The Light of Asia. By Edwin Arnold. (Triibuer and Co.)—A
singularly well printed and well got-up edition of Mr. Arnold's well- known epic. The volume is not too large, as almost all editions de luxe are, and its illustrations have a meaning. They are not charming in themselves, and not very instructive ; but all have been taken from Buddhist sources, from ancient caves and temples, excavated or carved when Buddhism was supreme in India. Only one is wanting, the traditional statue, the solemn, calm, eternal Buddha, without glance and without disquiet, to whom effort is as impossible as failure, the embodiment of the Asiatic idea of strong peace. In its place, we have a face which may be, or may not be, a portrait. Our readers know already our idea of Mr. Arnold's poem ; perhaps the only poetic account in a European tongue of an Asiatic faith which is at all adequate, and which seems destined to bring its author a singular fate. It is being translated into Asiatic tongues ; and it is quite possible that two hundred years hence, Mr. Arnold, half-forgotten at home, except by students, may, amongst the innumerable peoples who profess Buddhism, be regarded as a
Psalmist, and gather round him a constantly accreting myth, all the more sacred because it would be impossible to them to imagine that a European in a tall hat could have told them might of Buddha. Buddhism and Mithommedanism are both universal creeds ; but prejudice runs deep, and that a European could be a doctor in either religion hardly enters into Arab or Cingalese conception.
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