of hope. Finding, however, that the vernacular language in that neighborhood was a dialect of the Hindostanee, and that the Bengalee translation would not be generally understood, encour himself again surrounded by English society to whom he could preach. Before his removal he had begun to converse a little with the natives, and by the help of his moonshee, who had at length acquired English e-aged also by the income which nough to be his interpreter, could preach in a broken manner. He soon was able to do the latter at Mudnabatty; but he found the vernacular dialect so different from that at Calcutta and Dehatta, that the hope of conversing freely and preaching without an interpreter, was longer deferred. He began at times to speak without an interpreter in the spring of 1795, and by the next autumn his preaching was very intelligible to the higher ranks who spoke the Bengalee language in its purity. of As soon as they were settled in their new employment, they relinquished, agreeably to their original intention, the salaries which they received from the Society, and even conceived the hope of being able to print the Bengalee Bible, or some part of it, at their own expense. Before this they had not thought of more than one translation, and scarcely hoped to see the whole of the Scriptures printed in the language Bengal. Missions, where other languages were spoken, they had indeed contemplated. From the beginning Mr. Carey had formed the purpose of devoting his three eldest sons to the study of three separate languages, the Persian, the Chinese, and the Shanscrit, to qualify them for future missions. But that they should live to see one printed version of the Scriptures, was rather an object of desire thau The they expected from their business, they formed a plan in January, 1795, to print the Scriptures and religious tracts both in Bengalee and Hindostanee, and to erect two schools, one at Moypaul, and the other at Mudnabatty. In each school a pundit was to be employed to teach six Mussulman and six Hindoo boys the Shanscrit, Bengalee, and Persian languages. boys were to be kept at school seven years, and to be furnished gratuitously with tuition, food, clothing, and lodging. The Bible was to be introduced into the schools, together with a little geography and philosophy One part of this plan was so far carried into execution that two schools were soon opened, which admitted, however, a greater number of scholars than had been contemplated; and before the missionaries removed from that neighborhood, about fifty boys had been taught to read and write. Since that time, a considerable number of schools have been opened in different parts of the country.* To carry the other part of the plan into execution they imme B. P. A voli, p. 1-3.78 17,34, 35.45 6466,69, 73, 75, 78, 79 85-94, 121.1412、160-171 175 177,179183, 186 190 19-19203 211.213, 216 224,32 372 374.393.39,407 420, 430 470.47 48 492 27 Vol.iii, p 18. Nar. p 3.4,8,10-13 15,35, 36, 436.430.470 35,72,73. Q. R. No. 1, p. 171. М.В.М. M. vol. it, p. 130,271, 350, 357. N.Y. M. M. vol. ii, p. 479. diately applied to the Society to send them a printing-press, engaging if they lived to refund the expense. The plan was to employ native printers, but instead of the old types of the country, to get new types cast in London, after a specimen written by a native. The plan thus settled, they both applied. themselves with new vigor to the translation, Mr Thomas assisted by Podo Loson, Mr. Carey by Ram Boshoo. The frequent avocations which Mr.Thomas experienced as a physician, left the greater part of this work to Mr. Carcy, who possessing a superior relish for the employment, and the better assistant, gradually outstripped his colleague in the knowledge of the language, and at length took upon himself the whole charge of the translation. Mr. Thomas continued, however, to pursue the business with ardor till the printing was postponed in 1796. By the first of August, 1795, having completed a rough translation of Genesis, Exodus, Matthew, Mark, James, and part of Luke, and given Matthew a revisal, they grew so impatient to put the Scriptures into the hands of the Hindoos, that they abandoned the purpose of getting types from England, and determined to begin to print with the types and presses found in the country, though at a tenfold expense. They hoped at that time to get Genesis, if not Matthew and Mark, printed off by the end of the year. But a flood, which that season injured the indigo, impoverished them so much, that the design was wholly frustrated. They continued, however, translating with unabated ardor, determined to devote all they could earn to the printing, if it was only a chapter at a time. Mr. Carey made every thing else give way to the translation, and in October pronounced Genesis, Exodus, Matthew, Mark, James, and part of John, (Luke was in the hands of Mr. Thomas,) ready for the press. Under their embarassments they were obliged to return to the former plan of getting types from England, and that autumn they sent home a Bengalee alphabet for a specimen. But it was found difficult for strangers to the language to imitate the copy with accuracy, especially to supply a press at the distance of 15,000 miles.