling.' Did English tra-
vellers uniformly ahstain from such indulgences, it is possible
that, in time, they might make their continental neighbours
'rather ashamed' of their Sunday opera, their Sunday theatre,
and their Sunday rcdoute."
152 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
and fog hides the hills ; but the voyage is truly
pleasant, and then we are on the Rhine."
Here we will leave them to proceed along the
" glorious Rhine in all its beauty," visiting all the
points of interest so well known, and so often
described by travellers. The month of September
passed quickly away, and on the 1st of October
they reached Friburg.
" From thence (the journal proceeds) we set off
for Boldbach, en route to the Falls, and soon turn-
ing into a valley, went up, on foot, a very steep,
narrow, rocky defile, the river rolling and talking
beneath, the rocks and mountains so high, that in
the carriage it was difficult to see to the top, the
vale was so narrow. It was sublimely grand to
look back, and so repeatedly did the road wind
that it seemed as if we were blocked in by rocks.
This was the Black Forest and the famous Grorge
d'Enfer. The next thing worthy of equal admira-
tion was the Black Forest itself, through which
we passed, and the latter part of it we had the
moon to light us through. Before we reached the
Forest, we saw the . Alps, and for some time,
some nearer and plainer than others. Oh, it was
glorious! (3rd of the 10th mo.) Eose at five,
but not off till past seven, and I was going to the
Falls of the Rhine ; at length I heard them roar,
and saw them smoke ; and as soon as the voiture
stopped at the inn, I ran off to the Falls."
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 153
" To Thos. BrigUwell.
" Hotel of the EUne Falls,
IQfh mo., 3rd, 1835.
" .... I think, my dear friend, thou wilt not
be sorry to hear a little of my goings on. My
journey has been extended much beyond my
original plan ; but I am so delighted with the
Ehine, that I could not resist the temptation and
the opportunity one which cannot occur again
of seeing it in its wondrous 'beauty here. Three
times have I visited the Falls to-day ; and if the
moon rises bright, I am to visit them again. "We
came yesterday from Friburg, and to that place we
went from Baden-Baden, a beautiful spot ; but
there is no water except in the environs, and I
admire no place where water is not. Friburg
Cathedral is most beautiful. They say Strasburg
is finer ; nous verrons. From Friburg our route
lay through a very steep, mountainous country,
and through the Black Forest, that haunt of
banditti in former times, and the scene of so many
tales and romances. It is sublime in its dark-
browed beauty still, and a fine moon added to the
solemn calm of the scene. But the Alps ! Long
before we saw the Forest, the snow mountains
were in sight ; and also, long before we were in
Switzerland, Swiss cottages, Swiss chalets, and
Swiss costumes 9 met our eyes at every turn. We
went, just after we left Friburg, up a steep, rocky
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
defile, and up mountains, and through forests, to
the top of which our eyes could scarcely reach,
and in which the exquisite beauty of foliage and
colouring went de pair with sublimity ; and from
the top of these passes the snow mountains first
met my eager gaze. This morning we set off at
six precisely we are at present travelling in a
return carriage, which holds us and our luggage,
and we find such modes of conveyance the cheapest
and the best."
" It was half-past twelve when we reached this
hotel. CJiemin faisant, I heard the roar of the
Palls, and saw them smoke ; and while my friend
stayed to eat her breakfast, I (who had coffee before
starting) could not delay my visit to this long-
desired scene, and I hurried down a steep path
to it, which, if under less powerful influences, I
should have cautiously trodden ; but I arrived safe
at a railing near the Pall, and was awhile satisfied.
But I soon changed my place, and walked till I
came in front of the mighty torrent. Oh, those
busy, restless waters ! No one can fancy what
they are ; they must be seen to be conceived of.
Some persons are disappointed when they see them,
and, in one respect,' so should I have been, had not
prints prepared me for what I was to expect. I
am used to see and admire cascades that fall from
a height over one narrow rock, and then over
another, and perhaps over another still; but this
is, I may say, like Niagara, a table or flat 'fall. It
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 155
is a wide river coming to an edge or wall of rocks,
and leaping over them, then gracefully rolling on
like liquefied aqua-marine that beautiful green
stone, of such exquisite tint and clearness. The
chute itself is like the purest snow ; but ever and
anon, as the sun shone on it, some of the tumbling
masses falling over the rocks below the great fall,
were like liquid sapphires, and of the palest, purest
blue. Still the Ehine is here, as a river, unlike its
usual self, of the full green blue, like the precious
stone I have named. In its lest dress, where the boats
go, thou mayest remember, it is of that undefmable
light-bluish green, the colour of Dresden china.
When it flows smoothly on at this place, it turns
up a narrow channel, and glides along through
richly-wooded rocks, and is seen no more. Oh, it
is a glorious river ! and had it no banks, I should
love it for itself alone. There is something awful
in the constant roar and eternal motion of these
waters. The sea is sometimes calm, and its roar
becomes a gentle murmuring; but these rolling
waterfalls seem to know no change, but fall and
roar for ever, exempt from the common doom of
created things, which is to alter and to end. There
is an inhabited castle on a rock beside the Ehine
Falls. I should like to know whether its inhabit-
ants have of necessity acquired the habit of speaking
so loud as to break the drum of the ears of their
acquaintances.
"We go on improving in our enjoyments, I
156 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
mean, tlie natural beauties we see go on increasing
in sublimity and charm ; and so they had need, to
console me for my trying absence from my religious
duties and opportunities, and my religious friends.
My sabbath-days ! Ah, there's the trial ! But
when I left home, I had no anticipation that my
absence would be thus prolonged. I never con-
templated so long a tour. We did mean to go
back by Holland, but have given that up
I am very, very home-sick ; however, if permitted
to return in health and safety, I shall do so with a
deeply thankful heart, and I can also add, with a
heart still more attached to the friends I have so
long deserted. "We have associated occasionally
with some pleasant men and women, and have
sometimes travelled with them, but I have not
desired to form acquaintances. We have mounted
the Kiederwald, and we visited the Brunnens
We liked Heidelberg much; we were there five
days. Chaude Fontaine we liked ; but Spa, Wies-
baden and Aix-la-Chapelle I hated; they are sinks
of dissipation, gambling, and vice, and even English
ladies gamble there at the public table, in the
public rooms, and at* all hours. Nowhere, and by
none, is the first day of the week kept holy. True,
the English, as well as the Germans, go to church
after the Lutherans and Catholics are come out of
it ; but cela suffit.
" We occasionally see an English newspaper, or
rather, Galignani's Messenger, and are amused at
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 157
O'ConnelTs progress, but alarmed at Spanish
affairs "Farewell, till I return from my
walk, or find I cannot go. I hear the waters roar-
ing most invitingly Just returned; the
moon showed herself, de temps en temps, but not
enough. However, I dare say she is now gilding
the waters well ; but I had no right, I thought, to
keep my poor guide out of his bed for my pleasure ;
so I came away, having seen her rays sparkling on
one side of the river; but I doubt whether her
beams would ever reach the Tall, so as to convert
it into diamonds. Thus I console myself. Eare-
well ; love to thy circle. Let my aunt, E. Alderson,
know of this letter from her vagrant and, as yet,
far-distant niece. I thought of you all in the
Bible week, and wished myself with you
"Thy attached friend,
"A. OriE."
The next day the journey was continued to
Zurich, " the green Bhine" being visible again for
a few minutes on the way. The travellers made
no stay at Zurich, but rowed for sometime on "the
noble lake, its banks all studded with country
houses and gardens." On the 5th of October, by
twilight, they reached Lucerne.
" Beautiful Lucerne ! During the drive hither
the Eighi was before us, unveiled almost all the
way, and now we found him on the banks of the
158 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
lake, as it seemed ; on either side were snow moun-
tains, in rows, one behind another, filling up the
lake in one place, so as to make it seem impassable
by boat. The moon was rising, the sun setting ;
a neck of green land, covered with flowers, was
shooting into the lake near where I was, and the
whole scenery was lovely beyond description. Our
inn was eight stories high, my room five ; but then
it commanded the lake and its beauties, and I was
never tired of looking out of my window. From
the balcony I saw the moon rolling its flood of
light into the bosom of the lake, the Bighi in deep
shadow, the snow hills of a ghostly white, and the
rays just catching on some of their sharp peaks.
" Mount Pilate, which rises just behind our
hotel, is the most beautifully outlined and grandest
mountain I have yet seen. (6th inst.) "We rowed
on the lake to where the rocks and hills form a
complete cross four cantons at the end of the
four arms Uri, Friburg, Unterwald, and Lucerne.
The wooded rocks come down straight into the
lake, and the effect is fine ; but there is no walk on
the banks, as at Zurich. "We dined at the table
d'hote; the dinner was excellent; in short, this
hotel, both in rooms, situation, fare, and attendance,
is perfect. The next morning I saw the sun rise
at six, behind the Bighi, from my window, and fill
the lake below with crimson light. Oh, it was
glorious ! but so fleeting. It was beautiful to see
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 159
the mists rolling off the mountains. "We were
very sorry to come away."
During the next two days rain and mist pre-
vailed, and the mountains were closed in; no
Jungfrau visible. At Berne, at the table d'hote,
Mrs. Opie found herself placed beside a marquise,
whom, from her accent, she supposed must be
English. On inquiry, it proved that she was born
English, but was the widow of a French peer, the
Marquis Lally Tollendal. How, as she heard
that name, did memory, in a moment, leap over
the forty years that had passed since she had seen
the Count, then an emigrant, in exile from his
country; and when, full of the enthusiasm of
youth, she had addressed to him a " Quatrain" on
his "Defence of his Father," and had received
from him, in acknowledgment, a French poem of
one hundred lines ! *
The sun at length broke out, but it was only for
a passing hour ; a " piece of the Jungfrau and one
or two snow hills were visible, and no more."
Tantalized, and weary of waiting, on the llth the
travellers proceeded to Thun, but were still pursued
by rain and mist. However, at Interlachen, the
prospect was lighted up in sunshine, and they saw
the distant Alps "in beautiful and glorious suc-
cession a scene never to be forgotten."
* This poem is still in existence, and was preserved among
her papers.
160 LIFE OF AMELIA OPTE.
" Above me are the Alps,
The palaces of nature, whose vast walls
Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps,
And throned eternity in icy halls
Of cold sublimity, where forms and falls
The avalanche the thunderbolt of snow.
All that expands the spirit, yet appals,
Gathers around these summits, as to show
How earth may pierce to. heaven, yet leave vain man below."
Mrs. Opie was greatly distressed, on her arrival
at Thun, at reading the announcement of Mrs.
Joseph John Grurney's death in Galignani. Of
this painful event she thus writes :
"Most afflicting and unexpected tidings! the
death of my beloved young friend, Mary, the wife
of my dearest and best friend, J. J. Gr. I had learned
to love her dearly. Ey constant and never-failing
experience, I knew the generosity of her heart and
the openness of her hand in giving ; her will to do
good was even greater than her power. To her
husband she was the heightener of his joys ; the
sharer, and I may say, assistant, of his literary
labours ; to his children she was a most kind,
affectionate, and judicious mother ; to me she was
ever a kind, attentive friend, and I looked forward
to her being one of the comforts of my old age.
But she is gone before me, and has left a blank
which cannot be filled up. Alas ! how many are
deploring with me her loss ! But it is my misery
to deplore her alone in a foreign land deplore,
I mean, for the sake of others ; for she, I can have
no doubt, is gone to glory, to that Eedeemer,
LIFE OF AMELIA OP1K. 161
through whom, alone she hoped for acceptance,
and for the joys of the world to come."
Mrs. Opie ceased to make any entry in her
journal for many days after this. She proceeded to
Basle and Friburg, and thence to Strasburg and
Manheim, where she found letters that cheered
and refreshed her. Here she enters in her note-
book :
" So thankful to be here ! To-morrow I hope
to be on the Rhine, and my face turned towards
home. May I not be disappointed ! I hope fear-
fully, and trust humbly."
.On the 22nd of October they were at Mayence,
where they went on board the boat, and had for
their travelling companion the Princess of Saxony,
who, attracted by the singularity of the Quaker
costume, opened a conversation with Mrs. Opie,
and having asked her name, exclaimed, " Quoi !
1'auteur celebre!" and immediately causing two
seats to be placed on the deck, she proceeded to
avail herself of the opportunity to make the
acquaintance of one whom she had long known by
her works.
At Cologne they took leave of the Bhfine. " I
rose (she says) in the night to look at the river,
and for the last time gazed on it from the spot
where I first saw it. How much had I undergone
of trial in many ways since I saw it last ! I felt
humbled, but resigned and contented, and, I trust,
taught. How thankful I felt that the journey and
M
162 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
voyage were over, and I in health and safety ; and
one cloud only the removal of dearest M. G. over
my prospect ; but that was a dense one indeed."
On the 27th they reached Brussels, from whence
Mrs. Opie proceeded, next day, to Ghent, in order
to accomplish her charitable object. Arrived
there, she hastened to the " maison des alienees,"
and was gladly welcomed by the inmates, who were
most agreeably surprised to find she had come over
to Ghent entirely on this errand of pity. Next
day she saw the physician, and obtained from him
the necessary statement of the case ; after which,
she left, as she says, " thankful to the Almighty for
having seemingly smiled on my effort, and much
relieved in my mind ; and on my return, I found a
letter directing 10 to be placed at my disposal for
this case. What an evident sanction to my pro-
ceeding! How did I bless the Giver of all good !"
