UNIVE il i i I | i | ti { {i i ! i | | | | 1Per ae hearer ie if { 7 teigsetite te ep I PEK eoeseeaes pee eh secret et i t ; tel rititi tit ea tee ie ae est is SRE Pian Aa RS eS SPE A oreo ed at Pea eri er Phere Farhan ere ory ary pe pene press Coupee cate prponrer’ ihe Pays pee eee yaks . Perry ete > 3 u fy So eatatad iste Mra)LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA FROM THE LIBRARY OF WILLIAM JACKSON Morton, D. D.op bdr the he esa Pre Tate ey Clty y a Pern nah bape LRP AR RS cpa ws Or - 3 ‘i x cy yy PPP E ROR Sere Rete tn aE Se: Cos Pee eres cs ants oy Peete nate mr ae Rok eros ioe Ge oa airre ese Sek ete bk mi ae eke} {ol oe 3 Carnes 1 ar eit he eats S43 Ce rey yi" te) os Gf ol mtd nb he q i ica eae e eat inet seat garage Abed reeg peace n ry coer)Ren esate ersgatec eae ey rey erere op at.Seas With a Critical and Biographical Intro- duction by W. M. Rossetti, and a Frontispiece in Color by Henry J. Peck ‘Phe ©€o Operative Publication Society New York and LondonNese St eee Pee ors etePREFATORY NOTICE. SENTIMENT without passion, and suffering without objection —these, along with a deep religious sense, and_with the gifts of a brilliant mind taking the poetical direction through eager sympathy and some genuine vocation, constitute the life of Mrs. Hemans.’ Whatever may be the deservings of the poems in they do not fail to convey to the reader a certain other respects, impression of beauty, felt to be inherent as muchin the person- ality of ee ; j core > rie < the authoress as in her writings: they show as We Ante ¥ ra es ai pee 22 . a ; Ty vd end om bene’ ~— e— G 5 CD C ° sion which the reader will thus have received from See oe De * a a.) 7 med but intensified when e~ INO nama not ) 1x7 , 4 yerusing the poems is not only confi t pert he knows the events of the writer’s life. Y 1 z6 To » + } 2 Rra Wy “ LaArN 7 Tt) y ar! aa Felicia Dorothea Browne, born in Duke Street, Liverpool, on the 25th of September, 1700, was daughter ora merchant of ny sa ¢ ye } 17 / y Wau 117 vf 1; 7 } 5 E ; considerable eminence, a native or Ireland, belonging to a branch rf +] Qian f.é Sw T ry moathar “7 = ey of the Sligo family. Her mother, whose maiden name was Wagner, was partly Italian and ]} y German by extraction, her father having held the post of Consul at Liverpool for th The surname Wagner was CD Austrian and Tuscan Governments. in reality a corruption from the illustrious Venetian name fit Veniero, borne by three Doges, and by the Commander of the fleet of the Republic at the great battle of Lepanto. Felicia was the fifth child in a family of seven, of whom one died in . a} 1 ¥ ria > rin Jat Lany 2 26 i \UT Y infancy ; she was disting wished, almost from her cradle, by ex- oP treme beauty and precocious talents. ‘‘ The full glow of that 1 The Memoir of Mrs. Hemans, written by her sister Mrs. Hughes, and prefixed to the edition of the Poems in 7 vols. published by Messrs. Blackwood, is the best au- thority for the facts of the poet’s life. There arealso the Memorials by Mr. Chorley in 2 vols., containing a good deal of Mrs. Hemans’s correspondence (reproduced to a large extent by Mrs. Hughes), and mostly bearing on her literary career rather than the circumstances of her private life. The former of these accounts is pleasantly written, in a tone of deep affection, and admiration as well, at which the reader will not be disposed to cavil. 15—Mrs. Hemans—A iiiBin GALE Biante Fat beta or nt aha te aa fafa Keb bas Lega sata est 1V PREFATORY NOTICE. radiant beauty which was destined to fade so early ” is one of the expressions used by the poetess’s sister in describing the former at theage of fifteen, This reference to ‘‘ carly fading ” appears to be intended to apply rather to the death of Mrs. Hemans when only in her forty-second year, and to the ravages of disease in the few years preceding, than to any loss of comelinessin mature womanhood. An engraved portrait of her by the American artist William EK. West, one of three which he painted in 1827, shows us that Mrs. Hemans, at the age of thirty-four, was eminently pleasing and good-looking, with an air of amiability and sprightly gentleness, and of confiding candor which, while none the less perfectly womanly, might almost be termed childlike in its limpid depth. The features are correct and harmonious ; the eyes full; and the contour amply and elegantly rounded. In height she was neither tall nor short. A sufficient wealth of naturally clustering hair, golden in early youth, but by this time of a rich auburn, shades the capacious but not over-developed forehead, and the lightly-pencilled eyebrows. The bust and form have the fulness of a mature period of life; and it would appear that Mrs. Hemans was somewhat short-necked and high-shouldered, partly detracting from deli- cacy of proportion, and of general aspect or impression on the eye. We would rather judge of her by this portrait (which her sister pronounces a good likeness) than by another engraved in Mr. Chorley’s memorials. This latter was executed in >. 17° ° ) < seen te Se OS : : TL) ; ; Dublin in 1831 bya young artist named Edward Robinson. It nakes Mrs. Hemans look younger than in the earlier portrait by West, and may ou that ground alone be surmised unfaithful : and, though younger, it also makes her heavier refined. 7 yy + oe 4) nite 5: Ihe childhood of Felicia Browne wag probably rendered all the happier bya commercial reverse which befell her father be- > s el RA ie . Cro rTy see. . : - fore she was seven years of age. ‘I'he family hereupon removed to Wales, and for nine years they lived at Gwrych'! near A ber- gele in Denbighshire, close to the sea and amid mountains. Y . ad ay TOPTT Aan e fe 1 1 : ; i This was the very scene for the poetically-minded child to enjoy, *So spelled by Mrs. Hughag > “Grwych " by Mr, Chorley, and less 4 re ttPREFATORY NOTICE. Vv and to have her powers nurtured by : a great love of nature, and in particular an affectionate delight in Wales, its people and associations, constantly traceable in her writings, followed as an almost necessary consequence. Her mother, a most ami- able and excellent woman, fully qualified to carry on her daughter’s education, devoted the most careful attention to this object, and was repaid by an unswerving depth and con- stancy of love. A large library was kept in the house, and Felicia drew heavily upon its stores: a pretty picture is pre- sented to the mind’s eye, and would not be unworthy of realiza- tion by art, in the anecdote that it was her habit, at the age of six, to read Shakspeare while seated in the branches of an vpple-tree.