the very words of the Buddha himself. The Dhammapada Commen tary, on by an unknown author in Ceylon about 450 A.D., purports to tell the circumstances under which Buddha uttered each one of these stanइa3. In telling them, it narrates 2890stories or legends. These stories are the preponderating element of the Commentary: In style and substance the tale re8emble th08e of the famous Jataka Book, the Buddhist Acta Sanctorum, a 0unterpart of the Legends of the Christian Saints. And they present many parallels to well-known stories of mediawal literature, 0riental and For the comparative study of such parallels, Dr. Burlingame's Synopses clear and brief, will prove a very great onvenience. His wigorous diction suggeta familiarity with such “ wels of English undefyled' as the Bible and the Book of Com: mon Prayer. The work gives a vividpicture of the every-day life of the ancient. Buddhists mmonks, nums, lay disciples. It is thus, incidentally, an admirable preparative for the study of the more difficult Buddhist books in the original. As especially attractive stories may be cited: Lean Gotam Beek mustard-seed to cure her dead child; Murder of Great Mogalāma; Buddha falsely accused by Chinchā; Wisākhā; the Eell-pot. In September, 1900, Mr. Burlingamecame to Harvard University to pursuelhis studies It was at the suggestion of the latter that Mr. Burlingame undertoolk the talk of translating into English the Dhammapada Commentary. He first made a table of contents of the work, giving the title of each story and the place of its occurrence in the Burme8e text, and also in the Cingalese text. He added an index to the titles, and an extremely good analysis of Books 1 to 4. This most useful p reliminary work was formally presented to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on by Mr. Lam an. The manuscript of the article was delivered February 5, 1910, and published 300n after as page8 467-550 of volume 45 of the Proceeding of the Academ) The admirably elaborated manuscript of the entire translatio Commentary was delivered by its author on January 10, 1917, just, before the War [Digitized by (Google
