preface. ' vii. After the foregoing observations, a simple inspection will sufficiently explain the plan of the t work, which is to embody with explanatory English the synonyms of the Bengāli language, to answer the double purpose of furnishing—to the European. the means as well of fixing the peculiar application of the terms explained, by corresponding native words, as of varying his phraseology; and to the native student. together with an explanation of his national tongue in its own words, a similar in the English language; so that whether he design to study the latter or to confine himself to the former, he may in either case be furnished with the requisite assistance. Nothing of this kind has yet appeared, which alone might serve to justify the present attempt to supply the deficiency It will be found to contain the great body of the language with its most important derivatives and compounds, and eventhose of regular formation, whereverany peculiarity of notion or application exists. Those not so circumstanced, as also a large proportion of negatives, &c. formed by the prefixes S, SH, &c. have been omitted in coincidence with the Compiler's object, which was to comprize all that was indispensable to the study of the language within the compass of a moderate Octavo, by its size and price accommodated to general use. A few of the earlier sheets are less furnished with synonyms than the rest of the work; but throughout, the explanatory portion, it is believed, is not chargeable with many serious deficiencies, being fuller than in any work preceding it, not excepting the quartos of Dr. Carey, some of whose omissions, by no means few nor unimportant, have also been supplied. The synonyms follow in the order of the English explanatory terms. The notation of parts of speech has been omitted as inapplicable to the native grammar, (to the rules of which alone the language can be advantageously subjected,) a semicolon only being used wherever, according to English notions, a word assumes the form of a different part of speech, the same word in Bengali answering, in numerous instances, the purposes of several. The number of words originally promised has been exceeded by nearly 3,000; and a considerably greater expenditure of time and labour and consequent augmentation of charge than were contemplated, have been unavoidable, from the necessity, in part, of more extensive reading and the consultation of numerous authorities, in part, from successive removals and domestic calamities. That he must have fallen into errors, and that deficiencies will be fonnd to attach to his work as to every thing human, the Compiler is perfectly assured; bis hope is they will neither have been greater nor more numerous than, considering the nature of the compilation, the little aid to be derived from native assistants, the peculiarities of the idiomatical applications of terms in a language not his own, and the difficulty of decision in numberless instances—was to be expected. He can safely aver, however, that the wbele is the result of actual personal labour, having no where excused himself from the duty of verifying, as far as possible, such interpretations as he has taken from others, and that bis most strenuous endeavours have not been wantin to render the work, as far as his abilities, attainments and resources admitted, worthy of the encouragement of a discerning Public; and it will be found, he ventures to think. from the peculiarity of its plan, peculiarly calculated to aid the now accelerating progress of general education in this country. The labour of snch a compilation, especially that of fixing npon the just a onymous expressions, can only be appreciated by such as have been similarly engaged, who well know the reason Scaliger had for his strong language on the subject—
- Si quem manet sententia judicis olim, Damnatum aerummis suppliciisque caput; Lexica contexat, nam cetera, quid moror? omnes Poenarum facies hic labor unus habet.” Such as it is, it is now submitted to the Public and subjected to the animadversion of Scholars, in the words of a still more classical authority—
- Si quid novisti rectins istis, Candidns imperti: si non, his utere mecum.” It remains to state, that this work was udertaken with the sanction and encouragemeat of that polished scholar and emphatically excellent man, the late lamented 醬 whose splendid talents and brilliant accomplishments were, alas! so early shrouded from our admiration by the curtain of Fate. It has been patronized by the Venerable Society in whose service the Compiler has the happiness to labour, and is printed at their sole charge, a manifest and striking proof of their zeal, not more in the cause of a pure and primitive Christianity, than for the advancement of generalliterature.
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