To The Right Hon'ble-
Lord William C. Bentinck,
G. C. B. & G. C. H.
Governor General, &c. &c. &c,
My Lord,
In, dedicating the following pages to your Lordship, I am actuated by sentiments, that I have not the power to express; for, having my Lord, been a witness to those Public and Private virtues, which included in their extensive range, the encouragement of Hindu literature, during your Lordships Government of Madras; I, as well as the rest of my countrymen, am impressed. with grateful feelings, that will endure as long as the term of my life. The materials to compile the Biographical Sketches, now committed to your Lordship's protection and patronage, were collected; during my arduous official duties in different Provinces, under my late lamented master Colonel Colin Mackenzie, Surveyor General of India, whose literary labors in the Indian field, were first encou-
