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THE QUEEN'S HINDUSTANI DIARY.
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members of his own noble and intellectual family. Macaulay says: "The highest intellects, like the tops of mountains, are the first to catch and to reflect the dawn. They are bright when the level below is still in darkness. But soon the light, which at first illuminated only the loftiest eminences, descends on the plain and penetrates to the deepest valley."

The late Lord Tennyson, it is not generally known, was a great admirer of Oriental literature. He, as a true poet, knew the value of Eastern imagination. His admiration led him to the study of the Persian language, which task, as he regretfully expressed to me, he had to give up because of the weakness of his sight. During my visit to him at Farringford, I was much surprised to find in his library translations of eminent Persian authors. He himself showed me, with much delight, the work of Abul Fazl, a book which he highly valued. His latest poem, the "Dream of Akbar," which he did me the honour of reading aloud, cannot fail to show the amount of the Eastern poetical fluid which