—Along with great rapidity of comprehension, she 1ad a hsemory of surprising retentiveness, and would repeat whole pages of poetry after a single reading. At the age of about eleven she passed a winter in London, and was there again in the following year—never afterwards. < 1 I In 1808—age fourteen— Felicia first appears as an authoress. She pi ablished. a volume of poems which got abused in some re- view : this was the only time that really harsh criticism befell her. The mishap so far affected the impressionable damsel as to keep her in bed some days: but she surmounted it pretty soon and re- sumed writing. In the same year she wrote a poem named Hng- land and Spa in: being then under the influence of military enthu- siasm arising from the events of the Peninsular War, in which one of her brothers was serving : another of them was also in the army, and in the same regiment, the 23d Royal Welsh Fusi- leers. The next year was & momentous one ve the life of Felicia Browne. She met Captain Hemans, of the 4th (or King’s Own) Regiment, an officer not rich in purse, bat vis wing advantages, as we are informed, both of person and education : he professed admiration of the bewitching girl, and she gave him her love. He shortly had to return to Spain ; and nearly three years e lapsed before they again met. Meanw! hile, in 1809, the Browne family removed to Bronwylfa, near St. Asaph in Flintshire ; and in 1812, for the second and last time, appeared a volume of poetry bearing the name of Felicia Dorothea Browne, The Domestic Affections,V1 PREFATORY NOTICE. and Other Poems. In the summer of 1812 she married the man of her choice. Biographers have not permitted us to know distinctly whether or not the conjugal life of Mrs. Hemans was happy, or what Cap- tain Hemans might possibly have found to say on the subject : at any rate, it was a short one, practically speaking. The wed- ded couple resided at first at Daventry in Northamptonshire, where the Captain was Adjutant to the County Militia : here they remained about a year, and here was born their son Arthur, the first of a family of five, all of whom were boys. They then went to live with Mrs. Hemans’s own family at Bronwylfa ; her mother was now atthe head of the house, ag her father, having resumed the mercantile career, had gone out to Quebec, where finally he died. In 1818 Captain Hemans resolved to go to the south of Europe ‘‘ for the sake of his health ’—a very inconvenient mo- tive, or a highly convenient one, according to circumstances : he had suffered much from the vicissitudes of a military life, especially during the retreat to Corunna, and afterwards through fever caught in the Walcheren expedition. He departed just before the birth of his fifth gon ; went to Rome; and there settled down. The parting proved to bea final one. It might have been fancied that even the shattered frame of a young officer who had survived Corunnaand Walcheren would suffice for the effort of coming to Wales, England, or Ireland, at some time between 1818 and 1835, so as to rebehold a wife whom he had left in the bloom of youth and loveliness, and whose literary fame, for many years succeeding his departure, lent an ever-brighten- ing lustre to the name of Hemans, and so as to get a glimpse of his five promising boys. But this was not to be: forsome reason or other, not defined to us, even the charms of Bronwylfa, with a wife, five sons, and a resident mother-in-law, did not relax the tenacious grasp which Italy and Rome obtained on Captain Hemans. Or again it might have seemed conceivable that not only Captain Hemans but also his wife, the author of Lays of Many Lands, sensitive to the historic and romantic associations of such a country as Italy, would find it compatible with her liking as well as her duties to pay a visit to Rome, or possibly toPREFATORY NOTICE. vil make it her permanent dwelling-place. As to this, it may per- haps be inferred, in a general way, that the family affections of daughter and mother were more dominant and vivid in Mrs. Hemans than conjugal love: her intense feeling of the sacred- ness of home, which it would be both idle and perverse to contest, may have set before her, as more binding and imperative, the duties of service to her own mother, and of guidance to her own ehildren, than the more equal, passionate, and in some sense self-indulgent relation between wife and husband. However, abandoning conjecture, it may be best here to transcribe the reticent hints on the subject which are given by the poetess’s sister, Mrs. Hughes, in her Memoir, and yl show that the de facto separation between Captain and Mrs. Hemans depended partly upon general considerations of family obligation, and partly upon special circumstances not clearly indicated, but ap- parently reflecting more or less on the marital deportment of the Captain. .“It has been alleged, and with perfect truth, that the literary pursuits of Mrs. Hemans, and the education of her children, made it more eligible for her to remain under the maternal roof than to accompany her husband toltaly. Its, \owever, unfortunately but too well known that such were not the only reasons which led to this divided course. ‘To dwell on t pea —— ct would be unnecessarily painful ; yet it must be statec , like a permanent separation was contemplated at | —_ — —— ba as a =~ — eg ce fas 0 ng (fo she veces no a - did it ever amount to more than a tacit conven- ad ul arra eae which offered no obstacle tothe frequent in- erchange of ger jeten ce, nor toa consta sont reference to their posal of her boys. But sence, and consequently father in all things relating to the dis lled on—s a on years of ab sag rolle aliens — and, from this time to the hour of her death, Mrs. a Hemans and bie husband never met again. re ° « ° x e va ws 4 ; 4 Ls eS < = - ay With this incident of the lifelong separation between her f 2? husband