manufacture to Tiverton. On the passing of the reform bill, Mr. Heathcoat was returned as member for that borough, and continued until within two years of his death in the regular discharge of his parliamentary duties. At the age of seventy-seven, January 18, 1861, after repeated attacks of paralysis, he died at his seat, Bolham House, Tiverton.—E. B. L.
HEATHCOTE, Ralph, D.D., a miscellaneous writer and controversialist of some note, was born on 19th December, 1721, at Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire, where his father was curate. In 1741 he was admitted a member of Jesus college, Cambridge, where he published, in 1746, a small work, "Historia Astronomiæ." Having obtained public notice by his pamphlets in the controversy raised by Dr. Middleton regarding miracles, he was, in 1753, appointed assistant preacher at Lincolin's inn chapel. In the following year he combated, in a pamphlet, Lord Bolingbroke's opinions. On becoming a magistrate he published the "Irenarch, or justice of the peace's manual," 1771, to which he prefixed a memoir of himself. In 1785 he left London altogether, to pass the remainder of his life at the vicarage of Sileby and at Southwell, where he held the important office of vicar-general. In 1786 he published a "Sylva, or collection of anecdotes," &c. He died 28th May, 1795.—R. H.
HEBEDJESU. See Ebedjesu.
HEBEL, Johann Peter, a distinguished German poet, was born at Basle on 11th May, 1760, and died at Schwetzingen on 22d September, 1826. He studied theology at Erlangen, and in 1791 obtained a mastership in the gymnasium at Karlsruhe, where he was successively raised to the highest ecclesiastical dignities. His poems, unrivalled for naiveté and loveliness, are written in the Allemanic dialect, but have been repeatedly translated into high German. Hebel is, however, no less esteemed for his collection of popular tales and sketches.—K. E.
HEBENSTREIT, Johann Ernst, a German writer, anatomist, naturalist, and traveller, born in 1703. He studied at Leipsic, and took part in a scientific mission to Africa. He was subsequently professor at Leipsic, where he died in 1757. He wrote a Latin poem, "De Homine," which won for him the title of the German Lucretius.—B. H. C.
HEBER, Reginald, second bishop of Calcutta, and one of the most pleasing of our modern minor poets, was born on the 21st April, 1783, and died on the 3rd of the same month, 1826. The Hebers are a Yorkshire family, considerable in respect both of its influence and antiquity. Reginald, the most famous of the name, was the son, by a second marriage, of the Rev. Reginald Heber of Marton in Yorkshire, and was born at Malpas in Cheshire, a living at that time held by his father. He early gave signs of a most amiable disposition, and of an eager, insatiable love of knowledge—characteristics that peculiarly distinguished him through life. From a child he was fond of reading and reciting poetry, and it is said that even at the age of seven his own poetical talents had budded in a translation of Phædrus into English verse. But the greatest of all the delights of his boyhood was in reading the Bible—a circumstance that explains much of that fondness for all things oriental which afterwards exercised so great an influence on his studies, and was among the reasons that determined his choice in the most important event in his life. At eight years of age he went to the grammar-school of Whitchurch; and in 1796 was placed under the care of Mr. Bristow, a clergyman who took a limited number of pupils at Neasdon, in the neighbourhood of London. Four years afterwards he was entered of Brazennose college, Oxford, and commenced an academical career that proved extraordinarily brilliant and successful. The University prizes for Latin verse, for the English poem, and for the English prize-essay were successively awarded him. His "Palestine," which was written when he was only nineteen, is without doubt the best prize poem in the language, and is now incorporated for ever with the poetry of England. It is, however, the most considerable of his poetical productions; he wrote only a few fugitive pieces after the publication of his small but well-known miscellaneous volume of poems in 1812. Perhaps, however, we ought to except a series of hymns (part of which he composed, but did not publish), which he intended to be in relation to the gospels for the several Sundays throughout the year. The few which he did write are so incomparably excellent, that it is matter of regret that he did not live to complete this series.
