Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/1081

 OPINIONS. 5 Mr. H. $. S. Cotton, C.S.,. C. S.1., late Chief Commissioner of Assam, wrote under date, March 24, 1897. ‘Babu Dinesh Chandra Sen’s History of Bengali Language and Literature appears indeed to be a work of great erudition and labour.” Mr. F. H. Skrine, late Commissioner of the Chittagong Division, wrote on the 22nd Fanuary 1897. ‘The History is a work of profound research and severe thankless toil, which I deeply regret, has affected your health. ’ because it is much to be feared that your countrymen will not evince a proper appreciation of your I say ‘thankless labour in the interest of culture and knowledge; and unless Government comes to the rescue by purchasing a number of copies of the book for distribution amongst its officers, you are likely to be out of pocket by your disinterested exertions. The task has not yet advanced beyond a description of the Bengalee language in the times before British Rule. The second part, if it appears at all, will not be a satisfactory record of progress. Bengali, as I have said in print, is a true daughter of ancient Sanskrit, and approaches its parent more nearly than any Indian language in the qualities which have rendered Sanskrit so unrivalled a medium for the ex- pression of the highest ranges of human thought. It unites the mellifluousness of Italian with the power possessed by German of rendering complex ideas, and I cannot but regret that so little encouragement has been afforded by the State to its cultivation. If a tithe of the pain given by the Bengalis to acquire a smattering of English had been devoted to their mother tongue, they would long since have ceased to merit the reproach of producing little or no original work. However, this is not their fault but their misfortune. Thanks to the decision arrived at by the influence of Lord Macaulay, Bengali, in common with the other vernaculars, ঢু 4 &ঃ 4 x a ॥ রি কি