On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Mrs . Catharine Cappe . The readers of the Mouthly Repository , who have been so often instructed and delighted by the productions of Mrs . Cappe's peo , will hear with deep regret that her labours have been suddenly terminated . She died of an apoplectic
seizure , early m the morning of Sunday , July 29 th , passing , almost without a struggle or a pang , from the cheerful and pious enjoyment of this life to that better world which was the object of her steady faith and hope , and . for which she lived in a constant state of preparation . The public will be speedily in possession of a rail and just delineation of her character .
by one whom the confidential intercourse of thirty years has qualified to speak of its high and various excellencies ; and she has left for publication a most interesting biographical memoir of herself , in which she has traced the influences to which she had been exposed from the earliest period to which memory extended , the vicissitudes of her lot , the origin and
success of her various undertakings . In the mean time , one who enjoyed her friendship ouly in the decline of life may , perhaps , be permitted to describe her as she appeared to him , and to record a few circumstances of her personal history for the gratification of those who have hitherto known her only through the medium of her works .
Mrs . Cappe was the daughter of the Rev . Jeremiah Harrison , M . A ., and was born on the 3 d of June , O . S ., 1744 , at Long Preston , in Craven , of which place her father was rector . When she was about four years old , he removed with his
family to Catterick , where a considerable part of her early life was spent . By her mother ' s side , who was a grand-daughter of Sir Rowland Winn , Bart ., of Nostel , in Yorkshire , she was related to several families of fortune and rank in this
county , and m her youth associated much with them . The polished urbanity which was united in her manners , with the higher charm of genuine benevolence , was no doubt derived from this source , as well as from the influence of domestic example . Both her father and mother were persons of exemplary piety and vir «
tue ; Mr . Harrison possessed considerable taste and literary cultivation , and the reader will naturally suppose , that as he could not fail to remark , so he would delight to assist in developing the excel- * lent capacity of his daughter : but very different opinions on the subject of female education prevailed in the middle of the
Untitled Article
last century from those which are current at the present day ; her literary education was of the simplest kind and her intellectual improvement was chiefly made at a later period of her life . He died , after being several years in declining healtn , in 1763 , leaving , besides the subject of this memoir , a son , destined for the church
whose conduct did not contribute to the comfort of his mother and sister , and who died some years after . Mrs . Harrison ' s life was protracted to the age of 88 ; she lived to see the happiness and honour which the virtues of her daughter pro * cured for her , and received from her in her declining years every kind attention which filial affection and a sense of duty prompted .
The death of her father , in whatever light it may then have beea regarded by his daughter , gave the whole colour to the subsequent periods of her life , and under the direction of that Providence which ordereth all things for the best , was the means of bringing to light tho $ e endowments -which might otherwise have been useless to the world and unknown evea
to their possessor . She bad , indeed , discovered in herself the capacity of being something better than those whom she saw around her absorbed in the , . pursuit of riches and worldly greatness ,, or possessed by no higher ambition than that of shining in the ranks of fashion ; she felt an earnest longing for intellectual culture
and moral improvement , but she had hitherto . met with no one to encourage or gratify this desire ; she had been taught to regard the fields of literature as forbidden ground to a female , and to repress even the wish of benevolent activity , when it wandered beyond the circle of domestic duties . The time ba $ arrived when she was to be s ubject to more
favourable influences ; the successor of her father in . the vicarage of Catterick was the Rev . Theophilus Lind&ey , wlio had exchanged a living in Dorsetshire for it , in order to be near A rchdeacon Blackburne , Mr& . Linctsey ' s stepfather . The acquaintance which had previously existed between her and Mis « Harrison was soon renewed ; her mind , formed for the enthusiastic love of moral excellence ,
attached itself with a feeling of veneration to the saintly virtues of the husband , and she appreciated the high principle , the energetic character and powerful understanding of his partner , without being blind to her imperfections . Mrs ,.
Harrison and her daughter had teed their residence at Bedale , a few miles from Catterick , but she was a frequent guest at the vicarage , witnessing the opder of their domestic arrangements , their nuUual affection and esteem , and the admirable
Untitled Article
494 Qbituaxy . ^ Mrs * Catharine Cappe .
Untitled Article
tance attended to pay their last tribute plTrespect to his ' memory . P .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1821, page 494, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2503/page/54/
-