and herself, anything of a romantic character in the occurrences of Mrs. Hemans’s career comes toa close ; although the coloring of high-tone ae romance in her mind and writings never died out, but to the last continued to per meate, enliven, and beautify, that other Seaen and staple of her life, its sweetThe telele oe PA lest Vill PREFATORY NOTICE. and earnest domesticity. Now we have only to contemplate the loving daughter, glad, as long as fate permitted, to escape being the head of a household, although invested with the matronly dignity proper to the motherhood of five boys. We see in her the not less deeply affectionate, tender, and vigilant mother ; the admired and popular poetess, distinguished and soon burdened by applause ; shortly afterwards the cureless invalid, marked out for an early death. towards which she pro- gresses with a lingering but undeviating rapidity—calm in con- science, bright and cheerful in mind, full of faith and hope for eternity, and of the gentlest charities of life for her brief res- idue of time. In 1818, before the departure of her husband, Mrs. Hemans had published a volume of poetical Translations ; and about the same time she wrote The Restoration of the Works of Art to Italy, and Modern Greece, and other poems which were afterwards included in the series named Tales and Historic Scenes. Tn 1820 she brought out The Sceptic: a mild performance which some still milder-minded disbeliever found of convincing efficacy, assuring Mrs. Hemans, ina personal interview not long before her death, that it had wrought hisconversion to the Christian religion. In the same year she made the acquaint- ance of the Rev. Reginald (afterwards Bishop) Heber, then Rector of Hodnet—the first eminent literary personage whom she knew well. He encouraged her in the composition of an- other poem destined to extirpate religious error, entitled Super- stition and Revelation: it had been begun some while before this, and was never distinctly abandoned, but remained un- completed. Towards this time also Mrs. Hemans wrote a set of papers in the Hdinburgh Monthly Magazine on Foreign Literature ; almost the only prose that she ever published, and serving chiefly as a vehicle for poetic translations. She obtained two literary prizes for poems, and her ambition was equal to the composition of a five-act tragedy intended for stage repre- sentation—The Vespers of Palermo. This was a work that occupied some time. At last, after she had received £210 for the copyright of the tragedy, 1b was produced at Covent Garden Cree athe nen enor art ened ba a Baal ea Ba ee ke Seat St ot eae! Cabs Srp tre see aed SU ke ater Sorte teehee aePREFATORY NOTICE. ix Theatre on the 12th of December, 1823. No doubt the authoress’s own hopes were not altogether low as to the success of the piece, and her friends were in high expectancy. Young and Charles Kemble took the principal male characters: Miss Kelly appeared as Constance. The acting of this lady is said, fairly or unfairly, to have been disastrous to the piece : it proved ‘all but a failure,” and was withdrawn after the open- ing night, and never reproduced in London. Not long after- wards, however, the tragedy was acted in Edinburgh, and with aconsiderable measure of success. A dispassionate reader of the present day—if indeed there exists areader of The Vespers of Palermo—will probably opine that the London audience showed at least as much discrimination (apart from any question as to demerit in Miss Kelly) as that in Edinburgh. Mrs. Hemans’s talent was not of the dramatic kind. Perhaps there never yet was a good five-act stage tragedy written by a woman ; and certainly the peculiar tone and tint of Mrs, Hemans’s faculty were not such as to supply the deficiency which she, merely as a woman, was almost certain to evince. Hven asa narrative poet, not to speak of the drama, she shows to no sort of advantage : her personages not having anything ofa full- bodied character, but wavering between the romantically criminal and the longwindedly virtuous—poor supposititious creatures, inflated and diluted. Something better may never- theless be said for the second of her tragedies, Zhe Siege of Valencia, published in 1823 along with Belshazzars Feast and some other poems. ‘This play appears to have been written without any view to: the stage: acondition of writing which acts d etrimentally upona drama composed by a born dramatist, but which may rather have the opposite effect upon one coming from a different sort of author. In The Siege of Valencia the situation is in a high degree tragical—even terrible or harrow- ing: and there is this advantage,—no small one in the case of a writer such ag Mrr. Hemans—that, while the framework is historical, and the crisis and passions of a genuinely heroic type, the immediate interest is personal or domestic. Mrs. Hemans may be credited with a good and unhackneyed choicexX PREFATORY NOTICE. of subject in this drama, and with a well-concerted adaptation of it to her own more special powers: the writing is fairly sus- tained throughout, and there are passages both vigorous and “moving. As the reader approaches the dénouement, and finds the authoress dealing death with an unsparing hand to the heroically patriotic Gonzalez and all his offspring, he may per- haps at first feel a little ruffled at noting that the only member of the family who has been found wanting in the fier ry trial— wanting through an excess of maternal love—is also the only one saved alive : but in this also the authoress may be pro- nounced in the eo Reunion with her beloved ones in death would in fact have been mercy to Elmina, and would have left her undistinguished from the others, and untouched } oy any retribution: survival, mourning, and self-disc Pare are the only chastisement in which a poetic justice, in its uigher con- v T»> ception, could be expressed.