We cannot part from this view of our subject without again adverting to the enthusiastic interest which Professor Norton has taken in the dissemination of the writings of Mrs Hemans among his countrymen. Both in her conversation and in her letters, she was eloquent in her expressions of gratitude towards him in this respect; and all her admirers are bound to respect that gentleman, for the disinterested endeavours he so successfully made, not only in rendering her genius more extensively known; but, probably, for having been the means of exciting her to exertions, which might have otherwise been damped by limited success, or altogether frustrated by critical hostility. That Felicia Hemans would have been a poetess, whether contemporary criticism had allowed the fact or not, admits not of dispute; but still we know not how far, in many respects, even the most gifted and intellectual are the children of circumstances. Many a flower of genius, which would have expanded under

the sunshine of popular favour, has been nipt in the bloom by the chilling breath of disregard.

Mrs Hemans was about the middle height, and rather slenderly made than otherwise. To a countenance of great intelligence and expression, she united manners alike unassuming and playful; and with a trust arising out of the purity of her own character,-which was beyond the meanness of suspicion in others, she remained untainted by the breath of worldly guile. Her heart overflowed with tenderness in all the relations of domestic life; and the exquisite delicacy of her perceptions, regarding all that is pure, ennobling, and of good report, remains for ever stamped on her various writings.

It is beyond the scope of the present memoir to enter into any critical analysis or examination of the numerous publications of Mrs Hemans. They are now, as she has left them, at the bar of posterity; and it is pleasing to

think, when we consider the degree of attention with which they have been received, that no undue or empirical means were resorted to, to influence popular suffrage. On the contrary, most of them were produced in solitude, and apart even from the exciting influences of literary society. The author experienced nothing of the fostering partiality of coteries; nor, as we have said, had she a personal acquaintance with any of the contemporary lights of poetry, until she herself had become a part of the constellation. With her sister spirits, Joanna Baillie, Caroline Bowles, Mary Mitford, Letitia Landon, and Mary Howitt, she pressed forward in generous emulation; but there was not a spark of rivalry in her bosom. Their glory was in a great measure felt as her own; and she rejoiced in their success, with a cordial warmth, which it was truly delightful to observe.

Without aspiring to the vehemence, which some writers have mistaken for energy, the

poetry of Mrs Hemans is never languid, even in the depths of its taste, tenderness, and elegance. To the most graceful and harmonious diction, she wedded themes of endless variety, -the outpourings of piety, and love, and friendship, the delights of the past and of the future, records of household affections,―lays of patriotism,—and legends of history or ro

mance.

She has also given many beautiful and most delicate illustrations of Wordsworth's favourite theory, regarding the subtle analogy existing between the external and the moral world; and which has embued the aspects of nature with something akin to sentiment and perception. Nothing can be richer or more glowing than her imagery, yet her pictures are never overlaid with colour; and all her delineations are clear and distinct. Many of her descriptions are ornate even to gorgeousness; but her decorations are never idle; they are brought in either to act as a foil to simple elegance, or to contrast with the anguish of de

feated passion, and baffled hope. The whole tone of her mind was poetical, and the most trifling occurrence of the moment, a word spoken,—a tone heard,—a circumstance of daily life, frequently formed the germ of what, in her active imagination, was woven into a beautiful and perfect composition. Yet it should be remembered, that, instead of trusting to her natural powers of thought and fancy, she was, through the whole course of her literary career, an ardent and unwearied student. From a course of extensive reading, she enlarged her comprehension with much that was soul-stirring and noble.-with much that was gentle and refined and if she has not often ventured, as Wordsworth, Crabbe, and Wilson have so powerfully done,-to descend to the delineation of what is homely in life and manners, it evidently arose from no arrogance of intellect, but simply from such themes being incompatible with the system which she form