Rev. Dr. Robert Morrison - (Contd.)
It was the younger Morrison who was first official interpreter in Hong Kong and who, during the administration of Sir Henry Pottinger, became a member of the Legislative Council.
Page 693
An article printed many years ago in the S.C.M. Post gives this interesting information about Dr. Morrison: It was in 1807 that Dr. Morrison reached Canton for the first time. In 1809 he went to Macao and took up a temporary residence with the Morton family. He was then the earnest young missionary and we cannot help finding him rather trying to our patience at that period of his life, as we read through his diary. His host was the local Doctor and the daughter, Miss Morton, soon believed that to Morrison she "was indebted for her saving knowledge of the divine truth." It was, from the moment that this idea entered Miss Morton's mind, almost a foregone conclusion that she would be attracted by the earnest young scholar. On the day of his marriage, the famous East India Company offered him £500 a year as translator. In those days that must have been considered a very good salary. Notice that he obtained this offer two years after his arrival in the Far East.
For twenty-five years Dr. Morrison was Chinese interpreter in the employ of the East India Company. He completed a vast amount of literary work. There was his wonderful dictionary. The number of characters explained in it was about 40,000. Every detail was carried out with complete thoroughness and a conscientious sense of duty that was worthy of his Scottish ancestry. The word "Tsze," now selected at random, required nearly five quarto pages. It is astonishing that a word the ordinary meaning of which is "son" should need such a vast amount of explanation.
Sir George Staunton, L.L.D., perhaps the most famous servant in the Far East of the East India Company, has left on record his great admiration for the work of Dr. Morrison, who was, indeed, a neighbour at Canton, and his close personal friend. Concerning the support given by the Company, he stated that the whole expense, far exceeding £10,000, was defrayed by that trading Corporation. "I have no hesitation," wrote Staunton in 1824, "in asserting that their munificent patronage of that work is one of the most splendid instances of liberal support to the cause of literature which has ever been witnessed in any age or country."
Rev. Dr. Robert Morrison - (Contd.)
It was the younger Morrison who was first officail interpreter in Hong Kong and who, during the administration of Sir Henry Pottinger, became a member of the Legislative Council.
693
*
*
*
An article printed many years ago in the S.C.M. Post gives this interesting information about Dr. Morrison: It was in 1807 that Dr. Morrison reached Canton for the first time. in 1809 he went to Macao and tock up a temporary residence with the Morton family. He was then the earnest young missionary and we cannot help finding him rather trying to our patience at that period of his life, as we read through his diary. His host was the local Doctor and the daughter, Miss Morton, soon believed that to Morrison she "was indebted for her saving knowledge of the divine truth." It was, from the moment that this idea entered Miss Morton's mind, almost a foregone conclusion that she would be attracted by the earnest young scholar. On the day of his marriage, the famous East India Company offered him £500 a year as translator. In those days that must have been considered a very good salary. Notice that he obtained this offer two years after his arrival in the Far East..
For twenty-five years Dr. Morrison was Chinese interpreter in the
employ of the East India Company. He completed a vast amount of literary work. There was his wonderful dictionary. The number of characters explained in it was about 40,000. Every detail was carried out with complete throughness and a conscientious sense of duty that was worthy of his Scottish ancestry. The word "Tsze," now selected at random, required nearly five quarto pages. It is astonishing that a workd the ordianary meaning of which is "son" should need such a vast amount of explanation.
Sir George Stauton, L.L.D., perhaps the most famous servant in the Far East of the East India Company, has left on record his great admiration for the work of Dr. Morrison, who was, indeed, a neighbour at Canton, and his close personal friend. Concerning the support given by the Company, he stated that the whole expense, far exceeding £10,000, was defrayed by that trading Corporation. "I have no hesitation," wrote Staunton in 1824, "in asserting that their munificent patronage of that work is one of the most splendid instances of liberal support to the cause of literature which has ever been witnessed in any age or country."
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.