On the 1st of November, the two friends parted
at Lisle, and Mrs. Opie, travelling all night,
reached Calais, where she writes, " So ends my
journal of my journey ; would it were a better
record of better things ! But I am returned, good
things more endeared to me than ever; and when
I saw Calais to-day, and remembered what I was
when I first saw it, in 1802, I felt overwhelmed
and humbled with a sense of being richer, wiser,
and happier, in one sense, than I was then. For
I have learned to know my Saviour, and not as a
teacher and a prophet only, but as the Eedeemer :
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 163
as Him who died that I might live, and through
whose merits alone I am to be saved. Glory be to
God the most high, for this greatest of all his
mercies !
"A. O.
"2nd of llth mo., 1835."
The next day, on board the "Lord Melville,"
another entry tells us that she was " off Margate,"
and, looking on the Thames, she says, "It is
broader than the Rhine, where we are, and, per-
haps, everywhere, but not so lovely. But it is my
own river, and all is now English, and I rejoice
to see dear England again. "What a grateful heart
shall I have on landing ! but ought I not to have
one everywhere ? I trust I have, though some
circumstances call forth the expression of it more
frequently than others."
On the evening of the 7th of November, she
reached Norwich in safety.
CHAPTEE VII.
MRS. OPIE returned from her trip up the Rhine,
as we have seen in the preceding chapter, in the
month of November, 1835. This was her last
journey ; and, from this time, her absences from
home were never of long duration, but limited to
a few weeks in London, and occasional visits to
her friends in the neighbourhood of Norwich. She
did not continue many months in the lodgings in
St. Griles'-street, but removed to Lady's-lane,
where she had commodious apartments, and in
which she remained until her final settlement in
the Castle Meadow house. In this home she
established herself, surrounded by the portraits,
which hung on the walls of her parlour, and
appeared to great advantage when lighted up at
night by wax lights in branch lamps. The most
beautiful of them, the portrait of herself, is not
described by her pen. It was painted soon after
her marriage, and was engraved, though very in-
differently, in "The Cabinet," a periodical of the
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 165
day, at the time of Mr. Opie's death. This pic-
ture is certainly very charming, and is also
admirable as a work of art.*
Bright colours Mrs. Opie delighted in, and she
indulged this taste in a peculiar and ingenious
manner. She had several prisms set in a frame,
and mounted like a pole-screen ; and this unique
piece of furniture stood always in her window, and
was a constant source of delight to her. " Oh !
the exquisite beauty of the prisms on my ceiling
just now!" she writes; "it is a pleasure only to look
at it. I think that green parrots and macaws,
flying about in their native woods, must look like
that." Frequently she would move the frame in
all directions, so as to throw the reflection now on
one of the pictures, and now on the face of a
friend who chanced to be sitting by ; and then,
with a merry laugh, she would comment on the
funny effects produced, of green or blue noses, and
yellow eyes, etc. Flowers, too, were her constant
companions ; she luxuriated in them, and filled her
window-sills with stands of ' them, and covered her
tables with bouquets ; their most luscious scents
seemed not too strong for her nerves. Light,
heat, and fragrance were three indispensables of
enjoyment for her.
It has been truly said, that her mornings, during
the latter years of her life, were spent in an almost
* The engraving which forms the frontispiece to this volume
is from this picture.
166 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
constant succession of receiving visitors and writing
letters. Everybody who came to Norwich sought
her; old friends, acquaintances, and strangers,
hastened to pay her their respects ; and she loved
to welcome all, and to give a cordial greeting
to each. The extent of her correspondence was
such, that it would have been a burden, had it
not been a delight. In a letter written in 1849,
she said, in her vivacious manner, " Were writing
even an effort to me, I should not now be alive, but
must have been absolument tpuisee ; and it might
have been inserted in the bills of mortality,
* Dead of letter-writing, A. Opie.' My maid and I
were calculating the other day how many letters
I wrote in the year, and it is not less than six in
a day, besides notes." Indeed, she scattered
about her pretty three-cornered notes in a de-
lightful profusion; they came on every little
occasion, to bear her small messages of kindness
or inquiry, and were frequently transmitted by
means of a small page, whom she called her ( sun-
beam,' so swiftly did he fly to do her bidding.
" It was delightful at all times to receive her
letters," says MBS. Hall;* "her feelings were
so well expressed, her criticisms (she hardly ever
wrote of what she did not admire) were so over-
flowing with kindness. She felt so much pleasure
in giving praise, that she never appeared to be
* In her notice of Mrs. Opie, given in the Art Journal, No 61.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 167
happy until she had poured forth all she thought,
to those who, she well knew, would sympathize
with her."
Her pen was also diligently employed in writing
for various periodicals of the day. She regretted
afterwards that she had not kept a list of the
publications to which she had sent contributions,
as she was frequently applied to by friends, anxious
to identify her verses, etc. Many smaller pieces?
both of prose and poetry, appeared in the "An-
nuals" year by year; and several papers, entitled
" Reminiscences of an Authoress," were published
in Tait's and in Chambers' Magazines, about this
time. These were short papers, giving her recol-
lections of some of the distinguished persons with
whom she had met in former years : Alexander
"Wedderburne, Baron Loughborough, Earl of Eoss-
lyn, Sir Walter Scott, Lady Eosslyn, a Party at
Lady E. Whitbread's, etc. etc. There is one of
these memoirs of the past preserved among her
MSS., and, as I believe, never published, which is
given here as a specimen of her powers of de-
scription. It is an account of a speech made by
Mr. Erskine, in a right-of-way cause in Norwich,
at which Mrs. Opie was present. This event
occurred in the year 1805, but it was not the first
time of her seeing this great orator. She thus
describes the impression made on her by a mo-
mentary glance she had once had, when she waa
disappointed of hearing him :
168 LirE OF AMELIA OPIE.
" Well do I remember him, as I first saw him,
entering for a few minutes, and taking a hasty
survey of the court. I was immediately struck
with the look of intelligent inquiry which he cast
over the eager crowd assembled in the hope of hear-
ing him. That eye reminded me of the description
of the eye of Ledyard, the eastern traveller ; for
it looked ' bright and restless, and its rapid glance
seemed to observe, in its brief survey, as much as
other eyes in a more lengthened one.' I had also
before observed the same expression in the eye of
Bonaparte, when, standing near the marble stairs
of the Tuileries, I saw him as he ascended them,
and looked on a group of English assembled to
gaze at him. I much regretted that the interest
which his (Erskine's) appearance excited in me was
not to be increased by the well-known melody of
his voice. I had afterwards, however, an oppor-
tunity of hearing him in the year 1805, when I was
in Norwich, on a visit to my father.
" Being very early in court, I obtained a seat by
the side of the judge, Sir Alexander Macdonald,
and saw and heard everything to the greatest ad-
vantage. In that place I remained the whole day,
except when, on being assured that my place should
be kept for me, I went home to tea ; but soon re-
turned to the scene of action, where I stayed all
night, for I could not bear to go away without
hearing the great orator's reply to the defendant's
counsel : he (Erskine) appeared on the side of the
LIFE OF AMKLIA OPIE. 169
plaintiff. As I was desirous that the plaintiff should
gain her cause, I had been alarmed to find, by the
speech of the eloquent advocate of the defendant,
how much could be said on both sides, and was, there-
fore, anxious to hear by what means his arguments
could be rendered powerless. Therefore, although
listening with delighted attention and wonder to
the powerful cross-examination, I wished it over ;
but witness, on the defendant's side, succeeded to
witness; the audience gradually became smaller
and smaller ; and although Lord Brougham, with
his usual eloquence and felicity of expression, has
said, that 'juries declared they found it impossible
to remove their looks from Mr. Erskine, when he
had, as it were, riveted and fascinated them by his
first glance,' I am obliged to confess that some of this
Norfolk jury began visibly to nod, and it seemed
likely that, except the judge, the high-sheriff, the
barristers, the officers of the court, and myself, there
would soon be no hearers awake, and the beams of
rising day were forcing themselves through the
windows. The observant Erskine took the hint, so
palpably given, and, coming up to me, kindly said,
* G-o home, go home ! I shall not reply to-night ;
but you had better be .here by eight in the morn-
ing;' and, soon after, the court adjourned to that
hour
" I was in court again by half-past seven, but too
late to obtain a seat, and I stood many hours in a
painful position ; but I was soon made unconscious
170 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
of it by the eloquence of Erskine ; for during those
hours he spoke, and hushed a court crowded even
to suffocation, into the most perfect stillness. Never
was the power of an orator over his audience more
evident or more complete. The plaintiff gained her
cause, and her advocate new laurels ; for I know
that those best qualified to form a correct judg-
ment on the subject, namely, his brother lawyers
who were present, declared that they had never
before heard Mr. E. so great in reply. Fortunate,
therefore, were those who heard him that day, as
never again was he heard to equal advantage. A
few months afterwards he was made Lord Chan-
cellor ; and when, while talking to him at a party
in London, I told him I was every day intending
to go into the Court of Chancery, in hope of hear-
ing him speak in his new capacity, his reply was,
Pray do not come ; you will not hear anything
worth the trouble. I am nothing now. You heard
the last and best of me at Norwich last year.' This
was, indeed, too true ; and those powers of forensic
eloquence, for which he was so celebrated, he could
exercise no longer. His audiences in future life
were almost wholly different from his former ones ;
and those attractions, so peculiarly his own, were
not necessary on the judgment-seat in the Court
of Chancery, and would have been, in a measure,
thrown away in the House of Lords. Fortunate,
therefore, I repeat it, were those who heard him
in the right-of-way cause at Norwich, and when he
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 171
forcibly reminded me of the portrait of Grarrick,
drawn by the pen of Sheridan, in his unequalled
monody a portrait which might have been sup-
posed to be that of the Hon. Thomas Erskine ; for
his, indeed, were
" ' The grace of action, the adapted mien,
Faithful as nature to the varied scene ;
The expressive glance, whose subtle comment draws
Entranced attention and a mute applause,' " etc.
The year 1836 seems to have passed in the quiet
of ordinary routine, unmarked by change, other than
of short visits to friends residing in the neighbour-
hood of Norwich. In the year following (1837),
Mrs. Opie's revered friend, J. J. Grurney, went on
a religious visit to the United States, and was ab-
sent nearly three years. On his return, he printed,
for circulation among his friends, an account of this
journey, " described in familiar letters to Amelia
Opie." This interesting volume is very scarce, as
only a limited number of copies were given. One
great charm it possesses is that of simple bonhomie;
and the pure enjoyment of natural scenes and
objects breathes through every page a tone of hap-
piness and love. ISTot unfrequently the author
indulges his sportive fancy, by depicting, in verse,
any sight that specially interested him. Here is
one of these poetical pictures, he describes a day
of early spring, in the neighbourhood of " that
noble expanse," Long Island Sound:
172 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
" Blue were the waters of the Sound,
That spread before my view ;
And the skies were azure all around,
And still of a brighter hue
Was the wing of the bird that flitted there
Upon the spreading oak.
But the giant boughs were brown and bare,
No verdure yet bespoke,
In the trees above, or the fields below,
The genial sap of spring.
Songs of the lark in chorus flow,
'Tis prophecy they sing ;
Excited by the unclouded beam,
They pour the votive lay,
Gaily predicting, as 'twould seem,
An early coming day,
When, bursting into glorious green,
The hill, the vale, the grove,
Shall usher in a fairy scene,
The reign of joy and love."
Mr. Grurney, telling of his adventures when in
the "backwoods," was wont to relate how, on one
occasion, his eyes were greeted with the sight of a
familiar object one of his friend Amelia's notes.
It was pasted, as an ornament or precious relic,
upon a fire-screen.
During the course of this long absence from his
native land, he experienced a very striking " token
of the ever-watchful and most merciful providence
of Grod." He has thus described the occurrence :
" . . . . When we were fifty miles south of Sa-
vannah, we were overtaken by a fearful storm.
About eight o'clock in the evening, we observed
some dark clouds over the horizon, and summer-
LIFE OF AMELIA OPTE. 173
like lightning playing to the north and west, and
the moon soon after rose of a blood-red colour.
.For some time, we imagined that the clouds were
gradually dispersing ; but, after two hours had
elapsed, these hopes were annihilated. The clouds
met over our heads, and veiled the moon in deep
darkness, and the rain poured down in torrents ;
the ship flew before the wind, and awful flashes of
forked lightning, with thunder immediately follow-
ing, gave ample proof that the weapons of ' heaven's
artillery' were nigh at hand, even at our doors.
Suddenly, the vessel received a terrible shock.
Almost all the sailors were knocked down ; the
captain himself received a stroke which left black
traces on his legs. Either a blazing rope, or the
appearance of it. in electric fluid, was seen falling
on the deck ; a violent smell of sulphur assailed
us ; both the upper and lower cabins were filled
with smoke ; and it was the general belief and cry
that the 'ship was on fire. At the same time, the
cook ran into the cabin, and told us that the hold
of the ship was filling rapidly with water.
"But beyond this climax we were not permitted
to pass. The storm, after raging about an hour,
rapidly subsided ; the sky became clear, the moon
regained her ascendency, our poor stricken sailors
began to recover; and, on examination, the ship
was found to have escaped both fire and flood.
