Henry, a celebrated missionary, was born in 1781 at Truro in Cornwall, where his father, a man of singular piety and intelligence, was a labourer in the mines of Gwennap, and subsequently a merchant's clerk in Truro. He received his education at the grammar school of his native town, and at St John's College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1797, and pursued his studies so successfully, that in January 1801 he obtained the highest academical honour of senior wrangler, and in 1802 was chosen a fellow of his college, besides gaining the highest prize of the university for Latin prose composition. During this brilliant career the mind of Martyn became seriously occupied with the truths of religion, induced to some extent, it is believed, by the death of his father, which produced a very serious impression on the ardent and thoughtful student. These impressions were fostered by the intimacy which Martyn had formed with the celebrated university preacher, the Rev. Charles Simeon. Notwithstanding the bright prospects of advancement which his talents opened up to him, he resolved to devote the energies of his life to the work of a Christian missionary; and accordingly, after some preliminary preparation, he in 1805 left the banks of the Cam for the shores of India as a chaplain in the East India Company's service. He commenced his labours among the Europeans at Dinapore, and soon found himself capable of extending his labours, by conducting divine worship among the natives in their own vernacular language, and by establishing schools for their instruction. It was not till 1809, however, that his regular public ministrations among the heathen commenced. In the spring of that year he was removed to Cawnpore, where he was exposed to great privation, having to preach in the open air, under a burning Indian sun. Martyn, nevertheless, zealously pursued his noble work among the hundreds of heathen mendicants who crowded around him. During his residence at Dinapore he had been engaged in revising the sheets of his Hindustanee version of the New Testament, and in superintending the Persian translation executed by Sabat; and having now perfected himself in the latter language, he resolved to extend his missionary labours to Persia. He accordingly took up his residence at Shiraz, where he occupied himself in revising, with the aid of the learned natives, his Persian and Arabic translations of the New Testament, and in conducting religious conversations and discussions among the moollahs and soofis, many of whom were greatly impressed by him. "Henry Martyn," said a Persian moollah, "was never beat in an argument. He was a good man; a man of God." Here, in addition to his New Testament, he executed a Persian translation of the Psalms, "a sweet employment," as he says in a letter, "which caused six weary moons that waxed and waned since its commencement to pass unnoticed." Having made an unsuccessful journey to Tabriz to present the shah with his translation of the New Testament, he was seized with fever, which so thoroughly prostrated his energies, that after a temporary recovery, he found it necessary to seek a change of climate. He set out for Constantinople, and after a hurried march of great suffering he got as far as Tokat in Asia Minor, where he was compelled to stop from utter prostration, and falling either a sacrifice to the plague which then raged there, or sinking under his previous disorder, he died on the 16th October 1812, in his thirty-second year. The news of his death was received in England with deep regret. In addition to his valuable labours as a translator, by which he placed portions of the Scriptures within the reach of all who could read over one-fourth of the habitable globe, he was instrumental in leading a considerable number of Hindus and Mohammedans to profess their adherence to the Christian faith. From one who had accomplished so much in a great cause in the very dawn of his career, it was not singular that much should have been expected from him ere he was called upon to retire from the field. Yet during his brief career he earned for himself a foremost place among modern missionaries; and the name of Henry Martyn will be held in honour as long as noble Christian heroism is admired among men. (See Memoir of the Rev. Henry Martyn, by the Rev. John Sargent, London, 1819.)