1012. BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [Chap, village of the copyist.’”’ This Solagram is in the District of Tippera and the Ms. from which the above is quoted now belongs to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 111.— Peace and her boon. A peaceful administration stimulates and nourishes intellectual activities ; and under British rule we are in enjoyment of the manifold benefits of peace. This has caused the rapid and astonishing The growth of our prose within the past century. Bengali rapid . eae growthof now heads the list of the Vernaculars of India in Bengali prose, _ POint of its many-sided literary activities and general excellence. Many books written in our tongue have been translated into the Vernaculars of other provinces of India ; and the number of our readers is fast increasing, as the field and scope of our language are widening. This excellent result is in a large measure due to Bengal being the chief seat of Government. We have been in touch with the civilisation of the West earlier than other Pro- vinces. By the introduction of Bengali into our University, a healthy impetus has been given to the cause of Vernacular literature, and we may confi- dently hope that this will be productive of striking- ly good results. May my country steadily advance in her onward course under the benign administra- tion of our present Rulers. Our review of the }engali Literature, however, ends with 1850. The historian of a later epoch of this literature will have to acknowldge with gratitude the deep debt which our tongue has owed to England and her people in comparatively recent times. THE END.
