CHAPTER XIII.

Early in 1826, Bishop Heber, accompanied by Mr Robinson, visited Chinsurah, about twenty miles from Calcutta. He preached on the Sunday which he passed there, both morning and evening; and was occupied the following morning in looking over an old house, which had long been the abode of bats and snakes, for the purpose of deciding on its capability of forming a permanent residence for the clergyman, and for the establishment of a school. He here caught a fever, which confined him to his room several days after his return to Calcutta. There was one peculiarity attending this illness, which was thought by his friends to throw some light on the cause of the last fatal event at Trichinopoly. The affection of the bead, with which a Bengal fever is invariably accompanied, produced so great a degree of deafness, that he could hardly hear

the questions of the medical men, who attended him. And this symptom did not immediately decrease as the fever abated. Soon after his recovery he sailed in the 'Bussorah merchant' for Madras, where he arrived late in February. To Captain Manning.

'My dear Manning,

Off KEDGEREE, Feb. 3, 1826.

Many thanks for your friendly letter. I was sincerely sorry that I was not at home when you called, and that I was so busy that I had really no time to return your

visit before I set

off. We have since been detained by light and unfavorable winds in the river till this morning, when we have made some way, and hope to get rid of our pilot in the evening.

'I hope you are by this time quite well again, and am inclined to think that the severe discipline which you have undergone during your recent illness, may be of eventual advantage to your health. That it may be so, however, I hope you will, for your own and for Mrs Manning's sake, as well as the many friends who love and value you, be more careful of yourself than you have been. I do not mean that you should be more anxious, for an over anxiety is, I think,

the side on which you are apt to err; but that you should be more strictly abstemious than (forgive my saying so) I think you have lately been in your diet, and that you should wean your mind from a too careful and earnest attention to your own symptoms, both bodily and mental; learning to trust God more entirely and hopefully, that His providence and love for you in Jesus Christ, will do more, far more, for you than you can do for yourself; and that if you cast your cares on Him, He will care for you!

Excuse me, my amiable friend, for giving you these hints, which are prompted by a sincere regard for you, and an earnest desire that you may be both healthy and happy. But the truth is, I have observed, during my late stay in Calcutta, that you sometimes took more variety both in dishes and in wine than seemed to suit your health; that I have been led to fear, I hardly know why, that you have sometimes resorted to still more seductive and dangerous palliations of the pain which you have, I know, often suffered; and that I have been long aware that, in the honest humbleness of your contrite heart, you have thought more painfully of your

own condition, than one who cherishes a firm faith on the Rock of Ages, and an ardent desire after holiness need to do. Remember who He is on whom you have hoped. Be sure that both body and soul are safe under His protection, so long as we wait patiently on Him, and resist the temptations against which we are compelled to struggle; and believe me, that while this hope continues to increase in you, both body and soul will derive a daily increase of strength and cheerfulness.

'God Almighty bless you, my dear Manning, in your worldly and spiritual affairs! May He grant you a safe and prosperous voyage, and a happy reunion with your wife; and may He grant me, if it be His will, to see you again in health and happiness on earth, or, if not there, in a blessed eternity!

'Believe me ever your sincere friend,

'REGINALD CALCUTTA.'

To the Honorable and Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Oxford.

On the GANGES below CALCUTTA, Feb. 3, 1826. 'My dear Lord,

'I addressed a letter to your lordship about a month ago in which I introduced to your ac

quaintance and kind notice my friend Colonel Francklin, and requested permission to offer to the college library a copy of a Persian dictionary, lately published by the king of Oude, of which Colonel Francklin had taken charge.

'I trust that long ere this reaches you Sir Edward Paget will have been restored to his family and friends. I had the pleasure to see him just before he set sail, in better health, I think, and certainly in better spirits than he had been for many months before. He is sincerely loved and respected in India; but it is to Ceylon that we must go to hear his praises most perfectly. During my stay in that island, I often wished that he and lady Harriet could have been present, invisible, to hear the manner in which they were both spoken of, and the interest felt by every body in their health and happiness.

'I am again embarked on my voyage to Madras, which presidency I have not yet visited. My purpose is, after a few weeks' stay in the city itself, to make nearly the same tour which Bishop Middleton did in his first visitation. This will leave a vast track of the Deckan and Central India, as yet untraversed, for another year; but the necessity of completing my work