The Poetical Works of Mrs. Felicia Hemans: Complete in One Volume (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Poetical Works of Mrs. Felicia Hemans: Complete in One Volume

So, we say, has it been already, and so, we venture to predict, it will be still, with much of the poetry of Mrs. Hemans. She strove to be the worthy interpreter of worthy truth, deeply concerning the happiness of her race; and the vital spirit of virtue has in spired her to be equal to the task. This is her praise; and it is praise enough; not that she has spent her strength in the rearing of dazzling fabrics of fancy, as brilliant and as useless as the ice-palaces of the northern Queen; not that she has chosen to indulge the impulse of a wayward temperament in the reckless expression of feeling without principle, and of sentiment without point; not that she has dealt only in the cold oracles of a selfish philosophy, more thoughtful Of truth, and of proof, than of the use'of either m the wants of the world; not that she has indulged unholy passion in her own breast, or the breast of any living creature; not that she has dared to exaggerate, that at all events she might astonish, or deigned to be mean, in the miserable hope of amusing. N 0! She has neither failed to feel the high dignity of her profession, nor forgotten to observe it. She has made no vain display of genius faithless to its trust. She has cul tivated self as the means, not consulted it as the end. She has been ambitious less to gain honour, than to give pleasure, and do good. She has not assumed to assert what is doubtful, or to deny what is not. She has not dogmatized, criticized, or theorized.

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