The next morning we discovered the effects of the
lightning. The sails were pierced with holes, the
174 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
mainmast was cracked, and the maintop-gallant
and royal yards shivered. To us it was an agree-
able circumstance that the day after the storm was
the first of the week. At the appointed hour, the
ship's company assembled on deck under no common
feelings of seriousness. The 40th chapter of Isaiah
was read to us, commencing with the exhortation,
' Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,' and ending
with the cheering declaration, that ' they that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength.' After-
wards the whole company sat in silence; and,
during the solemn hour that ensued, we were re-
minded of the words of the poet :
" ' Unfathomable wonder,
And mystery Divine,
The voice that speaks in thunder,
Says, Christian, I AM THINE.' "
Well might the pious writer of this striking
account call on the " large circle of friends and
acquaintance" who welcomed his safe return to his
native land, to join him in "humble thankfulness
to the Grod of nature and of grace, the controller
of storms and thunderbolts, and the preserver of
men;" and among the many hearts that responded
to this appeal, there was none more sincere and
ardent in its gratitude and joy than that of Amelia
Opie, the friend to whom he dedicated the narra-
tive of his journey ings. She thus characteristically
mentions the subject, in a letter written at' the
time : " No bells will ring to celebrate the Chris-
tiaxi warrior's return ; but how many hearts in the
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 175
various grades of society in this city and its
environs will throb with exultation, and breathe
silently, if not vocally, the solemn strain of thanks-
giving!"
In the course of this year Mrs. Opie records the
arrival of Bishop Stanley and his family in Nor-
wich; she speaks of it as "a great acquisition,"
and their friendship proved indeed a source of
much happiness to her. There is a short note in
her pocket-book, written about this time, which, as
illustrative of one of the excellences she specially
cultivated, deserves to be given here: " J'ai tou-
jours attache une importance extreme a ce qu'on
appelle vulgairement, les petites choses : des atten-
tions delicates, quand elles sont persistantes, prou-
vent la constante occupation de la pensee."* The
proverb says, " If you take care of the pence, the
pounds will take care of themselves," and this rule
is applicable to everything, I think, and particu-
larly to human conduct, and the formation of
character. Take care of indulging in little selfish-
nesses ; learn to consider others in trifles ; be
careful to fulfil the minor social duties ; and the
mind, so disciplined, will find it easier to fulfil the
greater duties, and the character will not exhibit
that trying inconsistency which one sees in great,
and, often, in pious persons."
* " I have always attached great importance to what are vul-
garly called 'little things;' delicate attentions, when persisted
in, evince the constant occupation of the thoughts."
176 LIFE OE AMELIA OPTE.
The autumn and winter of the following year
brought with them returns of the malady from
which Mrs. Opie had before suffered, and her
medical attendants were of opinion that she must
in future expect such attacks ; in which she quietly
acquiesced, saying, "No doubt I must." She
seemed to have nerved herself to bear pain without
complaint, and to the close of her life she showed
much heroism in the patient endurance of bodily
suffering, rarely betraying by word or gesture her
uneasiness. There was occasionally an expression
which those who knew her intimately could read;
and if at such a time the inquiry was put, " Are
you in pain?" her answer would intimate that she
was so, but she would sometimes add, " I am so
used to it, that I don't mind it."
Among her private papers was one which tells
whence her support was derived, and to what
source she looked for strength in time of trial.
She has headed it, A Prayer for Trust in Grod in
Sickness : " O Almighty Grod, our only help in
time of trouble, look with pity and compassion
upon me, now under thine afflicting hand. Be
thou my stay and confidence under all my sorrows
and afflictions, and suffer me not to sink under the
weight of them, through any dejection or faintness
of spirit. Give me such an entire trust and con-
fidence in thy mercy, through the merits of my
dear .Redeemer, that I may cast all my care upon
thee, and with cheerfulness commit myself into
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE 177
thy bands, assuredly believing tbat ' all things shall
work together for good to them that love thee.'
Make me willing and ready to yield to thy wisdom,
and to prefer thy will before my own ; to be con-
tented to bear what thou pleasest, and to be eased
of my burden in thy time, which is always best.
But, O Lord, however thou art pleased to deal
with my body, yet spare my soul, I beseech thee,
and deliver it from the bitter pains of eternal
death. Grant, Lord, that, whether I live I may
live unto thee, or whether I die I may die unto thee ;
so that, living or dying, I may be thine, through
Jesus Christ, my ever-blessed Saviour and Ke-
de6mer. Amen."
Mrs. Opie's cousin, Mrs. Briggs, died in the
month of September, 1839. She was with this
endeared relative during her last hours, and her
distress and grief at the painful loss were very
great. "These are the trials," she wrote, "which
make lengthened life, or long life, appear so un-
desirable ; but * it is the Lord ; let him do what
seemeth him good.' "
The winter of 1840, and spring of the following
year, were passed by Mrs. Opie much as usual-
She suffered from occasional attacks of pain, but
these did not prevent her from exerting herself in
constant efforts to assist the needy, and to meet
the wants of the numerous claimants on her bene-
volence and charity. That she sometimes felt the
pressure of these efforts too much, is evident from
178 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
many of her notes. In one of them, dated 3rd
month, 1841, she says : " ... I am weary of
having to give the little time I may have yet to live
to the business of others ; and it saddens me. Two
letters are come, involving me in writing and
trouble again. But, be it so ; it is a favour to be
made useful to others, and my life here seems
passing away in writing about other people's
affairs ; well, the time may soon come when I can-
not work."
Nor was this an imaginary pressure, as was
abundantly evident to those who saw her day by
day. Unwearied in her efforts to relieve the neces-
sities of others, when her own resources were ex-
hausted, she made it a point of conscience to exert
all her influence with those who possessed wealth
and power, on behalf of the object of her charity.
Hence the frequent calls upon her time and inge-
nuity. She taxed herself to meet the wishes of
those, who, sure of her generous sympathy, were
not, perhaps, so careful as they should have been
to avoid imposing upon her kindness. The truth is,
I cannot find words to express adequately her free,
full, and spontaneous generosity. She gave, as
she once laughingly told me, because she could not
help it. If ever there were one who might read
with a smile of hope and a tear of gratitude the
award pronounced by the Saviour's lips, it was she :
" Give, and it shall be given unto you; good
measure, .pressed down, and shaken together, and
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 179
running over, shall men give into your bosom : for
with the same measure, that ye mete it shall be mea-
sured to you again."
In the spring of 1842, Mrs. Opie .was again in
London ; and her notes give some lively touches,
descriptive of the two months she passed there. She
attended the yearly meeting as usual, and enjoyed,
with much of her wonted animation, visiting her
numerous friends. These notes show that, although
she had numbered more than the allotted years of
man's life, she was still able to enjoy the inter-
course of society, and still alive as ever to the
tender sympathies of compassion and benevolence
In the course of the summer, she paid her usual
visit to the coast. "The weather seems so hot
here," she wrote after her return, " I almost pine for
the fresh sea-breezes. I like the book I borrowed of
you (Lives of Physicians). It delights me to read
how generous those great physicians were; how
patriotic, and full of care for others. I feel proud
of the faculty." This is quite a characteristic
touch. She was always jealous for the credit and
good name of the medical profession, and very de-
sirous that its members should be held in high
esteem, and their services liberally remunerated.
During this winter, and in the early spring of
the following year, Mrs. Opie suffered from occa-
sional returns of her disorder. The supports and
consolations of Christian faith and trust were not,
however, .withheld; and in one of her notes she
180 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
sweetly expresses her confidence in a Father's love
and wisdom. " My trials," she says, " are afflictive
to nature ; but I have long known and expe-
rienced that there is support in entire submission
to Grod's will, in little as well as in great trials ;
and when I can buckle on that armour, I feel as if
I could walk erect and securely,"*
In May she was, as usual, in London ; and writ-
ing thence says : " Yearly meeting has engrossed
me as much as ever ; for I never missed one sitting
since I obtained the great privilege of belonging to
it ; one which, I feel more and more every year, is
the last thing increasing age will cause me to
forego." Again, (7th mo. 12th) " I have struck
up a friendship with ' Sam Slick,' alias Judge
Haliburton ; but, alas ! one of the American dele-
* A touching proof that she endeavoured to minister to others
of the " consolations wherewith she herself was comforted of
God," was afforded me at the time I was writing this. Visiting
some poor people, I was shown a little book, called " The In-
valid's Hymn-book," which had formerly belonged to one now no
more, who had marked against her favourite hymns the names of
two or three friends by whom they had been read to her. I
chanced to open on a page containing the hymn, headed, "He
openeth thine ear to discipline : "
" Chamber of sickness ! much to thee I owe,
Though dark thou be :
The lesson it imports me most to know
I owe to thee!" etc.
At the beginning of this hymn, I found these words written.
<; Bead by dear Mrs. Opie to me, 1842," (the date,) and at the
end again the words, "Dear Mrs. Opie!" Several others were
similarly marked
LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE. 181
gates carries away with him a large piece of my
heart ! It is grievous to make acquaintance with
people, learn to love and admire them, and then
bid them farewell for ever. Almost all the Ame-
rican delegates and their wives came to me on the
10th, to tea and supper. I had -some friends to
meet them, and they, wishing to he pleased, were
so."
Among these Transatlantic friends was one, who
afterwards wrote to Mrs. Opie, expressing the gra-
tification he had felt in her society, and assuring
her of the popularity and usefulness of her later
works in America. He says : "... Your books have
been very extensively read here ; no work of Miss
Edgeworth's or Mrs. Hemans' ever circulated more
extensively than the ' Illustrations of Lying ; ' and
I may with perfect truth say, I think that, next to
the works of Hannah More and Miss Edge worth,
A. O.'s have been most read in America ; and in
this opinion I am supported by one of my col-
leagues whom I have consulted on the subject."
This summer seems to have been a very happy
and busy one. The following extract from a note
gives us a peep at one of her mornings : " (8th
mo. 16th.) I have seemed lately to want, for many
necessary and good purposes, the most precious of
all things, time. Other people's business and my
own pleasures have prevented my writing before.
At ten I must be out shopping ; at eleven to the
Magdalen; at two I must drive to see my aunt,
182 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
and say farewell ; and then I am off to Kettering-
ham, to a* five o'clock dinner, as E. Sidney lectures
at seven."
Mrs. Opie had been alarmed, during her stay in
London, in the spring of 1841, by the serious in-
disposition of her cousin, Mr. Briggs. He had
been suffering from pulmonary disorder, and the
symptoms at length increased to an extent that
seemed indicative of approaching dissolution. Under
these painful circumstances, she received a sum-
mons to go to him, as he had expressed a wish to
see her. On the 9th of January, 1844, she wrote :
" I do so enjoy my home. In a morning, I am
only too full of company ; but when, at nightfall,
I draw my sofa round, for a long evening to myself,
I have such a feeling of thankfulness; and so I
ought. It is well to see how the burden is fitted
to the back by our merciful Father. I have been
a lone woman through life ; an only child ; a child-
less widow ; all my nearest ties engrossed by nearer
ones of their own. If I did not love to be alone,
and enjoy the privileges leisure gives, what would
have become of me ? But I love my lot, and every
year it grows dearer still; though parting with
beloved friends throws, for a while, a deep shadow
over my path." / . . . And even then the shadow
was upon her ; for, six days after, she writes : " I
go on my melancholy journey to-morrow, scarcely
expecting to see my poor cousin alive ; but he
wishes to see me, and it is therefore my duty to
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 183
go." She remained with him to the last, and very
touchingly describes the closing scenes. "When all
was over, she said : " Groing into the gallery of
pictures, where so many, alas ! are unfinished, re-
minds me so powerfully of bygone days, when I
stood in my own gallery, where finished and un-
finished pictures abounded."
This melancholy visit was the last Mrs. Opie
paid to the metropolis for a long period. During
the next four years, she was closely engaged in at-
tendance upon her aged aunt, Mrs. E. Alderson,
and seldom left Norwich for more than a few days
at a time.
After her return home, she wrote to Miss G-ur-
ney :
" 5th mo., 7th.
" MY DEAKEST A
" .... I fear that I shall feel the loss of Lon-
don and the meeting ; but at present I do not ; for
the duty and necessity of staying where I am is
more evident every day, because my aunt is become
so dependent upon me, that I could trust no one
to attend to her wants but myself. I have seen A.
Hodgkin at meeting and at the Grove. Her hus-
band had a public meeting last night, and has again
to-morrow. Such ministry as J. H 's last night v
is what is rarely heard ; it was soul-searching ; and
I only wished that hundreds could have heard it.
I have sent a large boxful of repository purchases
to M, a to-day. I kept shop." . . .
184 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
The last sentence alludes to the yearly sale at
the repository, for the Norwich Sick Poor Society,
held in the fine old building, St. Andrew's Hall, at
which Mrs. Opie, for many years, kept a table or
stall of fancy articles ; and an admirable saleswoman
she was. On one of these occasions she wrote to a
friend: " Simeon's Life is most precious to me,
I have had extracts from it made and printed, to be
sold at the repository."
During the summer assize of this year, she was
present in court, as usual ; and among her papers,
left in an unfinished state, is one, entitled, " Re-
miniscences of Judges' Courts, written in 1844."
This piece, which was never completed, gives her
recollections of these scenes, which she had, from
an early period in her life, been in the habit of fre-
quenting. It was a peculiar penchant, for which she
endeavours to account at the close of her observ-
ations ; and she traces it to the operation of the
two prevalent feelings love of excitement, and
sympathy, or fellow-feeling. She adds : " What-
ever be the cause of the pleasure I take in attend-
ing on these occasions, I hope it is an innocent
gratification ; . . . . and it is my conviction, that
whatever brings us acquainted with, and interested
in, the affairs and well-being of our fellow- creatures,
in their varied stations and positions in society,
may have a beneficial influence on our hearts,
minds, and characters."
LIl'E OF AMELIA OPIE. 185
Though we may, perhaps, differ from Mrs. Opie
as to the desirableness of encouraging the taste
which she thus acknowledges and endeavours to
justify, yet it seems indisputable that, in her pe-
culiar instance, the results were not prejudicial.
