before the birth of their son, saying: "Whom, if I wait to bless, my
heart will fail,"--a piece of cowardice hardly consistent with my
conception of that brave and self-denying character.

[2]In the "Light of Asia," the prince, after leaving his young wife, is
made to pass through a somewhat extensive harem _en deshabille_, which
is described with voluptuous minuteness. Although there are some
things in later Buddhistic literature that seem to justify it, I can
but regard the introduction of an institution so entirely alien to
every age, form and degree of Aryan civilization and so inconsistent
with the tender conjugal love which was the strongest tie to his
beloved home, as a serious blot on that beautiful poem and as
inconsistent with its whole theory, for no prophet ever came from a
harem.

[3]A crore is ten millions.




BOOK IV.

Far from his kingdom, far from home and friends,
The prince has gone, his flowing locks close shorn,
His rings and soft apparel laid aside,
All signs of rank and royalty cast off.
Clothed in a yellow robe, simple and coarse,
Through unknown streets from door to door he passed,
Holding an alms-bowl forth for willing gifts.
But when, won by his stateliness and grace,