publisher, even with royal assistance.

Then came a vague offer from St. Petersburg. Boehtlingk, the great
Sanskrit scholar, as a member of the Imperial Russian Academy, invited
me to come to St. Petersburg and print the Veda there, in
collaboration with himself, and at the expense of the Academy. Burnouf
and Goldstuecker both warned me against accepting this offer, but,
hopeless as I was of getting my Veda published elsewhere, I expressed
my willingness to go on condition that some provision should be made
for me before I decided to migrate to Russia, as I possessed
absolutely nothing but what I was able to earn myself. Boehtlingk, I
believe, suggested to the Academy that I should be appointed Assistant
Keeper of the Oriental Museum at St. Petersburg, but his colleagues
did not apparently consider so young a man, and a mere German scholar,
a fit candidate for so responsible a post. Boehtlingk wished me to
send him all my materials, and he would get the MSS. of the Rig-veda
and of Sayana's commentary from the Library of the East India Company,
and Paris. No definite proposition, however, came from the Imperial
Academy, but an announcement of Boehtlingk's appeared in the papers
in January, 1846, to the effect that he was preparing, in
collaboration with Monsieur Max Mueller of Paris, a complete edition of
the Rig-veda.

All this, I confess, began to frighten me. For me, a poor scholar, to
go to St. Petersburg without any official invitation, without any
appointment, seemed reckless, and though I have no doubt that
Boehtlingk would have done his best for me, yet even he could only
suggest private lessons, and that was no cheerful outlook. The Academy
would do nothing for me unless I joined Boehtlingk, but at last
offered to buy my materials, on which I had spent so much labour and
the small fund at my disposal. If the Academy could have got the
necessary MSS. from Paris and London, I should have been perfectly
helpless. Boehtlingk could have done the whole work himself, in some
respects better than I, because he was my senior, and besides, he knew
Panini, the old Indian grammarian who is constantly referred to in
Sayana's Commentary, better than I did. With all these threatening
clouds around me, my decision was by no means easy.

It was Burnouf's advice that determined me to remain quietly in Paris.
He warned me repeatedly against trusting to Boehtlingk, and promised,
if I would only stay in Paris, to give me his sup