Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/501

458 our hero of what had really happened. Vidyasagar was mortified at the news, but took no steps to have the culprit punished. He was only heard to say,—'How can that land expect to improve, which gives birth to such deceitful children?'

To the infinite credit of Vidyasagar, it must be admitted by all, that he was the pioneer of private enterprise in this respect. A number of schools and colleges have afterwards been started in imitation of the Metropolitan Institution, and their eminent success at the present day is due to their emulation of their eldest sister. The Hon'ble C. E. Buckland in his 'Bengal under the Lieutenant Governors' says,—"The establishment of the Metropolitan Institution in Calcutta in 1864, and its successful working under his management as a first grade College, are well-known to the educational history of Bengal; it was the prototype and pattern of many similar Institutions. The Metropolitan Institution had an attached school of 800 boys, besides 4 or 5 branches in different quarters of the town of Calcutta.       *       *

The magnificent building of the Metropolitan Institution was erected by him" (Vidyasagar) "at a cost of a lakh and a half of rupees; the expenditure was primarily incurred at his own cost; though it was afterwards recouped in a large measure from the surplus income of the College and its branch schools." Such is the eulogium