* On the first day of November they formed a church of four members, (the two Missionaries, Mr. Powell, nephew to Mr. Thomas, who accompanied him from England, and died in 1802, and a Mr. Long, baptised by Mr. Thomas while in India before, and afterwards excluded;) and a year after Mr. Carey wrote to the church in Leicester for a dismission. That autumn they were much interested by a letter from Mr. Pearce stating the purpose which he had formed of joining them in the missionary work, and the manner in which that design had been defeated. The letters which they had sent home after arriving in India, had awakened in him so great a desire to follow them, that he had offered himself for a Missionary. The question was submitted to his brethren, who in November, 1794, decided a. gainst his going, on the ground that he was more wanted at home. He lived but five years afterwards. Had he come, Mr. Thomas says they should have thought of spreading the "Gospel into all the islands below, into all the hills of Bootan above, and even into Tartary." They immediately proposed to the Society to institute a mission to Bootan. Lately they had gained some information respecting that country, and had formed a design to visit it. From that time they continued to petition for more Missionaries, alleging that they wanted two or three thousand in Hindostan, and almost that number in Bengal. They indulged a confident hope that by means of that mission the Gospel would extend over all Hindostan into Tartary, and be conveyed in Bengalee, Persian, Shanscirt, Bootanee, and other languages then unknown; and they pressed upon the Society to remember Thibet and Pegu, as well as the extensive regions of Hindostan to the west and north west of Bengal. Mr. Carey had written, before the end of that year, a compendious Bengalee Grammar, and had begun a Bengalee Dictionary * Though they had relinquished their salaries, they were not neglected by the Society. In January, 1796, they received assurances of future support should their necessities require it, and of all the aid which the Society • B. P. A. vol. i, n. 205, 211, 217, 219-221.223-225,231 278,312,351. Vol, iii, Prefi Nar. p. 14. P's Mem. p.29, 140. could possibly afford them. This was a comforting word under their existing embarrassments. They were earnestly desirous to print, but were too much impoverished to begin. "I would give," said Thomas, "a million pounds sterling, if I had it, to see a Bengal Bible." But this zeal was more generous than wise. The version which their imperfect knowledge of the language had produced, was not fit for the press. This the Society, who were in a situation to judge more coolly, perceived, and the advice received from them that year put a stop for the present to all calculations about printing. From that time Mr. Thomas seems to have given up the translation to his colleague, who himself so far slackened his exertions, that in April he was studying Shanscrit in order to read the Shasters. He applied himself to the acquisition of a more thorough acquaintance with the Bengalee, and while he made rapid advances in the knowledge of the language, still labored abundantly at the translation. The loss of his moonshee, whom he was obliged about that time to discharge, checked the progress of the work, but with the aid of a young pundit he was still enabled to pursue it. By June almost the whole of the Pentateuch and of the New Testament was finished. Abandoning all hope of being able to print at their own expense, the Missionaries that Summer asked of the Society 100%. a year for the two-fold purpose of printing the Bible and supporting the schools. With this request the Society the next spring voted to comply.* In April, 1796, Mr. Fountain sailed from England, and on the 10th of October arrived at Mudnabatty. In November Mr. Carey renewed his application to the Society for types and a printing press, and requested that a missionary printer might be sent -out. Confessing their inability to support the expense of printing, he strove to awaken the English public to liberal contributions. He calculated then to be ready to print in two years. All the New Testament was translated, except Acts and the last sixteen chapters of Revelation. The epistles had been corrected by a learned pundit as far as the second of Peter: but the whole translation was to undergo several, more revisions. At the end of the year he calculated that the New Testament would be finished, and once revised in March. He was persuaded that new types, a printing press, and a missionary printer sent from England, would save 1000%. in printing 10,000 copies, the number proposed. He applied to the Society