CHRONOLOGY OF MRS HEMANS’ LIFE AND WORKS

1793.

Felicia Dorothea Browne, born at Liverpool, Sept 25.

1800, (æt. 7.)

Removes with family from Liverpool to Gwrych, near Abergele, Denbighshire.—Shortly afterwards composes Lines on her Mother’s Birthday.

1804, (11.)

Spends winter in London.—Writes thence letter in rhyme to brother and sister in Wales.

1808, (15.)

Collection of poems printed in 4to.—England and Spain written.—Becomes acquainted with Captain Hemans.

1809, (16.)

Family remove to Bronwylfa in Flintshire.—Pursues her studies in French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.—Acquires the elements of German; and shows a taste for drawing and music.

1812, (19.)

Domestic Affections and other poems published.—Marries Captain Hemans.—Takes up residence at Daventry, Northamptonshire.

1813, (20.)

Son Arthur born.—Returns to Bronwylfa.

1816, (23.)

Publishes Restoration of the Works of Art to Italy; also Modern Greece.

1818, (25.)

Makes Translations from Camoens and others.—Publishes Stanzas on the Death of Princess Charlotte, (Blackwood’s Magazine, April.)

1819, (26.)

Tales and Historic Scenes published.—Gains prize for best poem on the Meeting of Wallace and Bruce.—Captain Hemans takes up residence in Italy.—Family consists of five sons.

1820, (27.)

Publishes poem of Sceptic.—Becomes acquainted with Bishop Heber and his brother Richard.—Corresponds with Mr Gifford.—Contributes papers on Foreign Literature to Edinburgh Magazine.—Publishes Stanzas to the Memory of George the Third.—Visits Wavertree Lodge, near Liverpool, (October.)

1821, (28.)

Poem of Dartmoor obtains prize offered by Royal Society of Literature.—Corresponds with Rev. Mr Milman, and Dr Croly.—Writes Vespers of Palermo.—Extends her German studies. Writes Welsh Melodies.

[Pg xiii]

1822, (29.)

Siege of Valencia, and Songs of the Cid written;—also dramatic fragment of Don Sebastian.

1823, (30.)

Contributes to Thomas Campbell’s New Monthly Magazine.—Voice of Spring written, (March.)—Siege of Valencia published, along with Last Constantine and Belshazzar’s Feast.—Vespers of Palermo performed at Covent Garden, (Dec. 12.)

1824, (31.)

Composes De Chatillon, revised MS. of which unfortunately lost.—Writes Lays of Many Lands.—Removes with family from Bronwylfa to Rhyllon.

1825, (32.)

Treasures of the Deep, The Hebrew Mother, The Hour of Death, Graves of a Household, The Cross in the Wilderness, and many other of her best lyrics written.

1826, (33.)

The Forest Sanctuary published, together with Lays of Many Lands.—Commences correspondence with Professor Norton of Boston, U.S., who republishes her works there.

1827, (34.)

Mrs Hemans loses her mother (11th January.)—Writes Hymns for Childhood, which are first published in America.—Corresponds with Joanna Baillie, Anne Grant, Mary Mitford, Caroline Bowles, Mary Howitt, and M. J. Jewsbury.—Writes Körner to his Sister, Homes of England, An Hour of Romance, The Palm-Tree, and many other lyrics.—Health becomes impaired.

1828, (35.)

Publishes with Mr Blackwood Records of Woman, and collected Miscellanies, (May.)—Contributes regularly to Blackwood’s Magazine.—Visits Wavertree Lodge early in summer.—Removes to village of Wavertree with family in September.

1829, (36.)

Writes Lady of Provence, To a Wandering Female Singer, The Child’s First Grief, The Better Land, and Miscellanies.—Voyages to Scotland, (June,) and visits Mr Henry M’Kenzie, Rev. Mr Alison, Lord Jeffrey, Sir Walter Scott, Captain[Pg xiv] Hamilton, Captain Basil Hall, and other distinguished literati.—Returns to England, (Sept.)—A Spirit’s Return composed.

1830, (37.)

Songs of the Affections published.—Visits the Lakes and Mr Wordsworth.—Domiciles during part of summer at Dove’s Nest, near Ambleside.—Revisits Scotland, (Aug.)—Returns by Dublin and Holyhead to Wales.

1831, (38.)

State of health delicate.—Quits England for last time, (April,) and proceeds to Dublin.—Visits the Hermitage, near Kilkenny, and Woodstock.—Returns to Dublin, (Aug.)—Writes various lyrics.

1832, (39.)

Health continues greatly impaired.—Writes Miscellaneous Lyrics, Songs of Spain, and Songs of a Guardian Spirit.

1833, (40.)

