Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 2 (of 2)Howitt, William
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Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Howitt, William
Literary landmarks -- Great Britain; Poets, English -- Homes and haunts
In her illness, by which she was gradually wasted to a skeleton, she
enjoyed all the consolations which affection can bestow. Her sister
attended her assiduously till she was called away by the serious
illness of her husband. Her place was then tenderly supplied by her
sister-in-law, the lady of Colonel Browne; and her son Charles was
with her the whole time; George, now a prosperous engineer, for some
days; and Henry, then a school-boy at Shrewsbury, likewise, during the
Christmas holydays. For a time, she was removed to Redesdale, a seat
of the Archbishop of Dublin, about seven miles from the city; but she
returned, and died in Dawson-street, on the 16th of May, 1835. During
her last illness, she wrote some of the finest poetry that she ever
produced, especially that most soul-full effusion, Despondency and
Aspiration; and the Sabbath Sonnet; which she dedicated to her
brother, less than three weeks before her death, the last of her lays.
Her remains were interred in a vault beneath St. Ann's Church, but a
short distance from her house, on the same side of the street; where,
on the wall, under the gallery, on the right hand, as you enter, you
observe a tablet, bearing this inscription--"In the vault beneath are
deposited the Mortal Remains of Felicia Hemans, who died, May 16, 1835.
"Calm on the bosom of thy God,
Fair spirit, rest thee now;
Even while with us thy footsteps trod,
His seal was on thy brow.
Dust to its narrow house beneath,
Soul to its place on high!
They that have seen thy look in death
No more will fear to die."
The same vault, as nearly as possible three years afterward, received
the remains of her faithful and very superior servant, Anna Creer, a
native of the isle of Man, who had lived with her seven years, and,
after her death, married Mr. Jolliffe, the master of the house. The
worthy man was much affected in speaking of the circumstance, and bore
also the highest testimony to the character of Mrs. Hemans, saying,
"it was impossible for any one to know her without loving her." To
such a tribute, what can be added? The perfection of human character
is to excite at once admiration and lasting affection.
[Illustration: Cape Coast Castle]
L. E. L.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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