Elizabeth Lee

“ She published in that year ‘Valentine's Eve,’ a novel in three volumes, explaining somewhat vaguely her religious views. Hayley declared that it ‘happily recommended to everyday practice the cordial lessons of simple, genuine Christianity’ (Memoirs, ii. 183) . Meanwhile, at Norwich, Mrs. Opie had renewed an early intimacy with the quaker family of Gurney, and Joseph John Gurney [q. v.] , whom Dean Stanley called ‘the quaker pope’ (Prothero, Life of Stanley, i. 252) , obtained great influence over her. Mrs. Opie's affection for him was probably something stronger than mere friendship. ”

“ In 1781 the father died, but Sophia had prudently devoted the profits of ‘The Chapter of Accidents’ to founding a school for young ladies at Belvidere House, Bath, where she made a home for her sisters. The school became a success, and occupied nearly all Miss Lee's time. ”

“ She was buried on 9 Dec., in the same grave as her father, in the Friends' burying-ground at Norwich.
Mrs. Opie's poems are simple in diction. Two or three of them are deservedly found in every anthology, and one, ‘There seems a voice in every gale,’ is well known as a hymn (Julian, Dict. of Hymnology, p. 871) . Her novels, which were among the first to treat exclusively of domestic life, possess pathos and some gracefulness of style, but belong essentially to the lachrymose type of fiction, and are all written to point a moral. ”

“ Her circle of acquaintance in Bath was numerous and agreeable, and included General Paoli. Having made an easy competence, she gave up her school in 1803, and in the next year published in six volumes of epistles ‘The Life of a Lover,’ really her earliest attempt at writing. ”

“ S. C. Hall, who saw her in 1851, declared that time ‘had only replaced the charms of youth with the beauty of old age’ (Retrospect of a Long Life, ii. 184–7) . Till almost the end she retained her love of fun, her merry laugh and ready repartee, and her faculty of telling stories to children. ”

“ In 1804 she published ‘Adeline Mowbray, or the Mother and Daughter,’ a tale in three volumes, in part suggested by the history of Mary Wollstonecraft. A third edition appeared in 1810, the latest in 1844. Mackintosh (Life, i. 255) allowed the tale pathetic scenes, but judged ‘that it may as well be taken to be a satire on our prejudices in favour of marriage as on the paradoxes of sophists against it.’ In the spring of 1806 appeared ‘Simple Tales,’ in four volumes; a second edition followed in the same year, a fourth in 1815. ”

“ She had little education, and is said to have been cook-maid in a gentleman's family. From childhood she delighted in reading, acquired a few books, including the works of Dryden and Pope, and at an early age composed verses, chiefly in imitation of Pope. ”

“ From an early age Miss Planché wrote novels and moral tales for children. As a novelist she took Dickens for her model. In 1845 appeared ‘Old Joliffe,’ and in the next year ‘A Sequel to Old Joliffe.’ In 1849 she published ‘A Trap to Catch a Sunbeam,’ a brightly written little tale with a moral, and it is on this production that her reputation chiefly rests. It was composed some three years before the date of publication, and has gone through forty-two editions, the last appearing in 1882, and has been translated into many foreign languages, including Hindustani. ”

“ I fear not’ (Hall, Retrospect of a Long Life, ii. 184–7) . She wore the quaker garb, although she confessed to Gurney the agony of mind she endured at the thought of adopting it (Braithwaite, Gurney, i. 242) ; but her dress, though fawn or grey in colour, was always of rich silk or satin. Miss Sedgwick fancied that Mrs. Opie's ‘elaborate simplicity and the fashionable little train to her pretty satin gown indicated how much easier it is to adopt a theory than to change one's habits’ (Letters from Abroad, i. 98) . Crabbe Robinson declared that ‘her becoming a quaker gave her a sort of éclat ”

“ She was descended in the female line from Edward Hyde, the great earl of Clarendon, whose life was written by her first husband, and in 1852 she published in three volumes ‘The Lives of the Friends and Contemporaries of Lord Chancellor Clarendon;’ the book gives biographies of most of the people whose portraits were to be found in the Clarendon gallery at The Grove, Watford, which had descended successively to her father and brother ”