Feels recruited during spring.—Writes Songs of Captivity, Songs for Summer Hours, and many of Scenes and Hymns of Life.—Composes Sonnets Devotional and Memorial.—Commences translation of Scenes and Passages from German Authors, (December.)

1834, (41.)

Hymns for Childhood published (March;) also National Lyrics and Songs for Music.—Paper on Tasso, published in New Monthly Magazine, (May.)—Writes Fragment of Paper on Iphigenia.—Records of Spring 1834 written, (April, May, June.)—Is seized with fever; during convalescence retires into county of Wicklow.—Returns to Dublin in autumn, and has attack of ague.—Composes Records of Autumn 1834.—Writes Despondency and Aspiration, (Oct. and Nov.)—The Huguenot’s Farewell and Antique Greek Lament, (Nov.)—Thoughts during Sickness written, (Nov. and Dec.)—Retires during convalescence to Redesdale, a country-seat of the Archbishop of Dublin.

1835, (42.)

Returns to Dublin, (March.)—Debility gradually increases.—Corresponds regarding Sir Robert Peel’s appointment of her son Henry.—Dictates Sabbath Sonnet, (April 26.)—Departs this life, (16th May.)—Remains interred in vault beneath St Anne’s Church, Dublin.

[Pg 1]

JUVENILE POEMS

ON MY MOTHER’S BIRTHDAY.

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF EIGHT.

A PRAYER.

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF NINE.

ADDRESS TO THE DEITY.

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF ELEVEN.

[1] A sister whom the author had lost.

SHAKSPEARE.

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF ELEVEN.

[One of her earliest tastes was a passion for Shakspeare, which she read, as her choicest recreation, at six years old; and in later days she would often refer to the hours of romance she had passed in a secret haunt of her own—a seat amongst the branches of an old apple-tree—where, revelling in the treasures of the cherished volume, she would become completely absorbed in the imaginative world it revealed to her. The following lines, written at eleven years old, may be adduced as a proof of her juvenile enthusiasm.—Memoir of Mrs Hemans by her Sister, p. 6, 7.]

TO MY BROTHER AND SISTER IN THE COUNTRY.

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF ELEVEN.

[At about the age of eleven, she passed a winter in London with her father and mother; and a similar sojourn was repeated in the following year, after which she never visited the metropolis. The contrast between the confinement of a town life, and the happy freedom of her own mountain home, was even then so distasteful to her, that the indulgences of plays and sights soon ceased to be cared for, and she longed to rejoin her younger brother and sister in their favourite rural haunts and amusements—the nuttery wood, the beloved apple-tree, the old arbour, with its swing, the post-office tree, in whose trunk a daily interchange of family letters was established, the pool where fairy ships were launched (generally painted and decorated by herself,) and, dearer still, the fresh free ramble on the seashore, or the mountain expedition to the Signal Station, or the Roman Encampment. In one of her letters, the pleasure with which she looked forward to her return home was thus expressed in rhyme.—Mem. p. 8, 9.]

SONNET TO MY MOTHER.

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF TWELVE.

[Pg 3]

SONNET.

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF THIRTEEN.

RURAL WALKS.

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF THIRTEEN.

SONNET.

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF THIRTEEN.

[In 1808, a collection of her poems, which had long been regarded amongst her friends with a degree of admiration perhaps more partial than judicious, was submitted to the world, in the form (certainly an ill-advised one) of a quarto volume. Its appearance drew down the animadversions of some self-constituted arbiter of public taste,[2] and the young poetess was thus early initiated into the pains and perils attendant upon the career of an author;—though it may here be observed, that, as far as criticism was concerned, this was at once the first and last time she was destined to meet with any thing like harshness or mortification. Though this unexpected severity was felt bitterly for a few days, her buoyant spirit soon rose above it, and her effusions continued to be poured forth as spontaneously as the song of the skylark.]

[2] The criticism referred to, and which, considering the circumstances under which the volume appeared, was certainly somewhat ungenerous, and quite uncalled for, ran as follows:

—“We hear that these poems are the ‘genuine productions of a young lady, written between the ages of eight and thirteen years,’ and we do not feel inclined to question the intelligence; but although the fact may insure them an indulgent reception from all those who have ‘children dear,’ yet, when a little girl publishes a large quarto, we are disposed to examine before we admit her claims to public attention. Many of Miss Browne’s compositions are extremely jejune. However, though Miss Browne’s poems contain some erroneous and some pitiable lines, we must praise the ‘Reflections in a ruined Castle,’ and the poetic strain in which they are delivered. The lines to ‘Patriotism’ contain good thoughts and forcible images; and if the youthful author were to content herself for some years with reading instead of writing, we should open any future work from her pen with an expectation of pleasure, founded on our recollection of this publication; though we must, at the same time, observe, that premature talents are not always to be considered as signs of

future excellence. The honeysuckle attains maturity before the oak.”—Monthly Review, 1809.

