"Brasenose," prompted the viscount.
"As a student in this college he wrote 'Palestine,' for which he obtained
the prize; and it still holds a place in the literature of England. He soon
obtained a living, and occupied a prominent position among the clergy of
his native island. In 1823 he was made Bishop of Calcutta.
"Three years later, in the midst of his zealous labors in the service of
his Master, he died at Trichinopoly of apoplexy, greatly lamented. Perhaps
'From Greenland's icy mountains,
From India's coral strand,'
which you have sung this afternoon, is the widest-known of Bishop Heber's
hymns; but will you indulge me if I ask you to sing another of them, which
I find in the book I hold in my hand?--
'Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid.'"
The hymn was sung to Mozart's music by about twenty voices, and the effect
was exceedingly agreeable. Sir Modava seemed to be in a rapture, as the
piece was his favorite, and came from one who was connected with his native
land.
He was a rather tall and slender man, and all the ladies declared that he
was very handsome; and his slightly dusky hue added to, rather than took
from, the beauty of his countenance. He wore a small mustache, but no other
beard.
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