MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES.

Introduction to the Bengali Language, by the late Rev. W. Yates, D. D. in two volumes. Edited by J. Wenger, Cal.,

1847.

WE owe an apology to the respected Editor of this truly important and useful work for not sooner introducing it to the attention of our readers. The truth is that we intended to bestow upon it something more than an ordinary notice. Already we have had dissertations on the Sanskrit, the Urdu and the Hindi; and our purpose was next to follow these up by a similar dissertation on the Bengali language and Literature-designing in time to survey the entire circle of our Indian languages and dialects. As we were meditating on the subject of Bengali, the volumes from the pen of the late Dr. Yates and his learned Editor came opportunely to hand; and then we at once resolved to make them the basis and materielle for our intended dissertation. But, alas, for merely human resolutions! Again and again have we been baulked and defeated in our designs by endless interruptions and nameless calls and claims on our time, attention, and strength. And not seeing for certain, even now, when our larger purpose may be carried into effect, we have determined to wait no longer; since even the briefest notice may be better than a prolonged or total oversight.

Obliged, for the reason now stated, to eschew all minutely detailed or critical remarks, we can only say, that, having carefully looked over these volumes, we can confidently recommend them to all who desire to cultivate an accurate acquaintance with the Bengali language. The grammar, which is extremely simple and lucid in its arrangement, contains every thing really useful. The reading lessons in the first volume, with the accompanying notes and vocabulary, are admirably adapted for beginners; while the second volume contains selections of a higher order, fitted for those who have made considerable advancement. The whole constitutes a complete Encyclopædic apparatus for the acquisition of the language, which the intelligent student will look for in vain elsewhere. The selections alone are worth far more than the entire cost of the two volumes. They contain, in truth, all that is choicest and best in Bengali Literature-a Literature, which, in its intrinsic worth, or rather, for the most part, its intrinsic worthlessness, bears no proportion to the capabilities of the language itself. But let us remember how comparatively little the English language contained of what is really genuine and worthy of being preserved before the Elizabethan era. And let us hope, that, from the various educational processes now in busy operation, a new and better race of native authors will arise, who will rescue their

mother tongue from the disgrace of being the vehicle of a contempti ble, debasing, and even polluting literature, and convert it into a medium for the wide and diffusive communication of all that is useful in science and noble in philosophy-all that is lofty in thought, pure in sentiment, and heavenly in devotion.

With the view of doing all the justice, which our brief space will allow, to the work we shall here subjoin, first, the Author's-and secondly, the Editor's preface.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

The author of these volumes, having published an Introduction to Hindustání, which has succeeded beyond his expectations, and in a comparatively short time reached its sixth edition; and having been encouraged by his friends to believe that, as the study of the Bengálí is now advancing, a work upon a similar plan would be equally useful, has been induced to prepare the present work, which he now submits to the public, for the use of Bengálí students.

It consists of two volumes, the first of which is chiefly of European, and the second entirely of Native compositions. They are complete in themselves; and it is hoped that by means of them the learner may gain a competent knowledge of the language, and if he studies them thoroughly, such a knowledge as will enable him to stand a rigid examination.

The first volume consists of a Grammar and Select Reading Lessons, with an explanation at the end.

The Grammar is divided into ten chapters, and the division is so simple that the student will have no difficulty in referring to any part he may wish to consult. Though not large, it will be found to contain all that is of importance to a correct knowledge of the language. For the use of those who may have to converse with pandits, a list of the native grammatical terms has been added.

The Reading Lessons of the first volume consist of simple sentences, fables, anecdotes, &c. which have been so arranged as to form an easy introduction to the reading of the second.

The Notes appended to the first volume will be found particularly useful to the learner, as they will present to him at once the exact sense of the word in the place where it occurs; and thus save him from the perplexity which too often arises from having to select from a number of meanings in a dictionary, the one most suitable to the passage he is reading. He will also be able to refer to what he reads, for examples of the exact sense in which particular words are used.

The second volume contains in a condensed and corrected form, the best parts of all the native prose compositions in Bengálí.

When a person commences the study of any language, he is anxious to know what books it contains, and what prospect he has of meeting with any adequate reward for his labour. To the student in Bengálí the promise of remuneration is not flattering; for although the language itself is a noble one, capable of expressing almost any idea with precision and force, yet there are in it at present very few books.

Little, however, as it may contain of native composition, every one studying it, whether for purposes of traffic or religion, will wish to be acquainted with that little, not for the sake of the ideas communicated, but for the sake of learning how those ideas are expressed, and what may be considered the peculiar idiom of the language.

