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JAMES THOMASON

of scholarship. These attainments he devoted to the translation of the Scriptures. Still his official work was among the civil servants, the lawyers, the merchants, the clerks of Calcutta; with them he was to pray, to them he was to preach. His congregations, though occasionally large, were ordinarily limited in number. But many of his new parishioners were representative men. Nowadays the European community in Calcutta, with the ecclesiastical organization, the parochial ministrations, the places of worship belonging to various Christian bodies, the schools and colleges, enjoys as many advantages as any community anywhere. But in those days the situation was very different, when both churches and clergy were few. Under such circumstances a chaplain of persuasive eloquence, of personal weight and moral authority, soon became not only a shining light but also a factor of some power in society. Such a part Thomason soon began to fill. His oratory in the pulpit was effective for its holy purpose. An address was presented to him by his parishioners, proving how fully he had caused them to remember his texts and the reasoning by which he had enforced his precepts. Among his hearers was the Earl of Moira, then Governor-General, and he was chosen to accompany His Lordship on an extended tour in northern India. He is now to visit, in the infancy of British rule, the very Provinces which his son, then a boy, was destined to govern. There is a strange interest in noting the impression which these Provinces made on the father in 1812,