My dearest A.,
I was very sorry not to be able to see R. yesterday; but I was denied to every one while Mrs. F. Kemble was with me, 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. I much enjoyed F. K.’s conversation. She is gone to-day on her way to London. How many things I want to say to thee, but 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 for my speedy recovery; but life has still its charms. I am so 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.
Thine ever, most affectionately,
A. Opie.
A few passages 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 ever I saw it before. Surely the mansions in heaven must be draped with such unparalleled colours! (5th mo. 4th.) Oh! Captain Gardener and his crew! how I have cried over their death; and yet how enviable was the state of their minds; how meek and entire their resignation how blessed their entrance into the Redeemer’s kingdom, and their awaiting welcome there! I have read it through three times, as though fascinated.—Poor John Dalrymple, cut off when he had attained the height of his profession! (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 what I have. Mine has been a lonely lot through life; 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 made her last visit to Cromer. She remained there for a fortnight, and had two rooms on a 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 around her; amongst them her very old and valued ones, Mrs. and Miss Hoare, whose daily visits cheered her; and many were the little kindnesses she received, which, small in themselves, were yet valued as tokens of love; and they were mentioned with grateful remembrance. On reaching home she was carried upstairs in her basket-chair, never to go down again!
Shortly after her return she wrote to Miss Gurney,
9th mo., 26th, 1852.
Dearest Anna,