Felicia Dorothea Hemans, 1804 (1793-1835)
“Shakespeare.”
I love to rove o’er history’s page,
Recall the hero and the sage;
Revive the actions of the dead,
And memory of ages fled:
Yet it yields me greater pleasure
To read the poet’s pleasing measure.
Led by Shakespeare, bard inspired,
The bosom’s energies are fired;
We learn to shed the generous tear
O’er poor Ophelia’s sacred bier;
To love the merry moonlit scene,
With fairy elves in valleys green;
Or borne on fancy’s heavenly wings,
To listen while sweet Ariel sings.
How sweet the native wood notes wild
Of him, the Muse’s favourite child!
Of him whose magic lays impart
Each various feeling to the heart.
Poems. By Felicia Dorothea Browne, 1808, p. 48.
One of Mrs. Hemans’ earliest tastes—relates her sister in her Memoirs—was a passion for Shakespeare, which she read as her choicest recreation at six years old. The above lines were written when she was eleven years of age.