ious terms had been excessively
modest. Wolcot was a good friend to Opie, though their intercourse did
not remain very cordial; but for a time they even entered into some
sort of partnership together, in London, and there can be no doubt
that the painter was thus introduced to a wider circle than he would
otherwise have reached. He became the "Cornish Wonder," and felt able
to tell Wolcot that he could get on by himself. This may sound like
ingratitude, but we do not know enough of the story to form a
judgment. When Northcote returned to London from abroad Joshua
Reynolds said to him, "My dear sir, you may go back; there is a
wondrous Cornishman who is carrying all before him." "What is he
like?" asked Northcote. "Like? Why, like Caravaggio and Velasquez in
one." Opie began to exhibit at the Royal Academy in 1782, and in the
same year he married a lady who eloped from him. Divorcing her, he
married, many years later, the novelist Mrs. Opie. The flood of his
popularity waned considerably, as such sudden fashions do, but still
he had plenty of work, and a solid reputation grew on a sounder basis.
In 1787 his "Assassination of David Rizzio" procured his election as
A.R.A., and a year afterwards he became full member. The lectures that
he delivered at the Academy were admirable both in matter and in
manner, and are worthy of ranking even with those of Reynolds, whose
life Opie wrote. Dying in 1807, after a second married period of great
happiness, the painter was buried at St. Paul's. Among those whose
portraits he painted were Dr. Johnson, Fox, Burke, Dr. Parr,
Northcote, and many other celebrities of his day. Apart from his own
special art, he was passionately devoted to poetry, and is said to
have had a wonderful memory for recitation. The house at which he was
born is situated about half-way between St. Agnes and Perranporth.
Trevaunance Porth, which now has some insignificant accommodation for
shipping, is notable for the difficulties that opposed even such small
harbourage. The manor belonged to the Tonkin family, who spent much
money in the attempt to build a pier, but the force of the sea always
frustrated them. About the year 1700 Winstanley, the famous builder of
Eddystone, constructed an excellent quay and basin, but a gale
destroyed this after a very few years. Tonkin, the parochial historian
of Cornwall, whose work is valuable in spite of its errors, laid out a
considerable sum in an effort to repair the quay, a