REVIEW OF HER WORKS.

An eminent living critic has said that Mrs. Hemans' poetry is silent to all effective utterance of original truth. We do not adopt that sentiment, but we believe had her mind been directed in youth to the works of Lord Bacon and Bishop Butler, or even the elementary propositions of Euclid, it would probably have gained both as to intellectual and moral strength. Her poetical life divides itself into four periods. The juvenile, the classic, the romantic, and the mature. Her mind precociously expanded to a keen sense of the beautiful, and a warm appreciation of nature and poetry. Some pieces found in her works date their composition as far back as 1803 and 1804; but it was not till 1808 that her first volume was ushered into the world. In 1812, she gave to the press "The Domestic Affections." In 1819, appeared "Tales and Historic Scenes." In 1823, a tragedy entitled "The Vespers of Palermo." In 1826, she published "The Forest Sanctuary." In 1828, "Records of Woman." In 1830, she brought out "Songs of the Affections." In 1834, appeared her little volume of "Hymns for Childhood," "National Lyrics and Songs for Music," "Scenes and Hymns of Life," and sonnets, under the title of "Thoughts during Sickness."

These are her principal works. She obtained a prize from a patriotic Scotsman for the best poem on Sir William Wallace, and a prize was also awarded her by the Royal Society of Literature for the best poem on Dartmoor. Like all authors who have written much, her poetry is of various excellence; but for pathos, sentiment, and gorgeous richness of language,

we know no lyrics superior to her little pieces. She was, as Lord Jeffrey well remarked, an admirable writer of occasional verses. Mrs. Hemans never left

the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, but her imagination visited and realized every place of which she read, or heard, or saw a picture. How minute, eloquent and exciting, are her descriptions of "The Better Land."

"Is it where the feathery palm-trees rise,

And the date grows ripe under sunny skies?
Or midst the green islands of glittering seas,
Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze,
And strange, bright birds on their starry wings
Bear the rich hues of all glorious things?'
Not there, not there, my child!'

"Is it far away, in some region old,

Where the rivers wander o'er sands of gold?—
Where the burning rays of the ruby shine,

And the diamond lights up the secret mine,
And the pearl gleams forth from the coral strand ?—
Is it there, sweet mother, that better land?'

-'Not there, not there, my child !'"'

Mrs. Hemans has the most perfect skill in her science; nothing can be more polished, glowing, and harmonious, than her versification. We give an illustration, "The Voice of Spring."

"I come! I come !-Ye have called me long:
I come o'er the mountains with light and song!
Ye may trace my steps o'er the wakening earth,
By the winds that tell of the violet's birth,
By the primrose stars in the shadowy grass,
By the green leaves opening as I pass."

There is diffused over all her poetry a yearning desire to associate the name of England with every

sentiment and feeling of freedom and patriotism. "The Homes of England" shows that she knew wherein consisted the glory and strength of kingdoms. "The stately homes of England,

How beautiful they stand
Amidst their tall ancestral trees,

O'er all the pleasant land.

The deer across their greensward bound
Through shade and sunny gleam

And the swan glides past them with the sound
Of some rejoicing stream."

Her "Graves of a Household " illustrates how well the graphic and pathetic may be made to set off each other.

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They grew in beauty, side by side,

They filled one home with glee;
Their graves are severed, far and wide,
By mount and stream and sea."

With what exquisite tenderness and beautiful imagery does she express in "The Hour of Death” the emotions of every heart.

"Leaves have their time to fall,

And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath,

And stars to set-but all,

Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death!"

Mrs. Hemans' poetry has four characteristics, viz., the ideal, the picturesque, the harmonious, and the moral. There may be "too many flowers for the fruit;" yet a large portion of it possesses perennial vitality.

The best edition extant of the works of Mrs. Hemans has been published recently by Messrs. Blackwood. The poems are chronologically arranged,

with illustrative notes and a selection of contemporary criticisms. Besides an ample table of contents, there is a general index, and an index of first lines.

CHARACTER OF MRS. HEMANS.

Her personal appearance was highly attractive. The writer of her memoir describes her in early womanhood as radiant with beauty. The mantling bloom of her cheeks was shaded by a profusion of natural ringlets of a rich golden brown; and the ever-varying expression of her brilliant eyes gave a changeful play to her countenance, which would have made it impossible for any painter to do justice to it. She was of middle stature and slight of figure. Her air was graceful, and her manner fascinating in its artlessness. From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot she was touched with elegance.

In dramatic conception, depth of thought, and variety of fancy, we could name several women who excelled her; but in the use of language, in the employment of rich, chaste, and glowing imagery, and in the perfect music of her versification, she stands alone and superior. In the words of Miss Jewsbury, "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 touched all things; but like a sunbeam, touched them with a golden finger."

She was a genuine woman, and therefore imbued with a Christian spirit. To borrow again from Miss Jewsbury: "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 melody; her spirits reminded me of an old poet's description of the orange-tree with its

'Golden lamps hid in a night of green,'

or of those Spanish gardens, where the pomegranate grows beside the cypress. Her gladness was like a burst of sunlight; and if in her depression she resembled night, it was night wearing her stars."

SECTION VI.—ELIZABETH BARRETT
BROWNING.

"It is characteristic of this century, that women play a more important part in literature than previously. Not only have women of genius commanded universal homage, but the distinctive characteristics of the female nature have been exhibited with more exquisite analysis and more powerful truth than heretofore." PETER BAYNE, A.M.

EPIC POETRY.

The principal of poetical compositions is the epic, otherwise called the heroic. It gives an imaginative narrative of some signal action or series of actions and events, usually the achievements of some distinguished character, and intended to form the morals and affect the mind with the love of virtue. longer poems of the epic genus embrace an extensive

The