Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/989

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

VII. ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITFRATURE. 943 sincerity pronounce it equal to yours.”* The poet Campbell was also one of his great admirers. When he landed in England the Raja met with a reception which only the most exalted men of Europe could expect to receive. He was presented to His Majesty the King by the President of the Board of Control and had a place assigned to him among the foreign ambassadors. The highest honours were publicly accorded to him. ‘‘ Persons most remarkable for their social standing and liter- ary eminence sought his society and highly esteem- ed the privilege of intercourse with him. He was received into our English homes not only asa distinguished guest but as a friend.’+ During his short stay at Paris he was more than once at the table of Louis Philippe. Wherever he went he had to attend meetings according him a_ most hearty and cordial reception. Mary Carpenter writes that she had herself met some of those “who still treasured the remembrance of the Raja; one of these, now a grayheaded man, recol- lected when a young midshipman on arriving at Calcutta, going to visit the magnificent residence and grounds of the Brahmin who was even then celebrated. It was in the Circular Road at the Eastern extremity of the town. He did not see the master of the mansion, but he picked up in the large aviary a relic in remembrance of the dis- tinguished man which he still treasures.” t Social and religious reformation he chose as the chief object of his pursuit. His evidence before

  • Bowring’s works of Bentham, vol. X; page 586.

Mary Carpenter's life of the Raja, page 65. Do. do. page 67. + 71 > Reception in Europe. A midship- man’s re= collections,