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viii PREFACE fall into the hands of students of literature, who may here find points of similarity to, or divergence from, the writings to which their special attention may be directed. I dare not flatter myself that I have invariably hit the true meaning of the original, for there are passages which repeated study, through these eleven years, has failed to solve to my own complete satisfaction. But even for this I scarcely grieve, for, like Propertius, I feel,


 * Quod si deficiant uires^ audacia certe
 * Laus erit: in magnis et Moluisse sat est.

And if the cruces that have baffled me shall be solved by other minds, none will feel greater joy in their success than I.

It is with a feeling almost akin to regret that I lay down my pen. Perhaps to me the Vdsavadatta has deeper associations than to almost any one else who has laboured on it. In hours of bitterness and sorrow it has helped me to forget; and it has heightened the pleasure of happy days. With all its faults, I love it; possibly I have even been so blind as to reckon its failings virtues; possibly, too, the innate Anglo-Saxon sympathy for the 'under dog' has made me only the more determined in its praise. Is it worth while, or not ? As the Arabs say, ''Alldhu dlamUy 'God best knows (and man can't tell).'

I am happy to have had, in my work, the assistance of many friends—Mr. Thomas and Dr. Haas, to whom I have already alluded ; others to whose courtesies reference will be made in the course of the book—Dr. George A. Grierson, Professor Theodor Zachariae, Mr. Richard Hall; Professor Washburn Hopkins, whose notes aided in introducing me to the mysteries of Grantha script; Professor Charles R. Lanman, who enabled me to use the Harvard copy of Hall's edition until I could procure my own—a courtesy which had already been accorded me for a year previous by the library of the Deutsche Morgenlandische Gesellschaft; Mr. T. K. Balasubrahmanya, who replied in full to my queries concerning the 'southern' text; and Mr. G. Payn Quackenbos, who called my attention to the reference to Subandhu in the Subhdsitaratnabkdnddgdra, while to Dr. Charles J. Ogden I am indebted for a number of helpful suggestions and