“ Amelia, who was brought up in her father's belief, had little serious education. She learned French under John Bruckner, a Flemish clergyman settled in Norwich, and devoted some attention to music and dancing (cf. Beloe, Sexagenarian, i. 412) . On 31 Dec. 1784 her mother died, and Amelia at the age of fifteen took charge of her father's house and entered local society. One of its leaders, Mrs. John Taylor [q. v.] , the mother of Mrs. Sarah Austin [q. v.] , proved an admirable friend and counsellor (cf. Ross, Three Generations of Englishwomen, i. 8, 9) . ”

“ Newbery invariably showed Smart the utmost kindness, and, after his death in the King's Bench prison on 18 May 1770, gave employment to the widow and her two daughters in the office of the ‘Reading Mercury,’ which belonged to him. The Smarts settled at Reading. John Newbery also secured by his will provision for Mrs. Smart; and her daughters, Mrs. Le Noir and Mrs. Cowslade, ultimately inherited the ‘Reading Mercury.’ In 1795 Elizabeth married a French refugee, Jean Baptiste Le Noir de la Brosse, chevalier of the royal and military order of St. ”

“ VELEY, MARGARET (1843–1887) , novelist and poet, was the second daughter of Augustus Charles Veley, by his wife Sophia, daughter of Thomas Ludbey, rector of Cranham. She was born on 12 May 1843 at Braintree, Essex, where her father practised as a solicitor, being mainly occupied with the ecclesiastical business of the district. Margaret was educated at home with the exception of one term spent at Queen's College, Tufnell Park. She became proficient in French literature. ”

“ John Philip and Charles Kemble were also in the cast. Miss Lee acknowledged her indebtedness for the catastrophe to Shirley's ‘Cardinal’ (cf. Genest, i. 341, vii. 238) . The drama was unsuccessful and ran only four nights (Oxberry) . To the first volume of ‘The Canterbury Tales,’ published in 1797 by her sister Harriet, Sophia contributed the introduction, and to the later volumes of the work, two tales, filling about a volume and a half, called ‘The Young Lady's Tale, or the Two Emilys,’ and ‘The Clergyman's Tale.’ Sophia's work is far inferior to Harriet's. ”

“ ELIZABETH (1780–1837) , writer for the young under the pseudonym of Mrs. Markham, second daughter of Edmund Cartwright [q. v.] , rector of Goadby-Marwood, Leicestershire, and inventor of the power loom, and of his wife, Alice, youngest daughter and coheiress of Richard Whittaker of Doncaster, was born at Goadby-Marwood on 3 Aug. ”

“ The book contains a well-executed engraving of each gem, with an explanation of its subject and illustrative quotations from Greek or Latin authors, with translations into English verse. ‘Gualtherus and Griselda, or the clerk of Oxford's Tale,’ appeared in 1739. ”

“ Markham’ published, also in two volumes, a history of France on the same plan; the forty-eighth thousand appeared in 1856, and another edition in 1857. Numerous volumes of questions relating to both the history of England and that of France have been published. The latter was also continued down to 1871 by Francis Young, and an edition published in that year and in 1873. Histories of Greece and Rome were announced, but never published. Many editions of her books were published in America (Hale, Woman's Record, p. 847) . ”

“ Mackarness took up her residence with her father first at Chelsea, and afterwards at Clapham. In spite of ill-health she continued writing till her death on 6 May 1881 at Margate. She was buried beside her husband in Ash churchyard. She possessed considerable musical talent. ”

“ She is on the right-hand side, the second figure in the second row, in a tall black quakeress bonnet (Taylor, Life of Haydon, 2nd edit. iii. 159) . She was in London in the two following years, attending meetings, dining out, and breakfasting with Rogers. For the next four years (1842–6) she remained in Norwich, in close attendance upon an aged aunt.
Time touched Mrs. Opie lightly. In 1839 Miss Mitford called her ‘a pretty old woman’ (Letters of M. R. Mitford, 2nd ser. i. 143) ; Caroline Fox dined with her in 1843, and found her ‘in great force and really jolly’ (Memories of Old Friends) ”