In loving fellowship farewel! A Opie. 3rd Mo 24th 1841.
MEMORIALS
OF THE
LIFE OF AMELIA OPIE,
SELECTED AND ARRANGED
BY
CECILIA LUCY BRIGHTWELL.
NORWICH:
FLETCHER AND ALEXANDER;
LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, & Co.
MDCCCLIV.
PREFACE.
In the preparation of these Memoirs for publication, theprincipal part of the labour has been undertaken by mydaughter; the pressure of other engagements having onlypermitted me to undertake the general direction and supervisionof the whole.
As the Executor of Mrs. Opie, her papers and letterscame into my hands; and it devolved on me to decidein what way to dispose of them. There had been, (Ibelieve,) a general impression among her friends, that shewould herself prepare an account of her Life; but althoughshe seems to have made some efforts at commencing the task,and the subject was often affectionately recommended, andeven urged upon her, she has left it a matter of regret to herfriends, (and especially so to the compilers of these memoirs,)that no “Autobiography” was found among her papers.Nor did Mrs. Opie ever distinctly give any directions as tothe publication of her MSS. or any Memoir of her Life;but we have, we think, strong presumptive evidence, thatshe anticipated, if not desired, that it should be done.
Not long before she died, she said, that her Executorwould have no light task with her papers; and a few daysbefore she breathed her last, when she could no longer holda pen, she called her attendant to her, and dictated a mosttouching and affectionate farewell address, to me and mydaughter, directing the delivery of various small articles asremembrances to a few most intimate friends, and requestingus to complete what she had left undone; adding, that shehad confidence in our judgment, and believed that we should“do everything for the best.”
It has been with an earnest desire to justify this trust,and to perfect, as far as in our power, that which she had,in fact commenced, but left incomplete, that these pages havebeen put to the press.
It will be seen, in the course of these Memoirs, that thematerials from which they are compiled, are principallyPapers, Letters, and Diaries, of Mrs. Opie’s own writing;a few Le