Visit https://testbankfan.

com to download the full version and

explore more testbank or solution manual

New Perspectives on HTML5 CSS3 JavaScript 6th

Edition Carey Solutions Manual

_____ Click the link below to download _____

https://testbankfan.com/product/new-perspectives-on-
html5-css3-javascript-6th-edition-carey-solutions-
manual/

Explore and download more testbank at testbankfan.com

Here are some suggested products you might be interested in.
Click the link to download

New Perspectives on HTML5 CSS3 JavaScript 6th Edition

Carey Test Bank

https://testbankfan.com/product/new-perspectives-on-
html5-css3-javascript-6th-edition-carey-test-bank/

New Perspectives HTML5 and CSS3 Comprehensive 7th Edition

Carey Solutions Manual

https://testbankfan.com/product/new-perspectives-html5-and-
css3-comprehensive-7th-edition-carey-solutions-manual/

New Perspectives HTML5 and CSS3 Comprehensive 7th Edition

Carey Test Bank

https://testbankfan.com/product/new-perspectives-html5-and-
css3-comprehensive-7th-edition-carey-test-bank/

Marketing An Introduction Updated Canadian 6th Edition

Armstrong Solutions Manual

https://testbankfan.com/product/marketing-an-introduction-updated-
canadian-6th-edition-armstrong-solutions-manual/
Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences 9th
Edition Lune Test Bank

https://testbankfan.com/product/qualitative-research-methods-for-the-
social-sciences-9th-edition-lune-test-bank/

Statistics Unlocking the Power of Data 1st Edition Lock

Solutions Manual

https://testbankfan.com/product/statistics-unlocking-the-power-of-
data-1st-edition-lock-solutions-manual/

Financial Markets and Institutions 10th Edition Madura

Solutions Manual

https://testbankfan.com/product/financial-markets-and-
institutions-10th-edition-madura-solutions-manual/

General Organic and Biological Chemistry 7th Edition

Stoker Test Bank

https://testbankfan.com/product/general-organic-and-biological-
chemistry-7th-edition-stoker-test-bank/

Challenge of Politics An Introduction to Political Science

5th Edition Riemer Test Bank

https://testbankfan.com/product/challenge-of-politics-an-introduction-
to-political-science-5th-edition-riemer-test-bank/
Visual Anatomy and Physiology Lab Manual Main Version 1st
Edition Sarikas Solutions Manual

https://testbankfan.com/product/visual-anatomy-and-physiology-lab-
manual-main-version-1st-edition-sarikas-solutions-manual/
 New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 1 of 12

New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and

JavaScript
Tutorial Eight: Enhancing a Website with Multimedia
A Guide to this Instructor’s Manual:
We have designed this Instructor’s Manual to supplement and enhance your teaching
experience through classroom activities and through a cohesive chapter summary.

This document is organized chronologically and uses the same headings in blue that you see
in the textbook. Under each heading, you will find (in order): Lecture Notes that summarize
the section, Figures and Boxes found in the section (if any), Teacher Tips, Classroom
Activities, and Lab Activities. Pay special attention to teaching tips and activities, which are
geared toward quizzing your students, enhancing their critical thinking skills, and
encouraging experimentation within the software.

In addition to this Instructor’s Manual, our Instructor Companion Site also contains
PowerPoint Presentations, Test Banks, and other supplements to aid in your teaching
experience.

Table of Contents
Tutorial Objectives 2
Introducing Multimedia on the Web 2
Working with the audio Element 3
Exploring Embedded Objects 4
Exploring Digital Video 4
Using the HTML5 video Element 5
Adding a Text Track to Video 6
Using Third-Party Video Players 7
Creating Transitions with CSS 8
Animating Objects with CSS 9
End of Tutorial Material 11
Glossary 12
Tutorial Objectives
Students will have mastered the material in Tutorial Eight when they can:

Session 8.1 Session 8.3

• Understand audio and video formats • Create a CSS transition
• Insert an HTML audio clip • Explore transition attributes
• Support multiple audio formats • Create a CSS key frame animation
• Apply a CSS animation
Session 8.2
 New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 2 of 12

• Insert an HTML video clip

• Write a video caption track
• Format video captions

Introducing Multimedia on the Web

LECTURE NOTES
• Discuss the purpose of introducing multimedia on the web.
• Explain the concept of a codec.
• Explain lossy compression.
• Discuss lossless compression.
• Point out the disadvantage of lossless compression.
• Discuss the role of a container with respect to codecs.
• Point out the usage of a media player.
• Explain the usage of a plug-in.
• Point out that a plug-in can run within the web page as an embedded object.
• List the problems associated with the plug-in approach.

BOXES
• None

FIGURES
• Figure 8-1

TEACHER TIP
Prepare a few examples of lossy and lossless compression. Mention to the students the disadvantage of
lossless compression.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
• Internet Activity: Ask the students to research the advantages and disadvantages of
multimedia.
• Quick Quiz:
o True/False: In lossless compression, data is compressed by removing redundant
information. (Answer: True)
o Fill in the blank: _____ is a computer program that encodes and decodes streams of
data. (Answer: Codec)

LAB ACTIVITY
• None

Working with the audio Element

LECTURE NOTES
• Discuss the syntax to embed an audio element within a web page.
• Using figure 8-2, discuss the different attributes associated with HTML audio and video
elements.
• Using figure 8-3, discuss the most popular audio formats in HTML.
 New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 3 of 12

• Using figure 8-4, discuss the different browser support audio formats.
• Discuss the syntax to nest several source elements within a single audio element.
• Explain the process of applying styles to a native media player.
• Using figure 8-6, show the default audio player for different browsers.
• Explain the concept of a fallback option.

BOXES
• Tip: Because XHTML requires values for every attribute, enter the controls attribute as
controls="controls" to display media player controls on a page written in XHTML
(HTML 591).
• Tip: If no type attribute is provided, the browser will download a section of the file to
determine whether it corresponds to a recognized format (HTML 593).
• Insight: Exploring MIME Types (HTML 593)
• Tip: By default, audio and video elements are displayed in-line with the surrounding page
content (HTML 595).
• Proskills: Verbal Communication: Tips for Effective Web Audio (HTML 598)

FIGURES
• Figure 8-2, Figure 8-3, Figure 8-4, Figure 8-5, Figure 8-6, Figure 8-7, Figure 8-8, Figure 8-9,
Figure 8-10

TEACHER TIP
Remind the students that CSS can be applied to modify the media player’s appearance. Use figure 8-10
to show how a fallback text is displayed within a web page. Gather a few images to show the latest
audio players for different browsers.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
• Class Discussion:
Ask the students to make a list of any four attributes of the HTML audio element.
• Quick Quiz:
o True/False: The mobile version of the Firefox browser supports the AAC audio format.
(Answer: False)
o True/False: Apple devices support all audio formats except AAC. (Answer: False)

LAB ACTIVITY
• Have the students open an editor of their choice and create a new file with the extension
.html or take up any file from their previous lab activities. Follow the instructions from the
following section:
o HTML 593 “To add an audio clip”
o HTML 595 “To apply styles to the Media Player”
o HTML 595 “To play the audio clip”
o HTML 597 “To provide alternate text to the audio clip”

Exploring Embedded Objects

LECTURE NOTES
 New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 4 of 12

• Define the syntax of several plug-in attributes applied to an embed element.

• Point out the challenges faced in installing plug-ins.
• Explain how to use plug-ins as fallback options.

BOXES
• Tip: Browsers that don’t support HTML5 ignore the audio and source elements but apply
the embed element to insert the media player via a plug-in (HTML 599).

FIGURES
• None

TEACHER TIP
Have a discussion with the students on the challenges faced with plug-ins. Remind students that plug-
ins use the attributes designed for them and ignore the others. Also, tell them that plug-ins can act as
fallback options for browsers that do not support HTML5.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
• Quick Quiz:
o True/False: Older browsers relied on plug-ins to play audio and video files. (Answer:
True)
o True/False: Plug-ins cannot act as a fallback option for browsers that do not support
the HTML5 multimedia elements. (Answer: False)

LAB ACTIVITY
• None

Exploring Digital Video

LECTURE NOTES
• Point out the codecs for a video file.
• Using figure 8-11, discuss the most commonly used video codecs on the web.
• Using figure 8-12, discuss the several video formats used on the web.
• Using figure 8-13, list the browser support for several video formats.

