_Con._ (_slowly recovering._) There was a voice which call'd me. Am I not A spirit freed from earth?--Have I not pass'd The bitterness of death? _Ans._ Oh, haste, away! _Con._ Yes, Raimond calls me--(_There he stands beside her!_) He, too, is released From his cold bandage. We are free at last, And all is well--away! [_She is led out by Anselmo._ It ought to be borne in remembrance, however, that the _Vespers of Palermo_, although not the "first" with respect to publication, was the first written of Mrs Hemans' dramatic works. It was produced in solitude, and away from the bustle of theatres, and, be it also confessed, probably with a very scanty knowledge of what stage-representation required. Indeed, the result proved this to be the case. The _Siege of Valencia_, written on a different principle, although probably even less adapted for stage representation, possesses loftier claims as a composition, and, as a poem, is decidedly superior. Its pervading fault consists in its being pitched on too high a key. All the characters talk in heroics--every sentiment is strained to the utmost; and the prevailing tone of the author's mind characterises the whole. We do not say that it is deficient in nature--it overflows alike with power and tenderness; but its nature is too high for the common purposes of humanity. The wild, stern enthusiasm of the priest--the inflexibility of the father--the wavering of the mother between duty and affection--the heroic devotion of the gentle Ximena, are all well brought out; but there is a want of individuality--the want of that, without which elaboration for the theatre is vain, and with which, compositions of very inferior merit often attract attention, and secure it.