Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/20

8 mental powers. His figure was beyond the common height and muscular in proportion. His countenance wore an expression of blended dignity and benevolence that charmed at first sight and put his visitors at their ease while it checked an irreverent familiarity." "It was in argument, however," notes another English friend in the English Court Journal, "that this exalted Brahmin was most conspicuous: he seemed to grapple with truth intuitively and called in invective, raillery, sarcasm and sometimes a most brilliant wit, to aid him in confuting his opponents: if precedent were necessary, a remarkably retentive memory and extensive reading in many languages supplied him with a copious fund: and at times with a rough unsparing, ruthless hand he burst asunder the meshes of sophistry, error and bigotry in which it might be attempted to entangle him. In conversation with individuals of every rank and of various nations and professions, he passed with the utmost ease from one language to another, suiting his remarks to each and all in excellent taste and commanding the astonishment and respect of his hearers."

When this brilliant personality first made itself felt in Calcutta in the early years of the nineteenth century Hinduism had reached well nigh its lowest ebb. Not yet wholly emerged from the troublous times of the eighteenth century, it was not in a position to reap the full advantages of the