Roberts, Margaret
To Lady Olivia Sparrow from Mary Roberts on behalf of Hannah More, 01 May [1830]
It is now some time since dear has quite ceased from corresponding with her Friends, she has therefore requested me to assure your Ladyship of the very great pleasure with which she received the late kind & affecte. Communication from one whom she remembers with such unfeigned esteem & regard. Of those Friends indeed whom she yet does retain in her memory she has the most kind & warm recollections, but it is the Will of the Almighty that this faculty of her mind should visibly & rather rapidly decline; its amiable qualities however remain in full vigour, & as her benevolence is still exercised in a degree only limited by the very utmost extent of her pecuniary ability, her prolonged life is a great blessing to very many. The recollections too of the truly beneficial purposes to which she employed her fine intellect when it was in full vigour, must endear her to all who estimate talents only as their influence is exerted for the glory of the great Grace, & the benefit of His creatures – she has still many cheerful spirits & is very open to enjoyment & to the attentions of those immediate friends who surround her, with whom she is generally able to converse Collectedly & very pleasantly but as the introduction of Strangers now bewilders & fatigues her, it is deemed, by those who love her best & therefore consider her most, advisable to admit none but very old & intimate acquaintances to intercourse with her, altho’ to enforce such a restriction requires (it is found) a very Strenuous and determined effort, & brings upon , the kind & affecte. friend who constantly lives with her, some reproach & ill will. My Sister & myself inhabit a house not fifty Yards from her abode,* & see her some part of most days, indeed are frequently her intimates.
To Lady Olivia Sparrow from Mary Roberts on behalf of Hannah More, 14 April [1832]
Perhaps I ought to mention, that she has confided all her papers at her death to the care of my Sister & * –