272

" I know the philosophically detached attitude
which you take towards official life—its drawbacks
and its rewards. Nevertheless I hope that this mark of
appreciation from the Crown of your services in Hyder-
abad will afford you some measure of satisfaction.
Anyway your friends will be pleased to see such an
honour so deservedly conferred. And I am genuinely
glad that a Knighthood should come the way of one who
has filled responsible office, but is a scholar and. a poet
of possibly even greater distinction."

"I have only just finished the 132nd °of the
* Thoughts *—each deserving the careful digestion of a
tabloid sermon. You have laid under contribution the

Wt«" '" ' ' '" "*

saints and sages, the philosophers and the poets of the
world, enriching what you borrow with the reflections
of one who is by nature and by culture a philosopher
and a poet himself."

To England, 1938
" May I say that in my humble opinion and that of,
I hope, an ordinary decent Englishman, this poem is
worthy to rank with your beautiful sonnet, * To Eng-
land/ which was published in the Times early in the
Great War. I too certainly think that it is timely and
needed, and friends to whom I have shown it wish
that you would publish it."
Again,
" I am sure that not only your friends but a consi-
derable cultured circle in this country would welcome
it," ,