REGINALD. 



HEBER, REGINALD. 



333 



even in the prefaces to publications which could have no connection 

 with them, kept him aa constantly at variance with hia neighbours in 

 the university ; and he underwent more thaii one prosecution, 

 llearne's temper was naturally irritable, and he was far from being 

 either an amiable or a happy man. His life however was one ot' 

 unwearied literary industry, and English antiquaries and historians 

 will be fur ever indebted to him. He died on the 10th of June 1735, 

 in consequence of a cold, succeeded by a fever which was improperly 

 treated. 



Hearne's publications, almost exclusively printed by subscription at 

 Oxford, were very numerous. Among the most valuable were, aa 

 edition of Livy, 6 vols. 8vo, 170S ; the ' Life of Alfred the Great,' 

 from Sir John Spelinan's manuscript in the Bodleian Library, 8vo, 

 1710; Leland's 'Itinerary,' 9 vols. 8vo, 1710 ; Lelaud's 'Collectanea,' 

 6 vols. 8vo, 1715; the 'Acts of the Apostles,' in Greek uncials, from 

 a very ancient manuscript in Archbishop Laud's collection, 8vo, 1715; 

 Livius Foro-Juliensis'a 'Life of Henry V.,' 8vo, 1716; Alured of 

 Beverley's 'Annals,' 8vo, 1716; Roper's 'Life of Sir Thomas More,' 

 8vo, 1716; Camden's 'Annals,' in Latin, 3 vols. 8vo, 1717; ' William 

 of Neubridge,' 8vo, 1719 ; the ' Textua Roffensis,' 8vo, 1720; Fordun's 

 ' Scotichronicon,' Svo, 1722; 'History and Antiquities of Glastonbury,' 

 8vo, 1722; Hearing's 'Chartulary,' Svo, 1723 ; 'Robert of Gloucester's 

 Chronicle,' 2 vols. Svo, 1724 ; 'Peter Langtoft's Chronicle,' 2 vols. Svo, 

 1725; 'Adam of Domerham,' 2 vols. Svo, 1827; the 'Liber Niger 

 Scaccarii,' 2 vols. Svo, 1723; ' Hemingford's History,' 2 vols. Svo, 

 1731 ; Otterbourne and Whethamstede's ' Chronicles,' 2 vols. Svo, 1733; 

 the ' Annals of Dunstaple,' Svo, 1733 ; and ' Benedict, Abbot of 

 Peterborough,' 2 vols. 8vo, 1735. 



Hearne left his manuscript collections by will to Dr. William 

 Bedford, of whom they were purchased by Dr. Richard Rawliuson for 

 100 guineas, and by him bequeathed, together with his own manu- 

 scripts, to the Bodleian Library. Heurue's manuscript Diary, in 150 

 small paper book*, is amongst them. 



Several of Hearne's pieces were reprinted at different times, and in 

 1810 the project was entertained of reprinting the whole series in a 

 uniform manner; but after the publication of four volumes, containing 

 ' Robert of Gloucester ' and ' Peter Laugtoft's Chronicle,' the scheme 

 wai abandoned. 



(Lieu of Leland, ffearne, and Wood, Svo, Oxford, 1772 ; Nichols, 

 Literary Anccdotu of lite Eighteenth, Century; Chalmers, Bioy. 

 Itict., <te.) 



HEBER, REGINALD, second Bishop of Calcutta, was born on the 

 21t of April 1783, at Malpas, Cheshire, of which place hU father was 

 for many years co-rector. The family was of considerable antiquity 

 in the county of Yorkshire, and on the death of an elder brother 

 without heirs-male, the father of Reginald Heber succeeded him as 

 lord of the manor of Marton, Yorkshire, and patron of the rectories 

 there, and to estates at Hodnet, Shropshire, which had come into the 

 pnninni -n of the family by intermarriage. By his first marriage, with 

 Mary, co-heiresa of the Rev. Martin Baylie, rector of Wrentham, 

 Suffolk, he had one child, Richard, who for some time was representa- 

 tive in parliament of the University of Oxford, and is known as a 

 great collector of books; and by his second marriage, with Mary, 

 daughter of Cuthbert Allauson, D.D., he had three children 

 Reginald, the subject of the present notice, Thomas Cuthbert, and 



MM?. 