Her finer sensibilities did not become blunted, nor
did she, on the other hand, indulge in a useless
sentimentality of feeling, barren of practical re-
sults on the character and conduct. The interest
excited in her mind on behalf of the unhappy
criminals, whom she beheld the victims of their
own evil passions, prompted her to desire, if pos-
sible, to aid in their reformation, and to awaken in
the minds of those who were not wholly lost to the
feelings of rectitude, the kindlings of repentance
and better emotions. The result of these humane
and jpious feelings is seen in a MS. volume now
before me, almost entirely in her own handwriting,
entitled " Transactions of the Norwich Ladies' As-
sociation for Prison Discipline, formed 6th Oct.,
1823." In the first leaf, she has written as fol-
lows :
"Norwich, Oct. 3rd, 1823.
" "We, the undersigned, agree to form ourselves
into an association to visit the females in the differ-
ent prisons belonging to the county of Norfolk and
city of Norwich, namely, the city jails, the bridewell,
186 LIFE OP AMELIA OPIE
and the castle ; and we consider the Lady Suffield
as our patroness.
" Lucy Aggs. Amelia Opie.
" Henrietta Grurney. Catharine Grurney.
" Rachel Grurney. Lucy Aggs, jun.
" Treasurer, L. Aggs, jun.
" Secretary, Amelia Opie.
""We form the following resolutions for our
future government : ' 1st. A fund mast be raised
to defray the necessary expenses of the institution.
2nd. We agree to be a branch of the British
Prison Society of Ladies, in London, and to corre-
spond with them at least once a year.'
" It is agreed, that H. and E. Grurney visit every
5th day (Thursday) morning ; L. Aggs, sen. and
jun. on 3rd day (Tuesday) morning ; and A. Opie
and C. Grurney on 7th day (Saturday). "We also
resolve to read the Scriptures to the female pri-
soners whenever we visit ; to see that the ignorant
are instructed, and the idle employed ; to keep a
book, with an account of conduct ; to have a small
collection of books, suitable for the women, which
are to be kept under lock and key, and given out
by the visitors ; to keep a watchful care over them,
when discharged from the prison, particularly
those who are going to Botany Bay ; to meet on the
5th day (Thursday) of every month
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 187
"Further rules must be the result of experi-
ence."
In pursuance of these resolutions, this small
band of Christian philanthropists commenced ope-
rations, at first amidst difficulties and some degree
of opposition. Their " Second Report, sent to the
British Society, 7th January, 1825," after detailing
proceedings, concludes : " On looking back on the
exertions of the past year, the ladies have cause
to acknowledge, with pleasure and gratitude, that
many of the difficulties they at first had to combat,
are overcome, and they trust a little fruit of their
labours is already to be seen ; and though in some
respects they have still to experience opposition,
yet they anticipate with hope and encouragement
the time when every prejudice will be removed,
and when they will have free access into all the
prisons.* They cannot close this report without
mentioning two cases which augur well for the
occasional success of their efforts." The cases are
then particularized.
Appended to this report is the following notice,
referring to the work which was then being carried
on, single-handed and unknown, by the admirable
and devoted Sarah Martin :f
* They had been refused permission to visit the bridewell,
and were " positively denied entrance there."
t See the Life of Sarah Martin, published by the Religious
Tract Society, London.
188 LIFE OF AMELIA OPJE.
" Yarmouth.
" The young woman who has so long and so in-
defatigably laboured in the prisons at Yarmouth,
almost unknown and unassisted, now continues
her exertions with the approbation of the magis-
trates. She instructs all the prisoners who desire
it, in reading and writing ; supplies the women
with plain work, the produce of which is appro-
priated to their own use; and, as there is no
service performed in the jail on a Sunday, she is
in the practice of reading a sermon and the liturgy
of the Church of England to the men and women
collectively, twice a day. The number of women
admitted into the jail during the year has been
twenty, and into the bridewell nineteen ; and
although no particular instance of reformation has
lately occurred, she hopes that, notwithstanding,
her labours have been beneficial."
. One-half of this volume is devoted to an account
of the female prisoners in the city jail, which is
entirely written by Mrs. Opie, and commencing in
1823, continues to the end of 1828, the last entry
being January, 1829. The name and age, time of
admittance, crime, sentence, times of trial and dis-
charge are given, and some " observations" on the
individual cases. In the great majority of in-
stances, the prisoners seem to have conducted
themselves with propriety and thankfulness towards
the ladies ; but in most, their subsequent conduct
proved that their promises of amendment were
LIFE OP AMELIA OPIE. 189
fallacious. There are a few pleasing exceptions,
in which they were encouraged to hope better
things ; but it is evident that, after a trial of two
or three years, circumstances were altered, and the
ladies found less room for their interference. Their
last recorded report to the British Society says,
that while they " continue their attention to the
jail and bridewell, as reported last year, from the
smallness of the number of prisoners, and some
other unavoidable circumstances, their visits have
been less frequent." " The daily and very efficient
labours of the chaplain of the jail, and the employ-
ment of the women by the mistress," are men-
tioned as rendering the assistance of the ladies
unnecessary.
The first case entered in the "account of
the prisoners," is that of a young woman, aged
twenty, who was discharged at the end of six
months ; but was soon after committed to bride-
well on suspicion of theft. Mrs. Opie writes :
"While she was there, her conduct was so
violent and improper, that the governor was
obliged to confine her in the ' black hole,' as it is
called. She was a second time committed to jail,
April 7th, 1825 ; tried five days afterwards, and
sentenced to seven years' transportation. She
conducts herself exceedingly well in the jail. She
has long been so notorious and pernicious a cha-
racter in this city, that her conviction and sentence
were received with rejoicing by all to whom she
190 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
was known. Her house was the general rendez-
vous of thieves and bad women ; and she had been
the ruin of many youths of both sexes. But, to
be the worst of the bad, is a proof of no mean
abilities; and it is really lamentable to see such
power as this unhappy girl possesses, so awfully
perverted. Her behaviour to the ladies is respect-
ful and gentle." She was sent on board the
li Midas " on the 2nd of July, having continued to
conduct herself well in prison, and shown both
diligence and ability in learning and performing
all the tasks which the ladies set her.
This case may serve as a specimen of the others.
I will only add, that of the fifty-one or fifty-two
women named in all, twenty could not read. It
will be remembered that, in her journal of the
period, Mrs. O. from time to time mentions her
visits to the jail, and observes on what she saw
there. She continued her co-operation with the
Society as long as it existed ; and, in after years,
up to a late period of her life, occasionally visited
the women prisoners confined in the castle and
jail.
I will close this chapter with an extract from
one of Mrs. Opie's letters, written during this
year (1844) to a friend, who seems to have ex-
pressed his anxiety for her spiritual welfare, and
to have exhorted her to maintain ; a watchful state
of preparation for the hour of her departure :
". . . . Alas! I sometimes fear lest my house
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 191
be not in order ; but no one can be more aware
than I am, that I shall surely die ; and my daily
prayer is for ability to keep my lamp always burn-
ing, lest I be unprepared when the Bridegroom
comes. But I do not talk or write upon the subject
to others ; for I presume the old know they are old ;
and the unhealthy, that they are liable to be called
away, be they young or old ; and I shrink from
appearing to deem them so weakly blind as to
want to be reminded that ' all flesh is as grass.'
" Oh ! if my dear ' concerned ' friends could but
know my secret heart, and' the deep thankfulness
with which I every day receive the gift of another
day of life, they would not do me the injustice to
believe me so careless and so blind as not to hold
many hours daily of serious communion with my-
self and my Grod. I say this, dear friend, to thee,
because I wish to make thee more easy on my
account than I now think thee to be," . .
CHAPTER VIII.
THE shades of evening were now gathering
around the beloved, subject of this little memoir.
She had entered 'on her seventy-fifth year ; and
confinement and pain awaited her during a large
part of her remaining days. Tet, on the whole,
she was remarkably free from most of the infirm-
ities, , bodily and mental, usually-; attendant upon
such advanced age. Her sight was perfect ; it
even excelled in keenness, so that she read, with-
out difficulty, the smallest print, and wrote in the
same minute and delicate characters, to the last.
Her sense of hearing, too, though less acute, was
not perceptibly impaired, and her carriage Was as
erect as of yore, and still indicative of vigour and
energy. But it was her soul the mind within
that never felt the frosts of age. Her heart beat
warm, her eye kindled with living joy, and her spirit
responded, like a well-tuned lyre, to every breath
that passed over it. In all her sympathies and
antipathies, too, she was so thoroughly womanly,
with such quick sensibilities and vivid perceptions,
such appreciation of little attentions, and cordial
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 193
interest in that which touched the hearts of others,
that it was no wonder the young loved her.
Perhaps never were so many young and fair faces
seen clustering around an old one, as were to be
found in her room, week after week. They came,
and made her their confidante; and she dearly
loved to hear the tales, and enter into the hopes
and fond anticipations of youth.
Her love of fun, too, her merry laugh and ready
repartee, made one forget that she had numbered
threescore years and ten. If we would ask, whence
came this bright and joyous old age, we may trace
it, in part, to natural temperament: her nature
was genial, her temper sweet, and, until a late
period, her health was excellent. But, great as these
natural advantages were, yet more was owing to
religious principle and self- discipline. She was kind
and forbearing, not merely because her temper
was sweet ; she was so on principle in obedience
to the great command of the gospel, " Love one
another." The forgiveness of injuries was the one
of the Christian duties which she most urgently
enjoined, and most conscientiously practised. Her
readiness to pass by an unkindness did not spring
from easy indifference; no one was more keenly sen-
sitive to any want of kindness. "When she was deeply
wounded on one occasion, and could find no excuse
for the offender, she looked sad and disquieted,
and at length said, " I hope I shall be able, in time,
to forget this." One of her latest acts was to burn
o
194 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
an impertinent and unfeeling letter, which had
been addressed to her some time before ; and, as
she did so, she expressed her forgiveness of the
writer: "It ought never to hate been written,"
she said, " but I forgive her ; and the best place
for it is the fire."
It was a pain to her to think otherwise than
well of any one ; it was a real pang to be con-
strained to believe that he had acted unworthily.
She wept over the misdeeds of others, and rejoiced
in their good and noble actions. She was " tender-
hearted" towards their failings and infirmities, and
would not believe an evil report. There was really
nothing which so roused her indignation as that any
one should spread a malicious rumour ; and I have
seen her colour with displeasure, and plainly indicate
how offensive she felt it to be, when any one ven-
tured to indulge in backbiting in her presence. If
she ever offended the self-love of any, I am inclined
to believe it was by showing them that they had
lowered themselves in her opinion by uncharitable
talk. The " virtuous indignation of her eye" could
hardly fail to inflict a righteous punishment.
It would be easy to give instances of her true
loveliness of spirit and careful observance, in her
own personal conduct, of the Christian graces and
virtues which she had, in her writings and with her
lips, enjoined others to cultivate. It may be allowed
me to mention one instance of her humble-minded in-
genuousness, in acknowledging herself to have com-
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 195
mitted a fault. I was one day calling upon her, when
there was some one present who was afflicted with
deafness, and talked in a loud, harsh voice. After
this individual had left the room, Mrs. O., chancing
to refer to something that had passed, repeated the
words of her visitor in his dissonant tones in fact,
mimicked him to the life. Scarcely had I reached my
home, before I received a note from her, saying how
much self-reproach she was suffering, in the thought
of the "unchristian and vulgar action" of which
she had been guilty, and begging it might be " ex-
cused and forgiven."
Mrs. Opie has stigmatized mimicry in her " De-
traction Displayed," as being a twofold detraction,
acted, as well as spoken; and has especially
warned her readers against it, because of its great
power and attraction ; few being able to resist its
fascination, for it gratifies the vanity of hearer and
actor at the same time ; and yet, who can endure to
be the subject of mimicry ? In close proximity to
this detracting and treacherous propensity, she
always ranked that malevolent pleasure in inflict-
ing pain which vents itself in sudden sarcasms or
flings. She called this a "cat-like" nature; and
she hesitated not to say, " Old as I am in years,
and still older in worldly experience, there are
many, even among my young acquaintance, from
whose detracting laugh and sneering observation I
occasionally shrink, feeling myself both unsafe and
uncomfortable in their presence. Oh! there are
196 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
many cats in the world; and I have seen even
youth and beauty become suddenly offensive by
the expression of malevolent pleasure at having
inflicted pain by a coup de patte"
Mrs. Opie always considered it a vulgar error, or
an observation the result of envy, to say that clever
persons are usually satirical. She said, her experi-
ence convinced her, on the contrary, that the most
satirical of her acquaintance were those who had more
quickness than sense ; that a tendency to see the
ridiculous and ludicrous in persons and things, is
nothing more than a quickness of observation
which even children possess. " There is some-
thing," she said, "tempting and agreeable in talk-
ing over one's friends and acquaintances, and
children soon learn to enjoy it. 'Mamma/ cried
a little boy, while his parents were receiving some
morning visitors, ' when will these people go away,
that we may talk about them?' In short," she
added, " detraction requires so little ability, that I
wonder we are not too proud to be guilty of it."