—Besides the two dramas of The Vespers of Palermo and The Siege of Valencia, Mrs. Hemans began likewise two others—De Chatillon, or the walkman t and CULLvA Sebastian of laid ‘ neither of these was finished. Soon before the rats of The Vespers of Palermo on the stage, she had taken up with great zest tl he study of the German language; and her L ays of Many Lands, published in 1526, were to a considerable extent maak ae d by Hester s work, Stummen der Volker in Lieder. The same volume contained oY oo of The Forest Sanctuar y, Which h ad occupied he the latter part of 1824 and commencement of 1825 TAO) % this she was ieee to regard as her finest work. ea It is the most im- portant of her narrative or-semi-narrative poems, and, as com- pared with the others of that class, 1 may reasonably oe a preference, without our committing ees to sf very high eulogium uponit. The Records of Woman followed in ie being of the first of the anthoress’s works that inten Black- wood published : into this series she put more of her personal feeling than into any of the others. In the summer of 1830 appeared the Songs of the A ffections, being the last of her publi- cations prior to her departure for Ireland. Meanwhile the course of her private life had been marked ite iaeear te te ParPREFATORY NOTICE. I — \ only by such variations as removal of residence, and by one deep and irreparable affliction in the death of her beloved mother on the 11th of January, 1827, followed soon afterwards t by the failure of her own health. The first removal, in the | spring of 1825, had been from Bronwylfa to Rhyllon, a house | distant from the former only about a quarter of a mile: here she settled along with her mother, sister, and four boys—the eldest son being then at a school at Bangor. For a time also her second brother, Major Browne, afterwards Commissioner of Police in Dublin, and his wife, resided in the same house, on their return from Canada. Rhyllon, though with attractive surroundings, was a much less picturesque house than Bron- wylfa; but this brief period of Mrs. Hemans’s life proved to be probably the happiest that she had passed since childhood. Besides many sources of tranquil domestic satisfaction, and for a while a somewhat firmer condition of her own health, she was Hy in the enjoyment of a considerable reputation not now con- I fined to her native country, for the fame of her poems had spread to America, and flourished there with extraordinary vigor. She was at one time invited to emigrate to Boston, and there conduct a periodical under an arrangement which would have secured her an income. Her literary correspondence be- came very large ; and gradually the urgencies of editors of annuals, owners of albums, and other such predacious assailants of leisure and patience, besieged and waylaid her to a burden- some and harassing extent. Inthe summer of 1828 she paid a visit to some friends at Wavertree Lodge, near Liverpool. Her health was now exceedingly frail, with palpitation of the heart, and inflammatory and other distressing symptoms, frequently aggravated by her exceeding carelessness in all matters affect- ing herself. Her friends induced her to take medical advice, and she was directed to assume a reclining posture as often as practicable. Another consequence of this visit was her resolu- tion to move to the village of Wavertree, chiefly with a view to the better education of her three younger boys: the two others, at the same time that their mother quitted Wales in the autumn, went away to Rome, to the care of their father. Mrs. Hemans’sX1i PREFATORY NOTICE. sister had married, her brother was appointed to a post in Ireland and the cherished Welsh home was thus irremediably broken up. The residence at Wavertree, however, turned out unsatisfactory ; Mrs. Hemans did not find it healthy for her- self, nor its educational advantages equal to her expectations. She had some friends in oo whom she liked, more especially the Chorley family; but for the most part was op- pressed by the im portunities of undiscerning and uncongenial neighbors, upon whom, moreover, she often failed even to pro- duce a favorable impression. She was regarded as odd—“ wore a veil on her head, like noone else” (as is shownindeed in Mr. West’s portrait of her): and she, for her part, could oe be induced to go into any general society, and would fain have got a friend *‘to procure her a dragon to be kept in her cour tyard,” as a protection against intruders. Her house was itself very small, and on her arrival comfortless : butshe managed to make it comparatively elegant. She now conceived a great passion for music, and, in the winter of 1830 and enstiing spring, ap- pled herself to the study of theart Actor Zeugheer Herrmann, receiving | c Lodge. § lso some assistance from a well-known amateur. M > Ie. . | 1 he so far cultivated her fac ‘culty in music as to be able to invent airs for some of her own lyrics. P laying on the harp and the pianoforte had been among her earlier accom- plishments: and her voice was naturally good, but failed in youth owing to the weakness of her chest. _ The residence at Wavertree was varied by excursions to Scot- land and to the Lake country. In July, 1829, she paid a visit to Mr. Hamilton, the author of oP ul Thor nton, at Chiefswood near Abbotsford, and saw a great deal of Sir Walter Scott. Two of his kindly compliments; ks Mes, Hemans have been pre- served in her sister’s record. ‘I should say you had too many gifts, Mrs. Hemans ; were they not all made to give pleasure to those around you: and afterwards at leave- taking, ‘* There are some whom we meet, and should like ever after to claim ag kith and kin; and you are one of those.” The Scotch trip included teh to Yarrow, Abbots ford, and Edinburgh, sitting for a bust to Mr. Angus Fletcher, and The excursion to thePREFATORY NOTICE. X1ll uakes of Westmoreland took place in the following year, 1830: the poetess went to Wordsworth’s house, Rydal Mount, with her son Charles ; and on afterwards moving to a neighboring cot- tage named Dovye’s Nest overlooking Winandermere, was joined by her two other boys from Wavertree. Mrs. Hemans’s letters show how much she liked Wordsworth, both poetically and per- sonally : she found him more impulsive than she had expected, and greatly enjoyed his fine reading, and the frequent touches of poetry in his talk. Nor was her admiration unresponded to, as proved by the lines which Wordsworth devoted to her memory but a few years afterwards— ‘* Mourn rather for that holy spirit Sweet as the spring, as ocean deep; For her who ere her summer