A FEW AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
REMARKS BY WAY OF PREFACE.
There is nothing I could say of myself that the world would care to know of, and it did appear doubtful to me whether any personal sketch in regard to so poor an author was worth writing out. But since I am now forcing on the public a complete collection of my writings, it would perhaps render that collection all the more intelligible if a short history of the several works comprised in it were simultaneously given; and I propose to confine my autobiographical remarks to such a statement only, and shall be eminently thankful if the reader will bear with me to that extent.
I was born on the 26th April, 1824: father’s name Pittumber Dutt; grandfather’s name Nilmoney Dutt, commonly called Nelloo Dutt, a man of mark in his day.
I was placed in school in my eighth year, and left college in my eighteenth, so that the period for which I was under regular training was ten years only, which will account for all the defects in my writings that my readers may stumble over.
I entered public service in January, 1842, and remained
