of some use to more serious students of Bengali language and literature.
The Portuguese were responsible for many misdeeds in Bengal. They are remembered to-day as ruthless pirates. But they certainly deserve well of us for the valuable service their missionaries rendered by giving the much-needed impetus to the growth of prose literature in this province. Had Manoel da Assumpção nothing but his Grammar and Vocabulary to his credit he would still be entitled to our homage of gratitude, but he did something more. It was he and his friend George da Apresentação who were responsible for preserving the earliest known prose work of a native-born Bengalee and it was rescued from oblivion by a Portuguese scholar, the late Sr. J. H. da Cunha Rivara. Let us forget Gonzales and his ferocious marauders and cherish the memory of Manoel, George and their noble associates.