BOXES
• None

FIGURES
• Figure 8-11, Figure 8-12, Figure 8-13

TEACHER TIP
Remind the students to supply multiple versions of the same video to achieve widest cross-browser
support.

Have a discussion with the students on the advantages of embedding a video in a web page.
 New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 5 of 12

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
• Quick Quiz
o True/False: The most popular video codec is H.264. (Answer: True)
o True/False: The desktop version of Internet Explorer only supports MPEG-4 video
format. (Answer: True)

LAB ACTIVITY
• None

Using the HTML5 video Element

LECTURE NOTES
• Define the syntax to embed videos into a web page using the video element.
• Discuss the fallback option with respect to videos in HTML5.
• Explain the attribute and syntax used to define the video’s preview image.

BOXES
• None

FIGURES
• Figure 8-14, Figure 8-15, Figure 8-16, Figure 8-17, Figure 8-18

TEACHER TIP
Mention to the students that a browser uses the first source it finds in a format it supports.

Remind the students that by default, media players show the first video frame as a preview of the
video’s content when the player initially loads a video file.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
Quick Quiz:
• True/False: The poster attribute is used to define the video’s preview image. (Answer: True)
• True/ False: The media player shows the last video frames as a preview of the video’s content
when the player initially loads a video file. (Answer: False)

LAB ACTIVITY
• Have the students use an editor of their choice to modify the file they created in the last lab.
Follow the instructions from the following section:
o HTML 604 “To embed a video file into the web page”
o HTML 606 “To set the video’s poster image”

Adding a Text Track to Video

LECTURE NOTES
• Discuss the syntax to add text tracks to an audio or video clip using the track element.
• Use Figure 8-19 to list the different kinds of tracks that can be associated with an audio or a
video file.
 New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 6 of 12

• Explain the format of a WebVTT file.

• Discuss the general form of a cue in a WebVTT file.
• Using Figure 8-23, explain the different cue attributes that are used to set the size and
position of the cue text.
• Define the syntax of the cue pseudo-element to format the appearance of the cues.
• Discuss the different styles for the cue pseudo-element.
• Discuss the several markup tags used to identify sections of the cue text.

BOXES
• Tip: A WebVTT file has the file extension .vtt (HTML 608).
• Tip: Cue text entered on multiple lines in the WebVTT file will also be displayed on multiple
lines when played back (HTML 608).
• Tip: To center the cue in the video window, set the line and position values to 50% and the
align value to middle (HTML 611).
• Tip: Ruby text refers to annotative characters placed above or to the right of other characters
and is often used with Chinese or Japanese symbols (HTML 613).

FIGURES
• Figure 8-19, Figure 8-20, Figure 8-21, Figure 8-22, Figure 8-23, Figure 8-13, Figure 8-24,
Figure 8-25, Figure 8-26, Figure 8-27, Figure 8-28

TEACHER TIP
Remind the students that the default attribute is required even if the track list contains only one
track. Also, stress that the list of cues is separated by a single blank line after the cue text.

Inform the students that the cue pseudo-element formats all of the cue text in the media clip by
default.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
• Class Discussion:
Ask the students to express their views on the necessity of adding a text track to a
video/image.
• Quick Quiz:
o Fill in the blank: Tracks are stored as simple text files written in the _____ language.
(Answer: Web Video Text Tracks or WebVTT)
o True/False: By default, a cue is placed at the top-right corner of a video window.
(Answer: False)

LAB ACTIVITY
• Have the students use an editor of their choice to modify the file they created in the last lab.
Follow the instructions from the following section:
o HTML 608 “To create a track file”
o HTML 609 “To add captions to a video clip”
o HTML 611 “To position the track cues”
 New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 7 of 12

o HTML 613 “To format the cue text”

o HTML 614 “To apply styles to the cue text”

Using Third-Party Video Players

LECTURE NOTES
• Discuss the object element with reference to the earlier browsers.
• Explain the syntax used to embed the Adobe Flash player using the object element.
• Discuss the process of embedding videos from YouTube.
• Discuss the use of an iframe element.
• Define inline frames.
• Discuss the various HTML5 video players.

BOXES
• Tip: To hide the Flash player, set the width and height values to 0 (HTML 618).
• Proskills: Problem Solving: Tips for Effective Web Video (HTML 620)

FIGURES
• Figure 8-29, Figure 8-30

TEACHER TIP
Inform the students that the most-used plug-in for video playback is the Adobe Flash player. Use
figure 8-29 to discuss about the various parameters recognized by the Adobe Flash player.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
• Class Discussion:
Ask the students to list and describe any three parameters recognized by the Adobe Flash
player.
• Quick Quiz:
o True/False: The most-used plug-in for video playback was the Adobe Flash player.
(Answer: True)
o True/False: The inline-frame element is used to mark iframes. (Answer:
False)

LAB ACTIVITY
• None

Creating Transitions with CSS

LECTURE NOTES
• Define the term transition.
• Use figure 8-31 to discuss the difference between the hover and transition properties.
• Explain the syntax of the transition style.
• Discuss the syntax to apply transition to more than one property.
• Discuss the syntax to define the varying speed of a transition.
• Discuss the several keywords used for timing-function.
 New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 8 of 12

• Using figure 8-35, compare the transition results of background color with different timing-
functions.
• Discuss the syntax of the cubic-bezier function.
• Explain the advantage of Cubic Bezier curves.
• Explain the syntax to delay the start of a transition.
• Discuss the effect of a hover transition.
• Discuss the limitations of transitions.

BOXES
• Tip: To specify a time in milliseconds, use the “ms” unit (HTML 624).
• Insight: Properties Affected by Transitions (HTML 626).
• Tip: You can also set the properties affected by the transition and their duration using the
transition-property and transition-duration styles (HTML 626).
• Tip: You can also define the timing-function using the transition-timing-
function property (HTML 626).
• Tip: You can also define the timing-function using the transition-delay property
(HTML 629).
• Insight: Creating an Asymmetric Transition (HTML 634)

FIGURES
• Figure 8-31, Figure 8-32, Figure 8-33, Figure 8-34, Figure 8-35, Figure 8-36, Figure 8-37,
Figure 8-38, Figure 8-39, Figure 8-40, Figure 8-41, Figure 8-42

TEACHER TIP
Inform the students that two transitions can involve totally different effects and durations. Remind
the students that another way to visualize a timing function is as a graph.

Have a discussion with students on hover transition.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
• Class Discussion:
Ask the students to differentiate between ease-in and ease-in-out keywords.
• Quick Quiz:
o True/False: A transition can be run in a loop for an infinite number of times. (Answer:
False)
o True/False: The hover effect is instantaneous with no intermediate steps. (Answer:
True)

LAB ACTIVITY
• Have the students use an editor of their choice to modify the file they created in the last lab.
Follow the instructions from the following section:
o HTML 629 “To define the initial and end state for the navigation links”
o HTML 631 “To define styles for the navigation links”
 New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 9 of 12

Animating Objects with CSS

LECTURE NOTES
• Define animation.
• Point out the role of key frames in animation.
• Explain the syntax to define a sequence of key frames in CSS.
• Using figure 8-43, show the students how path animation takes place over a ten-second
duration.
• Discuss the properties used to apply a key frames animation to an object.
• Using figure 8-46, discuss the various animation properties used to control the behavior and
style of the animation.
• Point out that there are two states of operation in an animation.
• Explain the process of controlling an animation using a check box.

