We had General Stutterheim's account of the battle in our hand, and likewise drew much information from a sensible farmer in the village of Scholmitz. All the stories we had heard in Russia were very false; and the Austrians' account of the behaviour of the Russian troops equally so. The loss of the battle is entirely attributable to the scandalous want of information of the Austrians, and to the extended line on which Kotusof made the attack. The French had behaved very well till their victory, but after it they committed great excesses among the villages; the Russians were popular among the common people, which at once proved the falsehood of the scandals circulated against them at Vienna. At last, however, they too were driven to plunder; but it was by absolute famine, owing to the miserable weakness of the Austrian government, and the bad conduct of their agents. The Russians understood the Moravian language, being only a dialect of the Slavonian; and this circumstance endeared them a good deal to the people. The loss of the French on this memorable day was much greater than they have been willing to allow. My informant had passed the morning after the battle from Scholmitz by Pratzen to Austerlitz. On the hill of Pratzen, he said, 'I could not set my foot to the ground for blue uniforms.' I drew three or four plans of the ground, and at last succeeded in making a very exact While I was thus employed I was taken for a French spy, and accosted by some farmers, who asked, with many apologies, for my passport. I told them I had none, and a very curious village council of war was held, which was terminated by the arrival of Thornton and the guide we had taken from Brünn."

one.

Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, Halle, and Wittemberg followed, to Berlin :

"Potsdam is a small but very well-built town; and Berlin is decidedly, next to Petersburg, the finest city I have ever seen."

"YARMOUTH, 14th October 1806.

"DEAR MOTHER-We are this moment landed from the Florence cutter, which Lord Morpeth, whom we met at Hamburg, was so kind as to give us permission to make use of. We have had a very agreeable voyage, and are both well. I hope to be at Hodnet Saturday evening. Love to all the dear party. We bring no good news. The king of Prussia and Buonaparte were a few posts from each other, and by this time they have probably had an engagement. The Elector of Hesse has refused all the king's

proposals, and is expected to join the French.-Believe me your affectionate son, REGINALD HEBER."

As Heber wrote that letter the battle of Jena was laying all Prussia at Buonaparte's feet. The travellers landed to find the country in the throes of a general election. Heber hastened to Oxford to fight for his brother, who was standing for the University, while Thornton threw himself into the two contests waged by his father and his uncle, Henry Thornton, M.P. for Southwark. Heber thus reported to Miss Dod the lively proceedings at Oxford :

"18 CHARLES STREET, ST. JAMES's.

"My dear, dear Charlotte will perhaps be surprised that I have not sooner thanked her for her kind little note delivered at the Llanvridda Bow-meeting, especially when she knew that I was immediately setting out for Oxford and likely to be alone. When you know, however, how hard I have been working in my brother's cause, and how many letters and how much business have devolved on me as a matter of absolute duty and necessity, you will, I am sure, be far from blaming my not having written to you before, nor be jealous that I have, yesterday, written to your friend Mary Shute. The purport of my letter was to ask her interest with her father, who has, I believe, a vote, and also to request her to give us a good word with some other Somersetshire members of the University. If you write to her, pray move her to think well of us. You will be glad to hear that our canvass goes on favourably, and that, though I am almost tired to death, I continue well. If, indeed, one had less heat, less anxiety, and less business to do, the motley scenes of my brother's committees, frequented by many public characters and literary men of different political parties, would be very amusing. We have had Ward, Walter Scott, Hobhouse (Lord Sidmouth's Secretary, not the Radical), Bowles, the poet, Lord Spencer, all the Williams Wynns, etc., in the room at once. Great exertions are making on the other side, and some abominable lies have been told. I suppose such things are usual in all elections, but the charges brought against my brother of being a Radical and I know not what have made me sometimes very angry.

