REGINALD, bishop of Calcutta, was born April 21, 1783, at Malpas in Cheshire. He was sent to the grammar-school of Whitchurch at the age of eight, and entered Brazen-nose College, Oxford, at the age of seventeen. In his first year there (anno 1800) his Carmen Seculare gained the prize for Latin verse, as did his Palestine in 1803 for English verse. In 1804—the year of his father's death—he was elected fellow of All Souls' College. In the following year he began his travels in Europe, visiting Sweden, Norway, Russia, and the Crimea. After an absence of more than a twelvemonth, he returned through Austria and Germany to England. Soon after he took the degree of M.A. he married Amelia, daughter of William Shipley, dean of St Asaph, and settled on the living of Hodnet in Shropshire. In 1812 he began a Dictionary of the Bible, and published a volume of poems. In 1815 he was appointed to deliver the Hampton lecture on "The Personality and Office of the Christian Comforter." In 1822 he was elected preacher at Lincoln's Inn. On the 16th June 1823, after having been made D.D. of Oxford by diploma, he sailed with his family for India, having been appointed to succeed Bishop Middleton at Calcutta. He landed at Calcutta on the 10th of October, and shortly afterwards consecrated the church of St Stephen at Dum-dum. His first visitation in the cathedral at Calcutta was held on Ascension Day 1824. In May 1825 he held a visitation at Bombay. At Trichinopoly, on the 3d April 1826, he was found dead in his bath before breakfast, having been suddenly cut off by an apoplectic fit at the age of forty-three.

Bishop Heber gave early indication of that love for the classics, in the study of which he afterwards gained such high honours at college; for at the age of seven he had translated Phaedrus into English verse. With a natural thirst for knowledge, a strong memory to retain what he once learned, and a glowing fancy, he possessed also the application necessary to develop these faculties into important results. Not possessing originality in the same degree, the classics became his model. For the exact sciences he had not the same relish. Logic, at least as unfolded by Aldrich, he even disliked. He had a taste for drawing and natural history. During his European travels he kept a copious journal of what he saw and read. Hence his voluminous correspondence with his friends contains the results of his close observations of the manners, customs, and superstitions of the people through whose countries he passed. He wrote a history of the Cossacks, contributed to the Quarterly Review, and published a complete edition of Jeremy Taylor's works, with a life and criticism. As an author he is most popularly known for his hymns and sacred pieces. These breathe a strain of the most exalted piety and Christian fervour; and in this accurately reflect himself.

But it is as the Christian pastor of Hodnet, and the apostolic Bishop of Calcutta, that Heber is specially entitled to our regard. From a very early age his mind was imbued with feelings of the deepest reverence for God. Prayer and reading of the Scriptures were attended to by him with exemplary regularity during the absorbing period of college life. When he returned from his travels in Europe, after his unusually brilliant career at Oxford, the path to literary fame was open to him, yet he preferred devoting himself to the humbler duties which devolve on the pastor of a parish. When disease was spreading through the district, Heber was still to be found at his post, visiting the sick, comforting the afflicted, relieving the distressed, and making known to all the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. An amiable temper, conciliatory manner, a benevolent heart, and a sound head, accompanied by such faithful discharge of duty, endeared him to all his parishioners.

Modest as he was, it is not remarkable that when he was offered the vacant bishopric of Calcutta his diffidence led him twice to refuse such a responsible charge. When, however, he did enter upon its duties, his whole energies were directed to the great work of evangelizing India. He travelled extensively, planting churches and encouraging the missionaries. Of his route through the upper provinces, between Calcutta and Bombay, a narrative was published in 2 vols. 4to. He also visited the Deccan, Ceylon, and Madras, carrying out with characteristic zeal the great object of his mission.