only by the noblest. In tone and temper--as already said--they are akin
to the Sonnets to Vittoria Colonna by Michelangelo,--of whom it was
written by one who knew him well, "_Though I have held such long
intercourse with him I have never heard from his mouth a word, that was
not most honourable.... In him there are no base thoughts.... He loves
not only human beauty, but everything that is beautiful and exquisite in
its own kind,--marvelling at it with a wonderful admiration_."

Here we see defined the temperament of the heroic poet, that inner
nobility and exaltation without which mere technical skill can avail
little in moving and holding the hearts of men.

This note on the structure of the Sonnet would fail in its purpose if it
distracted the reader from the spirit behind the form;--for the spirit
is the life,--and few who read these Sonnets will deny that the spirit
of Nizamat Jung is that of the true poet, ever striving to look beyond
ephemeral sorrows up to the Eternal Beauty--now hidden behind a veil,
but some day to be revealed in all its splendour and completeness.

R.C.F.

_October 6, 1917_.




SONNETS