Books in General (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: An Oriental on Albert the Good THE award of the Nobel Prize to Mr. Ra- bindranath Tagore is generally approved. I do not entirely agree with those who think that Mr. Tagore's poems are masterpieces in English; for I find his English poetical prose monotonous and without rhythmical beauty, although, in a sense, immaculate. But those who know the Indian originals say that they are really great, and that they have got a hold on the general population unprecedented for centuries past. I have just acquired a book by an Indian poet who was not so wise in his choice of subjects as is Mr. Tagore. The book is an English version (made in 1864 by the tutor of Sir J. Jeejeebhoy's sons, and published by the Bombay Education Society) of an Epic on the Prince Consort by the Parsee poet " Munsookh." The poem is enlivening if not inspiring. It opens with the usual Oriental invocation to Heaven, ending " With that remembrance alone will I fill the cup of my heart and sing new and entertaining stories." It then plunges straight in medias res with a first canto, " On the birth of Prince Albert, his education and arrival at mature years; and his wish to marry Victoria." " There is a country of the world called Germany, the eminence of which is known everywhere. In its interior is a large district called the Dukedom of Gotha, about thirty-seven miles in area, and containing about one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. The air of this district is pleasant, dry, and cool; and the water refreshing and pure. The land is good and very fertile, and every article of food and clothing is cheap there. In its neighbourhood is the city of Coburg, where the richest blessings of Providence display themselves, near which flows the river Itz, and where is a magnificent ducal castle, having the appro...