MORAL APHORISMS, BY THE DOCTOR HU TSIN-YANG.* If an upright heart be not maintained, interment in a lucky place avails nothing. Without filial duty to parents, sacrifice to the gods avails nothing. If there be discord between brethren, harmony among friends avails nothing. With a disorderly life, pursuit of letters avails nothing. With a proud temper cherished, universal knowledge avails nothing. If folly guides in the transaction of affairs, perspicacity of intellect avails nothing. If the natural constitution be not attended to, to swallow medicine avails nothing. If fate be unpropitious, wild endeavors (to gain the desired end) will avail nothing. With the substance of others unjustly possessed, almsgiving avails nothing. If lustful desires be entertained, piety and devotion avail nothing. * Transactions of Chinese Branch of Royal Asiatic Society, Part III, 1851-2. ANCIENT CHINESE POETRY. THE HARMONIOUS WATER BIRDS.* The harmonious voices of the sacred water-birds This excellent damsel, retiring and mild, When waking and sleeping, our prince was seeking. While seeking, but not having found, His troubled thoughts waking and sleeping exclaimed, How long! Oh how long! He turns him around on his bed, and turns back, He turns him all around and returns, The Hang plant's stalks' uneven stems Are swaying to and fro. He gathers them now; * Ode first, of the Book of three hundred Odes; Chinese Repository, Vol. XVI. This excellent damsel, retiring and mild, With lutes and guitars he welcomes her home. The Hang plant's stalks' uneven stems Are swaying to and fro, they are fit for offering now ¿ This excellent damsel, retiring and mild, With music of bells and of drums, come welcome her home VERSES FROM THE TAI YA.* The following verses are extracted from a collection of odes written under the first emperors of the Cheú dynasty. During the time of Lé wáng, B.C. 850, the affairs of the State were in disorder, and a poet uttered the following complaints: Against that wild and hostile gale, The panting traveler's strength must fail. Willingly would the people bring Good words of wisdom to their king; But ah! they are compelled to say, It would be better for us now, To seek the fields, and delve, and plough; Resign state service, and instead Toil with the people for our bread. To labor in the fields all day, It is a heavy price to pay; But it were better not to grieve, And earn by toil wherewith to live. *From the "Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society," 1853, Part IV, page 55. VERSES BY THE POET SU.* To a new and lonely home, Anthem to the welcome spring. * Translation of Chinese Poetry of the medieval period—see "Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society," Part IV, 1853, page 57. MODERN CHINESE POETRY. The verses given below are by Commissioner Lin, from the SHAY YING Low SHE WHA-verses and prose from the Eagle-shooting Turret, printed in Fuh-chow-Foo, and translated for the Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Part III, 1851–2. Commissioner Lin, as near as we can learn, was born in Fuh-chow-Foo about 1787. He was distinguished as a scholar, and honored with many high offices under government. About 1838, he was commissioned as Prefect of Canton, and charged especially “to punish the consumers of opium." His activity and the vigor of his policy were the immediate cause of hastening the rupture between China and England, and of bringing on the war. In consequence of the troubles caused the government by his too faithful discharge of duty, he was recalled, was degraded in rank, and afterwards banished to E-lí, a desolate region far in the northwest territories of China. Some of his verses have reference to that banishment. He was afterwards released, his rank restored, and he was again honored with imperial favor. |