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eminent female poetic writer was born in Duke Street, Liverpool, 25th September, 1794. Her maiden name was Felicia Dorothea Browne. Her father was a native of Ireland; her mother was a German lady, a Miss Wagner, but descended from a Venetian family. To these circumstances Mrs. Hemans would often playfully allude as accounting for the strong tinge of romance and poetry which pervaded her character from her earliest years. Another circumstance which undoubtedly operated strongly in the development of these traits, was the removal of her family, when she was only five years of age, to Denbighshire, in North Wales. That land of wild mountain scenery and ancient minstrelsy was the fitting place to impart sublimity to her youthful fancies, and elevate her feelings with the glow of patriotism and devotion.

In the year 1812, at the early age of seventeen, she was married to Capt. Hemans, of the