dentia et Fato.’ A letter from Helyar to ‘Master Palmes’ is calendared in ‘Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII’ (ix. 128), and also one addressed to him by ‘Ric. Langgrische, priest’ (xi. 1350). Helyar is said to have been alive in 1539.
[Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 390; Wood's Fasti, i. 66, 92; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. i. 107; Dodd's Church Hist. i. 211; Gillow's Bibl. Dict. English Catholics, iii. 264–5.]
HEMANS, CHARLES ISIDORE (1817–1876), antiquary, youngest son of Felicia Dorothea Hemans [q. v.], poetess, was born in 1817. He was a handsome boy and the especial favourite of his mother. He accompanied her in a visit to Abbotsford in 1829, and was with her at the time of her death in 1835. He left England early in life, and, after residing in various places on the continent, finally settled in Rome and made Roman history and archæology his chief study. He was the originator in 1846 of the ‘Roman Advertiser,’ the first English paper published in the city. He helped to establish the English Archæological Society there in 1865, and afterwards became its honorary secretary and librarian. To English visitors in Rome and to English residents he was always a friendly guide, noted for his amiability and modesty, and his writings are invaluable to students of Italian ecclesiastical history and archæology. After a serious illness at Spezia in the summer of 1875 he removed to the Baths of Lucca, where he died on 26 Oct. 1876. He was buried in the protestant cemetery there.
Hemans was the author of:
- ‘Catholic Italy,’ pt. i. Rome and Papal States, 1860.
- ‘The Story of Monuments in Rome and her Environs,’ Florence, 1864–5, 2 parts.
- ‘A History of Ancient Christianity and Sacred Art in Italy,’ London, 1866.
- ‘A History of Mediæval Christianity and Sacred Art in Italy, A.D. 900–1450. In Rome from 1350 to 1500,’ 1869–72, 2 vols. A sequel to the previous work. 5. ‘Historic and Monumental Rome,’ a handbook, London, 1874.
[Times, 3 Nov. 1876, p. 9; Athenæum, 4 Nov. 1876, p. 600; Academy, 4 Nov. 1876, p. 451; Lawrence's Last Autumn and Recollections of Mrs. Hemans, 1836, pp. 327, 335, 353, 372, 406; Chorley's Memoirs of Mrs. Hemans, 1836, are dedicated to Henry and Charles Hemans.]
HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA (1793–1835), poetess, born in Duke Street, Liverpool, on 25 Sept. 1793, was the daughter of George Browne, merchant, of Liverpool, and at one time Imperial and Tuscan consul there. Her grandfather was George Browne of Passage, co. Cork. Her mother, Felicity, daughter of Benedict Park Wagner of North Hall, near Wigan, is said to have been of mingled German, Italian, and Lancashire descent. The poetess had three brothers: Sir Thomas Henry Browne, K.C.H. (1787-1855), who distinguished himself in the Peninsular war; Lieutenant-colonel George Baxter Browne, C.B., at one time chief commissioner of the police in Ireland, who was also engaged in the Peninsula; and Claude Scott Browne, who was deputy assistant commissary-general in Upper Canada, and died at Kingston in that province in 1821. Reference to the last is made by his sister in 'Graves of a Household.' In 1800 her father, forced by commercial reverses to leave Liverpool, settled with his family at Gwrych, near Abergele, North Wales, where Felicia was brought up, her education being superintended by her mother. She was a beautiful and precocious child, with a quick and retentive memory. She began to write verses at an early age, and when she was fourteen years old her parents were unwise enough to publish her 'Poems' in a quarto volume (Liverpool, 1808). She soon recovered from the harsh criticism which the volume met with, and in the same year published 'England and Spain, or Valour and Patriotism, a Poem,' inspired by the engagement of her two brothers in the Peninsular war. Shelley after reading her first volume, and hearing from his friend Medwin, who had met her, of her personal charm, wrote to her inviting her to correspond with him. But she declined, and when Shelley persisted in sending her further letters, her mother is said to have intervened and to have induced Shelley's friends to make him cease writing (Dowden, Life of Shelley, i. 49-50). In 1812 she published 'Domestic Affections and other Poems.'
After a three years' attachment she married in 1812 Captain Hemans, an Irish gentleman, who had served with his regiment (the 4th foot) in Spain. For a short time they lived at Daventry, Northamptonshire, but returned to Wales. For some unexplained reason the union was severed in 1818, after five children, all boys, had been born. Captain Hemans went abroad in that year, and never saw his wife again.
Before the separation Mrs. Hemans published two volumes, 'The Restoration of the Works of Art to Italy,' 1816, and 'Modern Greece,' 1817. In 1818 her volume of 'Translations from Camoens and other Poets' came out, and in 1819 'Tales and Historic Scenes.' In the latter year she gained a prize for the best poem on the 'Meeting of Bruce and Wallace' (published 1819). In 1820 'The Sceptic' appeared. She then made the acquaintance of Reginald Heber [q. v.], afterwards
