had been educated with great care. Helve'tins was passionately fond of his wife, and after their marriage they lived chiefly in retirement at Voré, enjoying the pure pleasures of domestic life. After his decease, which occurred in 1771, Madame Helvétius removed to Auteuil, where her house became the resort of the most distinguished literati and artists of the time. Among other great men. Dr. Benjamin Franklin was a frequent visitor and a warm friend of Madame Helvétius. She was then far advanced in years; but her good sense, cheerful kindness, and highly cultivated mind, rendered her the favourite companion of intelligent men. She is an example of the superiority of cultivated intellect over personal beauty; her youthful charms were soon gone; her mental graces improved to the last, and made her society sought and her friendship valued as long as she lived.
HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA,
Was the second daughter and fourth child of a family of three sons and three daughters. She was born in Duke street, Liverpool, on the 25th. of September, 1794. Her father, Mr. Browne, was a native of Ireland, and her mother, a Miss Wagner, was of Venetian origin. As a child, Felicia was remarkably beautiful, and she early gave indications of her poetic genius, which was encouraged by her accomplished mother. When Miss Browne was about five years old, domestic embarrassments led her father to remove to Gwyrch, in North Wales.
That land of wild mountain scenery, and ancient minstrelsy, was the fitting place to impart sublimity to her youthful fancies, and elevate her feelings with the glow of patriotism and devotion. She began to write when very young; her first printed poems, entitled "Early Blossoms," were issued in 1808, when she was fourteen.
In 1809, her family removed from Gwyrch to Bronwylfa, near St. Asaph's, in Flintshire, where she resided for sixteen years, and wrote many of her works. It was during this year, 1809, that the great event of her life took place—her introduction to Captain Hemans. A mutual attachment was the immediate consequence of the meeting, but Captain Hemans, soon after their introduction, was called upon to embark with his regiment for Spain. On his return, in 1812, they were married.
Mrs. Hemans' eagerness for knowledge continued to be intense, and of her industry, volumes, still existing, of extracts and transcriptions, are evidence. The mode of her studies was very desultory to outward appearance, as she loved to be surrounded by books of all sorts and languages, and on every variety of topic, turning from one to another. And this course, it is said, "she pursued at all times—in season and out of season—by night and day—on her chair, her sofa, and bed—at home and abroad—invalid, convalescent, and in perfect health—in rambles, journeys, and visits—in company with her husband, and when her children were around her—at hours usually devoted to domestic claims, as well as in the solitary of the study and the bower."
In the year 1818, Captain Hemans' health requiring the benefit of a warmer climate, he determined upon repairing to the Continent, and eventually fixed his residence at Rome. At this time a permanent separation was not contemplated by either party, and it was only a tacit and convenient arrangement, with a frequent