BOXES
• Insight: Stepping between Key Frames (HTML 640)
• Proskills: Problem Solving: Safe Animation and Motion Sensitivity (HTML 650)

FIGURES
• Figure 8-43, Figure 8-44, Figure 8-45, Figure 8-46, Figure 8-47, Figure 8-48, Figure 8-49,
Figure 8-50, Figure 8-51, Figure 8-52, Figure 8-53, Figure 8-54, Figure 8-55, Figure 8-56,
Figure 8-57, Figure 8-58

TEACHER TIP
Have a discussion with the students about animation and its usage. Remind students that once an
animation has been defined and applied to an object, it will run automatically when the page is
loaded. Have a discussion with the students on how to control an animation using the check box or
playback icons.

Remind the students that any timing value entered for the last key frame is ignored because there are
no key frames to transition to.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
• Quick Quiz:
o Fill in the blank: The sequence of changing images is known as _____. (Answer: key
frames)
o True/False: An animation can contain only two styles defined at the initial and end
states. (Answer: False)

LAB ACTIVITY
• Have the students use an editor of their choice to modify the file they created in the last lab.
Follow the instructions from the following section:
o HTML 636 “To create the spin animation”
o HTML 639 “To apply the spin animation”
o HTML 641 “To create the animation check box”
New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 10 of 12

o HTML 643 “To create styles for animation playback”

o HTML 644 “To format the play and pause icons”
o HTML 646 “To revise the spin sequence”
 New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 11 of 12

End of Tutorial Material

• Review Assignments: Review Assignments provide the students with additional practice for
the skills they learned in the tutorial using the same tutorial case with which they are already
familiar.
• Case Problems: A typical NP tutorial has four Case Problems following the Review
Assignments. Short tutorials can have fewer Case Problems (or none at all); other tutorials
may have five Case Problems. The Case Problems provide further hands-on assessment of the
skills and topics presented in the tutorial, but with new case scenarios. There are three types
of Case Problems:
• Apply. In this type of Case Problem, students apply the skills that they have
learned in the tutorial to solve a problem.
• Challenge. A Challenge Case Problem involves three or more Explore steps. These
steps challenge students by having them go beyond what was covered in the
tutorial, either with guidance in the step or by using online Help as directed.
• Create. In a Create Case Problem, students are either shown the end result, such
as a finished website, and asked to create the document based on the figure
provided or asked to create something from scratch in a more free-form manner.
• ProSkills Exercises: This feature is new for Office 2010 and Windows 7. ProSkills exercises
integrate the technology skills students learn with one or more of the following soft skills:
decision making, problem solving, teamwork, verbal communication, and written
communication. The goal of these exercises is to enhance students’ understanding of the soft
skills and how to apply them appropriately in real-world, professional situations that also
involve software application skills. ProSkills exercises are offered at various points throughout
a text, encompassing the concepts and skills presented in a standalone tutorial or a group of
related tutorials.
 New Perspectives on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, 6th edition Instructor’s Manual Page 12 of 12

Glossary

• Advanced Audio Coding or AAC (HTML • MPEG-4 or MP4 (HTML 602)

592) • Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension or
• asymmetric transition (HTML 634) MIME type (HTML 593)
• codec (HTML 588) • Ogg (HTML 592)
• container (HTML 588) • plug-in (HTML 589)
• embedded object (HTML 589) • sprites (HTML 640)
• H.264 (HTML 602) • symmetric transition (HTML 634)
• iframe element (HTML 619) • Theora (HTML 602)
• inline frames (HTML 619) • transition (HTML 624)
• key frames (HTML 634) • VP8 (HTML 602)
• lossless compression (HTML 588) • VP9 (HTML 602)
• lossy compression (HTML 588) • WAV (HTML 592)
• media player (HTML 589) • Web Video Text Tracks or WebVTT
• MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 or MP3 (HTML (HTML 608)
592) • WebM (HTML 602)

Top of document
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
 On the beleaguer’d wall,
And dark their slumber, dark with dreams
Of slow defeat and fall.
Yet a few hearts of chivalry
Rose high to breast the storm,
And one—of all the loftiest there—
Thrill’d in a woman’s form.

A woman, meekly bending

O’er the slumber of her child,
With her soft, sad eyes of weeping love,
As the Virgin Mother’s mild.
Oh! roughly cradled was thy babe,
Midst the clash of spear and lance,
And a strange, wild bower was thine, young queen!
Fair Marguerite of France!

A dark and vaulted chamber,

Like a scene for wizard-spell,
Deep in the Saracenic gloom
Of the warrior citadel;
And there midst arms the couch was spread,
And with banners curtain’d o’er,
For the daughter of the minstrel-land,
The gay Provençal shore!

For the bright queen of St Louis,

The star of court and hall!
But the deep strength of the gentle heart
Wakes to the tempest’s call!
Her lord was in the Paynim’s hold,
His soul with grief oppress’d,
Yet calmly lay the desolate,
With her young babe on her breast!

There were voices in the city,

 Voices of wrath and fear—
“The walls grow weak, the strife is vain—
We will not perish here!
Yield! yield! and let the Crescent gleam
O’er tower and bastion high!
Our distant homes are beautiful—
We stay not here to die!”

They bore those fearful tidings

To the sad queen where she lay—
They told a tale of wavering hearts,
Of treason and dismay:
The blood rush’d through her pearly cheek,
The sparkle to her eye—
“Now call me hither those recreant knights
From the bands of Italy!”[402]

Then through the vaulted chambers

Stern iron footsteps rang;
And heavily the sounding floor
Gave back the sabre’s clang.
They stood around her—steel-clad men,
Moulded for storm and fight,
But they quail’d before the loftier soul
In that pale aspect bright.

Yes! as before the falcon shrinks

The bird of meaner wing,
So shrank they from th’ imperial glance
Of her—that fragile thing!
And her flute-like voice rose clear and high
Through the din of arms around—
Sweet, and yet stirring to the soul,
As a silver clarion’s sound.

“The honour of the Lily

 Is in your hands to keep,
And the banner of the Cross, for Him
Who died on Calvary’s steep;
And the city which for Christian prayer
Hath heard the holy bell—
And is it these your hearts would yield
To the godless infidel?

“Then bring me here a breastplate

And a helm, before ye fly,
And I will gird my woman’s form,
And on the ramparts die!
And the boy whom I have borne for woe,
But never for disgrace,
Shall go within mine arms to death
Meet for his royal race.

“Look on him as he slumbers

In the shadow of the lance!
Then go, and with the Cross forsake
The princely babe of France!
But tell your homes ye left one heart
To perish undefiled;
A woman, and a queen, to guard
Her honour and her child!”

Before her words they thrill’d, like leaves

When winds are in the wood;
And a deepening murmur told of men
Roused to a loftier mood.
And her babe awoke to flashing swords,
Unsheath’d in many a hand,
As they gather’d round the helpless One,
Again a noble band!

“We are thy warriors, lady!

 True to the Cross and thee;
The spirit of thy kindling words
On every sword shall be!
Rest, with thy fair child on thy breast!
Rest—we will guard thee well!
St Denis for the Lily-flower
And the Christian citadel!”
[401] Queen of St Louis. Whilst besieged by the Turks in
Damietta, during the captivity of the king her husband, she there
gave birth to a son, whom she named Tristan, in commemoration
of her misfortunes. Information being conveyed to her, that the
knights intrusted with the defence of the city had resolved on
capitulation, she had them summoned to her apartment; and, by
her heroic words, so wrought upon their spirits, that they vowed
to defend her and the Cross to the last extremity.
[402] The proposal to capitulate is attributed by the French
historian to the Knights of Pisa.

THE WANDERER.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF SCHMIDT VON LUBECK.

I come down from the hills alone;

Mist wraps the vale, the billows moan!
I wander on in thoughtful care,
For ever asking, sighing—where?

The sunshine round seems dim and cold,

And flowers are pale, and life is old,
And words fall soulless on my ear—
Oh, I am still a stranger here!

Where art thou, land, sweet land, mine own!

Still sought for, long’d for, never known?
The land, the land of hope, of light,
Where glow my roses freshly bright,
 And where my friends the green paths tread,
And where in beauty rise my dead;
The land that speaks my native speech,
The blessed land I may not reach!

I wander on in thoughtful care,

For ever asking, sighing—where?
And spirit-sounds come answering this—
“There, where thou art not, there is bliss!”

