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WOLFF, JOSEPH. 



the Propagandist fathers, and in 1818 his re- 

 ligious views were declared erroneous, and he 

 was expelled from Home. He returned to Vi- 

 enna, where, after consultation with F. Von 

 Schlegel, Dr. Emanuel Veit, and Hofbaiir, he 

 entered the monastery of the Kedemptorists 

 at Val-Saint, near Fribourg ; but his nature re- 

 belled against unquestioning acquiescence in the 

 theological dicta of the fathers, and after a few 

 months he left Val-Saint and came to London, 

 where he found the late Henry Drummond, 

 M. P., whose acquaintance he had formed at 

 Eome. He soon avowed his conversion to 

 Protestantism, and, at Mr. Drummond's sug- 

 gestion, went to Cambridge, and continued his 

 Oriental studies under Prof. Lee, and also com- 

 menced a course of theological studies under the 

 late Rev. Charles Simeon. In 1821, he set out 

 for a tour in the East for the purpose of pro- 

 claiming the Gospel to Jews,Mohammedans, and 

 Pagans, and ascertaining the condition of the 

 Eastern Christians with a view to missionary 

 labor among them. In this tour, which occu- 



S'ed him for five years, he visited Egypt, 

 ount Horeb, Mount Sinai, and Jerusalem, dis- 

 tributing copies of the Scriptures, and in his 

 peculiar way discussing the merits of the Scrip- 

 tures with all controversialists. He was at first 

 supported by some of the charitable societies, 

 but as his erratic habits occasioned some fault- 

 finding, his friend Drummond after a time sus- 

 tained him at his own expense. In 1826 he 

 returned to England, and formed the acquaint- 

 ance of Lady Georgiana Mary Walpole, daugh- 

 ter of the second Earl of Orford, whom he 

 married in 1827, and with whom he set out al- 

 most immediately on a second missionary tour, 

 visiting Malta, where his wife remained await- 

 ing his return from Smyrna, the Ionian Islands, 

 and Jerusalem, where he was poisoned by 

 some bigoted Jews, and nearly lost his life. 

 He returned, on his recovery, to Constanti- 

 nople, where his wife met him, and soon set out 

 again from that city for Bokhara, to search for 

 the remains of the ten tribes. On his route he 

 encountered the plague, was taken prisoner and 

 sold as a slave, but was redeemed by the Per- 

 sian Minister, Abbas Mirza. He resided at 

 Bokhara for three months, preaching to his 

 countrymen, and then set out for India by way 

 of Khorassan. On his route he fell into the 

 hands of the Kharijee, a robber tribe, who 

 stripped him of everything he possessed, and 

 to escape from them he made his way on foot 

 and nearly naked through the mountain passes 

 to Cabool, a distance of 600 miles. Finding 

 friends at Cabool, he went on through the Pun- 

 jaub, Lahore, Loodiana, and Simlah to Calcutta, 

 preaching on his way at 130 stations. At Cal- 

 cutta he was the guest of the governor gen- 

 eral. From Calcutta he went to Masulipatam 

 and Madras, and near the latter city was seized 



with cholera. On hia recovery he visited Pon- 

 dicherry, Tinnevelly, Goa, and Cochin China, 

 visiting the Jews of those regions, and Bom- 

 bay, and sailed from thence for Arabia, whence 

 he crossed into Abyssinia, acquired the Am- 

 haric language, and in 1834 returned to Eng- 

 land via Malta. In January, 1836, he visited 

 Abyssinia again, and finding Bishop Gobat 

 sick at Axtim, brought him to Jiddah, and re- 

 turned to Abyssinia, where the natives wor- 

 shipped him as their new abound, or patriarch. 

 Leaving them he crossed into Arabia, visited 

 the Rechabites in Yemen, and met a party of 

 Wahabites in the mountains of Arabia, who 

 horsewhipped him, because they could find 

 nothing in the Arabic Bible, he had given them 

 about Mohammed. Escaping from their hands, 

 he sailed in the beginning of 1837 for Bombay, 

 and thence for New York, where he arrived 

 in August, 1837. While in the United States 

 he was ordained deacon by Bishop Doane, 

 visited the principal cities, preached before 

 Congress, received the degree of D. D., and in 

 January, 1838, sailed for England. He next 

 visited Dublin, where he received priest's or- 

 ders from the Bishop of Dromore, and settled 

 as curate first at Southwaite and afterward at 

 High Hoyland, in Yorkshire. In 1843, the 

 news of the imprisonment of Col. Stoddart and 

 Capt. Conolly (the latter a personal friend of 

 Wolff, and one who had rendered him great 

 service in one of his tours) reached England, 

 and Dr. Wolff offered to attempt their release, 

 or learn their fate. The British Government 

 declined to send him officially, but individuals 

 furnished the means, and he went out, passing 

 through Persia in full clerical dress, with a 

 Bible in his hand, and announcing himself as 

 "Joseph Wolff, the grand dervish of England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, and of the whole of Eu- 

 rope and America," and reached Bokhara in 

 safety, having learned, however, before arriv- 

 ing at that city that Stoddart and Conolly had 

 been beheaded. At Bokhara he was made a 

 prisoner by the emir who had put the English 

 officers to death, and a day fixed for his execu- 

 tion ; but the Persian ambassador interfered, 

 and he made his escape, and was enabled to 

 avoid the assassins who were sent after him by 

 the emir. On his return to England he was 

 presented to the vicarage of Isle Brewers, 

 where he resided till his death, and by his per- 

 sistent efforts succeeded in erecting a neat and 

 commodious church. Lady Georgiana died 

 January 16, 1859, and in May, 1861, he mar- 

 ried a second wife, who survives him. Dr. 

 Wolff was the author of the following works : 

 "Journal of Missionary Labors," 1839; " Mis- 

 sion to Bokhara," 1846 ; " Missionary Labors 

 and Researches," 1854 ; and " Travels and 

 Adventures of Kev. Joseph Wolff, D. D., 

 LL.D., 1860-61. 



