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MODESTY-HONESTY.

Even granting the latter every advantage, he will still be like a merchant who has all his means out in foreign countries, and who is bankrupt on any emergency, before he can collect his assets; whereas the other has a large stock of capital at his Banker's, on which he can draw, while he always carries sufficient small change about him for ordinary purposes of exchange in life.

The last but one is Modesty. This is the distinctive characteristic between the really learned man and others. He who knows most will ever be found the most humble and self distrustful. Arrogance is the sign of the vain and puffed up pedant. In the words of the Poet Cowper,

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Knowledge is proud that he hath learnt so much";

66 'Wisdom is humble that he knows no more."

Or, if you will permit me, I will read you a Sonnet which I myself composed, embodying this idea some years ago, when I was considering this and cognate subjects.

Knowledge is like an errant knight of old :
Vaunting his prowess; eager for the fray;
Arm'd cap-â-pie; with peacock plumage gay ;
Self confident; adventure-seeking; bold;
He roams throughout the world, ready to hold
Tournay against all comers, day by day;

He enters magic caves without dismay,

And views strange sights which others ne'er behold.
But Wisdom is his meek-eyed lady-love,

Whom if he wins not, he is nothing worth.
Now casting down her modest eyes on earth,

Now heavenward, trustful, she herself doth try,

And broodeth o'er her own heart silently,

Timid; but constant, patient, as a dove.

The last is Honesty; singleness of purpose; you have all heard the vulgar saying that knowledge is power: and so it is. But he who proposes the acquisition of knowledge

HET SCHOLAR'S AIM.

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for the sake of acquiring a competence, or luxuries, or even dominion over his fellow men, has assuredly missed the true vocation of the scholar. This brings me to the point I started from that the real ultimate object of all self-improvement is or ought to be the improvement of others. It is the prerogative of the scholar to extend as widely as possible the benefits of his own perfect education for the advancement of his fellow men. Humanity, not self, should ever be before him. Even though the end be not gained, the struggle to attain it will not be without its good.

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I have spoken by way of suggestion and hint. Time would not permit me to do more. I pray you take home with you what I have said. Amplify it for yourselves by reflection and conversation; and so far as your consciences that it is correct, act upon and may it prosper you, and with you; because I conscientiously believe that the principles which I have endeavoured to explain to you, and lay down for you, are founded on God's eternal truth.

assure you

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ADDRESS on the Fifth Anniversary of the Hindu Reading Room: 1858.

MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN.-The report just read, and the vote just come to, suggest a few remarks which I am anxious to make. In determining to appeal to the public on behalf of the Society, it seems to have escaped attention, that you are in fact abandoning one of the fundamental rules upon which the institution was based. When we debated together as to its foundation several years ago, it was determined that the only safe ground was to make the Reading Room self-supporting; and although the numbers have not been very great, I must say that the experiment may be looked upon as a successful one. The Society has a balance at its banker's; it has steadily increased in numbers; it has in the past year amalgamated with itself a Society with known objects; and in the words of one of the speakers, 'union is strength.' The objects of this Society are such, that it ought to find ample support from its very numbers, and from the Native community at large. The European society of this Presidency has so many charities to subscribe to, that it is unreasonable to tax them for the amusements of the Hindus. I am only afraid, lest in appealing to the public at large, you should establish a precedent which it would be undesirable for you to follow another year, though the temptation would be great; and I think therefore that you will do well to limit your solicitation to one particular object, that of procuring a Vernacular library, a subject of paramount importance. Before I advert to this, I would call to memory the other principle on which this Society was based, namely, that it should be purely literary, and eschew politics. Though at the time the full

IMPROVEMENT OF THE VERNACULARS.

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value of this advice was not apparent, I think the events of the past year must give every one of you cause of congratulation that there has been not the faintest tinge of political tendency in your constitution.

The speakers who have adverted to the subject of a Vernacular library have touched upon a most important topic. I had not considered this matter with reference to this night's proceedings, and I have not arranged my thoughts; but still I have so constanly meditated upon this subject, that I feel little difficulty in dealing with it. You justly prize your own Vernacular languages; and seek to improve and cultivate them. It is only yourselves who can do this. No foreigner can enrich a language not his own. Ideas must precede expression; if I were a vernacular scholar, what would it profit the Natives if I were to add columns of Tamulized English words to their dictionaries, if they were not instructed in the ideas which those words symbolized? You must yourselves first imbue your own minds with the riches of Western knowledge, and you may then infuse new life into your language. The English tongue is an amalgam of Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, Norman, Danish, and Saxon. The ideas of the foreign nations have been imported into the English, and consequently the foreign terms adopted as best expressing those ideas. Thus it must be with your languages. English must be at first the vehicle for imparting knowledge to the Natives; but ultimately the Vernaculars must be the vehicles of spreading that knowledge among the masses of the people.

In another sense, too, I consider the study and improvement of the Vernaculars most important. Among other ideas now abroad, some people advocate the introduction of the English language into the Mofussil Courts. Let English, they say, be the official language of the Courts. Now, as to

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THE LANGUAGE OF THE COURTS.

the lower Courts, those of Moonsiffs and the like, this is merely an impossibility; and as to the higher Courts, I cannot conceive anything more unjust to the people at large, even if it were practicable. I have practised in Mofussil Courts, and have seen the necessity of adhering to the language understood by the bulk of the people. I think that so far from making English the official language of the Courts, it is questionable whether English should for the present be admitted at all; whether the pleaders should be permitted to argue except in the language of the district. Put the case of myself pleading in English for my client, perhaps a prisoner whose life is at stake. How many hints might he give me; how correct me, or qualify my statements, or suggest points that did not strike me, (for two heads are always better than one) if he understood the language in which I was pleading for him? The witnesses must of course depose in their own language; and I would insist upon every judge being a thorough master of the language of his district. I have myself seen the advantage of such knowledge in a judge; for it is incalculable how much the bearing of testimony may be altered by the turn of a phrase, an idiom, or some nicety or peculiarity of expression. What we should do is to lay down conditions which will foster a gradual tendency to make English the official language of the Courts; it is a mistake to suppose that we can introduce changes by the mere will of the Legislature, before the condition of the people is ripe for such changes. Thus, if we instruct our rising generation in English, and make a proficiency in it a sine quâ non of the future Vakeel, we do as much as we safely can, and create the tendency in question. The Sudder Court here is an example in point. There has been no legislation,no order there even; and yet mark how complete is the revolution in its practice. English is now practically the official language of that Court. I remember the time when all oral pleadings were in the Vernacular: now all

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