8 JANUARY 1876, Page 13

THE MEANING OF "BARBARIC."

[TO THS EDITOR OF VIM " SPBOTATOR.1

Sni,—In your article on " Hindoo Barbarism," in your number for January 1, you state that Milton calls "pearl and gold" "barbaric," but does he? I write from memory ; Milton's words are, I think,— "Or where the gorgeous East with richest band

Show'rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold."

Does the term " barbaric " apply to "pearl and gold" or to "kings?" At school we were told to accent the term " barbaric " so as to imply its connection with the antecedent word "kings," not with the following words, "pearl and gold." Were we taught correctly ?

Your interpretation of " barbaric " as " foreign " would apply equally as well to " kings " as to "pearl and gold," and as a con- trast with the comparative poverty in "pearl and gold" of European nations in Milton's time appears to be a correct inference from the passage, this consideration would lead to connecting the term " barbaric " with the " kings " of the "gorgeous East," rather than with the "pearl and gold" which were in use here in Milton's days, though not with the " profuseness " he attributed to Eastern kings.—I am, Sir, &c., H. N. H.