Matthew's Gospel from the version of the New, executed by the same
hand as the Old, with the purpose of comparing it with that of Mr.
Lipoftsoff. This task I have just completed, and am now about to
commence a transcript of the Acts. Respecting this manuscript
translation of the Old and New Testaments I must here observe, that
with scarcely one exception it is the most laborious and best
executed work of the kind which I have ever seen, and I cannot but
admire the diligence and learning of him who, probably unasked and
unrewarded, engaged in and accomplished it. The style, as far as I
can judge, is to an eminent degree elegant and polished, and likely
to captivate those whose taste is cultivated, and with this
advantage, it exhibits none of that obscurity which too frequently
attends refinement of language; and as for fidelity - it is upon
the whole executed as literally, and with as much adherence to the
original, as the genius of the Tartar language and the
understandings of the people, for whose edification it is intended,
will permit. But the notes and elucidations (which I copy not)
which follow every chapter, both of the Old and New Testament,
constitute the most surprising feature of this work. They are so
full and copious, that they occupy far more space than the text;
indeed, I think I speak quite within bounds when I say that for
every page of text there are two of explanatory matter. The author
was a French Jesuit, and when did a Jesuit any thing which he
undertook, whether laudable or the reverse, not far better than any
other person? Staunch Protestant though I be, I am not ashamed to
say that all the skill and talent of our own missionaries, in
acquiring languages and making versions of the Scriptures, are,
when compared with the capabilities displayed by the seminary
priests, faint and seemingly insignificant; and yet it is singular
enough that the labours of the latter in this line have had almost