sketches of distinguished Hindu women, drawn from history and tradition. Of the "Abhedi" the author says:— "It is a spiritual novel in Bengali, in which the hero and heroine have been described as earnest seekers after the knowledge of the soul, and as obtaining spiritual light by the education of pain." Of the "Adhyátwiká," the author tells us:— "It brings before its readers the conversation and manners of different classes of people, in different circumstances, which have been pourtrayed in different styles, and which may perhaps be useful to foreigners wishing to acquire a colloquial knowledge of the Bengali language."
Babu Peary Chand Mitter was a man who keenly felt the evils in society around him, and he used his pen in the cause of temperance and the purity of the domestic circle as against drunkenness and debauchery; amongst his writings having this object in view is the "Mada Kháoya bara dáya," or "The great evils of dram-drinking." It is a novel marked by great humour, and shows the author to have been a satirist of no mean power.
Besides these novels he wrote "The Life of David Hare" both in Bengali and in English. He also contributed essays to The Calcutta Review, and an American publication called The Banner of Light, besides writing articles for the Agri-Horticultural Society of India.
Babu Peary Chand Mitter died in 1883.
The novel "Alaler Gharer Dulál," or "The Spoilt Darling of an Ill-regulated House," was written more than forty years ago, and was very well received, as the criticisms of the day show. The Calcutta Review of the day says:— "We hail this book as the first novel in the Bengali language. Tek Chand Thakur has written a tale the like of which is not to be found within the entire range of Bengali literature. Our author's quiet humour reminds us of Goldsmith, while his livelier passages bring
