food, and also to change the place where he commonly sat in the apartment.*

He did not dislike to have his rice finely cleaned, nor to have his minced meat cut quite small.

He did not eat rice which had been injured by heat or damp and turned sour, nor fish or flesh which was gone. He did not eat what was discolored, or what was of a bad flavor, nor anything which was not in season.

He did not eat meat which was not cut properly, nor what was served without its proper sauce.

Though there might be a large quantity of meat, he would not allow what he took to exceed the due proportion for the rice. It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.

He did not partake of wine and dried meat bought in the market.

He was never without ginger when he ate.

He did not eat much.

When he had been assisting at the prince's sacrifice, he did not keep the flesh which he received over night. The flesh of his family sacrifice he did not keep over three days. If kept over three days, people could not eat it.

When eating he did not converse. When in bed he did not speak.

Although his food might be coarse rice and vegetable

*This, together with other statements of his panegyrists, convey the impression that Confucius might have been somewhat superstitious as well as nice.

soup, he would offer a little of it in sacrifice with a grave, respectful air,

If his mat was, not straight he did not sit on it.

When the villagers were drinking together, on those who carried staves going out, he went out immediately

after.

When the villagers were going through their ceremonies to drive away pestilential influences, he put on his Court robes, and stood on the eastern steps.

When he was sending complimentary inquiries to any one in another State, he bowed twice as he escorted the messenger away.

Ke K’ang having sent him a present of physic, he bowed and received it, saying, "I do not know it. I dare not taste it."

The stable being burned down, when he was at Court, on his return he said, “Has any man been hurt?" He did not ask about the horses.

When the prince sent him a gift of cooked meat he would adjust his mat, first taste it, and then give it away to others. When the prince sent him a gift of undressed meat, he would have it cooked, and offer it to the spirits of his ancestors. When the prince sent him a gift of a living animal, he would keep it alive.

When he was in attendance on the prince and joining in the entertainment, the prince only sacrificed. He first tasted everything.

When he was sick and the prince came to visit him, he had his head to the east, made his Court robes be spread over him, and drew his girdle across them.

When the prince's order called him, without waiting for his carriage to be yoked, he went at once.

When he entered the ancestral temple of the State, he asked about everything.

When any of his friends died, if he had no relations who could be depended on for the necessary offices, he would say, "I will bury him."

When a friend sent him a present, though it might be a carriage and horses, he did not bow.

The only present for which he bowed was that of the flesh of sacrifice.

In bed, he did not lie like a corpse. At home, he did not put on any formal deportment.

When he saw any one in a mourning dress, though it might be an acquaintance, he would change countenance; when he saw any one wearing the cap of full dress, or a blind person, though he might be in his undress, he would salute them in a ceremonious manner.

To any person in mourning he bowed forward to the crossbar of his carriage; he bowed in the same way to any one bearing the tables of population.

When he was at an entertainment where there was an abundance of provisions set before him, he would change countenance and rise up.*

On a sudden clap of thunder, or a violent wind, he would change countenance.

When he was about to mount his carriage, he would stand straight, holding the cord.

When he was in the carriage, he did not turn his head quite round, he did not talk hastily, he did not point with his hands.

*"When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee, and put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite."

CHAPTER II.

THEOLOGY AND RELIGION.

HEAVEN DECREES, HELPS, REWARDS, PUNISHES.

"Death and life have their determined appointments; riches and honors depend upon Heaven."

The Master said, "If my principles are to advance, it is so ordered. If they are to fall to the ground, it is so ordered. What can the Kung-pih Leaou do, where such ordering is concerned?"

Yaou said, "Oh! you, Shun, the Heaven-determined order of succession now rests in your person. Sincerely hold fast the Due Mean. If there shall be distress and want within the four seas, your Heavenly revenue will come to a perpetual end."

Shun also used the same language in giving charge to Yu.

T'ang said, "I, the child Le, presume to use a darkcolored victim, and presume to announce to Thee, O most great and sovereign God, that the sinner I dare not pardon, and thy ministers, O God, I do not keep in obscurity. The examination of them is by thy mind, O God. If, in my person, I commit offenses, they are not

to be attributed to you, the people of the myriad regions. If you, in the myriad regions commit offenses, these of fenses must rest on my person."

SERVING THE SPIRITS, AND WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS.

Ke Loo asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master said, "While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?" Ke Loo added, "I venture to ask about death?" He was answered, “While you do not know life, how can you know about death?" Tsze-loo said, "There are the altars of the spirits of the land and grain."

The Master, speaking of Chung-kung, said, "If the calf of a brindled cow be red and horned, although man may not wish to use it, would the spirits of the mountains and rivers put it aside?”*

Tsze-kung wished to do away with the offering of a sheep connected with the inauguration of the first day of each month.

The Master said, "Tsze, you love the sheep; I love the ceremony." †

The rules of the Chow dynasty required that sacrificial victims should be red and have good horns. An animal with those qualities, though it might spring from one not possessing them, would certainly not be unacceptable on that account to the spirits sacrificed to.

†The emperor in the last month of the year gave out to the princes a calendar for the first days of the twelve months of the year ensuing. This was kept in their ancestral temples, and on the first of each month they offered a sheep and announced the day, requesting sanction for the duties of the month.