gathered from its glorious armoury-"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him: " and further, that "the Law of the Lord is perfect, and maketh wise the simple." Contrast her life, earnest, active, hopeful, full of mercy and compassion, with that of the heartless, selfish, sarcastic, sneering Brummell !

Which did the most for their fellows?

Which turned the boon of existence to the best account?

Whose was the most rational career?

And their end! He-not knowing how to pray! She-abounding in praise and thanksgiving. In him, we see means, connections, opportunities, granted: and-abused. In her, the single talent well employed. The one was

all but in name a heathen. The other an earnest believer; true to the noblest impulses of a most benevolent nature; ever striving to mitigate the sorrows which exist in this earthly scene of brief probation; and hourly reaching

forth to that "land of bright realities" which lies beyond it. How sound is the great American moralist's remark-"Look not abroad for the blessings of Christ. His reign and chief blessings are WITHIN YOU. The human soul is his kingdom. There he gains his victories, there he rears his temples, there he lavishes his treasures!'

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CHAP. XIII.

The Christian Poetess.

MRS. HEMANS.

"It is the gifted beyond all others—those whom the multitude believe to be rejoicing in their own fame, strong in their own resources who have most need of

true hearts to rest upon, and of hope in God to support them." Letter written by MRS. HEMANS in 1829.

- Letter

"It seems to speak piercingly and sorrowfully of the nothingness of Fame at least to Woman!" written by MRS. HEMANS in 1833.

FELICIA DOROTHEA BROWNE was born in Liverpool on the 25th of September 1793. Her father, a native of Ireland, was a merchant of considerable eminence; her mother, whose family name was Wagner, was the daughter of the Tuscan consul at Liverpool. The future poetess was distinguished, almost from her cradle, by extreme beauty and precocious talents.

In 1808 a collection of her early poems in Quarto was injudiciously given to the world, and severely criticised. In 1812 another and much smaller volume, entitled "The Domestic Affections, and other Poems," was submitted to the ordeal of public favour; the last that was to appear with the name of Felicia Browne. In the ensuing summer its author accepted the hand of Captain Hemans.

For several succeeding years the life of Mrs. Hemans continued to be a scene of almost uninterrupted domestic privacy; her time being divided between the cultivation of her wonted studies, and the claims of an increasing family. Her five children were all sons. In 1818 Captain Hemans, whose health was delicate, repaired to Rome, where he thenceforth resided. From the hour of his departure to a southern climate up to the moment of her death, a period of seventeen years - Mrs. Hemans and her husband never met again! In 1820 appeared "The Sceptic;" preceded by her prize poem, "The meeting of Wallace

and Bruce on the banks of the Carron." This was given to the world in Blackwood's Magazine for September 1819.

the poetess commenced her

66

Shortly afterwards

contributions to the

Edinburgh Monthly Magazine," then conducted by the Rev. Edward Morehead.

In June 1821 Mrs. Hemans obtained the prize awarded by the Royal Society of Literature for the best poem on the subject of "Dartmoor." From Dartmoor she passed to the composition of her tragedy-"The Vespers of Palermo," an unmerited, but decided failure. In 1823 was written "The Voice of Spring," perhaps the best known and best loved of all Mrs. Heman's lyrics. In the same year

commenced her contributions to "The New Monthly Magazine," then edited by Mr. Campbell. In the autumn of 1824 she began the poem which may be considered her principal work, and which she herself considered as her best" The Forest Sanctuary."

This was followed by " Scenes and Hymns of Life." In 1827 she lost her attached and ad