desired it he would apply officially to the Minister, and exert all
his influence in his official character in order to obtain the
accomplishment of my views; but at the same time suggested that it
would, perhaps, be as well at a private interview to beg it as a
personal favour; and to this I instantly assented. He spoke twice
to Mr. Bludoff upon the subject; and I shortly afterwards received
a summons to appear at the Asiatic Department, whither I went, and
found that Mr. Bludoff had been enquiring whether any person was to
be found capable of being employed as Censor over the work, and
that it had been resolved that Mr. Lipoftsoff, who is one of the
clerks of the Asiatic Department, should be appointed Censor, and
that I should be the Editor of the work, provided permission were
granted to print it. I went away, and having received no
intelligence during the space of a fortnight, I waited upon Mr.
Bligh and begged that, provided it were not disagreeable to him, he
would make a fresh application to the Minister. And, singularly
enough, Mr. Bludoff was to dine at Mr. Bligh's that evening, and
the latter amiable gentleman assured me that he would not let so
excellent an opportunity slip of saying what was calculated to
bring the matter to a conclusion. That same night I received a
message, whereby I was requested to wait on Mr. Bludoff the next
day, at one. I did so, and he received me in the most polite
manner and said that the matter did not entirely depend upon him,
but that it would be necessary to obtain the permission also of the
Director of Worship, that however he would give me a letter to that
Dignitary, which he doubted not would have some effect. I received
the letter, and without losing any time repaired to the Director's
Office and having delivered my letter, after waiting some time, was
told to call at the Asiatic Department on the first day of the next
week (the very day your letter arrived). On calling there I FOUND