Heber's university career was equally splendid to its close. Some young men enter the schools obscure and come out bright; others enter bright and come out obscure; but Heber was true to his early promise, and pursued a steady and undeviating course of improvement to the end of his college life.

4

CHAPTER III.

TOWARDS the middle of the year 1805, Reginald Heber accompanied his friend, Mr John Thornton, on a tour to the north of Europe, which was extended through Russia, the Crimea, Hungary, Austria, Prussia, and Germany; the rest of the continent being at that time closed by war against travellers. His friends were glad to sieze this opportunity of removing him from that admiration which his talents excited, and which they feared might injure the simplicity of his mind; though he afterwards proved this fear to be without foundation; for the praises of the world had no power to corrupt his pure and humble heart.

Some extracts from his correspondence with his family during this tour, as well as from his journals which he kept through the greater part of it, will interest our young readers, particularly if they will take out their map of Europe and trace his course upon it. They will find that the habit which he very early formed of acquiring all the information he could from every oppor

tunity which offered itself, enabled him during this journey to learn many things which a careless or indolent person would never have thought of.

'Dear Mother,

To Mrs Heber.

GOTTENBURG, Aug, 1, 1805.

'The uncommon beauty of the weather would, I hope, entirely quiet all your apprehensions respecting our voyage to this place, where we arrived yesterday morning. About two hours after I had finished my last letter we got on board the packet, a small black looking sloop, very little larger than the fishing smacks on the Parkgate shore. We found, however, a tolerably large and neat, though not fragrant cabin, in which, as we were the only passengers, we had plenty of room and the choice of beds. We were, however, in such spirits with the fresh sea breeze, that we had little inclination to quit the deck, and stayed up till past midnight enjoying the novelty of our situation. A strong gale and the short pitching waves of the north sea, however, kept us in our beds the whole of the next day. Sea-sickness has, I think, been ra

ther exaggerated; bad as it certainly is while you stay on deck, yet, when laid down and out of sight of the cause, I found sleeping a sure and almost immediate remedy. The weather from this time was very delightful, though the wind was rather unfavorable. We caught fish,walked the deck, studied Swedish, and learnt how to take an observation. We fell in with the Scout, armed vessel, whose appearance at first rather alarmed our captain, as she did not answer our signals. He was a man of but few words, but muttered a good deal, scratched his head, and with a very long face brought the mail on deck, with an old rusty swivel tied to it, that it might be thrown overboard in case of danger. Our uncertainty was, however, soon removed by her hailing us, and we enjoyed the benefit of her convoy as far as the Naze.

'On Sunday we came in sight of the tall blue mountains of Norway, stretching along our northern horizon, a rocky and almost perpendicular coast, with many fishing vessels under it, and above these some pointed Alpine hills rising to a great height. Having left them behind us to the west, we saw next day the Swedish coast, likewise rocky, but much less striking than our

first prospect. After being kept in a most tantalizing manner for two days by a dead calm, we at length got into the river Gotha about nine o'clock yesterday, and landed after a full three hours waiting for the custom-house officers, which time we passed in admiring the singular appearance of the harbor,without tides, and with rushes growing even in the sea, and in taking sketches of some odd shaped rocks which surrounded it. On the whole it very much answered my idea of a Scotch lake, excepting that in one part there were some large oaks almost close to the beach, a phenomenon which I hardly expected in so high a latitude.

Thornton has purchased a light but strong and comfortable carriage; and as the roads are, we understand, the best in Europe, and the little Swedish poneys very good goers, our posting will, I hope, be prosperous.

'We have seen all the curiosities of Gottenburg, which are indeed not numerous; the city has suffered twice in the last five years by dreadful fires, and at present upwards of one third is a heap of rubbish. From this, however, are rising new streets, on a very uniform and magnificent plan, with a spirit which bears testimony

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