THE LAST WORDS OF THE LAST WASP OF

SCOTLAND,
—A jeu-d’esprit produced at this time, which owed its origin to a simple remark on
the unseasonableness of the weather, made by Mrs Hemans to Mr Charles
Kirkpatrick Sharpe, whom she was in the habit of seeing at Sir David
Wedderburn’s. “It is so little like summer,” she said, “that I have not even seen a
butterfly.” “A butterfly!” retorted Mr Sharpe, “I have not even seen a wasp!” The
next morning, as if in confutation of this calumny, a wasp made its appearance at
Lady Wedderburn’s breakfast table. Mrs Hemans immediately proposed that it
should be made a prisoner, inclosed in a bottle, and sent to Mr Sharpe: this was
accordingly done, and the piquant missive was acknowledged by him as follows:—

“SONNET TO A WASP, IN THE MANNER OF MILTON, &c., BUT

MUCH SUPERIOR.

Poor insect! rash as rare!—Thy sovereign,[403] sure,

Hath driven thee to Siberia in disgrace—
Else what delusion could thy sense allure
To buzz and sting in this unwholesome place,
Where e’en the hornet’s hoarser, and the race
Of filmy wing are feeble? Honey here
(Scarce as its rhyme) thou find’st not. Ah, beware
Thy golden mail, to starved Arachne dear![404]
Though fingers famed, that thrill the immortal lyre,
Have pent thee up, a second Asmodeus,
I wail thy doom—I warm thee by the fire,
 And blab our secrets—do not thou betray us!
I give thee liberty, I give thee breath,
To fly from Athens, Eurus, Doctors, Death!!”
To this Mrs Hemans returned the following rejoinder:—

Sooth’d by the strain, the Wasp thus made reply—

(The first, last time he spoke not waspishly)—
“Too late, kind Poet! comes thine aid, thy song,
To aught first starved, then bottled up so long.
Yet, for the warmth of this thy genial fire,
Take a Wasp’s blessing ere his race expire:—
Never may provost’s foot find entrance here!
Never may bailie’s voice invade thine ear!
Never may housemaid wipe the verd antique
From coin of thine—Assyrian, Celt, or Greek!
Never may Eurus cross thy path!—to thee
May winds and wynds[405] alike propitious be!
And when thou diest—(live a thousand years!)—
May friends fill classic bottles[406] with their tears!
I can no more—receive my parting gasp!—
Bid Scotland mourn the last, last lingering Wasp!”

[403] Beelzebub is the king of flies.

[404] A beautiful allusion to our starving weavers.
[405] Alluding to antiquarian visits to these renowned closes.
[406] Referring to certain precious lachrymatories in the
possession of Mr Sharpe.

TO CAROLINE.
When thy bounding step I hear,
And thy soft voice, low and clear;
When thy glancing eyes I meet,
In their sudden laughter sweet—
Thou, I dream, wert surely born
For a path by care unworn!
Thou must be a shelter’d flower,
With but sunshine for thy dower.

Ah, fair child! not e’en for thee

May this lot of brightness be;
Yet, if grief must add a tone
To thine accents now unknown;
If within that cloudless eye
Sadder thought must one day lie,
Still I trust the signs which tell
On thy life a light shall dwell,
Light—thy gentle spirit’s own,
From within around thee thrown.

THE FLOWER OF THE DESERT.

“Who does not recollect the exultation of Valiant over a flower in the torrid wastes
of Africa? The affecting mention of the influence of a flower upon the mind, by
Mungo Park, in a time of suffering and despondency, in the heart of the same
savage country, is familiar to every one.”—Howitt’s “Book of the Seasons.”

Why art thou thus in thy beauty cast,

O lonely, loneliest flower!
Where the sound of song hath never pass’d
From human hearth or bower?

I pity thee, for thy heart of love,

For that glowing heart, that fain
Would breathe out joy with each wind to rove—
In vain, lost thing! in vain!

I pity thee, for thy wasted bloom,

For thy glory’s fleeting hour,
For the desert place, thy living tomb—
O lonely, loneliest flower!
I said—but a low voice made reply,
“Lament not for the flower!
Though its blossoms all unmark’d must die,
They have had a glorious dower.

“Though it bloom afar from the minstrel’s way,

And the paths where lovers tread;
Yet strength and hope, like an inborn day,
By its odours have been shed.

“Yes! dews more sweet than ever fell

O’er island of the blest,
Were shaken forth, from its purple bell,
On a suffering human breast.

“A wanderer came, as a stricken deer,

O’er the waste of burning sand,
He bore the wound of an Arab spear,
He fled from a ruthless band.

“And dreams of home in a troubled tide

Swept o’er his darkening eye,
As he lay down by the fountain-side,
In his mute despair to die.

“But his glance was caught by the desert’s flower,

The precious boon of heaven;
And sudden hope, like a vernal shower,
To his fainting heart was given.

“For the bright flower spoke of One above—

Of the presence felt to brood,
With a spirit of pervading love,
O’er the wildest solitude.

“Oh! the seed was thrown those wastes among

In a bless’d and gracious hour,
For the lorn one rose in heart made strong
By the lonely, loneliest flower!”
CRITIQUE BY PROFESSOR NORTON.

