Sir:—In my last communications I briefly touched upon the right of the law in , and the peculiar constitutional powers, &c., of . In this I propose to hint at the literary Spirit of , as it seems to be rising upon that scale of notoriety, which of what was and is, in after years, make up “the history of the times.” There are many Common Schools in , where the germs of greatness are planted; and if they, as the Mormons seem very apt to do, nourish and cherish them, in a masterly manner, the world may witness the blessing of a harvest, rich, abundant, yielding even an hundred fold, of the good things of intellect.

From one of the Literati, not the Prophet, I have taken the liberty to send you a new translation of the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah, which he made, not long since, from the Hebrew text of “Michaelis.” It appears to me that it will compare with any of the Catholic, Church of England, or other “sectarian” translations, in point of clearness of expression, sublimity of thought, or literal application.— Perhaps Professor Stewart [Moses Stuart] of Andover, and the renowned , of Bethany, Virginia, or the Sophmores of Harvard or Yale, or some “legate of the skies,” will come forth to the help of the mighty, and show still a better; if so, I doubt not, will be ready; so here it is:—

This translation appears very plausible from what Esdras and the Mormons say of the ten tribes being carried into a country where mankind had never dwelt, which occupied a year and a half for the journey; and that they were gathered in the last days; “the land spread [p. 306]