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 invariably no other fate than to be
buried in continental public libraries or in the literary collections of
the learned and curious; from which it is manifest that the Lord smiled
not upon their undertakings. They thought not of His glory but of the
glory of their order, and the consequence has been that 'He has put down
the mighty from their seat and has exalted the humble and meek.'

A few days since I called upon Mr. Lipoftsoff, and to my surprise
discovered that he was totally unaware of any plan being in agitation for
the printing of his translation of the Scriptures. He said that he had
had no communication with Mr. Schmidt for several months; and far from
being able to furnish me with any information respecting the probable
destiny of his work, he asked questions of me concerning it. He is a
gentleman rather advanced in years, probably between sixty and seventy,
but is nevertheless surprisingly hale and robust. He was very kind, and
promised to give me any assistance in his power towards acquiring a
thorough knowledge of the Mandchou; and, permit me to say, that
Petersburg is the only place in Europe where such a knowledge can be
obtained, for the manuscripts and printed books in that tongue are very
plentiful here, and there are moreover several individuals who speak and
write it. I of course most gladly accepted such an offer, and shall
endeavour to turn it to the best account. Mr. L. speaks no European
language but Russ, which I am not sorry for, because frequent
conversation and intercourse with him will improve my knowledge of that
language. It is a great error to suppose that a person resident in this
country can dispense with Russ, provided he is acquainted with French and
German. The two latter languages, it is true, are spoken by the French
and German shop-keepers settled here. French is moreover spoken (to
foreigners) by the nobility and a few of the officers in the army; but
neither are so generally understood as in England--German far less so;
and as for the Russians being the best general linguists in Europe, I am
totally unable to guess how the idea could have originated, but am
certain from personal experience that they are quite the contrary.

Petersburg is the finest city in the world; neither London nor Paris n