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    greater than it was when the supply wa 3 less abundant , we shall not take upon ourselves to determine . Though not possessing the strength and energy of Lord Byron , nor the exquisite polish of Campbell , the poetry of Mrs . Hemans is often , forcible , and always elegant in its diction . It abounds in beautiful and harmonious lines , and in descriptions of characters and feelings , intermingled with sketches of natural scenery , which shew that she is , what every poet ought to ^ be , an enthusiastic admirer of the beauties of nature . She excels also in

    giving , in a single line , a slight touch , which , like the first sketch of a masterly artist , brings to the mind much more than actually meets the eye . Another distinguishing beauty in Mrs . Hemaris * poems is , that they are never disfigured by any of that affectation of simplicity and singularity of style which many of our modern poets have assumed : nor has she been often betrayed into the opposite extreme , —a redundancy of ornament

    and profusion of epithets . Occasionally , perhaps , she is a little too ornate in her language , but this is not often the case ; and even where her epithets may be thought too numerous , they are generally well chosen and suitable to the subject . With the single exception : of Mrs . Barbauld , we should , perhaps , place Mrs . Hemans above any of the female poets with whose works we are acquainted . Between the two writers , it is perhaps , however , unfair to draw any comparison ; for they have pursued such very

    different tracks , that there hardly seems any point at which they approach near enough to be viewed together . Mrs . Barbauld ' s path was on more elevated ground : her compositions were of a higher and graver cast : in devotional poetry she never has been , and probably never will be > excelled . We know of few , if any , poems in the English language , which are superior , either in a warm spirit of devotion , or in true poetical feeling , to her Address to the Deity , and Summer Evening Meditation . Mrs . Hemans pursues a

    more humble course ; her poetry is addressed to a lighter and more numerous class of readers , and she seldom , if ever , attempts the more elevated strain of moral and devotional poetry . She generally adopts some slight story as her groundwork , and beautifies and adorns it with her own ideas , imagery , and poetical descriptions . Her chief excellence lies , perhaps , in this , that she seems to know her own strength and powers ; and has the

    good sense and taste not to attempt anything beyond them . But though her poems are not professedly on religious subjects , there is a fervid glow of devotional feeling pervading most of them , which entitles them to a higher rank than to be considered as the mere vehicles of an amusing story . This is particularly the case with the One more immediately under our consideration , the Forest Sanctuary .

    The title of this poem does not , perhaps , give any very clear idea of its nature and subject ^ but in 3 short notice prefixed to it , we are told that ** it is intended to , describe the mental conflicts , as well as outward sufferings , of a Spaniard , who , flying from the religious persecutions of his own country in the 16 th century , takes refuge with his child in a North American forest . The story is supposed to be related by himself , amidst the wilderness which has afforded him an asylum . "

    The subject is well calculated to excite interest , and to call up poetical feelings and imagery ; and though there is an occasional obscurity in the narration of the few incidents by which the story is hung together , we have seldom read a poem abounding more in deep and pathetic feeling and forcible description . The exile begins his story with an animated apostrophe to his native

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    332 Review . —Mrs . Humans * Poems .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1828, page 332, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2560/page/44/