VI.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 745 increase his fee to Rs. 150 per night, and the num- ber of engagements that he made was so large that he had to refuse many. He grew rich in his old age, made a nice garden-house at Pila on the bank of the Ganges, and lived comfortably till his death In 1857. Dacu Rais Panchali shows an amazing com- mand over the Bengali language. For one who had had no Sanskrit education and had acquired only an indifferent knowledge of Bengali, his works deserve high praise. Alliteration and pun- ning were his forte, and his verses, which flow with remarkable facility, sparkle with humour and wit. The words that he chooses are generally Sanskritic, though not pompous, and the effect pro- duced on the ear by their combination is singu- চা ss বা i a ing and larly pleasing, When he is vulgar, we know that তিন he is addressing the mob, to whom the grossest ities. obscenities would be welcome, and he spares no jokes, no hit, however indecent, to pander to their vile* tastes. 176 was- essentially a poet of the masses. By his swift doggerels, full of allitera- tions, by his obscenities, by the display of wit which was often of the coarsest kind, we know that the scum of the society were gathered to hear him, and his aim was to please them at anycost. His poems are full of display—of words, of thoughts, and of wit. They prove that he was trying to create an impression, and was always conscious of his brilliant talent. Take for instance this passage :— 94
