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was removed by death. For many years she had been a great sufferer; previous to her residence in India symptoms of the mental malady which so seriously developed in her later life had not been wanting. Her reluctance, in the first instance, to accompany her

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husband may have been in some measure due to this affliction. Apart, however, from her mental condition, she does not seem to have possessed those endowments and qualities which would have fitted her to be the companion of one so eminently gifted as was Carey But with a tenderness and forbearance which give a fine nobleness to his character he bore the affliction

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without repining, and tried to sustain the sufferer with his never-failing sympathy. His prodigious labours appear all the more remarkable when we remember how depressing must have been this domestic trial. "It will serve," says J. C. Marshman, "to give some idea of the strength and energy of Dr. Carey's character, that the arduous Biblical and literary labours in which he had been engaged since his arrival at Serampore, were prosecuted while an insane wife, frequently wrought up to a state of the most distressing excitement, was in the next room but one to his study." In communicating the intelligence of her death to Mr. Fuller, Carey wrote, "On the eighth of December last it pleased God to remove my wife by death. She had been in a state the most distressing, for these last twelve years. Indeed, the turn of her mind was such as prevented her from feeling even those ideal pleasures which sometimes attend maniacal persons. She was attacked with a fever which terminated in about a fortnight."

In the following year Carey married Miss Charlotte Emelia Rumohr, who was of a noble family in the Duchy of Sleswick, her mother being the Countess of Alfeldt, and one of her sisters being the wife of the Graff Warnstedt, chamberlain to the King of Denmark and ranger of the royal forests. Being a lady of delicate constitution, she had resided in the south of Europe, but had been recommended to try the climate of India. She accordingly determined to visit the Danish settlement at Tranquebar. Whilst there, the Governor placed in her hands Pascal's "Thoughts," and as the result of reading that volume, she became seriously concerned upon the subject of religion. From Tranquebar she visited Serampore and was, of course, received with every expression of

respect and cordiality by the Governor, Colonel Bie. Three months previous to her arrival the missionaries had accepted the protection of this same good man. Miss Rumohr was introduced to the missionaries and their families, and became not only greatly interested in them but was strongly attracted to them by sympathy with their character and labours. Her fellowship with them led to a careful examination of the Scriptures and a most thorough consecration of heart and life to the Saviour.

On her marriage with Dr. Carey, she evinced those Christian dispositions which made her accession to the Serampore mission-house most welcome to all its members. As far as her strength would allow she entered most warmly into all her husband's pursuits. It may be mentioned that the house she had built previous to her marriage, and in which she had intended to reside, was given to the Mission, its rent being applied to the support of native preachers.

The letter which Carey sent to Dr. Ryland on the occasion of her death will show how eminent was her piety, and how great the loss he sustained: "I am now called in Divine Providence to be a mourner again, having lately experienced the greatest domestic loss that a man can sustain. My dear wife was removed from me by death on Wednesday morning, May 30th, about twenty minutes after midnight. She was about two months above sixty years old. We had been married thirteen years and three weeks, during all which season, I believe, we had as great a share of conjugal happiness as ever was enjoyed by mortals. She was eminently pious, and lived very near to God. The Bible was her daily delight, and next to God she lived only for me. Her solicitude for my happiness was incessant, and so certainly

could she at all times interpret my looks, that any attempt to conceal anxiety or distress of mind would have been in vain. Nothing, however, but tenderness for each other's feelings could induce either of us for a minute to attempt a concealment of anything. It was her constant habit to compare every verse she read in the various German, French, Italian, and English versions, and never to pass by a difficulty till it was cleared up. In this respect she was of eminent use to me in the translation of the Word of God. She was full of compassion for the poor and needy, and till her death supported several blind and lame persons by a monthly allowance. I consider them as a precious legacy bequeathed to me. She entered most heartily into all the concerns of the Mission, and into the support of schools, particularly those for female native children, and had long supported one at Cutwa of that kind. My loss is irreparable, but still I dare not but perfectly acquiesce in the Divine will. So many merciful circumstances attend this very heavy affliction as still yield me support beyond anything I ever felt in other trials. (1.) I have no domestic strife to reflect on, and add bitterness to affliction. (2.) She was ready to depart. She had long lived on the borders of the heavenly land, and I think lately became more and more heavenly in her thoughts and conversation. (3.) She suffered no long or painful affliction. (4.) She was removed from me, a thing for which we had frequently expressed our wishes to each other; for though I am sure my brethren and my children would have done the utmost in their power to alleviate her affliction had she survived me, yet no one, nor all united, could have supplied the place of a husband. I have met with much sympathy in my affliction."

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CHAPTER IX.

CAREY AS A TRANSLATOR.

O higher honour can surely be attained by any individual than that of communicating to a

people the revelation of God's mercy and will

as it is contained in the sacred Scriptures. Such an honour have not all the saints, and amongst those select few who have possessed it none have been so honoured as the subject of this memoir. To be permitted to give the Bible to a heathen nation is indeed to render a service, the influence of which, whilst increasingly seen in its purifying and ennobling effect upon the manners and character of successive generations, eternity alone can fully measure.

In the first chapter of this volume reference was made to Carey's early linguistic proclivities. It is not surprising that he who as a child had committed to memory Dyche's Latin Vocabulary, and, as an apprentice lad, on his first sight of the characters of the Greek alphabet had carefully traced them, that he might carry the tracing to an acquaintance in his village home who had some scholarly learning, in the earnest hope that he might be able to explain the

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