[Pg 4]

ENGLAND AND SPAIN; OR, VALOUR AND PATRIOTISM.

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF FOURTEEN.

[New sources of inspiration were now opening to her view. Birthday addresses, songs by the seashore, and invocations to fairies, were henceforth to be diversified with warlike themes; and trumpets and banners now floated through the dreams in which birds and flowers had once reigned paramount. Her two elder brothers had entered the army at an early age, and were both serving in the 23d Royal Welsh Fusiliers. One of them was now engaged in the Spanish campaign under Sir John Moore; and a vivid imagination and enthusiastic affections being alike enlisted in the cause, her young mind was filled with glorious visions of British valour and Spanish patriotism. In her ardent view, the days of chivalry seemed to be restored, and the very names which were of daily occurrence in the despatches, were involuntarily associated with the deeds of Roland and his Paladins, or of her own especial hero, “The Cid Ruy Diaz,” the Campeador. Under the inspiration of these feelings, she composed a poem entitled “England and Spain,” which was published

and afterwards translated into Spanish. This cannot but be considered as a very remarkable production for a girl of fourteen; lofty sentiments, correctness of language, and historical knowledge, being all strikingly displayed in it.—Memoir, p. 10, 11.]

THE DOMESTIC AFFECTIONS, AND OTHER POEMS.

[In 1812, another and much smaller volume, entitled The Domestic Affections, and other Poems, was given to the world—the last that was to appear with the name of Felicia Browne; for, in the summer of the same year, its author exchanged that appellation for the one under which she has become so much more generally known. Captain Hemans had returned to Wales in the preceding year, when the acquaintance was renewed which had begun so long before at Gwrych; and as the sentiments then mutually awakened continued unaltered, no further opposition was made to a union, on which (however little in accordance with the dictates of worldly prudence) the happiness of both parties seemed so entirely to depend.—Memoir, p. 24.]

THE SILVER LOCKS.

ADDRESSED TO AN AGED FRIEND.

TO MY MOTHER.

TO MY YOUNGER BROTHER,

ON HIS RETURN FROM SPAIN, AFTER THE FATAL RETREAT UNDER SIR JOHN MOORE, AND THE BATTLE OF CORUNNA.

TO MY ELDEST BROTHER.

(WITH THE BRITISH ARMY IN PORTUGAL.)

LINES

WRITTEN IN THE MEMOIRS OF ELIZABETH SMITH.

[The reader may contrast these early lines of Mrs Hemans with the maturer ones on the same subject by Professor Wilson.—Poems, vol. ii. p. 140-9.]

THE RUIN AND ITS FLOWERS.

CHRISTMAS CAROL.

CHORUS.

CHORUS.

CHORUS.

[Pg 15]

THE DOMESTIC AFFECTIONS.

TO MR EDWARDS, THE HARPER OF CONWAY.

[Some of the happiest days the young poetess ever passed were during occasional visits to some friends at Conway, where the charms of the scenery, combining all that is most beautiful in wood, water, and ruin, are sufficient to inspire the most prosaic temperament with a certain degree of enthusiasm; and it may therefore well be supposed how fervently a soul constituted like hers would worship Nature at so fitting a shrine. With that happy versatility which was at all times a leading characteristic of her mind, she would now enter with child-like playfulness into the enjoyments of a mountain scramble, or a pic-nic water party, the gayest of the merry band, of whom some are now, like herself, laid low, some far away in foreign lands, some changed by sorrow, and all by time; and then, in graver mood, dream away hours of pensive contemplation amidst the gray ruins of that noblest of Welsh castles, standing, as it then did, in solitary grandeur, unapproached by bridge or causeway, flinging its broad shadow across the tributary waves which washed its regal walls. These

lovely scenes never ceased to retain their hold over the imagination of her whose youthful muse had so often celebrated their praises. Her peculiar admiration of Mrs Joanna Baillie’s play of Ethwald was always pleasingly associated with the recollection of her having first read it amidst the ruins of Conway Castle. At Conway, too, she first made acquaintance with the lively and graphic Chronicles of the chivalrous Froissart, whose inspiring pages never lost their place in her favour. Her own little poem, “The Ruin and its Flowers,” which will be found amongst the earlier pieces in the present collection, was written on an excursion to the old fortress of Dyganwy, the remains of which are situated on a bold promontory near the entrance of the river Conway; and whose ivied walls, now fast mouldering into oblivion, once bore their part bravely in the defence of Wales; and are further endeared to the lovers of song and tradition as having echoed the complaints of the captive Elphin, and resounded to the harp of Taliesin. A scarcely degenerate representative

of that gifted bard[3] had, at the time now alluded to, his appropriate dwelling-place at Conway; but his strains have long been silenced, and there now remain few, indeed, on whom the Druidical mantle has fallen so worthily. In the days when his playing was heard by one so fitted to enjoy its originality and beauty,

but his inspiration had not yet forsaken him; and the following lines (written in 1811) will give an idea of the magic power he still knew how to exercise over the feelings of his auditors.]