In 1804 Heber was elected a fellow of All Souls, and in the following year set out on a continental tour in company with Mr. John Thornton, son of the member for Surrey. The two friends proceeded through Russia, the Crimea, Hungary, Austria, and Prussia, the rest of the continent being at that time shut by war against Englishmen. They returned to England in October, 1806. Heber's journal of his tour has been published in his Life by his widow, and certainly more extraordinary powers of observation and remark were never exhibited by one so young in years. Some of his observations upon Russia and the Crimea were published as notes to Dr. Clarke's well-known volume. Having in 1807 been instituted by his brother to the valuable family living of Hodnet, which had been reserved for him, he married Amelia, daughter of Dr. Shipley, dean of St. Asaph, and settled himself in his rectory. He was the very model of a parish minister. He was daily among his parishioners, advising them in difficulties, comforting them in distress, and kneeling, often to the hazard of his own life, by their sick-beds. In no scene of his life, has it been said, did his character appear in greater beauty than whilst he was living at Hodnet, "seeing God's blessings spring out of his mother earth, and eating his own bread in peace and privacy." Heber still devoted his leisure hours to his favourite literary pursuits, publishing at this period an edition of the works of Bishop Jeremy Taylor, to which he prefixed an eloquently-written life. He contributed frequently to the Quarterly Review, and busied himself in making collections for a new edition of Calmet with notes. In 1815 he was appointed Bampton lecturer, and chose for his subject "The Personality and Office of the Christian Comforter." Two years afterwards the bishop of St. Asaph appointed him to a stall in that cathedral; and in April, 1822, he was elected preacher of Lincoln's inn. Heber was now in great repute as a zealous churchman and accomplished divine, and there was every likelihood that he would be soon raised to a bishopric in England. The see of Calcutta, however, had lately fallen vacant by the death of the excellent and learned Dr. Middleton, first English bishop of India, and an offer of the appointment to this vast diocese—which at that time embraced not only India and Ceylon, but also the Mauritius and Australasia—was made to Heber by his friend the Right Hon. W. Williams Wynn. Twice he declined the offer; not, however, without some misgiving of heart. He could not look forward to an Indian climate but with apprehension; not indeed for himself—for none was ever more ready for every kind of self-sacrifice—but for his wife and child. Still a splendid opportunity of usefulness was offered him; and it at length appeared to him that the superintending hand of Providence was clearly discernible in it. Accordingly, he had no sooner given than he withdrew his second refusal; nor did he ever regret his altered resolution. He preached his last sermon at Hodnet—one of the finest of his discourses—on Sunday, 20th April, 1823; and, on the 16th of June of the same year, embarked with his family a little below Gravesend, and, accompanied to the ship by many sorrowing friends, bade adieu to England.
When Heber arrived at Calcutta he found himself confronted by an enormous amount of work—enough to have filled even the strongest with confusion; but, nothing daunted, the brave man took the yoke upon him, and toiled on till his strength was spent, "when suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth." It was at Trichonopoly on the 3rd April, 1826, that he was cut off by an apoplexy, while using the bath. So died one of the most exemplary christian bishops. He went forth from England in the flower and vigour of his manhood; but the ardours of an Indian sun, combined with the incessant labours and journeyings of little more than two years, brought him to an untimely grave. During the brief period of his episcopate he had visited nearly all the important stations in India and Ceylon. He was instant in season, out of season; regulating, preaching, catechising, baptizing, confirming. And it is the best testimony of his worth, that when he fell at last, in the heat and burden of the day, no such lamentation has been ever raised in India, except that which followed the death of Henry Havelock.
Reginald Heber, it is true, did not belong to the highest order of intellects. But to much strength, eagerness, and versatility of mind, he united a force and beauty of character that distinguished him above most men. He was indeed one of the most happily constituted of men; possessing, as he did, a character almost perfect in the development and harmony of its parts, and exemplifying the refinement and civilization of England in their highest glory and perfection. Besides the works of Heber