"I set out for Hodnet on Thursday, in company with poor Mrs. Shipley, who is very anxious to have me as a companion on the road. She is looking very ill, poor thing, but has borne her return to England, and the bitter recollections accompanying it,

with true Christian fortitude. I shall probably be obliged to return again to town in another week, but cannot refuse undertaking this journey with a poor invalid, whose excellent conduct under misfortune I have always admired, and whose relations are now doing all in their power to forward my brother's interest. . . .

"I have little to tell you about politics. The King certainly goes by sea. A report prevails that his visit to Wynnstay was prevented by Lady Harriet Wynn's refusal to invite Lady Cunningham. I do not know whether there is any truth in this.

"God bless you for ever. I can hardly say how often I think of you, and how much I value your affection and wish for your happiness. Dear, dear friend, adieu.-Ever yours,

"R. H."

To Thornton he announced the welcome he had received at Hodnet.

"HODNET HALL, 21st October 1806.

"I found all here quite well, and my Volunteers complete in number, and in high spirits. I have been much delighted with the kindness of my men and neighbours, and the pleasure they have expressed at my return. The farmers and people of the village have subscribed among themselves to purchase three sheep, and have made a great feast for the volunteers, their wives and families, on the occasion of 'Master Reginald's coming back safe.' It takes place to-day, and they are now laying their tables on the green before the house. I am just going to put on my old red jacket and join them. How I do love these good people! If my friends had made a feast for me, it would have been to be expected; but that the peasants themselves should give a fête champêtre to their landlord's younger brother would, I think, puzzle a Russian.

"I wish you a speedy deliverance from the delights of a canvass, and a return to your own family and your own people, among the beech woods of Albury. I hope yet to see them on some future occasion. Hodnet is very little altered, except that the trees are grown. My father's little oak is very thriving."

"ALL SOULS, 1806.

"I have been only three days with my mother and sister since my return to England; since the bustle of the election has ended I have been detained in Oxford by the necessity of keeping the

term.

E

". . . With regard to my studies, I am now post varios casus set down to them again in good earnest, and am so delightfully situated in All Souls, that the very air of the place breathes study. While I write I am enjoying the luxuries of a bright coal fire, a green desk, and a tea-kettle bubbling. What should we have thought of such a situation at Tcherkask or at Taganrog?

"I have just had a very long conversation with Bishop Cleaver about orders, and the course of study and preparation of mind necessary for them. I have kept myself entirely from drawing plans of houses, etc., and though Guibert sur la Grande Tactique unfortunately seduced me a little as he lay very temptingly on my study table, I have done with him; tactics are now, indeed, enough to make a man sick. What are our wise ministers about, sending Lord Hutchinson, at this time of day, to the Continent ?"

Next year, 1807, Reginald Heber was ordained and was instituted by his brother to the Rectory of Hodnet.

CHAPTER IV

HODNET PARISH AND HODNET FRIENDS

1807-1823

HODNET is still, as when Reginald Heber spent there fifteen of the happiest years of his life, one of the most pleasant parishes in England. From the De Hodenets, who held the old manor on condition of keeping in repair the fortress of Montgomery, the estate passed with an heiress to the Vernons, and from them similarly to the Hebers. Hodnet Hall, as it now is, stands on the outskirts of the village, hidden among the ancient trees, save on the northern face. In a hollow close by stood the old rectory, bonded and spacious, like so many of the Shropshire houses, but so unhealthy that Heber's first task was to build the new house on the beautiful rising ground which commands a view of the country-side. Between the Hall and the new rectory stands the church, on a knoll, with a noble octagonal tower. To the south is the valley of the Tern, with memories of Richard Baxter, who was born at Rowton, five miles away; and of Corbets, Leycesters, and Stanleys clustering around the church of Stoke-upon-Tern, two miles off.

But the charm of Hodnet lies in this that it stands on the eastern fringe of the sylvan glories and pastoral landscapes of Hawkstone Park, the famous seat of the Hills. The parish, indeed, chiefly consists of the Hawkstone hills and woods, running down into dairy farms and picturesque hamlets, and all laid out with the best art of the landscape gardener. For rides and walks, or quiet meditation;