not inferior to any, and far superior to most of them, the author before us is not only free from every stain, but breathes all moral beauty and loveliness; and it will be a memorable coincidence if the era of a woman's sway in literature shall become co-eval with the return of its moral purity and elevation." From suffrages such as these, Mrs. Hemans derived not merely present gratification, but encouragement and cheer for her onward course. It was still dearer to her to receive the assurances, with which it often fell to her lot to be blessed, of having, in the exercise of the talents intrusted to her, administered balm to the feelings of the sorrowful, or taught the desponding where to look for comfort. In a letter written at this time to a valued friend, recently visited by one of the heaviest of human calamities-the loss of an exemplary mother-she thus describes her own appreciation of such heart-tributes. "It is inexpressibly gratifying to me to know, that you should find anything I have written at all adapted to your present feelings, and that The Sceptic should have been one of the last

1

"It is pleasing to record the following tribute from Mrs. Hannah More, in a letter to a friend who had sent her a copy of The Sceptic. I cannot refuse myself the gratification of saying, that I entertain a very high opinion of Mrs. Hemans's superior genius and refined taste. I rank her, as a poet, very high, and I have seen no work on the subject of her Modern Greece, which evinces more just views, or more delicate perceptions of the fine and the beautiful. I am glad she has employed her powerful pen, in this new instance, on a subject so worthy of it; and anticipating the future by the past, I promise myself no small pleasure in the perusal, and trust it will not only confer pleasure, but benefit.'"

books upon which the eyes, now opened upon brighter scenes, were cast. Perhaps, when your mind is sufficiently composed, you will inform me which were the passages distinguished by the approbation of that pure and pious mind: they will be far more highly valued by me than anything I have ever written."

The sentiments expressed in the same letter on the subject of Affliction, its design and influence, are so completely a part of herself, that it would seem an omission to withhold them. They are embodied in the following words:-"Your ideas respecting the nature and degree of sorrow for the departed, permitted us by that religion which seems to speak with the immediate voice of Heaven to affliction, coincide perfectly with my own. I have been hitherto spared a trial of this nature, but I have often passed hours in picturing to myself what would be the state of my mind under such a visitation. I am convinced, that though grief becomes criminal when it withdraws us from the active duties of life, yet that the wounds made by "the arrows of the Almighty" are not meant to be forgotten. If He who chastens those whom He loves, means, as we cannot doubt, by such inflictions to recall the Spirit to Himself, and prepare the mortal for immortality, the endeavour to obliterate such recollections is surely not less in opposition to His intentions, than the indulgence of that rebellious grief, which repines as if its own sufferings were an exception to the general mercies of Heaven. Life is but too dear to us, even with all its precarious joys and heavy calamities; and constituted even as it is, we can hardly keep our minds fixed upon a brighter state

with any degree of steadiness. What would it, then, be, if we were not continually reminded that " our all does not lie here;" and if the loss of some beloved friend did not constantly summon our wandering thoughts from the present to the future? I was so struck, a few days ago, with the concluding passage in the Memoirs of Mrs. Brunton, that I will not apologize for transcribing part of it, as I am sure you will feel its beautiful and affecting coincidence. It is from a Funeral Sermon on the Death of the Righteous:"Let me exhort you, as you would rise superior to the fear of death, to cherish the memory of those who have already passed from the society of the few who were most dear to them on earth, to the society of the blessed in Heaven. How unnatural seems to be the conduct of many, whose consolation for the loss of a departed friend, appears to depend upon committing his name to oblivion !—who appear to shrink from every object that would for a moment bring to their recollection the delight they once felt in his society! If such conduct be, in any respect, excusable, it can only be in the case of those who have no hope in God. There are few, if any, among us, who have not, ere now, committed to the tomb the remains of some who had been, not only long, but deservedly dear to us; whose virtues are in consequence a satisfying pledge, that they have only gone before us to the mansions of bliss. Some of us have but recently

laid in the grave all that was mortal and perishing, of one who may well continue to live in our remembrance—whose memory will be a monitor to us of those virtues, which may qualify us for being re-uniVOL. I.- -6

6

ted to her society. Though the body mingle with the dust, the spirit, in this case, yet speaketh;' it invites, and, I trust, enables us to anticipate more effectually on earth our intercourse with the spirits of the just in heaven. Great cause we, no doubt, have to mourn over that dispensation of Providence, which has, in the mean while, removed from the sphere of our converse on earth, one, from whose converse we had so invariably derived at once instruction and delight; whose piety was so genuine, that, while never ostentatiously displayed, it was, as little, in any case disguised,-whose mental energies communicated such a character and effect to both her piety and her active beneficence, that they often served the purpose of an example to others, when such a purpose was not contemplated by her. Not to mourn over a dispensation of Providence, which has deprived us of such a blessing, would be incompatible with the design of Providence in visiting us with such a cause of affliction. But God forbid that we should sorrow as those who have no hope of being re-united in heaven to those who have been dear to them on earth! God forbid that we should be unwilling in our hearts to conform to the design of Providence, when, by removing from us those who have been the objects of our regard in this world, it would, in some sense, unite earth to heaven, by gradually weaning us from the world, and gradually transferring our hearts to heaven, before we have altogether completed the appointed years of our pilgrimage on earth! Let a view of our condition, as the heirs of heaven, so elevate our minds, as to make us now join, with one heart, in the language of our

Christian triumph-O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?'

In a subsequent letter to the same friend, and in pursuance of the same subject, there is the following allusion to a poem, which Mrs. Hemans had even then begun to appreciate, though her more perfect and "reverential communion" with the spirit of its author was reserved for later years. "You may remember that I was reading Wordsworth's Excursion some time before you left the country. I was much struck with the beauty and sublimity of some of the religious passages it contains; and in looking over the copious extracts I made from it, I observe several, which I think will interest you exceedingly. I mean to copy them out, and send them to you in a few days: the mingled strain of exalted hope and Christian resignation, in which the poet speaks of departed friends, struck me so forcibly, that I thought when I transcribed it, how soothingly it would speak to the heart of any one who had to deplore the loss of some beloved object."

In the spring of 1820, Mrs. Hemans first made the acquaintance of one who became afterwards a zealous and valuable friend, revered in life, and sincerely mourned in death-Bishop Heber, then Rector of Hodnet, and a frequent visiter at Bodryddan, the residence of his father-in-law, the late Dean of St. Asaph, from whom also, during an intercourse of many years, Mrs. Hemans at all times received much kindness and courtesy. Mr. Reginald Heber was the first eminent literary character with whom she had ever familiarly associated; and she therefore entered with a peculiar