MONTHLY REVIEW titf LlTfcftAfrlJRE. 391 



Dublin, where she resided till her death, harassed by the pecuniary difficul- 

 ties consequent on the maintenance of her family, and by her anxiety for the 

 establishment of her sons. Sir Robert Peel in 1835 (too late, alas ! for dis- 

 ease had already taken too firm a hold of Mrs. Hemans's system) procured a 

 public situation for one of her sons : and this act of kindness, no doubt, 

 soothed the last few months of her life. She continued to be a poetess even 

 to the last. We give her closing moments in Mr. Chorley's own words ! 



" On the 26th day of April, she closed her poetical career, by dic- 

 tating the Sabbath Sonnet, which will be read and remembered as long as 

 her name is loved and cherished. From this time she sank away gently but 

 steadily ; still able to derive pleasure from being occasionally read to ; arid on 

 Tuesday the 12th of May, still able to read for herself a portion of the six- 

 teenth chapter of St. John, her favourite amongst the Evangelists. Nearly 

 the last words she was heard to utter were, on Saturday the 16th of May, to 

 alk her youngest son, then sitting by her bed- side, what he was reading. 

 When he told her the name of the book, she said, " Well, do you like it 1 ?" 

 After this she fell into a gentle sleep, which continued almost unbroken till 

 evening ; when about the hour of eight or nine, her spirit passed away with- 

 out a sigh or a struggle." So died Felicia Hemans. 



In the last year were published " Personal Recollections of Mrs. Hemans"-^ 

 and the volumes here noticed may be considered as the suite of their prede- 

 cessors, and a consequence of their favourable reception. We dwell on these 

 portions of Mrs. Hemans's correspondence with the greatest pleasure ; and to 

 those who can relish the correspondence of a real child of nature (for such 

 we shall still consider her, in spite of those who would rake up her failings) 

 we can recommend these volumes as containing treasures of no ordinary 

 value. Without profaneness we trust that we may say : ' though dead, she 

 yet speaketh.' 



Mr. Chorley gives us an account of some of the passages in Mrs. Hemans's 

 early years, and they are so interesting that we cannot deny ourselves the 

 pleasure of laying a portion before our readers. 



" As a child Mrs. Hemans was an object almost of devotion, for her ex- 

 treme beauty ; her complexion was remarkably brilliant her hair long, curl- 

 ing, and golden ; in the latter years of her life its hue deepened into brown, 

 but it remained silken, and profuse, and wavy, to the last. She was one of 

 those, too, who may be said to be born and nurtured in the midst of prophe- 

 cies. Who can tell how little or how much impression passing words care- 

 lessly spoken may make upon one so sensitive ? One lady incautiously ob- 

 served, in her hearing, 'That child is not made for happiness, I know; her 

 colour comes and goes too fast/ She never forgot this remark, and would 



mention it as having caused her much pain at the time when it was spoken. 



* * * # ., # # * 



" The plan of these memorials has precluded the possibility of a close en- 

 quiry into the domestic history of these years and I regret that I cannot 

 enrich my pages with a few anecdotes of her youth, such as I well remember 

 Mrs. Hemans's telling, which have now vexatiously escaped from memory. 

 One or two characteristic notices, however, in addition to the above, have 

 collected themselves. From one lady who was surprised into tears upon 

 meeting her unexpectedly in society, and contrasting her somewhat faded but 

 expressive features with the girlish beauty she had admired many years before 

 I have learned that the interest excited by her talents and attractions, when 

 quite a child, was remarkable ; not merely in her own family, but likewise 

 among those who, from their sober years and habits, might hardly be expected 

 to sympathize much with the flights and fancies of a young genius, however 

 beautiful. * * * ' ' "* 



" When Miss Browne was little more than five years of age, domestic em- 

 barrassments, arising from the failure of the mercantile concern in which her 

 father was engaged, led him to remove his family from Liverpool to North Wales. 



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