Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: _JAVANESE ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT._ The origin of the Oceanic dialects, and of those of India beyond the Ganges more especially the civilized idioms of the Indian Archipelago, is referred to a language which was that of an unknown people inhabiting the island of Java. From this primitive language the modern Javanese is supposed to be immediately derived. Javanese literature consists of poems, dramas, songs, and historical and religious writings. The accompanying facsimile is from a mythological-religious tract written upon a vegetable paper of native manufacture, and ornamented with grotesque drawings.] LIBRARY OF THE WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE ANCIENT AND MODERN CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER EDITOR HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE LUCIA GILBERT RUNKLE GEORGE HENRY WARNER ASSOCIATE EDITORS Connoisseur Edition VOL. XII. NEW YORK THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY Connoisseur Edition LIMITED TO FIVE HUNDRED COPIES IN HALF RUSSIA _No_. .......... Copyright, 1896, by R. S. PEALE AND J. A. HILL _All rights reserved_ THE ADVISORY COUNCIL CRAWFORD H. TOY, A. M., LL. D., Professor of Hebrew, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Mass. THOMAS R. LOUNSBURY, LL. D., L. H. D., Professor of English in the Sheffield Scientific School of YALE UNIVERSITY, New Haven, Conn. WILLIAM M. SLOANE, PH. D., L. H. D., Professor of History and Political Science, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, Princeton, N. J. BRANDER MATTHEWS, A. M., LL. B., Professor of Literature, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, New York City. JAMES B. ANGELL, LL. D., President of the UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, Ann Arbor, Mich. WILLARD FISKE, A. M., PH. D., Late Professor of the Germanic and Scandinavian Languages and Literatures, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Ithaca, N. Y. EDWARD S. HOLDEN, A. M., LL. D., Director of the Lick Observatory, and Astronomer, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Berkeley, Cal. ALCÉE FORTIER, LIT. D., Professor of the Romance Languages, TULANE UNIVERSITY, New Orleans, La. WILLIAM P. TRENT, M. A., Dean of the Department of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of English and History, UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH, Sewanee, Tenn.