At a very early period of hi* childhood Reginald Heber was remark- 

 nble for his piety and for bia eager thirst for knowledge. An excellent 

 memory enabled him to recollect through life whatever he read with 

 almost verbal accuracy. He gave early indications of his poetica! 

 talents, and at seven years old he had translated Pksdrua iuto 

 Engluh verse. At eight he was sent to the grammar-school of Hawk- 

 hurst under Dr. Kent, and in his thirteenth year he was placed in the 

 school of a clergyman near London. He remained here about three 

 yean, and in November 1800 was entered at Brasenose College 

 Oxford. In his first year at the university he gained the prize for 

 Latin verse, the subject of his poem being on the commencement o 

 the new century. In the spring of 1803 he wrote his prize poem 

 ' Palestine,' which has obtained a permanent place in English lite 

 rature. HU career at Oxford was one continued course of success 

 From the modesty of his manners, his gentleness of disposition, am 

 the charm of his conversation, his society was courted by persons o 

 all ages. In his studies he evinced no taste for the exact sciences, bu 

 the ancient languages he studied with larger views than was then 

 usual with youug men at the universities. In 1804 he became a 

 Fellow of All Souls. The year after he had taken his degree he 

 gained the Bachelor's prize for an English prose essay on the ' Sensi 

 of Honour.' About the middle of 1805, in company with his friem 

 Mr. John Thornton, son of the member for Surrey, he set out on a 

 continental tour. They proceeded through Russia, the Crimea, 

 Hungary, Austria, and Prussia, and returned to England in Octobe 



In 1807, before he had obtained his degree of M.A., he took orders 

 and was instituted by his brother Richard to the family living a 

 Hoiluet. Here, u he himself described, he was in a "half-wa; 

 situation between a parson and a squire." Never however were th 

 duties of a parochial clergyman discharged with more exemplary za 

 and benevolence ; and Heber' conduct in hia parish has often bee 



pointed at as displaying in the greatest perfection all the best charac- 

 teristics of a Church of England priest. In April 1809 he married 

 Amelia, youngest daughter of Dr. Shipley, dean of St. Asaph. While 

 discharging the duties of hia pariah with so much earnestnesa, he was 

 ardently attached to the pursuits of literature. He waa a frequent 

 contributor to the ' Quarterly Review ' from its commencement. In 

 1812 he commenced the preparation of a 'Dictionary of the Bible,' on 

 which he laboured with much delight ; but other duties compelled 

 him to suspend this work, and no part of it waa ever published. In 

 the sime year he publiahed a small volume of ' Poema aud Trans- 

 lations for Weekly Church Service." Tlie composition of hia ' Hymns,' 

 with a view of improving the psalmody and devotional poetry used in 

 churches, was also a favourite recreation. He was an elegant versifier, 

 nd continued to indulge his poetical talents even while engaged iu 

 isiting hia diocese in India. He had a great distaste for coatroveraial 

 beology, and only once waa engaged iu a discussion of this kind, in 

 epiy to what he conceived were tue unwarrantable imputations of a 

 writer iu the ' British Critic.' His life waa diversified by an occasional 

 iait to his friends in other parts of England, or to his father-in-law iu 

 Vales, and by correspondence with a few friends. His political views 

 were those of the High Church and Tory party, but quite devoid of 

 " litteruesa. In 1815 he waa appointed Bampton lecturer, and the 

 ubject he selected waa ' The Personality and Office of the Chriatian 

 Jomforter.' In 1817, Dr. Luxmore, the bishop of St. Aaaph, appointed 

 leber to a stall in that cathedral, at the request of hia father-in-law, 

 he dean. In 1819 he edited the works of Bishop Jeremy Taylor, 

 iis other works consist of ' Parish Sermons,' preached at Hodnet ; 

 and Sermons preached in India. In April 1822 he waa elected preacher 

 >f Lincoln's Inn, for which he had formerly been an unsuccessful 

 candidate. 