“The [American] collection of Mrs Hemans’ Miscellaneous Poems opens with verses
in honour of the Pilgrim Fathers. She has celebrated with solemnity and truth the
circumstances which gave sublimity to the glorious scene of their landing; and
their descendants cannot be but pleased to see the devotedness displayed by
them introduced into poetry, and incorporated among the bright examples held up
by the inventive as well as the historic muse for the admiration of mankind.
“Freedom, not licentiousness—religious freedom, not the absence of religious rites
—was the object for which the fathers came. An air of earnestness was thus
originally imparted to the character of the country, and succeeding ages have not
worn it away. Though it may suit the humour of moralisers to declaim against the
degeneracy of the times, we believe that the country has of late years made
advances in moral worth. We infer this from the more general diffusion of
intelligence, and the higher standard of learning; from the spirit of healthy action
pervading all classes; from the diminished number of crimes; from the general
security of property; from the rapid multiplication of Sabbath schools, than which
no discovery of our age has been more important for the moral education of the
people; from the philanthropy which seeks for the sources of vice, and restrains it
by removing its causes; from the active and compassionate benevolence, which
does not allow itself to consider any class so vicious or so degraded as to have
forfeited its claim to humane attention—which seeks and relieves misery wherever
it is concealed, and, embracing every continent in its regard, has its messengers in
the remotest regions of the world. Religious freedom is the last right which, even
in our days, the inhabitants of this country would surrender. It would be easier to
drive them from their houses and their lands, than to take from them the liberty of
worshipping God according to the dictates of conscience. There is no general
assertion of this right, and no energetic display of zeal in maintaining it, solely
because it is menaced by no alarming danger.
“In a state of society like ours, there may be little room for the exercise of those
arts of which it is the chief aim to amuse and delight; and yet attention is by no
means confined to those objects which are directly connected with the
advancement of personal or public wealth. For the costly luxuries of life, and even
for its elegant pleasures, there may as yet be little room; and still the morality of
the nation be far from forming itself on the new system of morals devised by our
political economists. There has been no age—we assert it with confidence—there
has been no people, where the efforts of mind, directly connected with the
preservation of elevated feeling and religious earnestness, are more valued than
they are by the better part of our own community. We can no support, or we hold
it not best to support, an expensive religious establishment; but every where the
voice of religious homage and instruction is heard: we cannot set apart large
estates to give splendour to literary distinction; but you will hardly find a retired
nook, where only a few families seek their shelter near each other, so destitute,
that the elements of knowledge are not freely taught: we cannot establish
galleries for the various works of the arts of design; but the eye that can see the
beauties of nature is common with us, and the recital of deeds of high worth
meets with ready listeners. The luxuries, which are for display, are exceedingly
little known; but the highest value is set on every effort of mind connected with
the investigation of truth, or the nurture of generous and elevated sentiments.
“Where the public mind had been thus formed, the poetry of Mrs Hemans was
sure to find admirers. The exercise of genius, if connected with no respect for
virtue, might have remained unnoticed; the theory, which treats of beauty as of
something independent of moral effect, is still without advocates among us. It has
thus far been an undisputed axiom that, if a production is indecent or immoral, it
for that very reason cannot claim to be considered beautiful.
“We do not go so far as to assert, that there can be no merit in works of which the
general tendency is immoral; but the merit, if there is any, does not lie in the
immoral part, in the charm that is thrown round vice, but rather in an occasional
gleam of better principles, in nature occasionally making her voice heard above
the din of the dissolute, in the pictures of loveliness and moral truth that shine out
through the darkness. Amidst all the horrors and depravity of superstition, the
strange and the abominable vagaries of the human imagination, exercised on
religion in heathenish ignorance, the observing mind may yet recognise the spirit
that connects man with a better world. And so it is with poetry: amidst all the
confusion which is manifest where the heavenly gift is under the control of a
corrupted judgment, something of its native lustre will still appear. When we see
the poet of transcendent genius delineating any thing but the higher part of our
nature; when we observe how, after borrowing fiendish colours, he describes
states of mind with which devils only should have sympathy, rails at human nature
in a style which spiteful misanthropy alone can approve, or gives descriptions of
sensuality fit only for the revels of Comus; when we see him ‘hurried down the
adulterate age, adding pollutions of his own,’ we can have little to say to excuse or
to justify an admiration of poetic talent, till we are reconciled to human nature and
the muse by the pure lustre of better-guided minds.
“In what view of the subject can it be held a proper design of poetry to render
man hateful to himself? How can it delight or instruct us to see our fellow-men
ranged under the two classes of designing villains and weak dupes? Or what
sources of poetic inspiration are left, if all the relations of social life are held up to
derision, and every generous impulse scorned as the result of deluded confidence?
“To demand that what is called poetical justice should be found in every
performance may be unreasonable, since the events of life do not warrant us in
expecting it; but we may demand what is of much more importance, moral justice
—a consistency of character, a conformity of the mind to its career of action. It
may not be inconsistent with reality, though it is with probability, that an
unprincipled miscreant, governing himself in his gratifications by the narrowest
selfishness, should be successful in his pursuits; but it is unnatural and false to
give to such a nature any of the attributes of goodness. Vice is essentially mean
and low; it has no dignity, no courage, no beauty; and while the poet can never
impart to a production, tending to promote vice, the power and interest which
belong to the worthy delineation of honourable actions, he can never invest a false
heart with the noble qualities of a generous one. Observe in this respect the
manner of the dramatic poet, who is acknowledged to have delineated the
passions with the greatest fidelity. Shakspeare describes the mind as gradually
sinking under the influence of the master-passion. It stamps itself on the whole
soul, and obliterates all the finer traces in which humanity had written a witness of
gentler qualities. Macbeth is a moral picture of terrific sublimity, and an illustration
of that moral justice which we contend should never be wanting. The one strong
passion moulds the character, and blasts every tender sentiment. When once
Othello is jealous, his judgment is gone; the selfishness of Richard leads to wanton
cruelty. In one of Shakspeare’s tragedies, not a crime, but a fault is the foundation
of the moral interest. Here, too, he is consistent; and the irresolution of Hamlet
leaves his mind without energy, and his contending passions without terror. We
might explain our views by examples from the comedies of the great dramatist,
but Macbeth and Richard furnish the clearest illustration of them. And it is in such
exhibitions of the power of vice to degrade, that ‘gorgeous tragedy’ performs her
severest office; lifting up the pall which hides the ghastliness of unprincipled
depravity, and showing us, where vice gains control, the features, that before may
have been resplendent with loveliness, marred and despoiled of all their sweet
expression.
“There can, then, be no more hideous fault in a literary work than profligacy.
Levity is next in order. The disposition to trifle with topics of the highest moment—
to apply the levelling principle to the emotions of the human mind, to hold up to
ridicule the exalted thoughts and kindling aspirations of which human nature is
capable—can at best charm those only who have failed to enter the true avenues
to happiness. Such works may be popular, because the character of the public
mind may for a season be corrupt. A literature, consisting of such works, is the
greatest evil with which a nation can be cursed. National poverty is nothing in
comparison, for poverty is remedied by prudent enterprise; but such works poison
the life-blood of the people, the moral vigour, which alone can strive for liberty and
honour. The apologists for this class of compositions, in which Voltaire and La
Fontaine are the greatest masters, defend it on the ground that it is well adapted
to give pleasure to minds which have been accustomed to it, and that foreigners
need only a different moral education to be able to enjoy it. Now, without wasting
a word on the enormity of defending what is intrinsically sensual, we reply merely
on the score of effect. He who adapts his inventions to a particular state of
society, can please no further; he depends on circumstances for his popularity; he
does not appeal to man, but to accidental habits, a fleeting state of the public
mind; he is the poet, not of nature, but of a transient fashion. The attraction
which comes from the strangeness or novelty of the manner is of very little value.
On the most brilliant night a meteor would be followed by all eyes for a while; and
why? Because it is as evanescent as bright; we must gaze at once, or it will be too
late. Yet the mind soon returns to the contemplation of the eternal stars which
light up the heavens with enduring lustre. Any popularity, obtained by gratifying a
perverse taste, is essentially transitory; while all that is benevolent and social, all
that favours truth and goodness, is of universal and perpetual interest.
“These are but plain inferences from facts in the history of literature. The plays of
Dryden were written to please an audience of a vicious taste; they may have been
received with boisterous applause, but nobody likes them now, though in their
form not unsuited to the stage; and as for the grossest scenes, any merit in the
invention is never spoken of as compensating for their abominable coarseness. On
the other hand, Milton’s Comus, though in its form entirely antiquated, has the
beautiful freshness of everlasting youth, delights the ardent admirer of good
poetry, and is always showing new attractions to the careful critic. And where lies
this immense difference in the lasting effect of these two writers? Dryden, it is
true, fell far short of Milton in poetic genius; but the true cause lies in this,—virtue,
which is the soul of song, is wanting in the plays of Dryden, while the poetry of
Milton bears the impress of his own magnanimity.
“We are contending for no sickly morality: we would shut out the poet from the
haunts of libertinism, not from the haunts of men; we would have him associate
with his fellows, hold intercourse with the great minds that light up the gloom of
ages, and share in the best impulses of human nature, and not, under the
influence of a too delicate sensibility, treat only of the harmless flowers, and the
innocent birds, and the exhilarating charm of agreeable scenery; and still less, in
the spirit of a sullen misanthropy, delight in obscure abstractions, find comfort only
in solitude, and rejoice, or pretend to rejoice, chiefly in the mountains, and the
ocean, and the low places of the earth. Their pursuit of moral beauty does not
lead to an affected admiration, or an improper idolatry of the visible creation. The
genius of the poet can impart a portion of its eloquence to the external world, and
elevate creation by connecting it with moral associations. But descriptions, except
of scenes where moral beings are to move, possess little interest. If landscape-
painting is an inferior branch of that art, though the splendid works of Claude
demand praise without measure, landscape poetry is a kind of affectation, an
unnatural result of excessive refinement. Description is important, but subordinate.
The external world, with all its gorgeousness and varied forms of beauty; the
cataract, ‘with its glory of reflected light;’ the forests, as they wave in the brilliancy
of early summer; the flowers, that are crowded in gardens, or waste their
sweetness on the desert air; ‘the noise of the hidden brook, that all night long in
the leafy months sings its quiet tune to the sleeping woods;’ the ocean, whether
reposing in tranquil majesty or tossed by the tempest; night, when the heavens
are glittering with the splendour of the constellations; morning, when one perfect
splendour beams in the sky, and is reflected in a thousand colours from the
guttering earth—these are not the sublimest themes that awaken the energies of
the muse. It is mind, and mind only, which can exhibit the highest beauty. The
hymn of martyrdom, the strength by which the patriot girds himself to die, ‘God’s
breath in the soul of man,’ the unconquerable power of generous passion, the
hopes and sorrows of humanity—love, devotion, and all the deep and bright
springs of affection—these are higher themes of permanent interest and exalted
character.
“Here, too, we find an analogy between poetic and religious feeling. The image of
God is to be sought for, not so much in the outward world as in the mind. No
combination of inanimate matter can equal the sublimity and wonderful power of
life. To impart organic life, with the power of reproduction, is a brighter display of
Omnipotence than any arrangement of the inanimate, material world. A swarm of
flies, as through their short existence they buzz and wheel in the summer’s sun,
offer as clear, and, to some minds, a clearer demonstration of Omnipotence, than
the everlasting, but silent, courses of the planets. But moral life is the highest
creation of divine power. We, at least, know and can conceive of none higher. We
are, therefore, not to look for God among the rivers and the forests, nor yet
among the planets and the stars, but in the hearts of men; he is not the God of
the dead, but of the living.
“Those who accord with the general views which we have here maintained, will be
prepared to express unqualified approbation of the literary career of Mrs Hemans.
Had her writings been merely harmless, we should not have entered into an
analysis of them; but the moral charm which is spread over them is so peculiar, so
full of nature, and truth, and deep feeling, that her productions claim at once the
praise of exquisite purity and poetic excellence. She adds the dignity of her sex to
a high sense of the duties of a poet; she writes with buoyancy, yet with
earnestness; her poems bear the impress of a character worthy of admiration. In
the pursuit of literary renown, she never forgets what is due to feminine reserve.
We perceive a mind endowed with powers to aspire, and are still further pleased
to find no unsatisfied cravings, no passionate pursuit of remote objects, but high
endowments, graced by contentment. There is plainly the consciousness of the
various sorrow to which life is exposed, and with it the spirit of resignation. She
sets before herself a clear and exalted idea of what a female writer should be, and
is on the way to realise her own idea of excellence. Living in domestic retirement,
in a beautiful part of Wales, it is her own feelings and her own experience which
she communicates to us. We cannot illustrate our meaning better, than by
introducing our readers at once to Mrs Hemans herself, as she describes to us the
occupations of a day.

