Amelia Opie to Henry Perronet Briggs: 2 January 1842

[Scan]

My dear Henry

I can’t recollect whether I obeyed the Bishop of Durham,[1] & told thee in my last that Martin[2] said he could not judge the likeness as he never saw the Bp of Durham but that he thought it as a painting equal to the finest of Sir Joshua’s[3]

I have seen thy Duke,[4] & took a Lady with me who thought it the finest portrait she ever saw – & she must have a print from it she says

They are carrying it all over England to get subscriptions proofs 3 guineas next best 2 — & then 1 — & there are a great many names down here, & elsewhere

It is exhibited by lamp light in Freeman’s shop because there was no good daylight —

I thought the house very pretty – but I did not want it there nor thee either I dare say

Seen in a glass as long as itself, it seemed the person I mean, not the animals quite alive — & it has created quite a sensation here “finest thing ever seen!” & so on very agreeable sounds to my Aunt’s[b] ears – & this from Whigs, as well as Tories – I can no more! & think I would not leave off with a better last paragraph —

To morrow I go to “Miss Gurney’s[5] Northrepps Cottage Cromer” (a hint – )

What is Meggie[b] about?

I wish she was lying in again for then she would write to me —

Farewel!

I have written to Catherine[b]

Thy affecte cousin

A Opie

All love to darlings

Norwich

1st Mo 2nd 1842

A happy new year

And much money to spare!

 

Source: Dr. Shelley King and Dr. John B. Pierce

Address: none

Postmark: none

[1] Edward Maltby (1770-1859) attended Norwich Grammar School; Winchester College; and Pembroke College, Cambridge where he earned his BA, MA, BD, and DD. After working as a writer, scholar, and senator of University College London, Maltby was appointed Bishop of Chichester in 1831 before being translated to Durham in 1836. At Queen Victoria’s coronation, he was in charge of the orb, but unfortunately passed it over at the wrong moment. E. A. Varley. “Maltby, Edward (1770-1859).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004. Web. 15 July 2013.

[2] Possibly a male relative of Miss Martin, for whom Amelia Opie asked Henry Perronet Briggs’s help in procuring a book. Amelia Opie. Letter to Henry Perronet Briggs. 30 August 1842. MS. Huntington Library. Print.

[3] Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), portrait and history painter, and founder of the Royal Academy of Artists. Martin Postle. “Reynolds, Sir Joshua (1723-1792).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004. Web. 25 July 2013.

[4] Likely Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. See Norman Gash. ‘Wellesley, Arthur, First Duke of Wellingston (1769-1852).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004. Web. 9 Aug. 2013.

[5] Anna Gurney (1795-1857), the daughter of Richard Gurney and Rachel Gurney, lived at Northrepps Cottage with her first cousin’s husband’s sister, Sarah Buxton, was a famed Old English scholar and the first woman member of the British Archaeological Association. G. C. Boase. “Gurney, Anna (1785-1857).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004. Web. 25 July 2013.