THE SHE KING; OR, THE BOOK OF ANCIENT POETRY

274 THE BOOK OF POETRY. [PAKT II.
BOOK VIIL
THE DECADE OF TOO JEST SZE.
I.
THE Toojinsze; narrative. PKAISE OF THE LADIES AND GENTLE
MEN OP A FORMER TIME FOE, THE SIMPLICITY OF THEIR DRESS, THE
COEKECTNESS OF THEIR DEPORTMENT, AND THE ELEGANCE OF THEIB
MANNERS.
The Preface does not assign any time for the composition of this piece,
but Choo says it was made ' • after the confusion and dispersion." I think
it should be referred to the period soon after the removal of the capital
to Loh, when things were all in disorder at the new seat of government.
It may lie said that the officers and ladies of Haou, in Yew's reign, did
not deserve to be spoken of as the writer speaks ; but we need not sup
pose that they are before his eye in anything deeper than their outward
seeming. If this be not thought to satisfy the demands of the piece, we
need only assume that the writer goes back to an earlier time than that
of Yew. Yin and Keili were clan names of great families in the royal
domain, the ladies of which would be the leaders of fashion in the capital.
1 In the old capital they stood,
With yellow fox-furs plain,
Their manners all correct and good,
Speech free from vulgar etain.
Could we go back to Chow's old days,
All would look up to them with praise.
2 In the old capital they wore
T'ae hats and black caps small;
And ladies, who famed surnames bore,
Their own thick hair let fall.
Such simple ways are seen no more,
And the changed manners I deplore.
3 Ear-stoppers, made of sezv-stones fine',
In the old days were worn.
Each lady of a noble line
A Yin or Keih seemed born.
BE VIII. II.] THE BOOK OF POETRY. 275
Such officers and ladies now
I see not, and my Borrows grow.
4 With graceful Bweep their girdles fell,
Then in the days of old.
The ladies' side-hair, with a swell,
Like scorpion's tail, rose bold.
Such, if I saw them in these days,
I'd follow with admiring gaze.
5 So hung their girdles, not for show ;—
To their own length 'twas due.
'Twas not by art the hair curled so;—
By nature so it grew.
I seek such manners now in vain,
And pine for them with longing pain.
II.
The Ts'ae luh; narrative. A WIFE TELLS HER SORROW AND INCA
PABILITY OF ATTENDING TO ANYTHING, IN THE PROLONGED ABSENCE
OF HER HUSBAND, TO WHOM SHE WAS FONDLY ATTACHED.
1 So full am I of anxious thought,
Though all the morn king-grass I've sought,
To fill my arms I fail.
Like wisp all-tangled is my hair !
To wash it let me home repair.
My lord soon may I hail!
2 Though 'mong the indigo I've wrought
The morning long, through anxious thought,
My skirt's filled bat in part.
Within five days he was to appear.
The sixth has come, and he's not here.
Ohi how this racks my heart!
3 When here we dwelt in union sweet.
If the hunt called his eager feet,
His bow I cased for him.
Or if to fish he went away,
And would be absent all the day,
His line I put in trim.
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