faded Has sunk into a breathless sleep.” She left Dove’s Nest towards the middle of August, and re- visited Scotland, and then re-entered Wales by way of Dublin and Holyhead. As the experiment of Wavertree had proved disappointing, and as her brother Major Browne was now settled in Ireland, Mrs. Hemans determined to take up her residence in Dublin from the following spring. In the late autumn of 1830 there- fore she saw her last of Bronwylfa, and towards the close of April, 1831, she quitted Wavertree and England, never (as it was fated) to return. She passed a few weeks in Dublin; then stayed at her brother’s house, the Hermitage, near Kilkenny ; and in the early autumn was finally demiciled in the frish capital. At first she dwelt in upper Pembroke Street ; aiter- wards in No. 36 Stephen’s Green ; and thirdly at a house which proved more comfortable, and in which her life came to a close, 90 Dawson Street. In Dublin, as before at Wavertree, Mrs. Hemans lived retired from society, but in familiar intercourse with a few sterling friends, among whom were Sir Wilham Rowan Iamilton, Archbishop and Mrs. Whately, and the Rey. Blanco White. Her health was in a very shattered state, the palpitation of the heart continuing, and being attended by fre-XIV PREFATORY NOTICE. quent fainting-fits. Every now and then, however, she rallied, and it was still possible for her friends to flatter their hearts with hope ; and the gentle sweetness and even playfulness of her temper, mingled with tender sentiment and ever-deepening religious impressions never failed her. She now had to passa great iat of her time lying on a sofa. After her settlement in Ireland Mrs. Hemans published the following volumes of poetry—her prevailing tendency being at this period towards themes ofa religious character. arly in 1834, The Hymns for Childhood were first issued from the 1ome press, in Dublin,—having previously, however; as far yack as 1824, appeared in an American edition. The National Lyrics were collected, and produced by the same Dublin publishers, almost simultaneously with the Hymns for Child- hood ; and were succeeded, at no long interval, by the Scenes and Hymns of Life, which volume obtained much applause. This was the last publication during her lifetime. She al wards wrote Despondency and Aspiration, and dictated the series of sonnets named Thoughts during Sickness: the last composi ition of all was the Sabbath Sonnet, produced on the of April, only twenty days prior to her death. } The other events of the last two years of Mrs. Hemans’s life [ter- may be very briefly summarized : fatal nes and the atten- tions of relatives and friends, are nearly all that the record in- cludes. Not only her brother and his wife, but also her sister Mrs. cia es, with the husband of the latter, were with her with more or less continuity. In May, 1833, her son Claud aii to An roe to engage In commercial life; another son, Willoughby, was employed on the Ordnance Survey in the north Ireland : Charles, and during his holidays Henry, tended her affectionately. The latter, shortly before his mother’s death, was unexpectedly appointed to a clerkship in the Ad- miralty by Sir Robert Peel, who added “‘ a most munificent do- nation.” In July, 1834, Mrs. Hemans caught a fever: she went to the county of Wicklow for the sake of her health, but here another illness, scarlet fever, assailed her. Boiamiaay to Dub- lin, and being ordered to pass as much time as possible in thePREFATORY NOTICE. XV a ws open air, she caught a cold, through having sat out too long reading in the gardens of ae aiusdin Serrdn, where an autum- nal fog overtook her: the cold was followed by ague, and this, with a hectic fever which supervened, may be regarded as = final stage in her disease, now mainly of a dropsical characte At the beginning of March, 1835, after spending some thls at tedesdale, the seat of her, attached friends the Wh iatelys, she returned to Dublin, having almost lost the use of her a and on the 16th of May, without asigh or movement, she ceased to ive. She lies buried in St. Anne’s Church, Dublin. Mrs. Hemans, while sprightly, versatile, and conversible, \ not the less of a very retiring disposition, shrinking from self- display, and the commonplaces of a public reputation. Her character was extremely guileless. Notwithstanding her eX- ceeding sensitiveness—which extended not only to the affecti and interests of mee but to such outer matters ag the sbland of the wind at night, the melancholy of the seashore, and in especial (though there was no reason for this in any personal occurrences) to the sadness of burials at er was yet very free from mere ordinary nervous alarms. | ‘< My spirits,” she once wrote, ‘‘are as variable as the lights and shadows now flit- ting with the winds over the high grass, and sometimes the tearg gush into my eyes when I can scarcely define the cause. I ee myself im mind of an Irish melody sometimes, with its quic! and wild transitions from sadness to gayety. Her conversa tion was various and brilliant, with a total freedom from literary pretence. She hada strong perception of the oe but abstained from sarcasm or ill-nature, more especially as weap- ygainst any who had injured or neglected her; and per- } ons ¢ sonal or invidious literary een was her aversion. She would f to be vexed at small eae : but was wont to not permit herself LOA ry 4 sa} quote the saying of Madame |’Espinasse (applying it no doubt J < : : Z ee chiefly to the severance is her matrimonial ae) ““Un grand chagrin tue tout le reste.” She had a keen dislike to any sort of coarseness in conversation or in books, and would often tear out peccant pages from volumes in her possession. Her accom- plishments were considerable, and not merely superficial. She EE ES SS PAE PY rr ye eT TS PT Ie Bee en a aeCie eee ee eee , Prog SOM Gaet nite hh ta ot ea eed cs be bes aoe eb es cna OT ae r ee re eet ee ee ee eee eT eee re XVI PREFATORY NOTICE. knew French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and in mature life German, and was not unacquainted with Latin. She had some taste and facility not only in music (as already referred to) but likewise in drawing ; and some of her sketches of localities have served for vignettes