Leander Van Ess I had the happiness of visiting; and I remained with him during a day, which I passed at Darmstadt. It was impossible not to be prepared, by his writings, to form a very high estimate of his character and his labours; and these expectations were, in my case, in no wise disappointed. I was struck with his holy devotedness to his great object, with his unwearied diligence, with his unbounded charity. He is a man who rises at four o’clock in the morning to his daily task; pursues it often without cessation through the day; and, as I was informed by those best acquainted with his habits, he is often found at midnight occupied with his work. He is making a new version of the Bible, which, by the help of the continental Bible Societies, he is about to print; and, although he holds the opinions of the church to which he belongs on the subject of the Apocrypha, he wishes this opinion to be no hinderance to others; so that they will, in any way, read the word of God. He is, therefore, preparing his version for publication, in three forms. First, with the Vulgate printed in a small type at the bottom of each page, and with the Apocrypha intermixed; this is the form in which the Catholics wish to receive it. Secondly, without the Vulgate, and with the Apocrypha appended, for the Protestants of that country. Thirdly, without the apocryphal books, for the distribution of our own Bible Society, if we are disposed to adopt it. Here is a specimen of that largeness of charity by which every part of his conduct is influenced. So that, by Protestants and Catholics, who are partakers of the same spirit, he is alike esteemed. The king of Wirtemberg has presented him with a medal, in token of his useful labours in his kingdom. The grand-duke of Baden has given him money to purchase Testaments. And the government under which he lives sanction his proceedings, and one member in particular of the royal family of the grand-duke affords him constant protection and assistance. So that kings, I may say, are “the nursing fathers” of his plans and labours. I consider this society as privileged, in no ordinary degree, in having such an agent and friend on the continent. The assistance which he has already rendered to the Society has been very considerable. He has a great work on his hands. Communications are always to be kept open, letters to be written; and, in a country where there is a fastidiousness in receiving any religious offering from abroad, no one, who has not tried the experiment, can judge how much judgment, care, and delicacy it requires to bestow the gift without injuring the cause it is intended to promote.