"While I am thus recalling to mind the many
lovely and amiable traits that adorned her character,
I am powerfully reminded of her own statement :
" The consciousness of truth and ingenuousness
gives a radiance to the countenance, and a charm
to the manner, which no other quality of mind can
equally bestow." Nor can I help appealing to
those who knew her, whether she did not present
in her own person a striking example of the truth
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 197
of this. The bright beaming glance of her eye, and
the winning loveliness of her deportment, spoke
her true in heart, and were the fair reflections of
that inner rectitude which is " the sunshine of the
breast.' ' " She was one of the most sincere, most
honest of women I ever knew," was the testimony
of a friend who had known her long and well ; and
the word "probity" was justly applied to her by
the friend of her youth. Gladly would I linger
over these pleasing and soothing recollections, and
endeavour to draw them in the colours of vivid
truthfulness to my reader; but it is time that I
continue the regular course of her "life-story."
We have seen that the loneliness of her lot was
felt increasingly as her years multiplied ; but most
happy for her was it, that, amidst the failure of
earthly supports, she was sustained by a conscious-
ness of the Divine presence and grace ; and it was
this which cheered her solitary hours, and inspired
the sentiment with which we find her entering on
a new year. She thus writes :
" (2nd mo., 4th, 1845.) I can say with truth, I
am never less alone than when alone ; home is be-
coming daily more and more the place that suits
me best. I have many cares, and some trials ; but
I feel, in the depths of my heart, that all is right,
and that all has been, and will be, for my good.
' Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?' "
The death of Sir Thomas Powell Buxton occurred
198 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
during this month, causing another gap in the
circle of Mrs. Opie's intimate friends. She had
been long and greatly attached to him and all his
family, and cordially united in his views for the
abolition of slavery, and in his desires and plans
for the improvement of Africa ; and her notes in-
dicate the painful emotion with which she heard of
his removal from earth.
The winter of this year was very stormy, and
the tempests which prevailed on the eastern coast
made great inroads at Cromer and in the neigh-
bourhood. The early love of Mrs. Opie for that
endeared spot seems to have been kindled afresh
on this occasion ; and writing to Miss Gurney, she
said, " I am very sorry for that dear West Cliff
' Where once my careless childhood stray'd,
A stranger yet to pain/
There used to be r I am sure, a field, before one
comes to S. Hoare's field, where I used to gather
the blue bugloss, and deck myself out in it. Such is
my love of Cromer, I sometimes think when I lost
my dear father, I should have settled myself there,
or very near it (on the "West Cliff, probably), had I
not joined Friends. I try not to be impatient of
the duration of this winter, and I rejoice at the
belief (probably, however, an erroneous one) that
my only tree, an elm, in my south garden, into
which my sitting-room looks, is budding. It is a
pain to me to think of the sufferings of inanimate
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 199
nature, as well as of human nature. I grieve for
the cruel sea's inroads at Cromer. But as almost all
things work together for some good, these dangers
give rise to circumstances productive of conduct
honourable to one's species ; as, for instance, that
of the pious child, who would not be saved till his
father's safety was secured. Generally speaking,
I own I have long thought that, in these days,
filial piety was at a low ebb ; but in this instance,
'assuredly, the high tides have floated it into my
good opinion again. . . I am just returned from
Earlham, where I have been passing a happy day
and a half with J. J. Grurney and Eliza ; no other
guest there but myself. "We called at dear W.
Porster's door on our way home."
Mrs. Opie made frequent visits this year from
time to time among her friends, and mentions with
peculiar pleasure meeting Mr. Hallam, during her
stay at Ketteringham. Although occasionally suf-
fering from accesses of her old disorder, she was,
on the whole, free from much pain. Her notes
refer to the great enjoyment she felt in attending
various public religious meetings, and also the
course of lectures at the Museum, delivered by
Professor Sedgwick. On the return of the autum-
nal season, her malady distressed her much ; and
during her customary stay at Northrepps she was
quite confined to the house, "never quitting it,"
she said, " after I entered it, until I got into the
carriage which took me away ; but though unwell
200 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
during the eighteen days I spent there, I had
much enjoyment." "Writing in October of the
following year, to her beloved friend there, she
said : "Oh, how sorry I am that I cannot come to
thee, even in a carrier's cart ! but I cannot.
Dr. Hull says it would be madness ; and I have so
much cold and cough besides, that I fear I shall
not be able to leave the house at all. It is a dis-
appointment to me not to have paid my usual
visit to Cromer, and to feel there the gratitude
due to Him who has, in unmerited mercy, spared
me, that I might have been enabled once more to
enjoy the society of my dear friends at that place,
so full to me of early and pleasant recollections."
In the course of the summer of 1846, she was
cheered by a visit from Mrs. Backhouse, the
daughter of Mr. J. J. G-urney, whom Mrs. Opie
always called her grandchild, bringing with her
her infant son, who was greeted as great-grand-
child, and pronounced a darling. "I love all
babies," she said ; " but this one excels them all,
in my eyes." Her cousin, Mr. E. "Woodhouse, also
visited her in the month of August ; but amidst
all her cheerful and sympathizing enjoyment, she
suffered grievously ; a sorrowful note written about
this time tells how much "You will be
glad to hear I am better. This day week, I was in
great pain for hours. How thankful I ought to
be ! Nothing can have exceeded Dr. Hull's atten-
tion ; he came twice a day to me, and I am sure
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 201
his medicines have done me much good
Sir E. Peel's heart has stolen mine. That exquisite
self-oblivion, and that prompt sympathy with poor
Hay don's sorrows, even only four days before his
death ; and then the feeling and immediate reply to
the hopes of the poor suicide, in his letter in his
dying moments; and the prompt help, and the
promised succour of his purse and influence at a
future time, and when he (Sir Robert) was not
himself lying on a bed of roses."
On the 4th of January, 1847, died Mr. J". J.
G-urney. Three weeks before, he had been thrown
from his pony, while crossing Orford-hill. At
first he appeared not to have sustained much
injury ; and with thoughtful love he hastened to
Lady's-lane, to inform his dear friend of the acci-
dent, saying that he could not bear she should
hear of it from any other but himself, that he
might assure her, with his own lips, of his safety.
Alas ! how little did either of them imagine that
ere that moon had waned he would be sleeping
the sleep of death; but so it was. The tidings
of his departure came suddenly upon his aged
friend ; she knew not that he was in danger till
the night before the event, and could scarcely
" believe that it was true " which she heard, for it
seemed like a dream. Alas ! as she gazed her last
on the motionless form of her " dearest and best
friend on earth," she knew that it was a sad
reality, and that she should see him no more. This
202 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
was indeed a heart-blow ; and shortly after, his
beloved daughter, Mrs. Backhouse, following him
to the grave, there was an entire breaking-up of
the much and long-loved circle at Earlham. Mrs.
Opie attended the funeral of her friend. She saw
him laid low in the midst of his usefulness ; cut
down while there was, as yet, no shadow over his
path to tell of coining night. Honoured and be-
loved he was, and a blessing to thousands. Doubt-
less, in her heart, she said, " Would Glod I had
died for thee!" but she remembered whose hand
had inflicted the blow, and bowed and worshipped
in silence and resignation. The following note
was written to me, shortly after this event. It
gives a passing glimpse of her state of feeling :
" Norwich, 1st mo., 29th, 1847.
" Mr DEAR CECILIA,
.... "Thanks for thy kind inquiries,
and still more for thy graphic description of the
Cambridge show. It made me long to have been
there. Thy account of the behaviour of the stu-
dents carried me back to 1810, when I was at
Oxford, at Lord Grenville's installation, and was
excessively amused by the thundering and hissing
of the students for some time ; but the third day
I grew tired of the noise. The proctors there
were treated, one excepted, with great indignity.
How I did rejoice in the first wrangler's success,
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 203
when I found he was a boy of obscure birth, edu-
cated by a benevolent individual, on whom he had
no claims ; and that he had been enabled to repay
his benefactor !
" The dear bishop came yesterday afternoon, and
was so kind and sympathizing. I could see him,
for I was in my drawing-room again. My doctors
are just gone. I hope I am improving, and expect
to be allowed to get out next week, to see my aunt.
But I shall be slow in returning my calls, and
slower still in paying any visits. I do so dread the
convincing myself, when I go out, that there is one
whom, if I look for, I shall never, never find. . .
But no more of that, I can't bear it.
" Believe me, thy attached friend,
"A. OPIE."
Her grief did not, however, prevent her taking
an active interest in the sorrows and sufferings of
others. She was engaged in collecting for the re-
lief of the poor Irish, and says : " Oh, the horrible
state of things in that country ! "Without our aid,
they say, the poor people must perish. I am col-
lecting for the Ladies' Committee at Dunmanaway,
near Cork; a very distressed district, but small,
and with few rich residents in it ; and therefore
the more needing help. I let no day pass without
having, in the course of it, begged of some one. I
take sixpence, or one shilling, with thanks, and I
have accepted twopence from a little boy, who sent
204 LIFE OP AMELIA OPIE.
it to me, because lie knew what it was to be hungry
himself. I have a humble agent at work to pro-
cure small sums, as my Irish ladies advise; and
have a little money still in hand, which I hope to
make more. "We shall one day, perhaps, know-
scenes here like those in Ireland, and trials which
wealth cannot help us to avoid or remove ; but
( shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?' '
In the spring of this year Mrs. Opie was suffi-
ciently recovered in health to pay her usual visit to
Cromer. While there, she received the tidings of
Dr. Chalmers' death ; she wrote home, requesting
to have the lines she had addressed to him in 1833
sent to her ; and acknowledged the receipt of them
in the following letter :
" To Mrs. BrigJitwell.
" Cromer, 6th mo., 5tJi, 1847.
" MY DEAH FKIEND,
" I do not exactly know to
whom I was indebted for the great kindness of
copying for me my lines to dear Dr. C., but per-
haps the same pen (it was thine, I think) would
do me the same favour again ; I am very desirous
of having them, though ashamed of troubling thee.
Poor dear man ! on his way home to Edinburgh,
he would not be easy without going to Darlington
to see dear J. J. Gurney's daughter once more.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 205
In liis letter to me, he said that he hoped one day
* to see him lefore the throne] or words to that
effect. How soon, as I trust, the hope has been
fulfilled.
" I am here, in a lovely lodging ; my sitting-
room has a bay-window, that looks on the sea, and
up the shore, and on the jetty and the breakwater.
I am at Randall's bath-house, and the hot-bath is
delightful indeed. I think I am better, in spite of
visitors ; I have had eleven callers already, since
ten o'clock. .
" When I came, the sea was beautiful ; yesterday,
it was awful to look at. The white horses, the
cavalry of the sea, were all out yesterday. Alas !
their appearance was signalized by death, A boat
was capsized, and a poor old man drowned, in sight,
almost, of my window. At twilight I looked on the
sea, which appeared terribly sublime. The hue grew
darker and darker, as the mass of waters seemed
sloping upwards as they went, till they looked like a
dark mountain, bounding forth to engulf us ; and
I retreated almost in fear. I hope, this evening,
to see the sun set from the western cliff. How
beautiful, in my eyes, were the hedges, as I came ;
such a profusion of germander, bright red ba-
chelors' buttons, the golden furze and broom, in
luxuriant blossom; and the may, only too much
laden with flowers. Farewell. With love to thy
spouse and bairn, thy attached friend,
"A. OPIE."
206 LIFE OP AMELIA OPIE.
Mrs. Opie returned from Cromer in the middle
of June ; in her notes I find the following entries :
" I am come home, not the better for the sea
and baths, though much so in mind and feelings for
the great attentions and kindnesses I received. A
lame old woman is, however, best at home. Poor
dear Dr. Chalmers ! he passed four or five as happy
days as he could pass with the daughter of J. J. ;
he could not rest without going, and was so charm-
ing : he died two days after. He left Darlington
well; but went home, as it proved, to die. He
was every day, when there, going to write to me,
and I was just about to write to him, from Cromer,
when he died."
" (6fch mo., 19th.) I have been reading the Life of
Sarah Martin. It made me shed many tears, from
the sense of her superior virtue, and of my own
inferiority. "What an example she was, and how
illustrative her life, of what that of a humble but
real and confiding Christian should be ! and her
end was one of intense bodily suffering ; as Pope
says of some one
" ' Heaven, as its purest gold, by torture tried,
The saint sustain'd it, but the woman died.'
"W. Allen's admirable Life I have read quite
through, with delight and, I hope, instruction."
Mrs. Opie visited her friends at Brooke in the
following month ; and writing shortly after to Miss
Gurney, said: " ... I received, before I went
LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE. 207
to Brooke, a very valuable present from Lord
Brougham, which he had ordered to be sent two
months ago, and I expected. It arrived at last,
and is a folio volume, two nails thick, containing
the evidence before the select committee of the
House of Lords, appointed to inquire into the
execution of the criminal law, especially respecting
juvenile offenders and transportation. It interests
me, and I dare say I shall read it through
" My head is full of this horrible, most horrible
of murders at Paris. I am glad I do not know the
parties concerned. I earnestly hope that, if he
must die, he will be allowed no privileges on
account of his rank; 3 the people would not bear
it, and the Most High 'is no respecter of persons.'
"If my aunt's health allow, I intend to go to
the Birkbecks' ere long, for a few days ; but yester-
day I conceived an alarm concerning her, poor
dear, and I must talk to her medical man on the
subject."
This alarm proved to be well grounded; Mrs.
E. Alder son sank gradually, and at length expired,
at a very advanced age, on the 10th of January,
1848.
