Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/52

38 Born in 1730 A.D., Haji Mahomed Mohsin was eight years younger than his half-sister, Manu Jan Khanum. From the first she loyally played the part of elder sister towards him watching over his earliest years with tenderest devotion. Brought up together in the household of Haji Faizullah, they were inseparable companions, and the strong and deep affection that always existed between them was one of the first recollections of their childhood's days. The influence for good that Manu Jan Kanum exercised over him left its mark in after life and Mahomed Moshin [sic] never forgot the debt he owed to her.

Following the usual Muhammadan custom of those days, Mahomed Mohsin early began to prosecute his studies in Arabic and Persian. Here again he had the advantage of his sister's guidance, for she had already acquired considerable proficiency in those studies while he was still an infant, and when he was old enough to be placed under the care of a tutor, she continued her studies as his fellow pupil. Their tutor was a Persian gentleman, Agha Shirazi by name, who combined with great learning much worldly wisdom and experience, having travelled in many countries after having left his home in Shiraz and before finally settling down in Hooghly. Often when lessons were done, he was wont to relate to his pupils stories of his adventures and of the wonders of foreign lands and thus early Mahomed Mohsin became inspired with that desire for travel which in