Glimpses of Bengal

The letters translated in this book span the most produc¬tive period of my literary life, when, owing to great good fortune, I was young and less known. Youth being exuberant and leisure ample, I felt the writing of letters other than business ones to be a delight¬ful necessity. This is a form of literary extravagance only possible when a surplus of thought and emotion accumu¬lates. Other forms of literature remain the author's and are made public for his good; letters that have been given to