Constantinople August 31st 1858 Sir, Being called upon by you to give you an account of the few acquirements I may have got, tho' I find it extremely difficult to do so in my own case, I beg leave to state what studies I have unto now pursued, in compliance with your requests. Associating very seldom in boyhood with juveniles of my own age, as the position of my father Dr- Leitner either as a medical practitioner or as a missionary did not allow him always to reside among Europeans, with whose children he might have wished me to associate; having on the other hand, since earliest childhood, a strongly expressed desire for litterature [sic], I was naturally lead [sic] to take up study as a work & as a recreation. As a leading feature of my character at that time I consider to be the taste I had for the historical branch of litterature [sic]. At that time I fondly associated myself with the idea of becoming once a clergyman. The study of languages afterwards had a peculiar charm for me, I took it up & found myself having an unmisteakable [sic] talent for linguistic pursuits. My father getting aware of my inclination furnished me with good books, brought me in contact with people of different nationalities, & gave me good professors in [subscript address at bottom of page: The Revd. C Gribble, British Chaplain to Pera]