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[11]
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We find in Matchett’s “Norfolk and Norwich Remembrancer,”
p. 63, under date, October 13th, 1802, this entry; “Alderman
Francis Colombine resigned his gown as Alderman, to whom and
his daughter the Corporation of Norwich granted an annuity
of £100.”
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[12]
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This creature became a great pet. Mrs. Opie taught it some
pretty tricks, and it was so fondly attached to Mr. O. that during
his illness it used to sit and watch at the door of his chamber like a
dog. Mrs. O. often talked of it. It came to an untimely end, and
she was so much distressed about it, that this probably was the
reason she never would again have any pets; for, in later years she
evinced no disposition to fondle animals. No favourite dog, cat, or
bird, was permitted to domicile with her.
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[13]
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I observed the same expression in the eye of Buonaparte,
when, standing near the marble stairs of the Tuilleries, I saw him
as he ascended them and looked on a group of English assembled to
gaze at him.—A. O.
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[14]
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The Assizes were held at this time in a building at the top of
the Castle Hill adjoining the Castle.
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CHAPTER IX.
PROSPERITY; “SIMPLE TALES;” VISIT TO SOUTHILL; LADY ROSLYN; MR. OPIE’S “LECTURES;” HIS ILLNESS; HIS DEATH.
The year 1806 was, to the subject of these memoirs, prosperous, and full of joyful anticipation for the future, beyond any that had preceded it. The time so long desired seemed now at hand; Mr. Opie saw himself justly rewarded, for all his labour and perseverance amid difficulties and disappointments, by success and fame; “he was conscious (his wife says) that our circumstances were now such as would enable us to have more of the comforts and elegancies of life, and to receive our friends in a manner more suited to the esteem which we entertained for them; I was allowed to make the long projected alterations and improvements in my own apartments; and he had resolved to indulge himself in the luxury (as he called it) of keeping a horse.” But alas! when the time did come, it came too late!
Not, however, to anticipate—in the spring of this year, Mrs. Opie published her “Simple Tales,” in four volumes; tales which are characterized by the same merits, as well as defects, as are found in her other works of this description. For a critique upon them, and on Mrs. Opie’s merits as an author, we must refer the reader to the article, before alluded to, in the July number of “The Edinburgh Review,” for 1806, from which we may be allowed to quote a short extract. After alluding to the deficiencies of her style, and observing that few of her personages can be said to be original, or even uncommon, the writer says:—