[3] Mr Edwards, the Harper of Conway, as he was generally called, had been blind from his birth, and was endowed with that extraordinary musical genius by which persons suffering under such a visitation are not unfrequently indemnified. From the respectability of his circumstances, he was not called upon to exercise his talents with any view to remuneration. He played to delight himself and others; and the innocent complacency with which he enjoyed the ecstasies called forth by his skill, and the degree of appreciation with which he regarded himself, as in a manner consecrated, by being made the depositary of a direct gift from Heaven, were as far as possible removed from any of the common modifications of vanity or self-conceit.

EPITAPH ON MR W——,

A CELEBRATED MINERALOGIST.[4]

[4] “Whilst on the subject of Conway, it may not be amiss to introduce two little pieces of a very different character from the foregoing, [Lines to Mr. Edward the Harper,] which were written at the same place, three or four years afterwards, and will serve as a proof of that versatility of talent before alluded to. As may easily be supposed, they were never intended for publication, but were merely a jeu d’esprit of the moment, in good-humoured raillery of the indefatigable zeal and perseverance of one of the party in his geological researches.”—Memoir, p. 20.

EPITAPH

ON THE HAMMER OF THE AFORESAID MINERALOGIST.

PROLOGUE TO THE POOR GENTLEMAN,

AS INTENDED TO BE PERFORMED BY THE OFFICERS OF THE 34TH REGIMENT AT CLONMEL.[5]

Enter Captain George Browne, in the character of Corporal Foss.

[5] These verses were written about the same time as the preceding humorous epitaphs.

[As, in the present collected edition of the writings of Mrs Hemans, chronological arrangement has been for the first time strictly attended to, a selection from her Juvenile compositions has been given, chiefly as a matter of curiosity—for her real career as an authoress cannot be said to have commenced before the publication of the section which immediately follows.

In a very general point of view, the intellectual history of Mrs Hemans’ mind may be divided into two distinct and separate eras—the first of which may be termed the classical, and comprehends the productions of her pen, from “The Restoration of the Works of Art to Italy,” and “Modern Greece,” down to the “Historical Scenes,” and the “Translations from Camoens;” and the last, the romantic, which commences with “The Forest Sanctuary,” and includes “The Records of Woman,” together with nearly all her later efforts. In regard to excellence, there can be little doubt that the last section as far transcends the first as that does the merely Juvenile Poems now given, and which certainly appear to us to exhibit occasional scintillations of the brightness which followed. Even after the early poetical attempts of Cowley and Pope, of Chatterton, Kirke White, and Byron, these immature outpourings of sentiment and description may be read with an interest which diminishes not by comparison.]

[Pg 22]

THE RESTORATION OF THE WORKS OF ART TO ITALY.

[“The French, who in every invasion have been the scourge of Italy, and have rivalled or rather surpassed the rapacity of the Goths and Vandals, laid their sacrilegious hands on the unparalleled collection of the Vatican, tore its masterpieces from their pedestals, and, dragging them from their temples of marble, transported them to Paris, and consigned them to the dull sullen halls, or rather stables, of the Louvre.... But the joy of discovery was short, and the triumph of taste transitory.”—Eustace’s Classical Tour through Italy, vol. ii. p. 60.]

[This poem is thus alluded to by Lord Byron, in one of his published letters to Mr Murray, dated from Diodati, Sept. 30th, 1818:—“Italy or Dalmatia and another summer may, or may not, set me off again.... I shall take Felicia Hemans’s Restoration, &c., with me—it is a good poem—very.”]

[6] The Belvidere Torso, the favourite study of Michael Angelo, and of many other distinguished artists.

[7] “Quoique cette statue d’Hercule ait été maltraitée et mutilée d’une manière étrange, se trouvant sans tête, sans bras, et sans jambes, elle est cependant encore un chef-d’œuvre aux yeux des connoisseurs; et ceux qui savent percer dans les mystères de l’art, se la représentent dans toute sa beauté. L’Artiste, en voulant représenter Hercule, a formé un corps idéal audessus de la nature * * * Cet Hercule paroît donc ici tel qu’il put être lorsque, purifié par le feu des foiblesses de l’humanité, il obtint l’immortalité et prit place auprès des Dieux. Il est représenté sans aucun besoin de nourriture et de réparation de forces. Les veines y sont tout invisibles.”—Winckelmann, Histoire de l’Art chez les Anciens, torn. ii. p. 248.