in the copyright edition of her com- plete works.' Her poetry was often written with a readiness approaching improvisation ; this she felt as in some degree a blemish, and towards the close of her life she regretted having often had to write in a haphazard way, so as to supply means for the education of her sons. Byron, Shelley, and Madame de Staél, were among the writers she was in the habit of quoting. Jealousy of contemporary female writers, prominent in the public eye, was unknown to her gentle and true-hearted nature ; Miss Jewsbury (afterwards Mrs. Fletcher) was among her in- timates, and she indulged herself in friendly correspondence with Miss Baillie, Miss Mitford, Mrs. Howitt, and others. The first-named of these ladies, Mrs. Fletcher (whose death pre- ceded that of her friend by about a year), has, in her book named The Three Histories, described Mrs. Hemans under the name of Egeria ; and as the faithfulness of the portrait, allow- ing for some degree of idealization, is attested by Mrs. Hughes, I am induced to repeat it here :—‘< Hgeria was totally differ- ent from any other woman I had ever geen, either in Italy or England. She did not dazzle, she subdued me. Other women might be more commanding, more versatile, more acute: but I never saw one so exquisitely feminine. Her birth, her edu- cation, but above all the genius with which she was gifted, combined to inspire a passion for the ethereal, the tender, the imaginative, the heroic—in one word the beautiful. It was in her a faculty divine, and yet of daily life; it towched all things, but, like a sunbeam, touched them with a ‘golden finger.’ Anything abstract or scientific was unintelligible and distaste- ful to her. Her knowledge was extensive and various : but, true to the first principle of her nature, it was poetry that she sought in history, scenery, character, and religious belief— 1 Tn the present edition some few poems have had to be omitted as still copyright ; and others for the purpose of bringing the material into one moderate-sized volume, These are chiefly early poems, or else dramatic works.PREFATORY NOTICE. XV poetry that guided all her studies, governed all her thoughts, colored all her ee Her nature was at once simple and profound : there was no room in her mind for philosophy, nor in her heart for ambition; the one was filled by im- agination, the other engrossed by tenderness. She had a a passive temper, but decided tastes; any one might influence, but very few impressed her. Her strength and her weakness alike lay in her affections. These would sometimes make her weep at a word,—at others, imbue her with courage ; so. that she was alternately a ‘falcon-hearted dove,’ and ‘a reed shaken with the wind.’ Her voice was a sad sweet melody, and her spirits reminded me of an old poet’s description of the orange tree, Witn its YY a > ld ? lamne hi 17 2 jah] } rreen oiaen Lamps hid in a night ( f green or of aia Spanish gardens where the pomegranate grows be- side the c — Her gladness was like a burst of sunlight ; ities ncn : h] : hl Seca. tt Tp ee and, : in her depression she resembled night, it was night bear- uP 7 . raver hn me her stars. I might describe and describe forever, but should never succeed in portraying Egeria. She was a Muse, a ry ; } } 7 {- ‘ > xr e W < Grace, a variable child, a depe ent woman, the Italy of human In Mrs. Hemans’s poetry there is (as already observed) a large measure of beauty, and, along with this, very considerable skill. Aptitude and delicacy in versification, and a harmonious balance in the treatm was of the subject, are very generally appar- ont; if we accept the key-note as, wight we may with littl sate tens acquiesce in whi at follows on to the close. Her skill, however, hardly rises into the loftier region of art: there isa vift, and culture added to the gift, but nota great native facult working in splendid independence, or yet more sple endid — discipline. Her sources of inspiration being genuine, and ene tone of her mind feminine in an intense degree, the product has no lack of sincerity; and yet it leaves a certain artificial impression rather perhaps through a cloying flow of “ right- minded ” perceptions of 1 moral and material bea uty than through any other defect. ‘‘ Balmy” it may be: but the e atmosphere m4 v > r SSeaSitite ls saritisligs XVIil PREFATORY NOTICE. of her verse is by no means bracing. One might sum up the weak points in Mrs. Hemans’s poetry by saying that it is not only ‘‘feminine”’ poetry (which under the circumstances can be no imputation, ratheran encomium) butalso ‘‘female” poetry : besides exhibiting the fineness and charm of womanhood, it has the monotone of mere sex. Mrs. Hemans has that love of good and horror of evil which characterize a scrupulous female mind ; and which we may most rightly praise without conclud- ing that they favor poetical robustness, or even perfection in literary form. She is a leader in that very modern phalanx of poets who persistently co-ordinate the impulse of sentiment with the guiding power of morals or religion. Everything must convey its “lesson,” and is indeed set forth for the sake of its lesson : but must at the same time have the emotional gush of a spontaneous sentiment. The poet must not write because he has something of his own to say, but because he has some- thing right to feel andsay. Lamartine was a prophet in this line, After allowing all proper deductions, however, it may be gratefully acknowledged that Mrs. Hemans takes a very hon- orable rank among poetesses; and that there is in her writings much which both appeals, and deserves to appeal, to many gentle, sweet, pious, and refined souls, in virtue of its thorough possession of the same excellent gifts. According to the spirit- ual or emotional condition of her readers, it would be found that a poem by this authoress which to one reader would be graceful and tender would to another be touching, and to a third poignantly pathetic. The first we can suppose to bea man, and thethird a woman; or the first a critic, the second a ‘poetical reader,”’ and the third a sensitive nature, attuned to sympathy by suffering.CONTENTS. PREFATORY Notice. By W. M. Rosserrr. POP Orest PAMNCCUATY. cies. sai weeks Laie Oa ges The Abencerrage,...:......... oR AAR ARGH, Sal aes Ua 9 Sues Br or ee The = TUOW OF Crescentius. &. 