ook-binder in St. Petersburg would
have refused double the price at which he has executed this important
part of the work, and had they undertaken the affair, would probably have
executed it in a manner which would have exposed the book to the scorn
and laughter of the people for whom it is intended.

A few months since I saw Mr. Glen, the missionary from Astracan, as he
passed through St. Petersburg on his return to England. He is a very
learned man, but of very simple and unassuming manners. The doom which
had been pronounced upon his translation seems to have deeply affected
him; but he appears to me to labour under a very great error respecting
the motives which induced the Editorial Committee to reject his work, or
at least to hesitate upon publishing it. He assured me that all that was
urged against it was the use, here and there, of Arabic words, which in a
language like the Persian, which on an original foundation exhibits a
superstructure nearly one moiety of which is Arabic, is unavoidable. As
I was totally unacquainted with the facts of the case, I said nothing
upon the subject; but I now suspect, from a few words dropped in your
letter, that the objection is founded not on the use of Arabic words, but
on attempts at _improving_ or _adorning_ the simplicity of the Bible.
However this may be, there can be no doubt that Mr. Glen is a Persian
scholar of the first water. Mirza Achmed, a Persian gentleman now living
at St. Petersburg, who resided some time at Astracan, informed me that he
had seen the translation, and that the language was highly elegant; but
whether or not the translation was faithful, and such as a translation of
the sacred volume ought to be, he of course was entirely ignorant; he
could merely speak as to the excellence of the Persian. Mirza Djaffar
also, the Persian professor here, spoke much to the same effect.

Mr. Stallybrass, the Siberian missionary, is at present here on his way
to England, whither he is conducting his two sons, for the purpose of
placing them in some establishment, where they may receive a better
education than it is possible for him to give them in Siberia. I have
seen him several times, and have heard him preach once at the Sarepta
House. He is a clever, well-informed man, and in countenance and manner
much like Mr. Swan--which similarity may perhaps be accounted for by
their long residence under the same roof; for people who are in the habit
of conversing toge