Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible SocietyBorrow, George
Religion
Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible Society
Borrow, George
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Correspondence; British and Foreign Bible Society; English letters
DEAR SIR,--As yourself and Mr. Brandram expressed a desire to hear from
me occasionally concerning my progress in Mandchou, I now write to inform
you that I am advancing at full gallop, and am able to translate with
pleasure and facility the specimens of the best authors who have written
in the language contained in the compilation of Klaproth. But I must
confess that the want of a Grammar has been, particularly in the
beginning of my course, a great clog to my speed, and I have little doubt
that had I been furnished with one I should have attained my present
knowledge of Mandchou in half the time. I was determined however not to
be discouraged, and, not having a hatchet at hand to cut down the tree
with, to attack it with my knife; and I would advise every one to make
the most of the tools which happen to be in his possession, until he can
procure better ones, and it is not improbable that by the time the good
tools arrive he will find he has not much need of them, having almost
accomplished his work. This is not exactly my case, for I shall be very
glad to receive this same tripartite Grammar which Mr. Brandram is
hunting for, my ideas respecting Mandchou construction being still very
vague and wandering, and I should also be happy if you could and would
procure for me the original grammatical work of Amyot, printed in the
_Memoires_, etc. Present my kind regards to Mr. Hattersley, and thank
him in my name for his kind letter, but at the same time tell him that I
was sorry to learn that he was putting himself to the trouble of
transferring into Mandchou characters the specimens which Amyot has given
in Roman, as there was no necessity for it in respect to myself, a mere
transcript being quite sufficient to convey the information I was in need
of. Assure him likewise that I am much disposed to agree with him in his
opinion of Amyot's Dictionary, which he terms in his letter 'something
not very first-rate,' for the Frenchman's translations of the Mandchou
words are anything but clear and satisfactory, and being far from
literal, frequently leave the student in great doubt and perplexity.
I have sent to my brother one copy of St. Luke's Gospel with a letter;
the postage was 15s. 5d. My reason for sending only one was, that the
rate of postage increases with the weight, and that the two Gospels can
go out much cheaper singly than together. The other I shall dispatch
next month.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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