The time had now come, when Mrs. Opie was
able to carry into effect an intention she had long
entertained. She felt very desirous to have a
house of her own ; it had become, indeed, neces-
sary to her comfort ; and after long consideration,
at length she fixed upon the house on Castle
208 LIFE Or AMELIA OPIE.
Meadow, which she inhabited during the re-
mainder of her life. Before removing, or rather
preparatory to doing so, she went up to London
to spend some months there, according to her old
usage. Four years had elapsed since she visited
the metropolis, and the present occasion proved
one of much enjoyment. She bade adieu to Lady's-
lane on the 6th of April, and journeyed to town,
availing herself there of the cordial invitations
given her by her friends in Russell-square and
Langham-place. Much occurred, during her stay,
to interest and cheer her, of which she wrote
accounts to her friends at home. She made short
excursions to Hampstead, Hornsey, "Wandsworth,
and Tottenham, and went to hear the speeches at
Harrow. She also attended all the Friends' Meet-
ings, and was present as well at the Missionary and
Bible Meetings, in all which she took a lively
interest. Her letters show that she still retained
much of her wonted energy, and interested herself
in the stirring events going on around her.
The following is selected from among others,
written at this time, as being of the most general
interest :
" To Thomas BrigUwell.
" Russell-square ; 5th mo., 22nd, 1848.
" MY DEAK FKIEND,
" I have been intending to write to thee
for some time past, but was prevented. My career
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 209
has been a very pleasant one, spite of occasionally
great lameness ; but though I always limp, I am
not always in pain, and I find it possible to bear
with patience the ill which can't, I fear, be ever
cured.
" I will, as briefly as possible, give thee a sketch
of my goings on. A dinner at Lord Denman's
was my pleasantest. I met Mr, Justice Erie, the
new judge, and Mr. "Warren, the author of " Ten
Thousand a Tear." These gentlemen and my host
talked across the table, and most pleasant were
the dinner hours, as well as those which succeeded.
. . ... . . More of this when we meet, if I am per-
mitted to return in health and safety.
" The next prosperity was, my going to a private
view at the Society of Arts and Sciences, in the
Adelphi, where Barry's pictures were lighted up,
and the wonderful and beautiful specimens of new
English arts and manufactures exhibited to those
able and willing to purchase ; and it was to be that
unusual thing, an evening private view beginning at
ten o'clock. My kind friend, Lady C. B., gave me
a ticket, and, after Jicurs at the Bible Meeting and
a dinner at Baron Alderson's, I went to the place
of rendezvous. I was the first person there; so
that I could survey all the lovely things and exqui-
site pictures, long and well known to me, before
any one came ; but the room filled at length, and
the Bishop of Norwich told me he never saw
p
210 LIEE OF AMELIA OPIE.
more of the nobility assembled. I saw many old
acquaintances, and made many new.
" Last 6th day (yesterday week) I dined at Sir
J. Boileaii'8 5 I met Guizot, the American ambas-
sador, and our bishop. After dinner, we all went
to the Royal Institution, to hear a lecture on the
Greek Anthology, by Mr. Newton. Lady C. B.
and I sat on a form near the lecturer ; in front
of him was another chair for the president, the
Duke of Northumberland ; and on a chair, placed
on his right hand, was Guizot; on his left, the
American ambassador ; par consequent, we con-
ceived this was meant as a compliment to Guizot,
who seems much noticed.
" Now, to finish with my visit at Claremont.
The ex-queen fixed the day and hour by Madame
de Montjoye, her lady. I hired a clarence and two
horses, and borrowed J. Bell's servant, and, in a
broiling day, set off on my fifteen miles' journey.
Madame de Montjoye came to me first, and said
the Queen would soon come to me. She did, and
I cannot express my feeling, when I thought ol
the change in her position since we met. I could
scarcely speak, while she pressed my hands most
affectionately, and called me, Ma chere bonne Opie,
que vous etes bonne de venir me voir ! ' At last
she sat, and desired I would do the same. . . .
After half-an-hour, she rose and said she was very
sorry to go, but she must, because she had letters
to write, which were to go to Paris that morning
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 211
again she took my hands, and pressed them to her
heart, I not being able to speak, from rising tears.
At length I got out that 6 Les paroles me man-
quaient, et que je ne pouvais pas exprimer les
sentiments que f eprouvais ? and I almost wished
to kiss as well as press the hand I held. Madame
de Montjoye gave me her arm to the other room,
and we parted most cordially
" Thy attached friend,
"A. OPIE."
Mrs. Opie's stay in London was cut short by
her increasing indisposition. She had prepared to
go on a visit to Mr. S. G-urney, when, on the 7th
of July, she had a severe access of her disorder
and Sir B. Brodie recommending rest and quiet,
after a week's nursing, she returned to Norwich.
CHAPTEE IX.
from London on the 14th June,
1848, Mrs. Opie took possession of her new house
on the Castle Meadow. She looked back with
pleasure upon the time she had passed in town,
and said, " Never, indeed, did I have a more grati-
fying reception than I met with from all my friends,
of different ranks, this time of my being there."
Fortunately, her choice of an abode proved satis-
factory ; she thoroughly liked it from the first, and
conceived the happy idea, that Dr. Alderson
would have been pleased with it ; "for," she said,
" he would have enjoyed this lively scene, and
he often wished to have a house in this locality."
When she had become quite settled in it, she wrote :
. ..." I am every day more charmed with my
new house and home. I feel it a very desirable
house to die in that is, to be ill in c a pleasant
cradle for reposing age ; ' and I do so love to
look at my noble trees, and my castle turrets
rising above them ; and when the leaves fall off, I
shall still have the pleasure of seeing the green
and grassy mound of the castle. From one of the
windows of my drawing-room I see the woods and
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 213
rising grounds of Thorpe. I neither see nor hear
the cattle on market days ; and I am quite happy
in my choice, and deeply thankful that ' the lines
have fallen to me in pleasant places ; ' indeed, I
have no desagrements at all, that I am conscious of,
in my new abode."
In the month of October she made a short stay
at Lowestoft ; but the fatigue brought on a return
of her malady, and in one of her letters she wrote :
" I came from Lowestoft apparently well, but
soon became ill, and was obliged to send for Dr.
Hull, who was at first alarmed at my symptoms ;
but I was not, as he kept his fears to himself.
My sufferings were great indeed, and I never was
so conscious of his judgment as while observing
the truly efficacious manner in which he treated
me. I rallied immediately, and was able, with his
leave, to go to Sir J. Boileau's to stay two days
and nights. I was charmed with M. Gruizot, who
was one of the guests. His manners are very
simple, and he played at 'jeuoc de societi ' with us
young people at night, and enjoyed it as much as
we did. It is, indeed, a great favour to be per-
mitted still to enjoy life so much as I do, in com-
pany ; but it is a far greater one to be able to
enjoy equally my lonely hours How fearful
is the state of things on the Continent, and who
knows what the result will be ? But I read the
46th Psalm, and remember who reigneth, and I
trust in Him, and am at peace."
214 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
Shortly after, referring to the fearful crimes
which were committed during that autumn, she
says :
" I heard, at that blessed City Mission Meeting
which I attended the other evening, that our
county is reckoned one of the worst for crime and
ignorance ; and now comes that murder by whole-
sale at Stanfield ; indeed, every week I read of
two or three murders and other atrocities."
Mrs. Opie appears to have sympathized, to some
extent, with the opinion that there is an injurious
tendency in the great publicity at present given
to crime; and the disposition to dwell upon its
details, so as to possess the minds of the people with
all its horrors. She read the daily papers, in
which the same case is repeatedly brought to notice
week after week, and the particulars of everything
connected with the offence minutely given; and
became possessed with an idea that murders and
horrors were multiplied in proportion^ to the in-
creased notoriety given them.
In the month of March, she went to visit Miss
Ghirney, and returned from Northrepps on the
morning of the Lent Assizes, when the trial of the
notorious B-ush came on. She did not attend on
that occasion, adhering to her constant determina-
tion, never to be present in the criminal court in
a capital case ; but, in one of her notes, she gives
a lively picture of her feelings during the time the
trial was going on:
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 215
" I know not what to do to-day, except look at
the Castle, and watch the crowd on the plain, and
the people continually passing ; few walking, but
most running, as if too much excited to do other-
wise. Eush is on his defence. ... I dread to hear
the verdict, and yet I wish all was over." The
evening of the 2nd day : " On my castle turrets,
to the west, the sun set gloriously this evening,
converting it into a mass of red granite ; and,
while I write, the moon is shining into my room,
looking tranquillity. But what is passing within
those castle walls ? A' man, fierce as a tiger, is
struggling for life at the awful bar of justice
What hundreds are passing to and fro, and what
various sounds I hear! now children and boys
laughing and shouting; then, men, congregated
under my windows, and talking; but always,
within those walls, I see that wretched man,
writhing in mental agony, and against what I fancy
he now believes inevitable doom."
In the summer assizes Mrs. Opie was in her
usual place in court, and with how much lively
interest she watched the proceedings is evident
in the following letter, which she wrote to me
I being in Leicestershire at that time.
" Castle Meadow, 8th mo., 4th, 1849.
" Well, C. L., how art thou now ? And so thou
hast trodden where Hobin Hood did. He was one
of my heroes when I was young ; and, at sixteen,
216 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
when driving through. Sherwood Forest, I insisted
on getting out, to walk through it, and tread where
he and his merry men had trodden. Thy papa
has been very kind to me, and saw me safe home
when I walked two evenings together from the
Shirehall, where I was from nine to six on the sixth
day, and from nine to nine on the following day ;
that is, twelve hours on Saturday, and without
refreshment of any kind, save two gingerbread
cakes ; but I wanted nothing, so completely did
mind conquer matter. It was one cause only,
which lasted from twelve on Friday to six that
evening ; and the next day, from nine to nine ; and
so interesting it was to me, my attention never
flagged a minute, and when I got home I was
quite as able and bright as when I went into
court. It was Lord W. Poulett's action against
our railway company for damage done to his
property and his tenants by the fire emitted from
the train. I never saw a clearer case proved. I
had no bias either way ; if I had any leaning, it
was to the Norwich persons, the defendants ; but
I felt sure the verdict was a just one. It was for
the plaintiff. The fire may be kept in, but they
must take more trouble, and go to more expense ;
and I believe this action will save property, if not
lives. B. spoke admirably, and the judge was
excellent also. I assure thee, this calling up of all
my energies has done me great good. Except in
my lameness, I am as well as ever I was in my
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 217
life ; and, at the palace the other evening, I walked
across the room to my fly, having hold of A. S., and
did not limp. It is, to my feelings, so cold a day
that I am sitting by a large fire in my smaller
drawing-room. . . . There, my letter is longer than
thine, and I have already written four besides this,
so hasten to conclude.
" Thine faithfully and affectionately,
"A. OPIE."
In August, Mrs. Opie spent a week in Cam-
bridgeshire, visiting some kind friends at Mel-
bourne Bury, and returning home shortly before
the lamented death of Bishop Stanley. This was
a grief which, as she herself expressed it, cast a
shadow over the remainder of her days, and to
which she could never refer without deep emotion.
How many hearts grieved when the solemn sound
of the bell announced to the inhabitants of the
city this melancholy event ! Every one felt that it
told of a general loss, and that a good and holy
man had been taken from among them ; and when,
in compliance with the wish of the honoured and
beloved prelate, his remains were brought to rest
in that cathedral, where his voice had so often
been heard, there was a mournful satisfaction in
the conviction that his heart had loved the people
for whom he had laboured with an unfailing
charity and with a ceaseless zeal. Several refer-
ences are made, in Mrs. Opie's notes, to this
218 LIFE OE AMELIA OP1E.
fc
event. At the time it happened, she was sur-
rounded by a large circle of her relatives; and
while they remained with her, she said, " I was
taken from myself; but now regret is uppermost
again. How I feel for the dear bereaved ones!"
Again, she says, (9th mo., 20th) . ..." I cannot
reconcile myself to this great loss to me ; and, as
yet, can scarcely believe I am awake, and not in a
delirium. I can't believe he can be gone for ever.
He came to take leave of me, and I am recalling
all his looks and words. I followed him to the
top of the stairs ; he said he was to be gone a
month, and that he wanted rest ; and I would not
call him back, if I could ; he was weary, and is gone
to his rest the rest of the people of Grod."
In the course of this autumn, Mrs. Opie paid
several short visits to her friends in the neighbour-
hood of Norwich ; the last of which was to Keswick
Hall. On her return home, she was attacked with
a severe inflammation of the right eye, which
caused her much pain, and compelled her to sit in
a darkened room. This confinement was trying in
many respects to her, but her usual cheerfulness
and Jmidly response to every endeavour to enliven
her hours, were pleasing and instructive, and still
more endeared her to the hearts of those who loved
her. There was nothing of the selfishness and
irritation of age betrayed in her words or looks ;
but the same delighted interest in the welfare of
others was still evident, accompanied by a loving
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 219
spirit of thankfulness for all kindness sho^rn to
herself.
The spring, with its cheering influences, relieved
her indisposition, and she was able to pay her usual
visit to Northrepps in the month of April, return-
ing home on the 16th of May. At the Midsummer
assizes, Baron Alderson and Mr. Justice Patteson
being on the Norfolk circuit, Mrs, Opie went into
court, accompanied by some of her relatives ; and
not being able to walk, in consequence of her in-
creased lameness, was carried thither in a sedan
chair. It was her last- visit to that scene which for
so many years she had been Wont to frequent.
She did not neglect, on this occasion, to make her
usual offering of a bouquet to the judge.
In the month of September she attended the
annual meeting of the Bible Society, in St. Andrew's
Hall ; and in November she was present at that of
the City Mission. These meetings cheered her
spirits, and she " closed another year very happily."
