OF THE LIFE AND LABOURS OF ROBERT MORRISON, D.D. = F.R.S., M.R.A.S., MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY ASIATIQUE OF PARIS, &c. &c. d.d. COMPILED BY HIS WIDOW; WITH CRITICAL NOTICES OF HIS CHINESE WORKS, BY SAMUEL KIDD, AND An Appendix containing Original Documents. "He being dead yet speaketh.”—Heb. xii. 4. IN TWO VOLUMES, VOL. I. LONDON: LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. MDCCCXXXIX. P PREFACE. FROM the important and conspicuous position which the subject of the following Memoirs so long held, in relation to the church and to the world, some apology is felt to be due to the public, on account of the lateness of the period to which their appearance has been deferred. It may therefore be proper to state, that much of this delay was occasioned (with various other circumstances, over which the Editor had no control,) by the principal documents, which were in China, not having reached England before the middle of the past year (1838). These manuscripts, and especially the correspondence, being very volu minous, required a portion of time and labour, for examining, arranging, and selecting from them, prior to their preparation for the press, of which those only can form an adequate idea, who have had experience in similar occupation. This duty having been performed under the pressure of indifferent health, domestic anxieties, and other unavoidable interruptions, has, as it may be supposed, greatly retarded its final accomplishment. |