The Press.
London, England, 1853-12-17 00:00:00

Obituarg.

THE DEATH OF A LAnv once enjoying no little cele-
brity in the literary circles of this country was
announced last week. Mrs. One died a few days
shire at her residence on the Castle Meadow, Nor-
wich, in the malt year. She was the daughter of the
late Dr. Alderson, of Norwich, and the cousin of the
present eminent judge, Baron Alderson. In the year
I;11s she married John Opie, the celebrated painter,
who found in her a judicious adviser and intellectual
em smit'. After her mini age, her numerous literary
preductions gained her considerable reputation as a
novelist, stud she moved in the highest. literary circles.
Iler husband was born at St. Agnes, near Truro, in
t'oruwall, and at an early age developed an astonishing.
talent for art. Dr. Wolcott (Peter Pindar) noticed
the dawning genius of the artist, gave hint
iastructiona, and afterwards recommended him as a
portrait-painter. in 1781 he visited London, and,
through the friendly aid of Dr. Wolcott, soon ob-
tained a high standing in the fashionable world.
This was not, however, of long duration. lie acquired
celebrity by some picture in the exhibition of the
loyal Academy, and those which he painted for the
Boyden and :Macklin galleries. lie was admitted an
associate of the academy in limn, and an academician
in the following year. Ile divided his attention be
tween portrait and historical painting, and his portrait
of Charles Fox was greatly admired. A memoir in
the lives of British painters states, " The ladies who
sat for their portraits he found more difficult to deal
with than the great leader of the Whigs. There was
at first a want of grace and softness in his female
beads—he felt this early, and laboured to amend it,
bat it. is said he did not wholly succeed till his second
marriage. 'pie,' said one of his brethren, when he
exhibited some female portraits soon after that event,
• we never saw anything in you like this before—this
must be owing to your wife ; and the compliment,
though paid perhaps in jest, was nevertheless just.
The habitual ruggedness of his personal manners
viehled to the winning and graceful tact of Amelia
opie. and it is easy to believe that her presence might
have the same influence upon his pencil." In
historical painting he was eminently successful, and
his hest productions are the "Murder of James 1. of
Scotland," " The Death of David " Arthur
taken Prisoner," " Hubert and Arthur," " Belisaritts,"
and "Juliet in the Garden:" pictures which were
stamped with a peculiar energy of style, and by a
vivid reality. He died in Pon, and was buried in
St. Paul's Cathedral, so that Mrs. Opie lived &widow

