the Schools—whether European or native, Government or Missionary—and I think it probable that, within the next fifty years, it will to a large extent have superseded most of the indigenous alphabets. The necessity, therefore, for Europeans engaged in Missionary or Medical work to acquire the various native characters before they can be of much use, is largely removed. They may make great progress in any of the Indian languages without knowing their original characters—not only so as to converse, but to correspond therein, and to read much vernacular literature.
Still, it is desirable for all those whose sphere of labour is in India that they should become acquainted with at least one (or two) of the Native Alphabets—so as to be able to read printed books at least, if not manuscript. And on this account I have given in this work, as a starting-point, the Persian and Hindī characters for which the several Romanized letters stand.