In 1851, after a visit at Keswick, Mrs. Opie,
on the 7th of May, travelled to London, and
took up her residence with her friends in E/ussell-
square. During her stay, she attended several
meetings at Devonshire House and Westminster
meeting, and paid numerous visits to her friends
and acquaintances. She felt that it was her last
visit, and seemed desirous to take a farewell look
at all her old haunts. She would go to the various
shops she had been wont to frequent, and at every
220 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
turn was met by some one who recognized and
welcomed her. She was greatly interested, too, in
visiting the Great Exhibition, being among the few
privileged persons who, from age or infirmity, re-
quiring chairs, had the entree an hour before the
usual time. After the public were admitted, she
remained, sitting in the transept an hour, enjoying
the sight of the many hundreds who rushed in,
among whom were several of the Society of Friends,
and others known to her, who gathered around her
chair, and cordially greeted her.
Mrs. Opie left Bussell-square on the 19bh of June,
for Ham House (Mr. S. G-urney's), where she stayed
two days. Her homeward journey was rendered
uncomfortable by some derangement of the railway
engine, so that they were twice stopped on the
road, and had to change carriages. On arriving
safely at home, she expressed her gratitude for the
mercies she had enjoyed during this journey, and
added, " These alarms have been warnings to me
that, in my infirm state, I must not venture on the
line again. So, railway, farewell! "
During the course of the autumn, numerous short
visits were paid to different friends in the neigh-
bourhood of Norwich ; and although suffering much,
and almost constantly, from pain, she was bright
and cheerful ; but the afflictions and bereavements of
those she loved awakened her sympathy, and drew
from her this expression of her feeling : " It is a
heavy trial to witness the sorrows of others, and to
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 221
be called on to survive so many dear ones, younger
than one's-self. It has been my fate to do, and
seems likely to continue so to be ; but still I think
and feel that He doeth all things well, and I hope
to be always able to say with the patriarch,
" Though He slay me, yet will I trust in him."
Mrs. Opie attended, for the last time, the annual
meeting of the Bible Society in St. Andrew's Hall,
in the month of September. She says : " I had
been nursing for it two days, and was so glad to be
able to go. I did so enjoy it, in spite of certain
reminiscences of 'auld-lang syne.' The bishop's
speech was charming and judicious, and, to me, so
affecting, that it brought me to tears. He paid a
just and touching tribute to the memory of Andrew
Brandram. Last year, he (A. B.) came to me,
while I was waiting for my carriage, and I con-
gratulated him on his good looks ; he looked ten
years younger than when I saw him last : and there
was I yesterday, years older than himself, sitting
there, in health, though not with my once active
limbs ; and lie was in his grave."
In November, her final visit to Northrepps Cot-
tage was paid. On the 2nd of January following
(1852), she was attacked with rheumatic gout in
her feet, which confined her to her bed two months,
and never afterwards entirely left her. The follow-
ing note, written to Miss Grurney shortly after this
time, shows her happy resignation and cheerful
spirit amid increasing infirmities :
222 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
" Castle Meadow, 3rd mo., 5th, 1852.
" MY DEAKEST ANNA,
" I was very sorry not to be able to see
JR. yesterday, but I was denied to every one
while my visitor was with uie, as I had much to say
to her. The cold of this day has kept me in bed,
and one of my feet has been very painful. How
many things I want to. say to thee, but I can't say
them ; but I am very thankful for what I can do,
and I do not repine at what I can't do ; and life
flies only too fast. I do not see, at present, any
chance of my speedy recovery ; but life has still its
charms. I am glad to have an excuse for lying in
bed all day ; it is so troublesome to move from bed
to chair, and thence to sofa
" I am ever thine most affectionately,
"A. OPIE."
A lew passages, selected from her notes, will be
read with pleasure : " (4th mo., 18th). My prisms
are, to-day, quite in their glory ; the atmosphere
must be very clear, for the radiance is brighter than
I ever saw it before. Surely, the mansions in heaven
must be draped with such unparalleled colours!"
" (5th mo., 4th.) Oh ! Captain Gardiner and his
crew ! how I have cried over their deaths, and yet
how enviable was the state of their minds ; how
meek and entire their resignation ; how blessed
their entrance into their Redeemer's kingdom, and
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 223
their awaiting welcome there! I have read it
through three times, as though fascinated." " (5th
mo., 18th.) No one, surely, ever had so many
kind friends as I have. I can truly say, that I
have every alleviation of my suffering that I can
have, and have every comfort that I desire, and I
do not want any nursing but that I have. Mine
has been a lonely lot latterly, but I have never felt
it painfully so ; and I believe the happiest persons
are those who have the fewest wants. The great
I AM is more even-handed than we think him."
In the month of September, Mrs. Opie once
more repaired to Cromer. She remained there for
a fortnight, and had two rooms on the ground floor
of the house in which she lodged, where she could
lie in bed, and watch the billows as they rolled.
Numerous friends flocked about her ; amongst
them some whose daily visits cheered her, and the
various little kindnesses she received, though small
in themselves, were yet valued as tokens of love,
and were mentioned with grateful remembrance ,
Beaching home in safety, she wrote, shortly after
her return, to Miss GKirney.
" 9th mo., 26tJi, 1852.
" DEAEEST ANNA,
" I had a pleasant journey home, arriving
comfortably at my own door ; but the passage up-
stairs, which I made in my basket-chair, was not
quite so agreeable. ... It grieves my heart to
224 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
think that I am not any nearer at present than I
was, to get to the Bible meeting and my quarterly
meeting ; but I am not up to the exertions neces-
sary. It is heart-breaking, almost, to me, to miss
a Bible meeting. This is the first I ever omitted,
and I did not with any certainty look forward to
another. I am able to say, although I give it up
most unwillingly, His will be done ! ' I am come
home with a cold ; but nothing to make me regret
one hour spent at Cromer. I had so many dear
friends to see, and some new ones to welcome, and
am returned more enamoured of Cromer than
ever. Pare well. I must now lie down and sleep.
" Thy ever affectionate
"A. OPIE."
Three months later she wrote : " I shall pro-
bably never be able to go out again ; and the idea
of being confined to my bed is anything but dis-
agreeable. "What a mercy this is ! Thankfully, as
well as reverently, I can repeat, ' His mercies are
new every morning.' I must, however, own, that
being unable to go to meeting is a continually
recurring trial ; but I hope by spring, if I live so
long, I may have contrived a way to get there
again : all I ask is, to be made more and more
resigned to the Divine will, whatever it may be."
During the course of the summer, many of Mrs.
Opie's relatives visited her; their presence seemed
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 225
greatly to cheer and comfort her, and she fre-
quently spoke of the delight it gave her to see
them all. The strong feeling of family attachment
which characterized her through life, was retained
to the last. She also evinced the deepest sym-
pathy with her beloved cousin, Lady Milman, whom
she knew to be dying, and who, in fact, survived
her but a very short time, constantly inquiring for
her, and suggesting anything which occurred to
her mind, as likely to contribute to her comfort ;
expressing also her joy, that the confidence of this
dear relative was, like her own, placed on the
blessed promises of the gospel, and thus secure for
eternity. The departure of the lamented "William
Forster to America, on a mission in behalf of the
slave, was a great trial to her ; he had been her
friend and counsellor one to whom she looked for
help and support, and from whose lips she had
drunk in truth and wisdom. It was his preaching
which first led her to attend the meetings of
Friends, and she rejoiced in the fond hope that the
intercourse she had so long enjoyed with him
would be permitted her even to the end of life ;
but when she saw him on the eve of departure,
she felt that she should "see his face no more,"
and with a heavy heart she wrote : " (7th mo.,
28th.) Dearest W. Forster going away, not to
return again, I fear, till I am no more. I shall
not, however, own this to him. How very much I
feel the return of this season this year ! The dead
Q
226 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
have been more present with nie than the living,
but that is very natural. I am writing in bed
the place, now, I love best. Alas ! to the house of
the Lord I cannot go, and that is indeed an evil."
On the 21st of October, Mrs. Opie appeared
much as usual : during that morning she received
several friends, and was highly interested by a visit
from Lieutenant Cresswell, who had recently re-
turned to England with despatches, bringing news
of the discovery of the north-west passage, though
not, alas ! of the finding of Sir John Franklin. His
communications excited her lively sympathy, and,
as the grandson of Mrs. Fry, his presence alone
sufficed to awaken the slumbering remembrances of
the past. The following day she was evidently
somewhat fatigued, although able to write several
short notes ; in one of them, addressed to Miss
G-urney, she speaks with pleasure of seeing some
friends who had dined at her house, and attended
the Bible meeting ; and she concludes, " I could not
accompany them ; nor can I, perhaps, expect to go
out again. "Well ! all good and all evil here will
soon be over with me now. I am abundantly
thankful for everything ; for I feel that ' His mer-
cies are new every morning. 7 How I wish thou
and dear Lady Buxton could have been my guests
yesterday ! It was really a very enjoyable time,
and the only drawback was, my being unable to go
to the meetings, and to dine below stairs."
The next day was Sunday : early in the morning
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 227
she became very restless and unwell ; and her own
maid, perceiving symptoms unusual with her mis-
tress, sent immediately for Dr. Hull, who desired
that she might be kept perfectly quiet.
I had been frequently in the habit, since Mrs.
Opie's confinement to the house, of spending an
hour with her on Sunday morning, when there was
not the usual influx of visitors, and she seemed to
enjoy having a quiet chat. That day I called as
usual, but the mandate of the doctor was com-
municated to me, and, of course, obeyed. It was
with a strange feeling of disquiet that I turned
away from the door-step, and as I slowly bent my
course homewards, I reflected over the incidents of
the past few months. Tes ; there had certainly
been some tokens of enfeebled powers a partial
failure of memory an occasional loss in the thread
of her conversation, and at times an inability to
express clearly her meaning. Once or twice, too,
an ominous sentence had been dropped that startled
her friends : " When I am gone," " I feel I shall
not be here long." To her old friend, the Rev. II
T , she had said, when he was about to leave
her, " Don't be long before you come again, for I
am on the wing;" and in reply to his question,
"Do you really mean that?" she said, after a
moment's hesitation, "Tes, yes! I do" All
these slight indications of evil now recurred to
my mind; but still there were counterbalancing
recollections. Her aunt had lived .more than
228 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
ninety years, and Mrs. Opie was so cheerful and
bright, her carriage so erect, her general bearing
so animated, and she looked so much as she had
long done, though somewhat more pallid, that,
after all, these occasional symptoms were probably
merely the inevitable results of advancing age,
and her foreboding expressions the effects of con-
finement and seclusion. So whispered Hope, and
I put aside the thought of alarm, and did not
realize that the end was at hand.
On the evening of that Sunday a message was
sent from her medical attendant, to the effect that
she was very ill might not perhaps survive many
hours ; and as she had desired, in case of any
sudden attack of illness, that " her friend, Thomas
Brightwell," should be sent for, he had felt it to
be his duty to inform him of her condition. In
a few hours, however, the more alarming symptoms
subsided, and the gout appeared externally, and
fixed itself in the right heel.
Mrs. Opie survived nearly six weeks from that
day, being unable to leave her bed, and suffering
greatly. At first there was much of her usual
cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirit about her, and
she evidently entertained no apprehension of the
fatal nature of the attack. She evinced an interest
in the events occurring around her, and frequently
made inquiries and observations that showed her
sympathies were lively, and her recollection unim-
paired. Her constant patience and cheerful en-
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 229
durance under suffering were truly exemplary. No
murmuring word or look did she suffer to escape
her ; on the contrary, when her pain was alluded
to, and compassionated, she gently made answer,
"I think more of my mercies than of my trials."
She had learned, like the apostle Paul, in every-
thing to give thanks, and to draw from tribulation
itself the sweet blessing of patient hope.
I am reminded, in thus speaking, of her own
lines, written some time previous to her last illness,
entitled " Thanksgiving," and, as they are very
illustrative of her feeling, and afford a pleasing
specimen of her religious poetry, I give them
here :
THANKSGIVING.
" There's not a leaf within the bower,
There 's not a bird upon the tree,
There 's not a dewdrop on the flower,
But bears the impress, Lord, of thee.
" Thy hand the varied leaf design'd,
And gave the bird its thrilling tone ;
Thy power the dewdrop 's tints combined,
Till like a diamond's blaze they shone.
" Yes, dewdrops, leaves, and buds, and all,
The smallest, like the greatest things,
The sea's vast space, the earth's wide ball,
Alike proclaim thee King of kings.
" But man alone to bounteous heaven
Thanksgiving's conscious strains can raise ;
To favour'd man alone 'tis given
To join the angelic choir in praise."
230 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
During the last three or four weeks of her life
she became greatly worse ; her weakness increased,
she took but little nourishment, and suffered much
distressing pain in the hip and in the heel.
Throughout this trying season, her kind, gentle,
and watchful friend, Mary Brown, remained in con-
stant and unwearying attendance beside her, minis-
tering to her wants, and answering the numerous
inquiries, personal and epistolary, of her friends.
The frequent presence and attention of her
cousin, the Eev. R. Alderson, was another great
comfort to Mrs. Opie ; happily, he was able to give
much of his time to her, and she missed him when
he was absent, and anxiously inquired when he
would return. A great satisfaction it was to him,
doubtless, to render these last and important ser-
vices to his honoured relative.