0 eee ee eS . fae The last Banqu et of Antony and C leopa CURA sce weer cee ee Alar ic in Italy. The Wite of Asdr u ge Ce ee ca Ge ee Heliodorus in the Temple........... fe Ac OO ee ag ee Night- scene in Genoa beats sues Sale ba siepa ess ais ee eo apeeeos e ee ee er eee seeces eevee ° eerercree The Troubadour and Richard Coeur de Lion......-.-.-.-.-... eo, GENS ee Pay The Death of Guarnieri peters pate eer ce etree Lays of Many Lands— MEOOrISh DTIUal SONS cia oss ces cca sees oe ae. The Bird’s Release....... pee TMS eee ie ete BAER a capeienges irene ca arate wegeieee Sees The Sword of the Ton MAY cia abies ean ee 94s See oh ore Valkyriur STs a re ee ae Oe ee ee er ee ee The Cavern of the Th: ree Swiss Song..... SPE GG ib Sea oid ote Sw we we Rte ea Chien eter Era Cees ae eee eees ee Creer evens rnae e . eeeee ee re eee re reer eves ee The Messenger Bird. Giereral eb atwieie vee a STII 6r in IsOWISTANa coe. eck oces The Strar The Is ly GE OEMS: co sc5 ss athveee laces dil ein bine Gel wine Se pais wim Won eletelenaletalodons asakais eieiae cine ener ep The Bended Dr ae, eee Ph eal ose mia Be aia cere ww wENeM ol Grote eae events He never Smiled age Vin. obo ON Me Otel er bie: Eel en& sea aia iar o rice otereis a ste“ sretis fovalmcy ebeve Feces" ee Coeur de Lion at the Bier of his . Father Boa oe eee cron 2 SRR eS oye ores ces [The Vassal’s Lament. for the Fallen Tree.........0..ce ees Ceaniehee The ¥ WWrlel bruaGSMaahe.. < sc Gok sek hee es swe ela SRGSEEE Dela siG Le SUSI Ilene ee Be oe ees BEARGRH DILES: FLAT VCSU-SON Loic icsiesiensies ss 5b 6x6 ec bie etude SIO RUS ek coe Nes scorer ctererwie’s rein The Shade of Theseus.. einige steels pe ote air alate Go hae aie PES An jent Greek Song of Exile. wikia eee e, aera Wiekk % bibde wis Wilk a mts aralaray ral I ener one iosl's Greek Funeral Chant: or, Myriologue..........+..+. eed Smee ees eee ele woe ees a NOC ie PATOL Ov OM One wu shekrnomis icv We Se ee Sp ewe CR au Cue nee ts neicte @yisle a take Ee The Suliote Mother.......... Bear a aie BA ore ee cag. So Neen) crates otc ies Sener nee 3 The Farewell to the Dead............ Lcalcacs Sistcuude ints ole Senate eee ee Se eee ote Sas aae be were swpsien Saeeaiige s A SEs eoeraerrd oe cease ae ee anes bes RoI stays gute OWerabane Maposataes sae ne Sent oer Gees ‘ ‘ ; Shine siecle eat a ee ; ae pee iae ie, Staples cases 3 beoveveeveevrereveeevreeeee ee & owoeev ov ere eweoeeeve eee eves . ~ eoeneeveeeoe DeRose wees cites dS BRU E SY : : 5 eet es aN eM ba ay saat ini sig Wisi outa otO a et ale Soe ve ee SS webae. e woeere So Soy Sa gic eas ate DORE RE Ey See atone he era nate The Indian City, ee is ip ee AIA a Sia © ae eT EAE VaR eee Bae ones Bs ate The Peasant Girl of the Rhone. Indian Woman’s. Death-SOng....ccrcceccceernnercrccsneocens Jpn Cee a eee eae Joan of Are TID GLTIAG os cinco cks vee sles Oo eros Gree he eniee : Pes shane ds sendins Sr ees eee eES ss ciiets CeeeR Re ears JUANG aoe. cn PO re ns es eo ook aS bod oar ar ehatar ete ae se ee eer er eee eneere eereseecvee eee eeoeve ee The Junevican Forest Clie) ok in yk he ee oro elas Gee Cre Costanzar-... <>. oe ogc ais a akntaad aaah rami piecartay ecirane SS a Sen SD, aie M: adeline. ene The Queen of bens scia’s Risdii i Sahu Lis a Meier eie(g a bisteietons tel enG te wieeiels 6 Dey cae were The Memorial Pillar..««cccccers The Grave GP PE hice noes wok. unk Joa book Ww SS eres Poe ek free. frmeh Joma: foe fecek. ecal, feck La oe foe CTE PN mer a a Sd Mr Pal. ia) ae LeCONTENTS. Songs of the Affections— A Spirit’S Return... ..ccccccccccecccrccscvcessscnesssesscsestoess secs seneereenes The Lady of Provence.. RPS Ae Puce CVAD e AOL Sa Coeds brloniueeera tale eieeaenisa ous ee The Coronation of Inez de CASE Onesie icccicalcc ore chs ba Giule op ew ole ae weeds a iseielare Italian Girl's Hymn to the Virgin............. ene eh ce Sole case Dole shite Hae MO a DOPALCLOG. SPF tones ctutiree cals fe ciee bPO Rt NOs te sales oso econ cawees eR eene ae The Chamois Hunter’s Love...... Rei Tie eia te hetote Geo a tece PAGO (ce deaihe ne eons sie ote : hesinadian with MiS= Dead CMa aa: ye o5 elec cicics <5 sah iubsce Vane es gas oe . Sous Of PMISrAliOns > ss.+ cece sss ss pre evesTan: Sadun cee eats Leto ee The King of Arragon’s Lament for his Re raGhanl scc4s. sc ae ae ee SDE uOUULNe sc .os eee sce ues s é eee Geer ener ee ka Pcie pean a nae Mhe Viaidois Wile@ic. ssc ccc. - Boe ae ieeces Pei arede nen eeceie Sip wie vai) oieeinte Sue are ce seis See a The GulerillasGeaders VOW bes 0n ccs « wg pals cess ARS, Cee sraaeieis svalac is ates Se Thekla at her Lover's Grave.............- eae ast HEE ca ete anlar See eee MIO! SISTCLScOLI SCION eke oo cores tiaiin Gaines Cea des ar ee ool SBA eee ee ene BGT HALO OGG ALO ieee: cin town's) Sele, Os See wih ea Feiss ba saa beled Ga/s Gage salads Tho Tomb of Madame Langhans. setae egies si aisisis se sll #ieie’s «pie chs apbiagnig poner: eee a The Exile’s Dirge.. ote ese fy eid cee eis Oe Ree ciel ciscs dese oip ogee e eres : The Dreaming Child. Saityil Ae sitio eo cic we eke Cats's dae ose ee be ose ale uea e etnies The Charmed Picture.. Sesto Te lel ala gie SiGe s Ue Siadils MoERMe eee. satis wares Parting. WiOrdsai. cco. 04 ais maps estore Misia s'sie a sole eine Bie ticle puss smeree a aed Si clem aligns ‘ The Message to the Head: oe Ais e.Wd Vigle igre Ris Gtotane +f Ag Notas tieu Rene nteetcins eta PLN CRNWOCOMUCS 2. oe ice kane iy es We Eek ete a a EHS SOldiCrMs Deathibediuac.ccsreoner nse sae cca Meee pole. | ea ee a ee ocak po Wimaee im Phe Peau isos 5 cctivc be eae wees ee ois Shas e e slo bias ns tans aearee oe ue cs The Land of Dreams..;....:..-. Biers Gitar bikes oh PNG UC ee Wows Side sev SRR ae ~— Woman on the Field of Battle................