etters to the Bible Society_, page 76.
There are twenty letters written by Borrow from Russia to the Bible
Society, contained in T. H. Darlow's _Letters of George Borrow to the
British and Foreign Bible Society_, several of which, in the original
manuscripts, are in my possession. There are as many also in Knapp's
_Life of Borrow_, and these last are far more interesting, being
addressed to his mother and other friends. I have several other letters
concerned with Borrow's Bible Society work in Russia, but they are not
inspiring. Borrow's correspondence with Hasfeld, of which Knapp gives us
glimpses, is more bracing, and the two or three letters from that
admirable Dane that are in my collection I am glad to print here.

[101] In the _Athenaeum_ for March 5, 1836, there is a short, interesting
letter, dated from St. Petersburg, signed J. P. H. This was obviously
written by Hasfeld. 'Here your journal is found in every well furnished
library,' he writes, 'and yet not a passing word do you ever bestow upon
us,' and then, to the extent of nearly five columns, he discourses upon
the present state of Russian literature, and has very much to say about
his friend George Borrow:

'Will it be thought ultra-barbarian if I mention that Mr. George Borrow
concluded, in the autumn, the publication of the New Testament in the
Mandchou language? Remember, if you please, that he was sent here for
the express purpose by the British and Foreign Bible Society of London.
The translation was made for the Society by Mr. Lipoftsof, a gentleman
in the service of the Russian Department of Foreign Affairs, who has
spent the greater part of an industrious life in Peking and the East. I
can only say that it is a beautiful edition of an Oriental work, that it
is printed with great care on a fine imitation of Chinese paper made on
purpose. At the outset, Mr. Borrow spent weeks and months in the
printing-office to make the compositors acquainted with the intricate
Mandchou types, and that, as for the contents, I am assured by
well-informed persons, that this translation is remarkable for the
correctness and fidelity with which it has been executed.'

Then Hasfeld goes on to describe Borrow's small volume, _Targum_: 'The
exquisite delicacy with which he has caught and rendered the beauties of
his well-chosen originals,' he says, 'is a proof of his learning and
genius. The work is a pearl in literature, and, like pearls, it derives
value from its scarc