My dear Sir
Mr. Lemaistre[2] has just been here to tell me that a review of 20000 ^men> is to take place tomorrow at ½ past 8 in Hyde Park & that Mrs. Lemaistre[3] with my consent will call for me and my cousin at ½ past 7—
This said consent I was not enclined to give because of my engagement with you
But as a review so attended so loyally attended, may never take place again you I trust I may live to see again & again Mr Lemaistre has admired my throwing myself on your well known kindness & requesting you to defer our meeting till 10 o’clock on Tuesday instead of tomorrow
Flattering myself that pleasure deprived is not pleasure relinquished,
I submit myself dear Sir
Yours very respecting
A Opie
Source: King and Pierce
Address: Henry Barry Esquire, Half Moon Street
Postmark: None
[1] the likely date would appear to be 1811—see Scott Hughes Myerly, “’The Eye Must Entrap the Mind’: Army Spectacle and Paradigm in Nineteenth-Century Britain” Journal of Social History 26:1 (Autumn 1991 pp 105-131)
“in 1811 when the Prince Regent had a Royal Review at Wimbledon Common to help celebrate his accession to the Regency, 20,000 soldiers performed, drawn up in two parallel lines which extended for two miles.”
[2] John Gustavus Lemaistre (?–1840), travel writer (A Rough Sketch
of Modern Paris (1803) and Travels after the Peace of Amiens through parts of
France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany (1806) ). See King and Pierce. Collected Poems of Amelia Alderson Opie.
[3] Elizabeth Lemaistre (?–1857) was the wife of Opie’s ‘dear and highly valued
friend’ (B. 158) John Gustavus Lemaistre (?–1840), travel writer (A Rough Sketch
of Modern Paris (1803) and Travels after the Peace of Amiens through parts of
France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany (1806). See King and Pierce. Collected Poems of Amelia Alderson Opie.
The Amelia Alderson Opie Archive 