OBITUARY.
DR. VINCENT ARTHUR SMITH, C.I.E.
Dr. Vincent Arthur Smith, C.I.E., who died at Oxford on 6th February, was not a member of the Folk-Lore Society, but he always expressed warm sympathy with its work, and contributed some reviews of books to Folk-Lore. An Irishman by birth, he was a member of the Bengal Civil Service between 1871 and 1900, and held the highest posts in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. On his retirement he devoted his time to literature, and published a series of important works. In his Early History of India he first placed the chronology on a sound basis. This was followed by biographies of the Buddhist Emperor Asoka and Akbar the Great Moghul, and the History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon. His admirable Oxford History of India, published a few months before his death was reviewed in Folk-Lore (vol. xxx. 245). He was a skilled numismatist and catalogued the great collection in the cabinet of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. At the close of his life he received the Companionship of the Order of the Indian Empire, the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature the University of Dublin, and the Gold Medal of the Royal Asiatic Society. He enjoyed the friendship of many scholars to whom he readily imparted his vast knowledge of Oriental history and antiquities. His death leaves a blank which will not easily be filled.
