MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



The house in which she passed the greatest part of her childhood was precisely 

 such a one as from its situation and character would encourage the develope- 

 ment of her poetic fancies. Grwych (now partially ruined) is not far from 

 Abergele in Denbighshire ; a solitary, old, and spacious mansion lying close 

 to the sea shore, and in front shut in by a chain of rocky hills. * * She loved 

 to contrast the fancies born within and around its precincts, with the realities 

 of her after lot ; she would say that, though she was never ambitious, could 

 she then have foreseen the fame to which she was destined to rise, the an- 

 ticipation would have excited a thrill of pleasure, such as the possession had 

 never awakened. She was early a reader of Shakspeare; and, by way of 

 securing shade and freedom from interruption, used to climb an apple-tree, 

 and there study his plays ; nor had she long made familiar friendship with 

 his ' beings of the mind/ before she was possessed with the temporary desire 

 so often born of an intense delight and appreciation of personifying them. 

 It is remarkable that her fancy led her to prefer the characters of Imogen and 

 Beatrice ; nor were her favourites without strong points of resemblance to her- 

 self the one in its airy sentiment tempered with sweet and faithful affection 

 the other in its brilliant wit redeemed by high-mindedness from sarcasm 

 or vulgarity so early were her tastes, and personal feelings, and mental gifts 

 identified. The sea-shore was her forest of Ardennes : and she loved its lone- 

 liness and freedom well : it was a favourite freak of hers, when quite a child, 

 to get up privately, after careful attendants had fancied her safe in bed, and, 

 making her way down to the water-side, to indulge herself with a stolen bath. 

 The sound of the ocean, and the melancholy sights of wreck and ruin, which 

 follow a storm, made an indelible impression upon her mind, and gave their 

 colouring and imagery 



A sound and a gleam of the moaning sea 



to many of the lyrics, which were written when she began to trust to her own 

 impulses, and to draw upon her own stores, instead of more timidly resting 

 under the shadow of mighty names. 



" Those who are born poets, will find food for the desire within them, 

 under the most ungenial circumstances, and in the midst of the harshest trials 

 just as the real lover of flowers will contrive, not to be without a leaf or a 

 bud, wherewith to cheer his eye, though his home be the most airless court 

 in the heart of a vast city. To some, persecution and difficulty are salutary, 

 and their energy must be aroused by resistance. Mrs. Hemans was not one 

 of these. I have often thought that there could be few lots more favourable 

 to the development of imagination and sentiment, more calculated to excite 

 a thirst for knowledge, than hers, her own peculiar disposition being taken 

 into the account. Enough was granted to encourage, enough withheld to 

 quicken aspiration." 



There are several highly interesting letters to Mr. Milman, Joanna Baillie, 

 Miss Mitford and others of her own taste in literature, and many others, 

 besides, that we would fain lay before the reader ; but we must forbear : the 

 limited space of our literary notices will not permit us to notice these delight- 

 ful books more at length. 



If the love of poetry be not altogether gone, if the sweet recollection of 

 Mrs. Hemans's muse has not faded from the memory of those who read these 

 remarks, these volumes will not want readers. 



The Mammon of Unrighteousness, a discourse suggested by the 

 death of Mr. Rothschild, By JOHN STYLES, D.D. 8vo. pp. 32. Ward. 

 IT is well if the death of a person who made his whole life and moral being 

 the slave of avarice, can be turned to account as a moral lesson. Much has 

 been said of the political influence of the late capitalist not only in England, 

 but on the continent. On this matter we question not the truth of those 

 who testify to the fact. We regard the whole at present in a moral point of 



