56 <strong>THE</strong> CHINA <strong>OF</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>BOOK</strong> <strong>OF</strong> POETKY. was not worse. That China now, with this thing in it, can be heartily received into the comity of western nations is a vain imagination. ii. The preserving salt of the kingdom was, I believe, the filial piety, with the strong family affections of the Chinese race, and their respect for the aged;—virtues certainly of eminent worth. All these are illustrated in The filial piety mally OtleS °f tnG Sbe ' &n
* <strong>THE</strong> <strong>BOOK</strong> <strong>OF</strong> POETEY. PAET I. LESSONS FROM <strong>THE</strong> STATES. <strong>BOOK</strong> I. The Odes of Chow and the South. TITLE or <strong>THE</strong> WHOLE WOKK. This in Chinese is <strong>SHE</strong> <strong>KING</strong>, " The Book of Poetry," or simply KHK, " The Poems." By poetry, according to Chinese scholars, is denoted the expression, in rhymed words, of thought impregnated with feeling. In this collection there were origin ally 811 pieces, but of six of them there are ou!y the titles remaining. They are generally short; not one of them, indeed, is a long poem. Father Lacharme, a Roman Catholic missionary who translated them into Latin about a century and a half ago, calls the Book Jjtber Car- iniiaim; and with most English writers the ordinary designation of them has been "Tlie Book of Odes." Oile is a sufficiently correct designation of many of the pieces, understanding by that term a short lyric poem. Some might better be termed songs ; some liallads ; and others Bartlic effusions. All come under the general name of Poems. TITLE or <strong>THE</strong> PART. This in Chinese is KiroU Vu>ig, which I have translated " Lessons from the States." Sir John Davis translates the words by " The manners of the States." Similarly the French Sinologues render them by " Les moeurs des Royaumes." Choo He, the foremost of Chinese critics, says :—" The pieces are called Fling, because they owe tc«r origin to, and are descriptive of, the influence produced by superiors ; and the exhibition of this is again sufficient to affect men, just as things give forth sound when moved by the waul, and their sound is again sufficient to move other things." "Lessons from the States" seems therefore to come nearer to the force of the Chinese terms than "Manners of the States." The States are those of Chow, Shaou, P'ei, Yung, and the others, which give their names to the several Books. TITLE <strong>OF</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>BOOK</strong>.—"The Odes of Chow and the South." By Chow is intended the Seat of the House or lords of Chow, from the time of " the old duke T'an-foo " in B.C. 1825. to king Wan. The chiefs of Chow traced their lineage back to K'e, better known as How-tseih, Shun's minister of Agriculture, more than 2000 years B.C. His descend ants had withdrawn among the wild tribes of the west and north ; BK 1.1.] <strong>THE</strong> <strong>BOOK</strong> <strong>OF</strong> I'OETEY. 59 but one of them, called duke Lew, returned to China in B.C. 1796, and made a settlement iu Pin, the site of which is pointed out in the present Pin Chow in Shen-se. There the family remained till T'an-foo moved still farther south in B.C. 1325, and settled in K'e, in the present district of K'e-shan, department Fung-ts'eang. Thence his grandson Wan moved south and e.ast again, across the Wei, to Fung, south-west from the present provincial city of Se-gan. When Wan took this step, he separated the original Chow—K'e-chow—into Chow and Shaou, which he made the appanages of his son Tan, and of Shih, one of his principal supporters. The pieces in this Book are said to have been collected by Tau in Chow, and the States lying south from it, along the Han and other rivers. The Kiran-ts'en ; mainly allusive. CELEBRATING <strong>THE</strong> VIRTUE <strong>OF</strong> <strong>THE</strong> BHIDE <strong>OF</strong> <strong>KING</strong> WAN, HIS QUEST F<strong>OR</strong> HER, AND WELCOMING HER TO HIS PALACE. This is the view of Choo He, and is so in accordance with the language of the stanzas, that it is not worth while to discuss the view of the older school,—that the subject of the piece is Wan's queen, and that it celebrates her freedom from jealousy, and her anxiety to fill his harem with virtuous ladies ! It is. moreover, entirely from tradition, that we believe the subject to be the famous T'ae-sze, Wan's bride and queen. I have given the Chinese name of the piece,—the Kiran-ts'eu, two characters in the first, line. The names of most of the other pieces are formed in the same way, and are not in themselves descriptive of their subjects. They were attached to them, however, before the time of Con fucius. 1 Hark ! from the islet in the stream the voice Of the fish-hawks that o'er their uest rejoice ! From them our thoughts to that young lady go, Modest and virtuous, loth herself to show. Wliere could be found, to share our prince's state, So fair, so virtuous, and so fit a mate ? 2 See how the duckweed's stalks, or short or long, Sway left and right, as moves the current strong! So hard it was for him the maid to find ! % day, by night, our prince with constant mind Sought for her long, but all his search was vain. Awake, asleep, he ever felt the pain Of longing thought, as when on restless bed, Tossing about, one turns his fevered head. 3 Here long, there short, afloat the duckweed lies ; •Ijut caught at last, we seize the longed-for prize.
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