prizes for Latin verse, for the English poem, and for the English prose-essay, were successively awarded him; and Palestine' received the higher and rarer compliment of public and universal praise. Such a poem, composed at such an age, has indeed some, but not many, parallels in our language. Its copious diction, -its perfect numbers,-its images, so well chosen, diversified so happily, and treated with so much discretion and good taste,-the transitions from one period to another of the history of the Holy Land, so dexterously contrived,— and, above all, the ample knowledge of Scripture, and of writings illustrative of Scripture, displayed in it-all these things might have seemed to bespeak the work of a man who 'had been long choosing, and begun late,' rather than of a stripling of nineteen. Some few of our University English prize-poems have had an ephemeral reputation beyond the precincts of Cambridge and Oxford; but 'Palestine' is almost the only one that has maintained its honours unimpaired, and entitled itself, after the lapse of years, to be considered the property of the nation."

The poet's father, now at a very advanced

age, but still retaining the vivacity of his mind. and affections, was present in the Sheldonian Theatre when Palestine was pronounced from the rostrum by its youthful author; and witnessed the scene with feelings which parents only can understand. The verses were admirably delivered, listened to in profound silence, and rapturously applauded by a large and most brilliant audience. The couplet describing the building of the Temple,

"No workman steel, no ponderous axes rung,

Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung," was particularly admired then, and will continue to be so. But the liveliest sensation at the moment was probably excited by the verses in which the author alluded to the then recent expedition of Buonaparte into Palestine, and his discomfiture at Acre by the party of British seamen under the command of Sir Sydney Smith

"When he, from towery Malta's yielding isle
And the green waters of reluctant Nile,

The apostate chief-from Misraim's subject shore
To Acre's walls his trophied banners bore;
When the pale desert mark'd his proud array,
And Desolation hoped an ampler sway;

What hero then triumphant Gaul dismayed?
What arm repelled the victor-renegade?
Britannia's champion!-bathed in hostile blood
High on the breach the dauntless seaman stood:
Admiring Asia saw the unequal fight,-

Even the pale crescent blessed the Christian's might."

Mr. Heber, the father, died in the beginning of 1804. In the summer of 1805 Reginald gained the prize for an English Essay on the Sense of Honour; thus carrying away, in succession, all the honours of this kind which his University offers for the competition of her sons; and, shortly after taking his degree of A.B., was elected a fellow of All Souls' College-a society in the highest degree select and distinguished.

CHAPTER II.

Heber's Travels in Russia, the Crimea and Germany.

HEBER now prepared to make the tour of such parts of Europe as were accessible at the period to English travellers. In company with his friend, Mr. John Thornton, he visited several of the German states, Russia, and the Crimea; and some extracts from the journal which he kept throughout these peregrinations, having been printed as notes to the great work of Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke, excited a strong wish that the whole should be made public. This has not yet been done; and we must content ourselves with transcribing a few fragments-which, however, may well detain attention, when it is remembered that they are the productions of a traveller of two or threeand-twenty. They exhibit, in effect, the same accuracy of observation, the same power of picturesque description, and much of the same enlarged views, which have since been so fully

developed in his Indian Journals and Correspondence.

The following is Heber's account of a visit which he and his friend, Mr. Thornton, paid to the celebrated Plato, Archbishop of Moscow, in the Convent of Befania. The information it afforded of the sentiments of the Russian clergy was highly important at the time of Clarke's first publication, and is still curious and interesting.

"The space beneath the rocks is occupied by a small chapel, furnished with a stove for winter devotion; and on the right-hand is a little narrow cell, containing two coffins; one of which is empty, and destined for the present archbishop; the other contains the bones of the founder of the monastery, who is regarded as a saint. The oak coffin was almost bit to pieces by different persons afflicted with the tooth-ache; for which a rub on this board is a specific. Plato laughed as he told us this; but said, 'As they do it de bon cœur, I would not undeceive them.' This prelate has been long very famous in Russia, as a man of ability. His piety has been questioned; but from his conversation we drew a very favourable idea of