Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/479

 APPENDIX I [See p. 45 foot-note ; p. 119, foot-nole 3) O.tpv Bencart Prose Though prose is more obviously natural to man in conversation, it is only after considerable experience that he realises its utility as a medium of formal writing. Bengali Literature is no exception to Late growth of prose. ; this rather commonplace “ verse-first- prose-afterwards ” adage of literary history. Our fore- fathers from the very earliest times, no doubt, spoke in prose but it is possible to use prose without knowing or thinking about it, and the late development of prose-writing in Bengali follows generally the order of development in almost all languages. Indeed the achievement of early Bengali prose is not only very late but, speaking generally, it amounts to almost nothing : such achievement as there is, for several eenturies, is in verse. Poetry attained a eonsiderable degree of maturity while we have nothing Predominance of verse. এ Whe preponderance of one form of writing partially explains and is explained by the extreme poverty of the other: but it is more than a case of preponderance, it is one of monopoly. It may almost be said that there is not a single piece of spirited prose of the profane kind in Bengali from the earliest times to the early beginnings of the 19th century : whatever exists of other kinds is again late, scanty, and for the most part, frankly unsatisfactory. Not only the bulk of early prose literature is late and seanty but it is not yet quite reasonably clear that what
 * but a mere lisping of prose. This