54 LIFE OF MB. WOOMESH CHUNDEB BONNERJEE. to the rescue of Mr. Robert, the Lion-hearted friend of India, from ruin and disgrace ? His ruin and dis- grace meant the disgrace of ail India ; and it was at this critical time, this great Brahmin Jurist, with the true spirit of a Brahmin's self-sacrifice, defended the man. Then again turn to the case of Babu Surendra Nath Bonnerjee in 1883. Within 24 hours short notice, he had to appear with his counsel to answer to the charge of having libelled one of her Majesty's Judges. There was no time to lose. With hot haste the affi- davit was drawn up, and the Brahmin advocate, with an insight into the gravity of the situation, implored for mercy for the Brahmin Editor and Patriot of the day. Gentle Reader ! What services could be more valuable, splendid, enduring, and ennobling in their moral effects than these. MR. BONNERJEE'S LITERARY TASTE. Mr. Bonnerjee assures us that he has read Shakes- peare and Milton several times, and among other English Poets, the. works of Wordsworth and Shelly are among his favourite books of study. The old dramatists of England and their immortal works have as much . fascination for him as any other writings of other equally celebrated authors of Great Britain. He is a voracious reader of the writings of Charles Lamb whose "Essays of Elia, " he has a great fond- ness for. Among the works of the Bengali novelists, Mr. Bonnerjee, 'says, he feels a peculiar pleasure in reading the "Durgesh Nandini" of the immortal Bunkim Chunder Chatterjee. Babu Shumbhoo Chunder Mukheriee tells us that Mr. Bonnerjee reads his newspaper, the Rets and Rayyet, so well-known for its brilliancy and picquancy of its writings, for seven days in the week, at his leisure moments.
