“Yet I have known it long: Too restless and too strong Within this clay hath been the o'ermastering flame; Swift thought that came and went, Like torrents o'er me sent Have shaken as a reed, my thrilling frame. Like perfumes on the wind, Which none may stay or bind, The beautiful comes floating through my soul; I strive with yearning vain, The spirit to detain Of the deep harmonies that past me roll! Therefore disturbing dreams Trouble the secret streams, And founts of music that o'erflow my breast; Something far more divine Than may on earth be mine, Haunts my worn heart, and will not let it rest.” Most of the poems above referred to, were written at Rhyllon; the last and most favorite of Mrs. Hemans' residence at Wales. Some of them will be found colored by a shadow which had recently passed over her lot—the death of her mother. To this, which she always felt as an irreparable loss, will be found not a few touching allusions in many following letters. A small woodland dingle, near Rhyllon, was her favorite retreat: here she would spend long summer mornings to read, and project, and compose, while her children played about her. “Whenever one of us brought her a new flower,” writes one of them, “she was sure to introduce it into her next poem.” She has unconsciously described this haunt over and over again with affectionate distinctness; it is the scene referred to in the “Hour of Romance,” and in the sonnet which is printed among her “Poetical Remains.” “Still are the cowslips from thy bosom springing, O far off grassy dell?—And dost thou see, When southern winds first wake the vernal singing, The star-gleam of the wood anemone? Doth the shy ring-dove haunt thee yet—the bee Hang on thy flowers, as when I breathed farewell To their wild blooms? and round the beechen tree Still in green softness, doth the moss bank swell?” Many of the imaginations which floated through her brain in this retirement, were lost in the more interrupted and responsible life, which followed Mrs. Hemans' departure from Wales; when the breaking up of her household, on the marriage of one of her family, and the removal of another into Ireland, threw her exclusively upon her own resources, and compelled her to make acquaintance with an “eating, drinking, buying, bargaining” world with which, from her disposition and habits, she was ill-fitted to cope. One of these unfinished works was the “Portrait Gallery,” of which one episode, “The lady of the Castle,” is introduced in the “Records.” {613} CONCLUDING LECTURE Of the Course on the Obstacles and Hindrances to Education, arising from the peculiar faults of Parents, Teachers and Scholars, and that portion of the Public immediately concerned in directing and controlling our Literary Institutions. BY JAMES M. GARNETT.