who was fit to carry it
out. Having guarded the college, as they thought, by a test, Brown and
Buchanan urged Carey to take charge of the Bengali and Sanskrit classes
as "teacher" on Rs. 500 a month or L700 a year. Such an office was
entirely in the line of the constitution of the missionary brotherhood.
But would the Government which had banished it to Serampore recognise
the aggressively missionary character of Carey, who would not degrade
his high calling by even the suspicion of a compromise? To be called
and paid as a teacher rather than as the professor whose double work he
was asked to do, was nothing to the modesty of the scholar who pleaded
his sense of unfitness for the duties. His Master, not himself, was
ever Carey's first thought, and the full professorship, rising to L1800
a year, was soon conferred on the man who proved himself to be almost
as much the college in his own person as were the other professors put
together. A month after his appointment he thus told the story to Dr.
Ryland in the course of a long letter devoted chiefly to the first
native converts:--

"SERAMPORE, 15th June 1801...We sent you some time ago a box full of
gods and butterflies, etc., and another box containing a hundred copies
of the New Testament in Bengali...Mr. Lang is studying Bengali, under
me, in the college. What I have last mentioned requires some
explanation, though you will probably hear of it before this reaches
you. You must know, then, that a college was founded last year in Fort
William, for the instruction of the junior civil servants of the
Company, who are obliged to study in it three years after their
arrival. I always highly approved of the institution, but never
entertained a thought that I should be called to fill a station in it.
To my great surprise I was asked to undertake the Bengali
professorship. One morning a letter from Mr. Brown came, inviting me
to cross the water, to have some conversation with him upon this
subject. I had but just time to call our brethren together, who were
of opinion that, for several reasons, I ought to accept it, provided it
did not interfere with the work of the mission. I also knew myself to
be incapable of filling such a station with reputation and propriety.
I, however, went over, and honestly proposed all my fears and
objections. Both Mr. Brown and Mr. Buchanan were of opinion that the
cause of the mission would be furthered by it; and I was not able to
reply