Page:Vidyasagar, the Great Indian Educationist and Philanthropist.djvu/40

 was occasionally compelled to borrow. He occupied most of his time with acquiring a thorough knowledge of English. For some months he had to lesson Captain Bank in oriental languages at the request of Dr. Mouat. The officer offered him tuition fee at the rate of Rs. 50 per month, when he finished the course. He refused the tempting offer on the ground that he had given lessons at the instance of his friend, not from purely interested motives. This is remarkable since at the time he was in contracted circumstances.

In 1847 asked by Mr. Marshal to compose a Bengali text-book for the use of youths of Fort William College, he rendered Vetala-Panchavingsati (i.e., the twenty-five stories narrated by the daemon Vetala to king Vikramaditya) from Hindi into Bengali. It was at first rejected by the authorities who, sharing the view of Mr. K. M. Banerji, thought it unfit for a text-book. When Vidyasagar secured the good opinion of Mr. Marshman, a Christian missionary