No. 53.— 1902.] 



PROCEEDINGS. 



87 



My good friend Mr. Lewis has come to the rescue this evening, and 

 before. (Hear, hear.) But, if it had not been for him and one or 

 two others, a very sorry record, I am afraid, of the advancement of 

 learning would have characterized the period of my Presidency — at any 

 rate, of these latter years, since we lost some of those who formerly 

 adorned the Society. But I think we have certainly not done as a 

 learned Society all that we might have expected of one another during 

 the last seven or eight years. We have met in social and friendly 

 intercourse ; and we have — I at least have — learnt how much kindness 

 and tolerance and how great readiness to make the most even of our 

 small efforts characterizes those who gather within these walls. 



It has been particularly gratifying to me to-day that this most 

 kind Resolution should have been proposed by my friend Mr. 

 Ferguson, for whom and for whose family I have had during the 

 time of my life in Ceylon an ever-increasing regard. There are 

 reasons which make me particularly pleased to think that Mr. A. M. 

 Ferguson, if he had been here this evening, would either have 

 proposed, or supported, this Resolution with no less kindness and warmth 

 than his successor has done. (Applause.) And I am extremely 

 grateful, — although I feel how far it goes beyond that, for nothing 

 but generosity could justify the esteem which Mr. Ferguson has set 

 before you of my services or of my abilities. 



I am going away from the country in which I have lived, and 

 worked (so far as I have worked), and joyed, and I have very 

 greatly enjoyed, during these twenty-six years ; and of course, as I 

 have heard it lately said, — I think it was said the other day by 

 His Excellency the Governor, — this country manages to lay a grip 

 upon the affections and interest of those who are even in it for a 

 comparatively short time. How much more must it have laid its 

 grip on my heart, and how much more sure is it that it has secured 

 affections which can never cease to be warm to this country and to 

 those who are in it. (Applause.) I cannot hold out any expecta- 

 tions that I (who, during the last six or eight years of my time 

 here, when I had upon me the responsibility of President of this 

 Society, could not manage, I am afraid, to contribute anything) of 

 being able to send many contributions when I have gone away to such 

 a great distance. But, on the other hand, I shall find there the 

 advantage of these studies which I have made here, and which the 

 Society has done a great deal to encourage me in. It will be a very 

 great help to me that these years have been passed in a country where, 

 to a great extent, the customs, or many of the customs, date back very 

 far, and are identical to those which are spread out through the North 

 of India, where the language is akin, closely akin, to some of those which 

 will be spoken in the country lam going to. To have served here has 

 been a preparation for that which awaits me. 



You know, of course, and it has been already noticed, that I have a 

 particular interest in languages ; and I am to some extent already equip- 

 ped by what I have acquired here for the work to which I am going. 

 Not only shall I find it my duty to use to some extent the Tamil language 

 — the Tamils are ubiquitous,wherever they go they aref ull of energy and 

 forward in education, and I shall have to minister sometimes in Tamil in 

 the country to which I am going— I shall find within that great 

 district which will form my Diocese of the great Sanskrit languages, 