Next to the desirableness of possessing what the Natives have written, it is of importance to a learner to possess the whole in an arranged form. It requires some knowledge to determine which books are easiest and which most difficult to read, which ought to be read first and which second; and it is no small advantage to him to have them laid before him in the order in which they ought to be read. To this particular attention has been paid, so that each book has been placed in the order in which it ought to be read, beginning with the easiest and proceeding gradually to the more difficult.

Another advantage arising from this work will be that the most indelicate and disgusting passages are omitted. It would have been well if every vestige of idolatry could have been removed, but that was impossible. While purified from the most offensive parts, there will still be enough left to remind the reader that the writers were not Christians. It is however of consequence, when necessitated to read such writings for the sake of acquiring a correct knowledge of the language, to have them free from the most impure and defiling passages.

Here the philanthropist will see what is the real state of Bengal in regard to literature. He must understand that up to the period when Dr. Carey commenced his labours in 1800, there was scarcely a printed book in the language. And from that time to the present there has been, with the exception of religious books and tracts, scarcely one work of original native composition; nearly all that have been printed have been translations from Sanskrit, Persian, or English.

We may hope from this time that the scene will begin to brighten, and that from among those whose minds have been stored with knowledge by the study of European literature and science, some will rise up who will enrich their native language not only with excellent translations of standard works, but with original compositions which will shew that they have drunk deep at the fountain of true knowledge.

In the meantime it will not be without its use to have collected into a small compass all that the language contains of general literature up to the year 1840. It will be useful as furnishing materials to form a correct estimate of the past, and will at the same time fix a point from which the progress of future generations may be fairly calculated. Would that the eyes of Bengálí youth might be fixed on this second volume, till they blush for the literature of the past, and resolve with all their hearts that their language shall present to the world something better for the future.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

The peculiar circumstances under which the present work is published, render it necessary for the Editor to append another preface to the preceding.

When the lamented Author left India in June 1845, never to return, he made over to the Editor all his literary manuscripts, and gave him his last directions concerning them. With reference to this work he said, "Here I have collected the materials for an Introduction to the Bengálí Language, but the whole is in so imperfect a state, that I fear it would entail too much labour upon you to publish it during my absence; I shall therefore only request you to keep all the papers until my return." Two months afterwards, when the intelligence of Dr. Yates's death reached Calcutta, the Editor was naturally led to examine the papers referred to. He found that the Grammar, the preface, and the table of contents to the second volume were prepared; and he also discovered some materials intended for the Reader, with a few hints respecting their arrangement. It may therefore be said that the author wrote the Grammar, and furnished the plan for the whole, whilst the Editor must be responsible for nearly all the rest.

In the Grammar he has ventured to introduce a few corrections and additions, especially in the Syntax; but taken as a whole, it is Dr. Yates's work. The materials prepared for the Reader by Dr. Yates consist of the first three or four pages and most of the anecdotes in chapter IV. The remainder has been supplied by the Editor, chiefly from the Calcutta School Book Society's publications : he has also ventured to add a chapter of scriptural extracts, being persuaded that it is likely to be of great use to the student of the language. Respecting the Explanatory Notes, he is by no means certain that they are such as Dr. Yates intended them to be in the absence of any special directions he has been guided by his own judgment, aided by the experience derived from twelve years' practice in teaching various languages, both ancient and modern. His object has been to encourage the learner by meeting every difficulty that may present itself to him, but to be sparing in repeating the same explanation: how far that object has been attained, and the advantage of the student secured, can be determined only by those who may use the work. An ordinary critic may discover much that to him appears to be redundant; whilst the beginner may be glad to find his numerous

difficulties lessened. The alphabetical Index of words will, it is hoped, not only assist and strengthen his memory, but also render it wholly unnecessary for him to have recourse to a dictionary in reading the first volume.

The second volume contains the pieces selected by Dr. Yates himself. It appears from the preface that he intended to re-write several or most of them: this the Editor has not presumed to do; he has only made a few occasional alterations, when the original readings were either obscure, or too offensive to be borne, or calculated to lead to erroneous conclusions respecting the idiom of the language. His unwillingness to make alterations has arisen from a conviction that it may be useful to the learner to become familiar with every description of style, whether pure or faulty; partly because in conversing or corresponding with Natives, he will meet with a faulty style more frequently than with a pure one, and partly also because it is very difficult to decide which kind of Bengáli style deserves to be called pure. Owing to the extent of the second volume, no explanatory notes have been appended to it; the student will therefore be obliged to have recourse to a dictionary and to the aid of a pandit.

At one time the Editor intended to prepare a vocabulary to match the work, but on further reflection he relinquished the task, not only on account of its difficulty and tediousness, but also because some valuable dictionaries are already in existence. Among these the best, as far as it goes, is Morton's; it contains, however, only those words which are derived from the Sanskrit. Dr. Carey's, in three quarto volumes, is by far the most copious, but rather unwieldy. For ordinary purposes Marshman's abridgment of it, and Mendies's dictionary are the most handy. Unfortunately the Editor is not acquainted with Haughton's dictionary; but he supposes it to be worthy of that eminent scholar.