On more than one occasion she had been heard
to express the hope that her friend, Wm. Forster,
would be with her during her last hours ; but this
wish was not granted her. Other Christian friends .
paid her visits of religious instruction and conso-
lation, which afforded her comfort and assistance ;
but soothing as are the offices of friendship, and
precious the prayers of the righteous under such
circumstances, how unavailing is all human minis-
tration when heart and flesh are failing ! It is then
the soul realizes its independence, and the ineffi-
ciency of earthly help, and feels with whom it has
to do, and knows that for itself, and alone, it must
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 231
stand in the presence of the Holy One. And so it
was in this instance. Alone, in the night season,
her voice was heard in supplication, pouring out
the desires of her spirit to her Eedeemer. The
pathetic utterances of resignation, amidst pain and
anguish, were audible to those who watched beside
her couch. ""What am. I," she said, thinking
aloud, " that I should expect to escape suffering ?
This, also, is meant for my good." Often, too, she
was heard repeating to herself texts of Scripture
and hymns; and on more than one occasion she
called for her Bible, and for "Wesley's Hymn Book
(her much-used copy of which, now in my posses-
sion, is full of her marks, and turned down at her
favourite hymns), and sitting up in her bed, read
aloud to her maids, as it had been her constant
habit to do.
Mrs. Opie often spoke during her illness of the
kindness of her friends, and evinced the most
tender interest in them ; weeping, as she men-
tioned the proofs of their affectionate remembrance,
and sending touching messages in reply to their
inquiries. " Tell them," she said, " I have suffered
great pain ; but I think on Him who suffered for
me." "Say that I am trusting in my Saviour;
and ask them to pray for me." And, when told
by one of those who visited her, that many prayers
were offered for her, she said (and a tear glistened
in her eye), " It were worth while to be ill, to have
the prayers of our friends."
232 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
Latterly, there was a striking change in her per-
sonal appearance. So completely was her coun-
tenance altered, that it would have been impossible
for any one, even of those who knew her best, to
recognize her. The only vestige remaining of her
former looks, was a peculiar uplifting of the eye,
accompanied by a slight shake of the head. Her
articulation also became so imperfect, that it was
very difficult to distinguish what she said ; and for
very weakness, her head lay, bent sideways, appa-
rently powerless, on the cushion. Her debility
now visibly and rapidly increased. She refused
almost all nourishment, and seemed to crave no
other refreshment than " cold water," for which
she frequently called. It was evident that her end
was approaching.
On the last Sunday of Mrs. Opie's life (the 27th
November) I went, accompanied by my father, to
pay a farewell visit to the bedside of our dying
friend. She lay propped up on pillows and cush-
ions, extremely feeble, but perfectly clear in her
intellect, calm, and composed. She had become
conscious of her danger, and anticipated her ap-
proaching departure. This she intimated by say-
ing, " The last few days I have been preparing to
go;"* In reply to my inquiry what she meant to
* The preparation to which she alluded, had reference to
some small directions she had dictated to her maid, a few even-
ings hefore, to be communicated to her executor ; at the close of
which she said, "I should have liked to give little remembrances
to all my friends, and have taken leave of them; but I have done
the best I can."
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 233
convey by these words, she said, " "Why to die,
child, to be sure!" " You have long been pre-
pared to die, we hope." "I hope so indeed," she
replied ; " there is only one way."
There she lay, helpless, dying, alone. Could all
those whom she had served and loved have been
permitted to gather around her couch, what a
cloud of witnesses, circle within circle, had thronged
that small chamber with looks of tender sympathy !
Impelled by some such thought, I said, as I bent
over her " It is a great thing to be loved as you
are loved. How many ask anxiously for tidings of
you!" She raised her eyes to mine, with an ex-
pressive gesture, and appeared to wait a confirma-
tion of this assurance, and looked satisfied on re-
ceiving it. She responded, too, with evident earnest-
ness of feeling, to the expression of the hope that
she was soon about to rejoin those dear ones, whom
she had loved so well, and who were gone before.
From time to time she uttered a few broken
words, and once said, with a piteous look, " I am
very thirsty ;" but her weakness was too great to
allow of more than an occasional sentence. It was
truly distressing to gaze upon her entirely changed
countenance and exhausted frame, and to feel the
sorrowful conviction that we were looking on her
for the last time.
At the former part of her illness, Mrs. Opie's
natural warmth of affection and lively interest in
those whom she loved, seemed to induce her still
234 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
to cling to life ; and while she said that, on look-
ing back and contemplating the past, the time
appeared to her long in the review, yet she inti-
mated it would be sweet to live a little longer, if
permitted to do so, "were it not still better to
depart." But, as the end approached, there seemed
to be a gradual giving up of her hold on the pre-
sent life, and the few words she uttered showed
that her thoughts were on heavenly things. On
the night of the 30th, she said to her cousin, " All
is peace;" and afterwards, when Mr. S. Gurney
was present, she gave it as her dying testimony,
" All is mercy."
During the last five days of existence, her suffer-
ings were protracted and severe. Hers were " the
groans, and pains, and dying strife" of a mortal
conflict. But her faith and patience failed not ;
and at length the angel-messenger came, and she
was released.
At midnight, on Eriday, the 2nd of December,
1853, Amelia Opie breathed her last.
CONCLUSION.
IT appears to me that, in closing these pages,
I cannot do better than give my readers the testi-
mony of one who long knew and deeply revered
her of whom they speak. Her friend and execu-
tor, Mr. Brightwell, in his Preface to the " Me-
morials of the Life of A. Opie," says :
"My acquaintance with the subject of these
memoirs commenced nearly forty years ago ; and
well do I remember the first impressions made on
me by her frank and open manner, the charm of
her fine and animated countenance, her artless
cheerfulness and benevolence, and the extraordi-
nary powers of her conversation. But it was not
till the time of Dr. Alderson's last illness that my
acquaintance with Mrs. Opie ripened into confiden-
tial friendship. From that period, to the time of
her decease, I had the happiness to enjoy much of
her society, and to hear her recollections of her
earlier days, and her graphic descriptions of the
scenes and characters which had been the subjects
of interest to her during the course of her long
236 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
life ; and she subsequently often read to me a
large portion of the correspondence she continued
to maintain. Gifted with an extraordinary memory
and reverence for truth, extending even to the
minutest details, a disposition to look at the best
side of everything and everybody, and with almost
dramatic power in the exhibition of character and
manners, Mrs. Opie, when she entered into any
details of her former life, painted the whole scene
with such truthfulness and power, as to make it
live before her hearers, and fix it ui their memory.
" The great leading feature of her character was
pure Christian benevolence charity in its highest
sense. None who knew her could fail to observe
this. Unwearied in her efforts to relieve the dis-
tresses of others, and limited in her own means,
she was almost ingenious in some of the methods
she devised for doing so. Her patience in dealing
with the incessant importunities of persons who
applied for her aid, was almost more than exem-
plary; but she found a blessing in doing goods
and in a parting address, dictated, shortly before
her death, to me and my daughter, she has not
failed touchingly to urge the remembrance of the
poor, so as to be blessed by them.
" Of her religion, the best evidences will be
found in the experience of her latter years, and
especially the short extracts from her private jour-
nals. These, speaking from the depths of her own
heart, show how holily and humbly she walked
LTtfE OF AMELIA OPIE. 237
before her God, how strictly she called herself to
account, day by day, and how firmly she relied on
the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as her
hope in life and support in death. Mrs. Opie had
no liking for religious controversy, and seemed to
me always desirous of avoiding it. I believe she
disliked dogmatic theology altogether. Her re-
ligion was the * showing out of a good conversa-
tion her works with meekness of wisdom.' She
ever deemed her union with ' the Friends ' the
happiest event of her life ; and she did honour to
her profession of their principles, by showing that
they were not incompatible with good manners
and refined taste. She met with some of them,
who have always appeared to me to come the
nearest to the standard of Christian perfection ;
these were her dearest friends on earth, and she is
now with them, numbered among the blessed dead,
who have died in the Lord, who have ceased from
their labours, and their works do follow them."
The 9th of December was the day appointed for
the funeral of Mrs. Opie. She was interred in the
Friends' burying-ground at the Gildencroft, in
the same grave with her father. About two hun-
dred persons, assembled in solemn silence, stood
there to meditate ; one voice alone was heard that
of a venerable friend, who uttered a few simple
scriptural words. It seemed strange to miss from
238 LIFE OE AMELIA OPIE.
among the sorrowing group around so many who
had loved and honoured her. But the eye had
only to glance around the green enclosure, and one
was reminded that they lay there, beside and
around her. Bich, indeed, is that small plot of
ground. The good, the honoured, the lovely and
beloved, lie there ; some of the best of men and
saints, whose prayers drew blessings down from
heaven awaiting the day when " the secrets of all
hearts shall be made known." li is a hallowed
spot, consecrated to holy memories.
Should any wanderer, at some future day, desire
to visit the grave of Amelia Opie, he will find, at
the extreme left of the ground, beneath an elm-
tree that overshadows the wall, a small slab, bear-
ing the names of James Alderson and Amelia
Opie, with their ages and the dates of their deaths.
Among those present on this occasion, was one
long and well known to Mrs. Opie, and of whom
she has spoken in terms of high eulogy in one of
her notes Mr. Hodgkin, a minister of the Friends,
who, addressing those around, invited them, after
the interment had taken place, to accompany him
to the meeting-house, where, a short time having
been spent in silence and in prayer, he rose, and
spoke, in words very pleasant and judicious, of the
dear departed friend whom they had lost. He
had known her, he said, from his own earlier days,
and when she was very different from what she
afterwards became. He believed that the ruling
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
230
GRAVE OF DR. ALDERSON AND MRS. OPIE,
IN TUB FRIENDS' BURIAL-GROUND, NORWICH.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE. 241
principle in her mind, and that which, being im-
planted there by Divine grace, had remained the
dominant one in her soul, was the love of Christ ;
constrained by the sweet influence of which, she
had been enabled to maintain much consistent
Christian deportment, amidst snares and tempta-
tions of peculiar fascination for one endowed by
nature, and trained by early habit, as she had been.
Much more he added of a nature to impress his
hearers with a deep sense of thankfulness for the
Divine goodness, and to urge them to pursue with
humble and pious zeal the path of Christian de-
votedness and obedience.
It may seem natural and desirable that a few
words should be said touching the personal appear-
ance of the subject of these memoirs during the
latter period of her life. How difficult, and indeed
impossible, it is to satisfy yourself when attempt-
ing to portray the form and features of those you
know most intimately, and have been constantly in
the habit of seeing ! This you feel in trying to
describe the members of your own family. In the
mind's eye their image lives, it is true ; but it is
rather as a consciousness; something, as it were,
that is interwoven with the secret and hidden ideas
of your soul. In a degree this is the case with all
those most familiar to you ; and perhaps the rea-
son is, that the whole idea of their personality has
been formed by degrees, shade after shade, as the
events of passing years have left their impress. Be
242 LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE.
that as it may, the difficulty is known, and will
be acknowledged. Yet, for the sake of strangers,
rather than to assist the recollections of the friends
of Mrs. Opie, I will attempt to give a slight
sketch of her.
She was of about the standard height of woman :
her hair was worn in waving folds in front, and
behind it was seen through the cap, gathered into
a braid; its colour was peculiar betwixt flaxen
and grey ; it was unusually fine and delicate, and
had a natural bend or wave ; her figure was stout,
her throat short ; her carriage was invariably erect,
and she bore her head rather thrown back, and
with an air of dignity. Her countenance, in her
later years, lost much of that fire which once irra-
diated it; but the expression was more pleasing,
softer, more tender, and loving. Her eyes were
especially charming : there was in them an ardour
mingled with gentleness, that bespoke her true
nature, and occasionally they were raised upwards,
with a look most peculiar and expressive, when her
sympathy was more than usually excited. Her com-
plexion was fair, and the kindling blush mantled
in her cheek, betraying any passing emotion, and
reminding one of her description of one of her
friends who " blushed like a girl to hear his own
praises." Altogether, she attracted you, and you
drew near to her, and liked to look into her face,
and felt that old age, in her, was beautiful and
comely.
LIFE OF AMELIA OPiE. 243
Often, how often, have I, while listening to her
lively anecdotes, and watching her animated coun-
tenance, drawn my chair closer and yet closer, and
at length, slipping down, rested on one knee, in
order the better to see her ; and after bidding her
farewell again and again, returned to the same
position, and " stayed a little longer." How lively
were her narratives, and with what minute touches
she gave the details of the scene she was describing !
What spirit and life did she impart to the por-
traits of those whom she admired ! Certainly her
conversation was superior to her writing : perhaps
the charms of manner and voice aided to enhance
the effect of her words.
The peculiar virtues and excellences of Mrs.
Opie's character have been manifested, as it were,
unconsciously, in the notes and diaries given in
these pages ; and it would be unbecoming, and is
unnecessary, for me to enumerate them. Her
foibles, too, are shown by her own hand ; and happy
they who have so few; happier still they, who
exercise the same watchfulness against their easily
besetting faults. In one of her earlier notes, she
says, " My practice every night is, to examine all
my actions, and sift all my motives during the day,
in all that I have said or done. I make sad dis-
coveries, by that means, of my own sinfulness ; but
I am truly thankful that this power has been given
me, and lay my head on my pillow with much
gratitude."
244 LIFE Or AMELIA OPIE.
To many hearts the remembrance of Amelia
Opie will long be dear, and the thought of her be
cherished with tender regret. One of the ancients
accounted the recollection of his departed friends
among his solemn delights, not looking upon them
as lost ; for, he said, " The thought of them is sweet,
and soothing to me. While I had them, I expected
to lose them ; and having lost them, I feel that I
still have them ;" and not only may the Christian
cherish delightful recollections of the friends he
has lost, but it is the will of G-od, and part of the
favour which he has promised to his servants,
that the memory of the just shall be blessed.
Reed and Pardon, Printert, Paternotier Row, London.
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