AN HOUR OF ROMANCE.

‘There were thick leaves above me and around,

And low sweet sighs, like those of childhood’s sleep,
Amidst their dimness, and a fitful sound
As of soft showers on water,’ etc. etc.

“The poetry is here as beautiful as the scene described is quiet and pleasing. It
forms an amiable picture of the occupations of a contemplative mind. The
language, versification, and imagery, are of great merit, the beauties of nature
described by a careful observer; the English scene is placed in happy contrast with
the Eastern, and the dream of romance pleasantly disturbed by the cheerfulness
of life. But we make but sorry work at commenting on what the reader must feel.

“It has been said that religion can never be made a subject of interest in poetry.
The position is a false one, refuted by the close alliance between poetic inspiration
and sacred enthusiasm. Irreligion has certainly no place in poetry. There may have
been Atheist philosophers; an Atheist poet is an impossibility. The poet may doubt
and reason like Hamlet, but the moment he acquiesces in unbelief, there is an end
to the magic of poetry. Imagination can no longer throw lively hues over the
creation: the forests cease to be haunted; the sea, and the air, and the heavens,
to teem with life. The highest interest, we think, attaches to Mrs Hemans’s
writings, from the spirit of Christianity which pervades them.
“The poetry of our author is tranquillising in its character, calm and serene. We
beg pardon of the lovers of excitement, but we are seriously led to take notice of
this quality as of a high merit. A great deal has been said of the sublimity of
directing the passions; we hold it a much more difficult and a much more elevated
task, to restrain them. It may be sublime to ride on the whirlwind, and direct the
storm; but it seems to us still more sublime to appease the storm, and still the
whirlwind. Virgil, no mean authority, was of this opinion. The French are reported
to be particularly fond of effect and display; but we remember to have read that,
even in the splendid days of Napoleon, the simplicity of vocal music surpassed in
effect the magnificence of a numerous band. It was when Napoleon was crowned
Emperor in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The Parisians, wishing to distinguish the
occasion by some novel exhibition, and to produce a great effect, filled the
orchestra with eighty harps, which were all struck together with unequalled skill.
The fashionable world was in raptures. Presently the Pope entered, and some
thirty of his singers, who came with him from Rome, received him with the
powerful Tu es Petrus of the old-fashioned Scarlatti; and the simple majesty of the
air, assisted by no instruments, annihilated in a moment the whole effect of the
preceding fanfaronade. And in literature the public taste seems to us already
weary of those productions which aim at astonishing and producing a great effect,
and there is now an opportunity of pleasing by the serenity of contemplative
excellence.
“It is the high praise of Mrs Hemans’s poetry that it is feminine. The sex may well
be pleased with her productions, for they could hardly have a better
representative in the career of letters. All her works seem to come from the heart,
to be natural and true. The poet can give us nothing but the form under which the
objects he describes present themselves to his own mind. That form must be
noble, or it is not worthy of our consideration; it must be consistent, or it will fail
to be true. Now, in the writings of Mrs Hemans, we are shown how life and its
concerns appear to woman, and hear a mother intrusting to verse her experience
and observation. So, in ‘The Hebrew Mother,’ ‘the spring-tide of nature’ swells high
as she parts from her son, on devoting him to the service of the Temple:—

‘Alas, my boy! thy gentle grasp is on me,

The bright tears quiver in thy pleading eyes;
And now fond thoughts arise,
And silver cords again to earth have won me,
And like a vine thou claspest my full heart—
How shall I hence depart?

‘And oh! the home whence thy bright smile hath parted,
Will it not seem as if the sunny day
 Turn’d from its door away?
While through its chambers wandering, weary-hearted,
I languish for thy voice, which past me still
Went like a singing rill?

‘I give thee to thy God—the God that gave thee,

A well-spring of deep gladness to my heart!
And, precious as thou art,
And pure as dew of Hermon, He shall have thee,
My own, my beautiful, my undefiled!
And thou shalt be His child.

‘Therefore, farewell! I go—my soul may fail me,

As the hart panteth for the water-brooks,
Yearning for thy sweet looks.
But thou, my first-born! droop not, nor bewail me;
Thou in the Shadow of the Rock shalt dwell,
The Rock of Strength.—Farewell!’
“The same high feeling of maternal duty and love inspires the little poem, ‘The
Wreck,’ which every one has read. ‘The Lady of the Castle,’ ‘The Grave of Körner,’
‘The Graves of a Household,’ are all on domestic subjects. But why do we allude to
poems which are in every one’s hands? The mother’s voice breaks out again in the
piece entitled ‘Elysium.’ Children, according to the heathen mythology, were
banished to the infernal regions, and religious faith had no consolation for a
mourning parent.

‘Calm, on its leaf-strewn bier,

Unlike a gift of Nature to Decay,
Too roselike still, too beautiful, too dear,
The child at rest before its mother lay;
E’en so to pass away,
With its bright smile! Elysium! what wert thou
To her who wept o’er that young slumberer’s brow?

‘Thou hadst no home, green land!

For the fair creature from her bosom gone,
With life’s fresh flowers just opening in its hand,
And all the lovely thoughts and dreams unknown,
Which in its clear eye shone
Like spring’s first wakening! But that light was past—
—Where went the dewdrop swept before the blast?

‘Not where thy soft winds play’d,

Not where thy waters lay in glassy sleep!—
Fade with thy bowers, thou land of visions! fade!
From thee no voice came o’er the gloomy deep,
And bade man cease to weep!
Fade, with the amaranth plain, the myrtle grove,
 Which could not yield one hope to sorrowing love!

‘For the most loved are they

Of whom Fame speaks not with her clarion voice
In regal halls! The shades o’erhang their way;
The vale, with its deep fountains, is their choice,
And gentle hearts rejoice
Around their steps; till silently they die,
As a stream shrinks from summer’s burning eye.

