Page:Our Hymns.djvu/322

 302 OUR HYMNS:

&quot; Needham,&quot; probably it was filtered from a hymn by Joim Needham, 1768. By comparing it with tbc following hynui, which is Needham s, it will be seen to be superior, especially in form, Needham s rhymes being deficient or imperfect. Mrs. Flowerdew s hymn, which is given in the &quot; New Congregational&quot; with the fifth verse altered, and the sixth omitted, bears date 18 11. It appeared in a later edition of her &quot; Poems on Moral and Religious Subjects.&quot; It is not found in the first edition, 1803. Her poems are pleasing and pious, but do not show the possession of genius. In the preface, dated May 24, 1803, she says they were &quot; written at different periods of life ; some indeed at a very early age, and others under the very severe pressure of misfortune, when my pen has frequently given that relief which could not be derived from other employments.&quot;

Mrs. Flowerdew kept a ladies boarding-school in High- street, Islington. She is said to have been a member of the Baptist Church in &quot;Worship-street, under the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. John Evans, the author of &quot;A Sketch of the Several Religious Denominations, 1795,&quot; and of several other works.

��REGINALD HEBER, D.D. 17831826.

THIS poet-bishop belonged to an ancient Yorkshire family, and was the son of a father of the same name, who was rector of Malpas, in Cheshire. After displaying unusual talent in child hood, he commenced his collegiate career at Brazenose College, Oxford, in November, 1800. In the following year he gained the Chancellor s prize for a Latin poem on &quot; The Commence ment of the New Century.&quot; During his brilliant University course he produced, in 1803, his prize poem on &quot; Palestine ;&quot; and later, his English prose essay on the &quot; Sense of Honour.&quot; Soon after, he made an extended tour in Germany, Russia, and

�� �