Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/171

Rh found themselves seeking readmission into the institution they had deserted. During his last years at College Keshub devoted himself chiefly to the study of mental and moral philosophy, into the wide range of which he plunged with youthful ardour and enthusiasm.

Leaving college Keshub found time to enter upon various projects which had long been forming in his mind. Education, he conceived, to be the first need of his fellow countrymen and so far as he was able, by his own individual efforts, he set himself to further the great cause. From the wider diffusion of knowledge and culture would, he hoped, spring in due course all the moral and social advancement that he so ardently desired, and his first attempts, though modestly begun, had this great end in view. Soon after leaving college he started a Literary Society, known as the British Indian Society, for the promotion of literature and science, and shortly afterwards he opened the Coltolla Evening School to which he gathered numbers of young men from the neighbourhood of his own house, he and his friends instructing them in English literature and philosophy. Shakespeare, first prominently introduced to Indian students by Captain Richardson, was one of the favourite studies of the day and Keshub was an enthusiast. Hamlet was his favourite play and he himself took the main part in a performance given by members of his Evening school. His