1794-1835
[Sidenote: Hughes’s _Memoir of Mrs. Hemans_.]
“The young poetess was then only fifteen; in the full glow of that
radiant beauty which was destined to fade so early. The mantling bloom
of her cheeks was shaded by a profusion of natural ringlets, of a
rich golden brown, and the ever-varying expression of her brilliant
eyes gave a changeful play to her countenance, which would have made
it impossible for any painter to do justice to it. The recollection
of what she was at that time, irresistibly suggests a quotation from
Wordsworth’s graceful poetic picture:--
‘She was a Phantom of delight,
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment’s ornament.
* * * *
A dancing Shape, an Image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and waylay.’”
1809.
[Sidenote: Moir’s _Memoirs of Mrs. Hemans_.]
“Mrs. Hemans was about the middle height, and rather slenderly made
than otherwise. To a countenance of great intelligence and expression,
she united manners alike unassuming and playful, and with a trust
arising out of the purity of her own character--which was beyond the
meanness of suspicion in others--she remained untainted by the breath
of worldly guile.”
[Sidenote: Rossetti’s _Notice of Mrs. Hemans_. *]
“An engraved portrait of her by the American artist William E.
West--one of three which he painted in 1827, shows us that Mrs. Hemans,
at the age of thirty-four, was eminently pleasing and good-looking,
with an air of amiability and sprightly gentleness, and of confiding
candour which, while none the less perfectly womanly, might almost be
termed childlike in its limpid depth. The features are correct and
harmonious; the eyes full; and the contour amply and elegantly rounded.
In height she was neither tall nor short. A sufficient wealth of
naturally clustering hair, golden in early youth, but by this time of
a rich auburn, shades the capacious but not over-developed forehead,
and the lightly pencilled eyebrows. The bust and form have the fulness
of a mature period of life; and it would appear that Mrs. Hemans was
somewhat short-necked and high-shouldered, partly detracting from
delicacy of proportion, and of general aspect of impression on the
eye. We would rather judge of her by this portrait (which her sister
pronounces a good likeness) than by another engraved in Mr. Chorley’s
Memorials. This latter was executed in Dublin in 1831, by a young
artist named Edward Robinson. It makes Mrs. Hemans look younger than in
the earlier portrait by West, and may on that ground alone be surmised
unfaithful, and, though younger, it also makes her heavier and less
refined.”