36 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ch. 



the ryot somehow managed to escape the full measure 

 of tax. All this is about the Land tax. This would be 

 I think a good reason for lowering the Government's 

 proportion of the produce of the soil. 



In the administration of Native States we combine 

 the enlightenment and justice of British Rule with the 

 spirit of conciliation and consideration to rank and 

 position which a Native Government can so easily 

 understand and which our population so well appreciate. 

 If the spirit of charity and generosity which pervades 

 your book guides our English Statesmen in the manage- 

 ment of Indian affairs, that is all that we want. 



I thank you for your kind letter of the 14th December 

 last. 



I have sometimes been asked by other authors, 

 possibly animated by a Uttle gentle jealousy, 

 " How did Sir John Lubbock manage to get his 

 books translated into so many languages ? " 

 The answer is a very simple one : " By writing 

 books that were sure of a popularity in all 

 languages." I have before me, regarding this 

 particular little book, the Use of Life, appli- 

 cations, certainly unsought by Sir John, for 

 permission to translate into Spanish, Russian, 

 French, Gujerati, Urdu, Marathi, — " I am quite 

 sure," says the last applicant, " our Marathi 

 population vidll feel indebted to you if you grant 

 my request " ; as a matter of fact there were 

 several candidates for the permission of transla- 

 tion into this dialect, — Egyptian and so on ; and 

 the similar applications for the right of transla- 

 tion of some of his other books, such as the 

 Pleasures of Life, have been noticed already. 



The recipe, therefore, for attaining this wide 

 translation is easy, for writers of books — they 

 have but to write such as shall be universally 

 popular. 



