THE SHE KING; OR, THE BOOK OF ANCIENT POETRY

112 THE BOOK OF POETRY. [PAET I.
All around abundant grew.
Slow the fields I wandered through,
Drunk with grief such sights to view.
Friends who knew me understood
What induced my saddened mood.
Those who did not know me said,
There I search for something made.
0 thou azure Heaven, remote,
Who this desolation wrought ?
3 Where the palaces rose grand,
When Chow nobly ruled the land,
Millets, heavy, drooping low,
Some the bursting grain that show,
All around abundant grew.
Slow the fields I wandered through,
Breath nigh stopt such scene to view.
Friends who knew me understood
What induced my saddened mood.
Those who did not know me said,
There I search, for something made.
0 thou azure Heaven, remote,
Who this desolation wrought ?
II. Scotice.
The Keun-tsze yn yih ; narrative. THE FEELINGS OF A WIFE ON
THE PROLONGED ABSENCE OF HEE HUSBAND ON SEBYICE, AND HEE
LONGING FOE HIS EETUEN.
1 The gudeman's awa, for to fecht wi' the stranger,
An' when he'll be back, oh ! my hert canna tell.
The hens gae to reist, an' the beests to their manger,
As hameward they wend frae their park on the hill.
But hoc can I, thus left alane,
Help thinking o' my man that's gane ?
2 The gudeman's awa, for to fecht wi' the stranger,
An' lang will it be ere he see his fireside.
The hens g-ae to reist, an' the beests to their manger,
As the slantin' sunbeams throu the forest trees glide.
Heaven kens the lanesome things I think.
Heaven sen' my man his meat an' drink !
BE VI. IV.] THE BOOK OF POETKT. 113
III. Scotice.
The Keun-tsze yang-yang ; narrative. THE HUSBAND S SATISFACTION,
AND THE WIFE'S JOY, ON HIS EETURN.
I have interpreted both this piece and the former after Choo He. He
thinks this is a sequel to the other ; and I do not think anything better
can be made of it.
1 The gudeman's come hame, an' his face weers a bloom,
His organ o' reeds he hads in his left han';
An' his richt han' ca's me to come till his room :—
It's siccan a joy ; it's mair nor I can stan'.
2 The gudeman's come hame, an' he's pleesed I'll engage,
His gran' fether screen he hads in his left han' j
An' his richt han' ca's me to come till the stage :—
It's siccan a joy; it's mair nor I can stan'.
For the following Latin version of these two verses I am indebted to
Mr Mercer.
Fronte vir grata meus appropinquat,
In manu portat citharam sinistra;
Allicit dextra thalamos inire.
Gaudia nobis!
Indicit Isetam faciem Maritus,
Fert et umbellam gracilem in sinistrS,;
Invocat dextra penetrare scenam.
Gaudia nobis!
IV.
The Tang eke shmuy: allusive. THE TEOOPS OF CHOW, KEPT ON
DUTY IN SHIN, MUEMUB AT THEIE SEPAEATION FBOM THEIE FAMILIES.
The mother of king P'ing was a Keang, a daughter of the house of
Shin. That State had suffered repeatedly from the attacks of Ts'oo, and
the king, after removing to the eastern capital, sent his own people to
occupy and defend it, and kept them long absent on the service ; and this
piece contains the expression of their dissatisfaction in consequence. The
bearing of the two allusive lines in each stanza on the rest has not been
detected in a satisfactory way by any one.—foo and Heu were Email
States, confederate with Shin.
VOL. in. 8