SATURDAY,

forty-six years. She was very intimate with the late
Mr. J. J. Gurney's family, and he dedicated his un-
published work on America to her. Her own pro-
ductions were chiefly novels. In 1801 she commenced
her literary career, and published her domestic and
pathetic tale of the "Father and Daughter," a
work remarkable for animated dialogue, replete with
genuine painting of nature and passion, and delicacy
of feeling. Her " Simple Tales." in four volumes,
1800 ; " New Tales," four volumes, 1818 ; "Temper,
or Domestic Scenes," a tale in three volumes ; " Tales
of the Heart," four volumes; are all marked by the
same characteristics, the portraiture of domestic life,
drawn with a view to regulate the heart and afection►.
A moral treatise, published in 1818, eutitled " Detrat
tion Displayed," was written, as she says, to expose
"that most common of all vices in every rank or class
of society, from the peer to the peasant, from the
master to the valet, from the mistress to the maid,
front the most learned to the most ignorant, from the
man of genius to the meanest capacity." In the late
Miss Sedgwiek's letters, written from abroad (1841),
the following notice occurs of the late venerable
novelist :—" 1 owed Mrs. Opie a grudge for having
made me in my youth cry my eyes out over her
stories, but her fair cheerful face forced me to forget
it. She long forswore the world and its vanities, and
adopted the Quaker faith and costume; but I fancied
that her elaborate simplicity, and the fashionable
little train in her• pretty satin gown, indicated how
much easier it is to adopt a theory than to change
one's habits." The brilliant critic of the Edinburgh
Eerier, in its best days, said of Mrs. Opie, "She can
do nothing well that requires to be done with for•
reality, and therefore has not succeeded in copying
either the concentrated force of weighty and deliberate
reason, or the severe and solentn dignity of majestic
virtue. To make amends, however, she represents
admirably everything that is amiable, generous, and
gentle." Several of her novels have been very
popular, and gone through many editions, but are
now thr►en into the shade, with many others widely
circulated half a century ago, by more powerful fic-
tions and the more masculine character of the imagi-
native literature of late years. She was the author
of "Lays of the Dead," and other poems, which have
i►een admired for their purity of style and pathos.
During the last quarter of a century Mrs. Opie was
a consistent member of the Society of Friends, and
she lived in comparative seclusion, highly esteemed
and beloved by all who were acquainted with her.
The Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, the
Bev. IL HAMNOTON, D.D., expired after• a very brief
illness on Tuesday morning. The deceased was
apparently in good health up to the previous Satur-
day, when he complained of a slight bilious attack,
i►ut inflammation of the bowels supervened, and on
Monday last medical aid was pronounced hopeless.
Dr. llarington was formerly an undergraduate of
Christ Church, from which he was elected to a
fellowship of Brasenose College, in Mardi, 1811,
having in Michaelmas term preceding obtained a
first-class in " literis Inunanioribus." He was a
fellow and tutor of ltrasenose College for a period of
eleven years, when he succeeded to a college living,
which he held until 1811. lit that year he was
elected Principal of Brasenose College, on the eleva-
tion of the Bev. Dr. Ashlturst Turner Gilbert, then
principal, to the episcopal see of Chichester. The
deceased was one of the Pro-Vice .Chancellors,
delegate of appeals in Convocation, a commissioner
of the streets and market, and a county magistrate.
Few events that have occurred in Oxford have ex-
cited so deep a sensation or so much regret through-
out the university, city, anti county, as the almost
sudden death of this most useful and estimable
man. In the affairs of the university he took an
active and prominent part, and enjoyed to the
fullest extent the confidence cf that body. His
talents were of a diversified order, and he was a
zealous lover and promoter of all that related to
architecture and archeology. He tilled the office of
President of the Architectural Society for several
years, and only retired from that post at the com-
mencement of the present month. In his character
of a divine he was regarded with great respect,
and although he was not often called on to officiate,
yet his sermons before the university were such as
reflected credit on himself, anti were worthy of the
university pulpit.
The death, through a melancholy accident, of
Lieutenant-Colonel Xi:sour, of the eftth Rifles. is
announced by the Graham's Town Journal. The
following details are given by a correspondent of
that paper under date King William's-town, October
:—" On Saturday last a fatal accident occurred to
Lieutenant-Colonel Nesbitt, troth Miles, the suc-
eessor of Lieutenant-General Yorke in the command
of British Karelia. It would apf.ear the colonel, in
his capacity of commandant, had proceeded on a
tour of inspection of the posts in Thitish Kafrarie,
act'ompanied by his &de-de-camp, I i uterant
and two orderlies. After inspecting Fort white, and
the new post in coarse of erection at Middle Drift,
although the Keiskamma was high and rnnning
rapidly, the colonel proceeded rid Hobbs's Drift to

DECEMBER 17, 1853.

Fort Cox. This drift was safely passed by Lieutenant
Ellis and the orderlies, though the river was greatly
swollen. The colonel, unfortunately, allowing his
horse to take too low a course, where he could
neither keep his footing nor hold up against the
swats, was quickly carried from the saddle, and is
supposed to have come iu contact with a waggon and
span of o;en which had been just swept away by
the flood. He was never seen afterwards. In a very
short time after this distressing occurrence both
banks of the river were lined with soldiers searching
for the body, hut without success. The horse made
his way out near where the colonel was last seen. A
boat was sent from Fort Murray. and a7ain the
search was renewed, but nothing was found except
his whip near the fatal spot. One of the lancers
sent with the express to his excellency, conveying
the above intelligence, Wii drowned at Line Drift,
crossing the same Keiskamma."