‘And the world knows not then—

Not then, nor ever, what pure thoughts are fled!
Yet these are they, who on the souls of men
Come back, when night her folding veil hath spread,
The long-remember’d dead!
But not with thee might aught save glory dwell—
Fade, fade away, thou shore of asphodel!’
“And the same feelings of a woman and mother dictated ‘The Evening Prayer at a
Girls’ School,’—a poem which merits to be considered in connexion with Gray’s
‘Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.’
‘O joyous creatures! that will sink to rest,
Lightly, when those pure orisons are done,” etc.

“Of other spirited, and lively, and pathetic short poems of Mrs Hemans, which form
some of the brightest ornaments of the lyric poetry of the language, we take no
particular notice—for in what part of the United States are they not known? So
general has been the attention to those of her pieces adapted to the purposes of a
newspaper, we hardly fear to assert that, throughout a great part of this country,
there is not a family of the middling class in which some of them have not been
read. The praise which was not sparingly bestowed upon her, when her shorter
first productions became generally known among us, has been often repeated on
a careful examination of her works; and could we hope that our remarks might
one day fall under her eye, we should hope she would not be indifferent to the
good wishes which are offered her from America, but feel herself cheered and
encouraged in her efforts, by the prospect of an enlarged and almost unlimited
field of useful influence, opened to her among the descendants of her country in
an independent land. The ocean divides us from the fashions as well as the
commotions of Europe. The voice of America, deciding on the literature of
England, resembles the voice of posterity more nearly than any thing else, that is
contemporaneous, can do. We believe that the general attention which has been
given to Mrs Hemans’s works among us, may be regarded as a pledge that they
will not be received with indifference by posterity.”—North American Review.

[At the conclusion of “The Records” we gave the opinions of one of our most
celebrated Cisatlantic critics regarding the poetry of Mrs Hemans, and we think it
but right to show now (as has just been done) the general estimate in which her
genius is held in America, as evidenced by the North American Review, the best-
known and most widely-circulated of the Transatlantic periodicals.
Judging from the state of feeling in America—from the ideas of practical
philosophy entertained there—and from the pervading utilitarian bias of its prose
literature, we must confess that, had we been asked to name any votary of the
British muse more likely than another to be appreciated in that country, we should
have had very little hesitation in fixing upon Crabbe. And why? Because his poetry
is characterised by a stern adherence to the realities of life, as contradistinguished
from romance, and because his characters and situations are taken from existing
aspects of society, appreciable by all. In this theory it appears we are wrong; and
Professor Norton has here done his best to account for it. We are most given to
admire what is least attainable; and therefore it is that the spiritual glow which
Mrs Hemans has blent with human sentiment—the imaginative beauty with which
she has clothed “the shows of earth and heaven,”—and the leaven of romance
which she has infused into the communications of daily life, have, as lucus a non
lucendo, been elements of, and not the impediments to, her American popularity.]
 HYMNS FOR CHILDHOOD.
[We are quite aware that the Hymns for Childhood were written at a much earlier
period than that which we have here chronologically assigned them. They had
been sent to Professor Norton for the use of his children, and were printed under
his auspices at Boston, New England, so early as 1827. Not, however, having had
an opportunity of seeing the original American edition, we are in the dark as to
whether the hymns in it were the same in number as those published in Dublin
under the eye of the author, or whether she afterwards revised and altered them.
It has been therefore judged best to place them here in the order of publication,
and as they appeared in this country under the supervision of Mrs Hemans herself.
The hymns (as they deserved to be) were very favourably received by the public,
and it is only to be regretted that Mrs Hemans did not from time to time add to
their number. She thus wrote to Mrs Lawrence with a presentation copy of her
little book:—“I send you the fairy volume of hymns. You will immediately see how
unpretending a little book it is; but it will give you pleasure to know that it has
been received in the most gratifying manner, having seemed (as a playful child
might have done) to win criticism into a benignant smile.”—Vide Letter to Mrs
Lawrence, Recollections, p. 354.]

INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
Oh! blest art thou whose steps may rove
Through the green paths of vale and grove,
Or, leaving all their charms below,
Climb the wild mountain’s airy brow;

And gaze afar o’er cultured plains,

And cities with their stately fanes,
And forests, that beneath thee lie,
And ocean mingling with the sky.

For man can show thee naught so fair

As Nature’s varied marvels there;
And if thy pure and artless breast
Can feel their grandeur, thou art blest!
For thee the stream in beauty flows,
For thee the gale of summer blows;
And, in deep glen and wood-walk free,
Voices of joy still breathe for thee.

But happier far, if then thy soul

Can soar to Him who made the whole.
If to thine eye the simplest flower
Portray His bounty and His power!

If, in whate’er is bright or grand,

Thy mind can trace His viewless hand;
If Nature’s music bid thee raise
Thy song of gratitude and praise;

If heaven and earth, with beauty fraught,

Lead to His throne thy raptured thought;
If there thou lovest His love to read—
Then, wanderer! thou art blest indeed.

THE RAINBOW.
“I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between
me and the earth.”—Genesis, ix. 13.

Soft falls the mild, reviving shower

From April’s changeful skies,
And rain-drops bend each trembling flower
They tinge with richer dyes.

Soon shall their genial influence call

A thousand buds to day,
Which, waiting but that balmy fall,
In hidden beauty lay.

E’en now full many a blossom’s bell

With fragrance fills the shade;
And verdure clothes each grassy dell,
In brighter tints array’d.

But mark! what arch of varied hue

From heaven to earth is bow’d?
Haste, ere it vanish!—haste to view
The rainbow in the cloud!

How bright its glory! there behold

The emerald’s verdant rays,
The topaz blends its hue of gold
With the deep ruby’s blaze.

Yet not alone to charm thy sight

Was given the vision fair—
Gaze on that arch of colour’d light,
And read God’s mercy there.

It tells us that the mighty deep,

Fast by the Eternal chain’d,
No more o’er earth’s domain shall sweep,
Awful and unrestrain’d.

It tells that seasons, heat and cold,

Fix’d by his sovereign will,
Shall, in their course, bid man behold
Seed-time and harvest still;

That still the flower shall deck the field,

When vernal zephyrs blow,
That still the vine its fruit shall yield,
When autumn sunbeams glow.

Then, child of that fair earth! which yet

Smiles with each charm endow’d,
Bless thou His name, whose mercy set
The rainbow in the cloud!
 THE SUN.
The Sun comes forth: each mountain-height
Glows with a tinge of rosy light,
And flowers that slumber’d through the night
Their dewy leaves unfold;
A flood of splendour bursts on high,
And ocean’s breast gives back a sky
All steep’d in molten gold.

Oh! thou art glorious, orb of day!

Exulting nations hail thy ray,
Creation swells a choral lay
To welcome thy return;
From thee all nature draws her hues,
Thy beams the insect’s wing suffuse,
And in the diamond burn.

Yet must thou fade! When earth and heaven

By fire and tempest shall be riven,
Thou, from thy sphere of radiance driven,
O Sun! must fall at last;
Another heaven, another earth,
New power, new glory shall have birth,
When all we see is past.

But He who gave the word of might,

“Let there be light,”—and there was light,
Who bade thee chase the gloom of night,
And beam the world to bless;
For ever bright, for ever pure,
Alone unchanging shall endure,
The Sun of Righteousness!

THE RIVERS.
Go! trace th’ unnumber’d streams, o’er earth
That wind their devious course,
That draw from Alpine heights their birth,
Deep vale, or cavern-source.

Some by majestic cities glide,

Proud scenes of man’s renown;
Some lead their solitary tide
Where pathless forests frown.

Some calmly roll o’er golden sands,

Where Afric’s deserts lie;
Or spread, to clothe rejoicing lands
With rich fertility.

These bear the bark, whose stately sail

Exulting seems to swell;
While these, scarce rippled by a gale,
Sleep in the lonely dell.

Yet on, alike, though swift or slow

Their various waves may sweep,
Through cities or through shades, they flow
To the same boundless deep.

Oh! thus, whate’er our path of life,

Through sunshine or through gloom,
Through scenes of quiet or of strife,
Its end is still the tomb.

The chief whose mighty deeds we hail,

The monarch throned on high,
The peasant in his native vale—
All journey on to die!

