322 
REPORT— 1847. 
crit grammar by Paninx, his contemporary or immediate predecessor; 
finally, we find in one branch of Sanscrit literature, which was more iko 
any other destined for the higher as well as for the lower classes, riM 
the dramatic compositions, a constant mixture of Sanscrit and Procrit®’ 
lects, which unfold there an unexpected ^vealtli ot melodious 
Strange as such a combination of different dialects may seem, 
similar fact in Italy, where each of die masked persons in the ComM» 
arte was originally intended as a kind of characteristic repreienuafle ■ 
some particular Italian district or town. Thus fanlalconc was a Y*** 
merchant, Dottorc a Bolognese physician, Spaviento a Neapolitan hf^ 
doccio, PuUicinello a wag of Apulia, and Arlcchim a blundering serrio'* 
Bergamo. Each of these personages was clad in a peculiar dress, i- 
had his peculiar mask, and (?ach spoke the dialect of the plaf®" 
represented. Besides these and a few other such personages, of »n 
least four were introduced into each play, there were the Amonww ^ 
Inamoratas, that is, some men and women who acted various parts wit _ 
ratHina, Coloxnbina; SpHttta and other females, wlio played the part* w ^ 
vcUas or waiting-maids. All these spoke Ttiscan or Roman, and woff 
masks. j. 
All the Intlian dialects, which under their ancient form ” fjU 
paased by the Smwerit itself in the copiousness and originality o* , 
grammatical forms, Iiad, as the language of a great portion of , 
an ever-increasing influenco upon the modern languages of In '*> “ 
entered largely into the formation of almost all the spoken dialect*^ 
north, while in Bengali, except some analogous corruptions by 
and nsstmilation, which every language undergoes in the movitli of n 
tluire are very few traces of the Pracril dialects. I consider 
Ilengali, as the modern Sanscrit standing to its parent, the 
Sanscrit, .almost in the same relation as the modern High German to 
High German, as the modern Italian to tlie language of Rome* 
Thu differences which I have tried to point out in the course ol 
tnatical analysis of the Bengali language, arc chiefly these: the 
of aidlixeB and internal changes of word.s, which served to express . 
local and causal relations which one object may have with 'l^ 
the whole system of the ancient declensions ii almost entirely r 
the ]>eoplc corrupting the form and forgetting the proper mean'ng 
forniatire syllables could no longer e.xpress by tbem what *1 
ibey subatiiuted therefore for them new and expressive 
prepoBitions, mid Iwd recourse to corapoiinds, in order to ■ 
which the older language wa» able to express by tire siinplc c!*u'g*^ 
vowel. The same thing took ]dace in the system of . 
the old and simple forma were, witli few exceptions, supcr^d ^ 
phr^Ucal formations. Besides, the meanings of the words njre ^ 
subject to the same influence t they became emaciated and 
after losing soul and Imdy, were degraded into a kind ol ‘^°*'^*^*'**^ ^ ’ 
hke paimr currency, well adapted for a modern age. In the , 
as we hardly feel what we arc expressing, for instance, 
tliank you, words, indeed, which have become a mere convent’ _ 
or sound, in uttering which we do not reflect that 
I shall tliink oftcuof ittitenaiivesofBengal8ay/.'day^<^°^"^|i ’ 
n the ancient largu ige, however, Krttajmh expresses slid i jj 
ng of knowuig {jmh) what has been done (krita), and 
word was at all employed in this sense, had still the meaning ot 
