Morrison, robert

394; the pioneer of Protestant Mi ionary work in China. He was born in North umber land in 1782. In his youth, which was spent in Newcastle, though he worked at busine twelve or fourteen hours a day, he began the study of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, paying a teacher's fees out of his scanty earnings. Later on, he entered the Di enting College at Hoxton, (now High bury College), and having been accepted by the London Mi ionary Society, was sent to the Mi ionary Academy at Gosport. He then studied some medicine and some astronomy and took some le ons in Chinese. He copied a manuscript Chinese New Testament in the British Museum, and in 1807 made the journey to Canton via New York in seven months. The difficulties here met with were the opposition of Chinese to his residence, the prohibition to Chinese to teach the language to foreigners, the hostility of the Roman Catholic priests in Macao, and the strict regulations of the East India Company. However, in spite of all difficulties, he was able to print the entire Scriptures in Chinese in 1824, Marsh man's translation having appeared two years earlier in Serampore. This was made po ible by his accepting an official position in 1809, — the post of Chinese translator to the East India Company. He completed a Chinese grammar in 1812, a dictionary of Chinese in 1814, and another of the Canton dialect. In 1816, he accompanied Lord Amherst's emba y to Peking as interpreter, and in 1823 went to England for a furlough of two years. He baptized the first Protestant Chinese convert in July, 1814, at Macao; after 25 years' labour, the converts were ten in number. He died at Canton, August, 1834, and was buried at Macao. (Morrison): Memoir, by his widow, 1839.