LETTER: 20th January, 1834



To the Rev. J. Jowett
(ENDORSED: recd. Feb. 17th, 1834)
ST. PETERSBURG, 20TH JANUARY (old style), 1834.

REVD. AND DEAR SIR, - I received in due time your epistle of the
2nd January, which gave me considerable pleasure, as it is
exceedingly cheering in a foreign land to hear from one's friends
and to know that one is not forgotten by them. I now proceed to
give an account of my stewardship up to the present time, which
account I humbly trust will afford perfect satisfaction to the
Society which has honoured a frail creature like myself with a
charge, the importance and difficulty of which I at present see
much more clearly than I originally did.

My dear Sir, even when transcribing the Mandchou Scripture, I was
far from being forgetful of the ulterior object of my mission, and
therefore, as in duty bound, applied to Dr. Schmidt for advice and
information, who was the person upon whom I mainly depended. But I
found that gentleman so involved in a multiplicity of business that
it was utterly impossible for him to afford me either; and though
he was kind enough to promise to make inquiry, etc. etc., it is
very probable that he forgot to fulfil his promise, for the result
never came to my ears.

Thus circumstanced, and being very uneasy in my mind, I determined