But if Thy guardian care, my God!

The pilgrim’s course attend,
I will not fear the dark abode
To which my footsteps bend.

For thence thine all-redeeming Son,

Who died the world to save,
In light, in triumph, rose, and won
The victory from the grave!

THE STARS.
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy-
work.”—Psalm xix. 1.

No cloud obscures the summer sky,

The moon in brightness walks on high;
And, set in azure, every star
Shines, a pure gem of heaven, afar!

Child of the earth! oh, lift thy glance

To yon bright firmament’s expanse;
The glories of its realm explore,
And gaze, and wonder, and adore!

Doth it not speak to every sense

The marvels of Omnipotence?
Seest thou not there the Almighty name
Inscribed in characters of flame?

Count o’er these lamps of quenchless light,

That sparkle through the shades of night:
Behold them! can a mortal boast
To number that celestial host?

Mark well each little star, whose rays

In distant splendour meet thy gaze:
Each is a world, by Him sustain’d
Who from eternity hath reign’d.
Each, kindled not for earth alone,
Hath circling planets of its own,
And beings, whose existence springs
From Him, the all-powerful King of kings.

Haply, those glorious beings know

No stain of guilt, or tear of woe;
But, raising still the adoring voice,
For ever in their God rejoice.

What then art thou, O child of clay!

Amid creation’s grandeur, say?
E’en as an insect on the breeze,
E’en as a dew-drop, lost in seas!

Yet fear thou not! The sovereign hand

Which spread the ocean and the land,
And hung the rolling spheres in air,
Hath, e’en for thee, a Father’s care!

Be thou at peace! The all-seeing Eye,

Pervading earth, and air, and sky—
The searching glance which none may flee,
Is still in mercy turn’d on thee.

THE OCEAN.
“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these
see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.”—Psalm cvii. 23, 24.

He that in venturous barks hath been

A wanderer on the deep,
Can tell of many an awful scene,
Where storms for ever sweep.

For many a fair, majestic sight

Hath met his wandering eye,
Beneath the streaming northern light,
Or blaze of Indian sky.

Go! ask him of the whirlpool’s roar,

Whose echoing thunder peals
Loud, as if rush’d along the shore
An army’s chariot-wheels;

Of icebergs, floating o’er the main,

Or fix’d upon the coast,
Like glittering citadel or fane,
Mid the bright realms of frost;

Of coral rocks from waves below

In steep ascent that tower,
And, fraught with peril, daily grow,
Form’d by an insect’s power;

Of sea-fires, which at dead of night

Shine o’er the tides afar,
And make the expanse of ocean bright,
As heaven with many a star.

O God! thy name they well may praise

Who to the deep go down,
And trace the wonders of thy ways
Where rocks and billows frown!

If glorious be that awful deep

No human power can bind,
What then art Thou, who bid’st it keep
Within its bounds confined!

Let heaven and earth in praise unite!

Eternal praise to Thee,
Whose word can rouse the tempest’s might,
Or still the raging sea!
 THE THUNDER-STORM.
Deep, fiery clouds o’ercast the sky,
Dead stillness reigns in air;
There is not e’en a breeze, on high
The gossamer to bear.

The woods are hush’d, the waves at rest,

The lake is dark and still,
Reflecting on its shadowy breast
Each form of rock and hill.

The lime-leaf waves not in the grove,

The rose-tree in the bower;
The birds have ceased their songs of love,
Awed by the threatening hour.

’Tis noon;—yet nature’s calm profound

Seems as at midnight deep:
But hark! what peal of awful sound
Breaks on creation’s sleep?

The thunder-burst!—its rolling might

Seems the firm hills to shake;
And in terrific splendour bright
The gather’d lightnings break.

Yet fear not, shrink not thou, my child!

Though by the bolt’s descent
Were the tall cliffs in ruins piled,
And the wide forests rent.

Doth not thy God behold thee still,

With all-surveying eye?
Doth not his power all nature fill,
Around, beneath, on high?
Know, hadst thou eagle-pinions free,
To track the realms of air,
Thou couldst not reach a spot, where He
Would not be with thee there!

In the wide city’s peopled towers,

On the vast ocean’s plains,
Midst the deep woodland’s loneliest bowers,
Alike the Almighty reigns!

Then fear not, though the angry sky

A thousand darts should cast;
Why should we tremble, e’en to die,
And be with Him at last?

THE BIRDS.
“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings; and not one of them is forgotten
before God?”—St Luke, xii. 6.

Tribes of the air! whose favour’d race

May wander through the realms of space,
Free guests of earth and sky;
In form, in plumage, and in song,
What gifts of nature mark your throng
With bright variety!

Nor differ less your forms, your flight,

Your dwellings hid from hostile sight,
And the wild haunts ye love;
Birds of the gentle beak![407] how dear
Your wood-note to the wanderer’s ear,
In shadowy vale or grove!

Far other scenes, remote, sublime,

Where swain or hunter may not climb
 The mountain-eagle seeks;
Alone he reigns a monarch there,
Scarce will the chamois’ footstep dare
Ascend his Alpine peaks.

Others there are that make their home

Where the white billows roar and foam
Around the o’erhanging rock;
Fearless they skim the angry wave,
Or, shelter’d in their sea-beat cave,
The tempest’s fury mock.

Where Afric’s burning realm expands,

The ostrich haunts the desert-sands,
Parch’d by the blaze of day;
The swan, where northern rivers glide,
Through the tall reeds that fringe their tide
Floats graceful on her way.

The condor, where the Andes tower,

Spreads his broad wing of pride and power,
And many a storm defies;
Bright in the Orient realms of morn,
All beauty’s richest hues adorn
The bird of paradise.

Some, amidst India’s groves of palm,

And spicy forests breathing balm,
Weave soft their pendant nest;
Some, deep in Western wilds, display
Their fairy form and plumage gay,
In rainbow colours drest.

Others no varied song may pour,

May boast no eagle-plume to soar,
No tints of light may wear;
Yet know, our Heavenly Father guides
The least of these, and well provides
For each, with tenderest care.

Shall He not then thy guardian be?

Will not His aid extend to thee?
Oh, safely may’st thou rest!—
Trust in His love; and e’en should pain,
Should sorrow, tempt thee to complain,
Know what He wills is best!
[407] The Italians call all singing-birds, birds of the gentle beak.

THE SKYLARK.
CHILD’S MORNING HYMN.

The skylark, when the dews of morn

Hang tremulous on flower and thorn,
And violets round his nest exhale
Their fragrance on the early gale,
To the first sunbeam spreads his wings,
Buoyant with joy, and soars and sings.

He rests not on the leafy spray

To warble his exulting lay;
But high above the morning cloud
Mounts in triumphant freedom proud,
And swells, when nearest to the sky,
His notes of sweetest ecstasy.

Thus, my Creator! thus the more

My spirit’s wing to Thee can soar,
The more she triumphs to behold
Thy love in all thy works unfold,
And bids her hymns of rapture be
Most glad, when rising most to Thee!
 THE NIGHTINGALE.
CHILD’S EVENING HYMN.

When twilight’s gray and pensive hour

Brings the low breeze, and shuts the flower,
And bids the solitary star
Shine in pale beauty from afar;

When gathering shades the landscape veil,

And peasants seek their village-dale,
And mists from river-wave arise,
And dew in every blossom lies;

When evening’s primrose opes to shed

Soft fragrance round her grassy bed;
When glow-worms in the wood-walk light
Their lamp to cheer the traveller’s sight;—

At that calm hour, so still, so pale,

Awakes the lonely nightingale;
And from a hermitage of shade
Fills with her voice the forest glade.

And sweeter far that melting voice

Than all which through the day rejoice;
And still shall bard and wanderer love
The twilight music of the grove.

Father in heaven! oh, thus when day

With all its cares hath pass’d away,
And silent hours waft peace on earth,
And hush the louder strains of mirth;

Thus may sweet songs of praise and prayer

To Thee my spirit’s offering bear—
Yon star, my signal, set on high,
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

testbankfan.com