52 Obituary notice of Professor Gowell. [Mar. 



E. B. Cowell, Esq., M.A., came to India as Professor of the Presi- 

 dency College, Calcutta, and remained in Calcutta till the year 1864. 

 He was Professor of History in that College, and Principal of the Sanskrit 

 College. His notes brought the History of India by Elphinstone up to 

 date, and the Sanskrit College flourished greatly under his fostering 

 care. He studied Alamkara and Nyaya in the Classes, and there are 

 still many old students of the College who remember him sitting on 

 the benches listening attentively to the Professors and taking notes. 

 But he derived his knowledge of Hindu Philosophy mainly from our 

 illustrious countryman Mahamahopadhyaya Maheshchandra Nyaya- 

 ratna, CLE. Though as Principal he had no teaching- work assigned to 

 him, he often taught English to students, and gave prizes and presents 

 to smart Sanskrit pupils. He left some money for the foundation of a 

 Grammar Scholarship in the Sanskrit College. 



He was for years Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and 



edited several Sanskrit works for the Bibliotheca Indica Series. I still 



hold a letter written by him to my brother Nandakumar Tarkaratna 



who was joint editor of Vaicesika Darcana in this Series. Till the last 



year of his life he corresponded with his numerous Indian friends on 



literary topics and his letters breathe a spirit of freshness and vivacity 



rare in that old age. _ 



Haraprasad Shastri. 



The following is an extract from an obituary notice written by 

 Prof. 0. Bendall for the Athenaeum and reprinted in the Journal of the 

 Eoyal Asiatic Society, April, 1903, on pages 419 ft*: — 



Cowell was born at Ipswich, January 23rd, 1826, and was educated 

 at Ipswich School. During his schooldays he used to read in the 

 Public Library, and there in 1841 came on Sir William Jones' works, 

 reading especially the translation of the Sanskrit play " Sakuntala." 

 "I well remember," he said, in a memorable address given to the 

 Royal Asiatic Society in 1898, " the joy of finding a Persian Grammar 



among his works, and I soon learned the characters and began to 



study the anthology." From this book, he added, he gave, " thirteen 

 years afterwards, FitzGerald his first lesson in the Persian alpha- 

 bet." In the same year he saw Professor H. H. Wilson's " Sanskrit 

 Grammar " advertised, which he bought not long after. " Of course, I 

 found Sanskrit too hard," he continued, " but I returned to Persian 

 meanwhile, reading alone the " Shahnamah " and Hafiz." His first 

 guide in Oriental studies was Colonel Hockley, an old Bombay officer 

 settled in Ipswich, with whom he read Jami, On leaving school he at 

 first entered into commerce under his father, and it was in course of 

 business visits to London that he formed the acquaintance of H. H. 



