NOTICE.

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THE following brief Memoir of the Rajah RAMMOHUN ROY was prepared by Dr. CARPENTER from authentic sources of information chiefly found in the "Monthly Repository of Theology and General Literature," Vols. XIII. to xx.; from the Memoir prefixed to the "Precepts of Jesus," by Rev. Dr. T. REES; from communications received from the family with whom the Rajah resided in London, and from the Rajah personally by the writer was inserted, after the Rajah's lamented death, in the Bristol Gazette and Bristol Mercury, and thence copied into other papers. It was afterwards inserted, with some additions in the "Review of the Labours, Opinions, and Character of Rajah RAMMOHUN Roy," by Dr. CARPENTER, from which copious extracts are made in this volume. As this work is now out of print it is here given in full, up to the Rajah's arrival in England, as an introduction to the work.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

RAMMOHUN ROY was the son of RAM KHANT ROY. His grandfather resided at Moorshedabad, and filled some important offices under the Moguls; but being ill-treated by them towards the end of his life, the son took up his abode in the district of Bordouan, where he had landed property. There RAMMOHUN ROY was born, most probably about 1774. Under his father's roof he received the elements of native education, and also acquired the Persian language. He was afterwards sent to Patna to learn Arabic; and lastly to Benares to obtain a knowledge of the Sanscrit, the sacred language of the Hindoos. His masters at Patna set him to study Arabic translations of some of the writings of Aristotle and Euclid; and it is probable that the training thus given his mind in acuteness and close reasoning, and the knowledge which he acquired of the Mahommedan religion from Musselmen whom he esteemed, contributed to cause that searching examination of the faith in which he was educated, which led him eventually to the important efforts he made to restore it to its early simplicity.

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His family was Brahminical, of high respectability; and, of course, he was a Brahmin by birth. After his death the thread of his caste was seen round him, passing over his left shoulder and under his right. His father trained him in the doctrine of his sect; but he very early observed the diversities of opinion existing even among the idolaters; and that while some exalted Brama, the Creator, others gave the ascendancy to Vishnu, the Preserver; and others again to Siva, the Destroyer. It is scarcely possible, too, but that his mind must have been struck by the simplicity of the Mahommedan faith and worship; and at any rate it early revolted from the frivolous or disgusting rites and ceremonies of Hindoo idolatry. Without disputing the authority of his father, he often sought from him information as to the reasons of his faith. He obtained no satisfaction; and he at last determined, at the early age of fifteen, to leave the paternal home, and sojourn for a time in Thibet, that he might see another form of religious faith. He spent two or three years in that country, and often excited the anger of the worshippers of the Lama by his rejection. of their doctrine that this pretended deity--a living man—was the creator and preserver of the world. In these circumstances he experienced the soothing kindness of the female part of the family; and his gentle, feeling heart lately dwelt, with deep interest, at the distance of more than forty years, on the recollections of that period, which, he said, had made him always feel respect and gratitude towards the female sex, and which doubtless contributed to that unvarying and re

fined courtesy which marked his intercourse with them in this country.

When he returned to Hindostan, he was met by a deputation from his father, and received by him with great consideration. He appears, from that time, to have devoted himself to the study of Sanscrit and other languages, and of the ancient books of the Hindoos. He had frequent discussions with his father: through awe of him, however, he never avowed the scepticism which he entertained as to the present forms of their religion; but from some indirect reproaches he received, he imagined that he had fallen under his father's suspicions. His father had given him, for that country, a very superior education; but having been brought up himself in the midst of the Mussulman Court, he appears to have thought principally of those qualifications which would recommend his son to the ancient conquerors of India; and till manhood RAMMOHUN ROY knew very little of the English language, and that little he taught himself.

"At the age of twenty-two," says the Editor of the English Edition of the Abridgment of the Vedant and the Cena Upanishad, "he commenced the study of the English language, which not pursuing with application, he five years afterwards, when I became acquainted with him, could merely speak it well enough to be understood upon the most common topics of discourse; but could not write it with any degree of correctness. He was afterwards employed as Dewan, or principal native officer,

in the collection of the revenues, in the district of which I was for five years collector in the East India Company's civil service. By perusing all my public correspondence with diligence and attention, as well as by corresponding and conversing with European gentlemen, he acquired so correct a knowledge of the English language as to be enabled to write and speak it with considerable accuracy."

The father, RAM KHANT ROY, died about 1804 or 5, having two years previously divided his property among his three sons. It was not long before RAMMOHUN ROY became the only survivor; and he thereby possessed considerable property. From this period he appears to have commenced his plans of reforming the religion of his countrymen; and in the progress of his efforts to enlighten them, he must have expended large sums of money, for he gratuitously distributed most of the works which he published for the purpose. He now quitted Bordouan and removed to Moorshedabad, where he published in Persian, with an Arabic preface, a work entitled "Against the Idolatry of all Religions." No one undertook to refute this book; but it raised up against him a host of enemies, and in 1814 he retired to Calcutta, where he applied himself to the study of the English language both by reading and by conversation; and he also acquired some knowledge of Latin, and paid much attention to the mathematics. At this time he purchased a garden, with a house constructed in the European mode, in the Circular Road, at the eastern extremity of the city; and he gradually gathered round him inquiring