He struggled with the eagerness of one whose desire had grown by meeting with obstacles.

In order to acquire a good Latin style, he translated all Cicero's letters into English, and then back into Latin; and when he went up for his degree, he took, besides his Latin and Greek books, the whole Hebrew Bible, but was only examined in the Psalms.

He gained a triumphant first-class, and the next year, 1803, he carried off the English prose essay prize.

The theme was "Common Sense." He had not in the least expected to gain the prize, and had not even mentioned the competition to his friends, so that their delight and surprise were equal.

That same year, Reginald Heber was happy in the subject for Sir Roger Newdegate's prize for English verse, namely, "Palestine," which in this case had fallen to a poet too real to be crushed by the greatness of his subject.
Reginald Heber was used to society of high talent and cultivation.