On the 2nd of December, in the same year, his frieud and con- 

 nection, the Right Honourable Charles \V. Williams Wynu, who was 

 at the time president of the Board of Control, consulted him confi- 

 dentially respecting the appointment to the vacant see of Calcutta, 

 >ut did not offer him the appointment. There waa every probability 

 in fact that in the course of a few years Heber would obtain a mitre 

 at home. But in another communication the vacant see was offered 

 a him, and, without pressing him to accept it, Mr. Wynn expressed 

 iho opinion that iu no position would Heber's talents find so ample a 

 Seld or be so beneficial as in India. Twice the offer was declined, on 

 account of his wife aud child ; but immediately after the second 

 refusal he wrote (January 12th, 1823) stating hia willingness to go to 

 India. He congratulated himself upon the fact that no worldly 

 motives led him to this decision. The prospects of usefulness iu so 

 grand a field aa India overbore all pecuniary consideration, and they 

 had no influence in determining his conduct when the proposition of 

 going to that country was first made to him. Besides, he had often 

 expressed his liking for such a sphere of action, and he had " a lurking 

 fondness for all which belongs to India or Asia." On the 22ud of 

 April he saw Hodnet for the last time, and, after having been conse- 

 crated, he embarked for his diocese on the 16th of Juno 1823. 



The diocese of Calcutta extended at this time over the whole of 

 India, and embraced Ceylon, the Mauritius, and Australasia. In 

 India the field of the bishop's labours waa three times larger than 

 Great Britain and Ireland. The number of chaplains who constituted 

 hia staff at Bengal was fixed at twenty-eight, but this number was 

 never completed, and of the number who were appointed several were 

 on furlough. The bishop had no council to assist him, was required 

 to act on hia own responsibility, aud to write almost every official 

 document with his own hand. On the 15th of June 1824, Bishop 

 Heber began the visitation of his vast diocese. He visited nearly 

 every station of importance in the upper provinces of Bengal and 

 north of Bombay, and after an absence from Calcutta of about eleven 

 months, during which he had seldom slept out of his cabin or tent, 

 ho arrived at Bombay. The Journal which he kept during his visita- 

 tion, and which has been published in three octavo volumes (and since 

 reprinted so as to form two volumes of Murray's ' Home and Colonial 

 Library '), shows the extent of his observations on general subjects 

 and the graphic power which he possessed of describing the novel 

 scenes in which he was placed. From April to August he remained 

 at Bombay to investigate and superintend the interests of the western 

 portion of hia diocese. On the 15th of August he sailed for Ceylon, 

 and after remaining there some time he proceeded to Calcutta, which 

 he reached on the 21st of October. If it had been possible to have 

 educated his children in India, he was now prepared, he states, to end 

 his days amongst the objects of his solicitude. In February 1826 he 

 left Calcutta for Madras to visit the southern provinces. On the 1st 

 of April he arrived at Trichinopoli, and on the 3rd, after investigating 

 the state of the mission and confirming fifteen natives, on whom he 

 bestowed the episcopal benediction in the Tamul language, he retired 

 to use a cold bath, in which he was found dead about half-au-hour 

 afterwards. Within less than three weeks he would have completed 

 hia forty-third year. 



The candour, modesty, and simplicity of Bishop Hebor's manners, 

 hia unwearied earnestness and his mild and steady zeal, combined with 

 his talents and attainments, had inspired veneration and respect not 

 only amongst the European but the native population of India. It 

 was said by thosa who were capable of judging, that few persons, civil 



