A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Opie, Mrs. Amelia
Opie, Mrs. Amelia (ALDERSON) (1769-1853). -- Novelist, dau. of a medical man, was b. at Norwich. In 1798 she m. John Opie, the painter. Her first acknowledged work was Father and Daughter (1801), which had a favourable reception, and was followed by Adeline Mowbray (1804), Temper (1812), Tales from Real Life (1813), and others, all having the same aim of developing the virtuous affections, the same merit of natural and vivid painting of character and passions, and the same fault of a too great preponderance of the pathetic. They were soon superseded by the more powerful genius of Scott and Miss Edgeworth. In 1825 she became a Quaker. After this she wrote Illustrations of Lying (1825), and Detraction Displayed (1828). Her later years, which were singularly cheerful, were largely devoted to philanthropic interests.