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and far between, but too unsustained to mould the fashion or exercise an abidling influence on the practices and tastes of the times. The exceptional recognition, which Sreenadha enjoyed, might be, in part, due to his having flourished under the glowing şunshine of a royal patron. But that is the smallest part of the reason why he rose to the proud literary distinction which he still holds among classic writers. That he was an eminently-scholarly stylist, few can venture to gainsay. That he was, more or less, of a high-priest and a pattern for others in the use of ornate diction cannot but be freely admitted by the most fastidions. Taking into account these, his special personal merits, it is impossible not to own that the undying mark he left on the Telugu Literature was due to his solid, inherent worth, far more than to royal favour. Here must, however, end nearly all the praise that should be his; for, in the whole range of his works, few lines could be culled which might be said to stir up the heart, by emotions being depicted with adequate fervour and true realistic esect, so as to bear comparison with the master-pieces of the earlier epic-writers. At best, his writings are grand specimens of faultless prosody, of melodious versification and of erudite style; and they may--not inaptly-be likened to a speckless marble statue, exact in proportions and exquisitely-chiselled in shape, but without the life and animation which enthral or
