5 JULY 1902, Page 32

The Romance of an Eastern Prince. (Grant Richards. 6e.) — We do

not feel sure as to the real object of this book. The Eastern Prince is a Hindoo of the highest caste, and, more than this, born with the signs of the "sacred blith." As he &rows up he conceives the idea of serving his country by bringing about a closer union with the Power that dominates. He goes to England, and puts himself in the way of carrying out his pur- pose by falling in love with an English girl. This gives occasion for a vast amount of fine writing. The Prince, who tells his own story, goes through all the vicissitudes of a passionate love, and exhausts the vocabulary of the language in describing them. Is this the real object of the book, or are we to find it in chap. 21, where he sets forth in a very businesslike way the weaknesses, as he conceives them to be, of the British rule in India ? One thing he certainly urges with no little force, the policy of a Coronation in India of the Indian Emperor.