at the same time for Arabic types. At the beginning of 1797, Mr. Carey visited Calcutta and ascertained that the printing could be performed with a new fount of types cast there at less expense than he had supposed. This information he communicated to the Society tire next March, about the time that the irst revision of the New Testament was finished. Upon receiving this intelligence in the B. P. A. vol. i, p. 97,151,292,299, 081-305,308,311,337,348. Spring of 1798, the Society de. termined to begin the printing without delay, to send out paper for the purpose, and to apply to the Edinburgh Missionary Society for about $1100 which had been promised. But consider ing the defects which would necessarily attend a first edition they voted to print only 2,000 copies, In the mean time the missionaries had been apprized of a resolution of the Society to pay up their salaries from the beginning, and to assist them to the utmost of their power. The attention of the Missionaries was not wholly confined to province. a single language nor a single little of the colloquial Hindosleft Dehatta he had acquired a could preach in that language tanee, and by the end of 1796, he with tolerable ease. His sons also fluency. In December he told were soon able to speak it with the Society that with a sufficient supply of men and money the Gospel might be conveyed from that central situation through the Rajamahl hills, Hindostan, Persia, Bootan, and Assam; that all the education necessary for in one place; and proposed someMissionaries might be obtained tioned the same thing the next thing like a college. He menMarch, insisting that the Mission ought to be strengthened situation the Gospel might eventas much as possible, as from that ually spread through the greater part of Asia, and almost all the necessary languages might be the Missionaries visited Bootan acquired there. Early in 1797 by the Soubah of the country, where they were kindly received Before Mr. Carey who the next year sent them a submitted to his brethren, who in November, 1794, decided a. gainst his going, on the ground that he was more wanted at home. He lived but five years afterwards. Had he come, Mr. Thomas says they should have thought of spreading the "Gospel into all the islands below, into all the hills of Bootan above, and even into Tartary." They immediately proposed to the Society to institute a mission to Bootan. Lately they had gained some information respecting that country, and had formed a design to visit it. From that time they continued to petition for more Missionaries, alleging that they wanted two or three thousand in Hindostan, and almost that number in Bengal. They indulged a confident hope that by means of that mission the Gospel would extend over all Hindostan into Tartary, and be conveyed in Bengalee, Persian, Shanscirt, Bootanee, and other languages then unknown; and they pressed upon the Society to remember Thibet and Pegu, as well as the extensive regions of Hindostan to the west and north west of Bengal. Mr. Carey had written, before the end of that year, a compendious Bengalee Grammar, and had begun a Bengalee Dictionary* Though they had relinquished their salaries, they were not neglected by the Society. In January, 1796, they received assurances of future support should their necessities require it, and of all the aid which the Society B. P. A. vol. i, p. 205, 211, 217, 219-221.223-225,231. 278,312,351. Vol. iii, Pref, Nar. p. 14. P's Mem. p.29, 140. could possibly afford them. This was a comforting word under their existing embarrassments. They were earnestly desirous to print, but were too much impoverished to begin. "I would give," said Thomas, "a million pounds sterling, if I had it, to see a Bengal Bible." But this zeal was more generous than wise. The version which their imperfect knowledge of the language had produced, was not fit for the press. This the Society, who were in a situation to judge more coolly, perceived, and the advice received from them that year put a stop for the present to all calculations about printing. From that time Mr. Thomas seems to have given up the translation to his colleague, who himself so far slackened his exertions, that in April he was studying Shanscrit in order to read the Shasters. He applied himself to the acquisition of a more thorough acquaintance with the Bengalee, and while he made rapid advances in the knowledge of the language, still labored abundantly at the translation. The loss of his moonshee, whom he was obliged about that time to discharge, checked the progress of the work, but with the aid of a young pundit he was still enabled to pursue it. By June almost the whole of the Pentateuch and of the New Testament was finished. Abandoning all hope of being able to print at their own expense, the Missionaries that Summer asked of the Society 100%. a year for the two-fold purpose of printing the Bible and supporting the schools. With this request the Society |