- Eels Wu bc eee ousienas Sue baerea Se eos UO WOSOr CCU HOUSOss .aah os see Ted ese Shade sa ee wi ee eee eH ORS CGH Gls ALOAN aes ce tgis oes ak hc bh ye (0s 4 GY eed aces de ec ae Ce ee To a Remembered Picture.. Pee CIN Gwe ciew ees clo Tee oe anor es Gib one Sa tae whee ere eee COMOPELOMG cts es eee ee welsiec et cubed i ems Oi e foe eoe. ue a The Fountain of Oblivion ..... hace ie. ee a as ce eee puke bi 8 eaves or ae Welsh Melodies— The Harp of Wales.. Saiciack Nee Canoe wee nee: ase Druid Chorus on the Landing ‘of ‘the >» Romans. soe toaarbeetys eacies ce Ore Tee Te eek eee The Green Isles of Ocean...... ; Teen The Sea-Song of Gafran.. The Hirlas Horn.. Bos hatte fosie ane The Hall of Cy nday nee ee bv sie kos ictarst tile eee at OR en een erie aie The Lament of Llyw arch LON cee nee cea au eos ee Grufydd’s Feast.. Sfokeceye wictsvscc eyes. Coss The Cambrian in America.. Poe siete s The F air ACh acts ba. cia 6 acs Neco wore Taliesin’s Pr ophecy mies a lenhaveteters ee Owen Glyndwr’s War-Song.......... Prince Madoe’s Far ell oe Wwe ie sie vn \inbereie meres Gye wlcrsciascie unde a ee es ee Caswallon’s Tr ee bes cage tena se Howel’s Sone, . 2.57, The Mountain Fires.. saldig Sele HA YER SGD oes cn teai yo UN spa lob pe orncc Mees ot ota a ace ieee ke eee Chants of the Bards ‘before their Massacre 9 by Edw ard I The Dying Bard's yy Out EE cee The Rock of Cader Idris.. vee seeee Songs of the Cid— The Cid’s Departure into Exile.. pene Cidis Death bed... ssc... The Cid’s Funeral Procession The Cid’s Rising The Caravan in the Deserts ....... Marius among the Ruins of Carthage Song founded on an Arabian Anecdote. The Cross of the South. . The Sleeper of Marathon. pee cieit Grolsi terete ie i To Miss F. A. L., on her Birthday.. : fa Written in the First Leaf of the Album of the Same.. waretts To the Same, on the Death of her Mother. WEOn ns sisnuh NEGRO sericec chow. lero ln ee eeee steerer eeeneeer PAGE 1%5 181 185 186 187CONTENTS. XXxi The Maremma........ caine A Tale of the Fourteenth Gentury ee Be Belshazzar’s Feast. fie ieu ae ate eae The Last Constantine.........------ Suge ee Greek Songs— 1. The Storm of PIGUET og ce ob coca se ns PAGE see eee eeseoeereeaer ese ee eevee eeeee ese sees ervnene 241 Sexe Ne Bow]. OF LARGEGY. css sciets io icers wecea sieeve Kaen trees sibienans ks wtahrenc cunts 284 Se UDO DICE OF DGIO ics wes eee arp eis Hare bata eal isc alciate mets eat eee 285 a he Spartan’s Marcha .ic<.,.450ea5 ave awaesotaliaeeehe : oe ik ee 286 5. The Urn and Sword...........+05 See ea: adlaakes . 987 OG, ne Myrtio BOUGM 6 oases onc ci sacncees BE Ee Fan ae a Se eegOe STEIN 660 bad Cbs sien Psime Spaie note eles ace HOON Oral Gens .i5 sce cesses hits ehesaeeins The Tombs of Platea.. The View from Castri The Festal Hour.. Song of the Battle of MOLZArten.. can o5 <0: Ona Flower from the Field of Griitli...... On a Leaf from the Tomb of Virgil. The Chieftain’s Son The Graves of Martyrs The Hour of Prayer..... The Voice of Home to the Prodigal. . The Wakening....--scccserreerrerereres The Breeze from Shore Be eh a ee a The Dying Improvisatore......+-+0:+) Go) s/w a6 ce vw = © 0) 0:8 00.0 s ib O80 ais sre ipieilotsio'm cinie' sd srieliaiece cairo clalereereeee eee meee oe cue PRE CA PSIIOIIG 3 o's cn nv ons Rig tsiapaiw in olan in wien s mip lee vim ola 9 ey ian vitae Merete «earn aimee - ‘ 300 England’s Dead............ Gud sels ed ino 6 alum cles cc go RES ie exis rae : pte es 301 Mao mectine Of the Bard. cc. . occ cnk cc hee wns nave ccien ws « Wisiwelciajaiarncee'elu ine ate Aan SOE Oe OU The Voice of Spring.. Settle date nsin ane tone ane a ecaeeus ayaa eee te ateat as ieee seiestecete SUS Miscellaneous— Lines written in a Hermitage on the Seashore..... oo as eee Me Oe ee OUD Dirge of a Child......... PU A Hp ed Sag Oh 18 yea oe aa Rote wate Weer 306 RnVOCHIION. .c¢.crcs cece s seis ed Tee ee ee oes ates 306 To the Memory of ‘General ‘Sir I Edward Pak enham Crt oe 07 To the Memory of Sir Henry Ellis, who fell in ve Battle of Waterloo.. ... 308 Guerilla Song, founded on the story related of the Spanish Patriot Mina... 308 The Aged Tnchiabe 2 Oi oh. ek. i ek bag he blk ee ee Seer: aT B09 Evening amonest the Alps... cece cece eect e eee ce eens Etotiees Se. eco Dirge of the Highland Chief in ** Waverley ’’...........sesseeseeee ee Vote ee eee Mia Cridaders. WAISONS cial aie Cnc ed ee eens sergeanty. i re eas, 811 The Death of Cieneonald Sa ek ERAS Ae 314 To the Hye.. Stee Soon icreev Ne cee pn ee 319 The Hero’s Death.. leer So 313 The Treasures of the Deep.. 7 : 318 Bring Flowers.. cnhree see - 314 The Crusader’s Retury Wee ens wah eta eo oe 315 Wiha POVGlORS. occ5c 50k y cmte ks oes > nie oleate gs eee ee veep ey ec seer 31% The Conqueror's GAD ice sw cs siaisie Fee oRe none cy a> oie gare ae oe nee eee 318 Our Lady’s Well.....:...euee. cA Pie Se 319 The Parting Gf Sia Te ais ace tesa Sie aceteeerte O cree speteis at el ae eceuanecs . oe0 The Songs of our Fathers........+-+++-++- eee 321 The World in the Open Air. ees si teiieies on ovl ACINGTOG ELGALUSec< (ese n scones fe reise sss Be Hes Wide Lee a ee an oe tnrotaneiaete Oe eres wears die The Traveller at the Source of the Nile. Se Bc oa Renae See z Set sieht : 3x3 Casabiancé sis eae ee: oe Goer eraie, ca eae se a ias -+» B24 The Ha OF Flowers. Rane nya ore eer C ater elutes aie be EO ere cts ciel eiets : BOR eee « Seo Our Daily Paths...... pea ae na adeeb a wne wenn se anne eeieeinge «cig ee The Cross in the W jilderness.. PR he rat AR ccs Sone vite ee nee neees BUF TaAst Rites.:...- DAA et RAG Se a atte see ita asik Pos tiswen ince pase cnt OC The Hebrew Mother...+s++e: Liat cme wes eee LE ye eh ee at sid Sie Se meee se Cele a: eee sis aN 830 The Wreck. ..<: 3. Le ae ES LB em ana ran. st esseeeasanenseseersoeverensscessres Bop The TLUMPet....vesecenrcsecsseecserarcscrscess Leb g ere hislh seal Siaie cious soe wie oie fot oan Evening Prayer at a gee Beker SRA Wk oe ati L Peas seen earn east cog The Hour of Death.. sesh eae : z ALO ae an dees 334 The Lost Pleiad.. ....seeesee-eertees besitos soe POL Pe a es sets oo The Cliffs of Dover..- Batten cee eee aioteta nie sue s2s'e Se aiee's : ae 337 Ue ak yrs a eoneee Lee See eS gs Ri ok Ree ERE Lee hoe a ae eee ae cage a ate oe vweeeevveeve eevee ac@'.8Le 0:28:79. 8 > > 340 rere rr err ey ae esr = Pr ee er ee eeof L, 16 x The Ves 3p ers is Palermo. eee eer eee or ereenrare Music of Yesterday.. The Forsaken Hearth...........55 eeoeereeseoes ee mesenene The Dreamer.. aaa aa o a doan wees kau edge sous ticks ahs vee Naeke The Wings of GIR EE Bp jac nin ee esses: Sociale Psyche borne by cepuye rs to the Island of Pleasure......+..s0csseseee se eae i ‘BUG. BOOM Or WECULONY