It may perhaps not be out of place to offer a few remarks on the best plan to be adopted in studying the Bengálí language. The greatest difficulty, that of learning to read, has to be encountered at the very outset. The student will do well to go carefully, with the aid of a native teacher, through the first six pages of the grammar; and after that to read, at first merely as an exercise in reading, the select sentences which follow the grammar. Let him not be discouraged if he should find that it requires several months to learn to read fluently: others have found it so, and can bear testimony to the consoling fact, that no subsequent difficulty is half so great.

Whilst pursuing the above course of reading, let him by degrees carefully study the declensions, p. 11-16. As soon as he has mastered these, he will be able, with the aid of the explanatory notes, to understand and translate many of the select sentences. He should go through these sentences once and again : he will feel encouraged by finding that he can make out the sense; and they will by degrees convey to his mind some idea of the structure of the language, and a fair knowledge of the most useful words and phrases. Many of them are expressed in the familiar rather than the book style, with a view to enable him to understand the common colloquial language more readily than would otherwise be the case. Whilst going through these sentences, let him, after learning the declensions, study the regular conjugation, p. 35-37, and p. 43, 44. Next let him master the pronouns, omitting in the first instance the inferior forms contained in p. 28. When he knows the declensions, the regular conjugation, and the pronouns, he will begin to see his way, and be able to devise his own plan of going through the whole of the Grammar and Reader.

In studying the Grammar he will derive little benefit from a pandit, beyond learning from him the proper pronunciation of the word as they occur; he should therefore study it mainly by himself. On the other hand he may with great advantage avail himself of the aid of a native instructor in going through the Reader; for the native teacher will not only impart to his pupil the proper pronnnciation, but also contribute largely to extend his knowledge of words and phrases by endeavouring to explain or paraphrase those that occur in the book. On this account a pandit who is wholly unacquainted with English generally proves more useful than one who, having a smattering of it, endeavours, from mere politeness, to give his explanations in that language.

Such is the practical plan, which, in the opinion of the Editor, will prove the

shortest way of obtaining a fair acquaintance with a language which is spoken by as many people as any of the languages of Europe. Those who wish to study it critically, will find it necessary to master the structure of the Sanskrit: but even such students will soon discover that a previous acquaintance with Bengálí, as recommended here, is a most useful preparation for that arduous task.

Should the expectations expressed in the Author's preface be realized, the Editor will feel himself compensated for the time and labour bestowed upon a work, which no other consideration than the claims of friendship could ever have induced him to undertake.

To these sober and judicious counsels we have nothing farther, for the present, to add. Our earnest wish is that the lamented Author's expectations may be fully realized; and that the excellent Editor may thus live to see the day, when, in addition to his possessing the delightful assurance of having satisfied the claims of friendship, he may enjoy some foretaste of the fruition of his labours in the visible growth and progress of a new and improved indigenous Literature.

The Burnet Theological Prizes.

In the home Journals and Periodicals, the following statement has had a very extensive circulation. Not having observed any special notice taken of it by the Press of India, it has occurred to us that some of our readers would be gratified by being furnished with so important a document. As the competition is open to the whole English speaking world, who can tell but in the far East some one may be found, whose genius may be stimulated and his learning summoned forth by so munificent a prize? It may be in the remembrance of some of our readers that the last treatises which won these Burnet prizes, in 1814, were by the late Principal Brown of Aberdeen and Dr. Sumner, now Archbishop of Canterbury-the former having gained the first, and the latter the second of the prizes. Both works were published, as required by the will of the Testator, and enjoyed a considerable share of popularity; that of Dr. Sumner, under the title of "The Records of the Creation," being, perhaps, the more popular and successful of the two. The object itself it is needless for us to attempt to recommend it thoroughly recommends itself. And with all the new light which has been thrown on the domain of Nature, whether we survey the heaven above, or the earth beneath, within the last forty years, we may confidently anticipate that the treatises which earn the Prizes in 1854, shall be of a character, both as regards style and substance, vastly transcending those of 1814.

A gentleman deceased left by his deed of settlement a considerable fund to be applied by his Trustees, at intervals of 40 years from 1774, in the payment of two Premiums, for the best TREATISES on the following Subject:

:

"The Evidence that there is a Being, all Powerful, Wise, and Good, by whom everything exists; and particularly to obviate difficulties regarding the wisdom and goodness of the Deity; and this, in the first place, from considerations independent of Written Revelation; and, in the second place, from the Revela