take advice from the men of yellow hair, and then I shall be free from error. That good old officer! -his strength is exhausted, but I would rather have him (as my counsellor). That dashing brave officer!-his shooting and charioteering are faultless, but I would rather not wish to have him. As to men of quibbles, skilful at cunning words, and able to make the good man change his purposes, what have I to do to make much use of them?

'I have deeply thought and concluded.-Let me have but one resolute minister, plain and sincere, without other ability, but having a straightforward mind, and possessed of generosity, regarding the talents of others as if he himself possessed them; and when he finds accomplished and sage men, loving them in his heart more than his mouth expresses, really showing himself able to bear them: -such a minister would be able to preserve my descendants and people, and would indeed be a giver of benefits.

'But if (the minister), when he finds men of ability, be jealous and hates them; if, when he finds accomplished and sage men, he oppose them and does not allow their advancement, showing himself really not able to bear them :-such a man will not be able to protect my descendants and people; and will he not be a dangerous man?

'The decline and fall of a state may arise from one man. The glory and tranquillity of a state may also arise from the goodness of one man.'

THE SHIH KING

OR

BOOK OF POETRY:

ALL THE PIECES AND STANZAS IN IT ILLUSTRATING

THE RELIGIOUS VIEWS AND PRACTICES OF

THE WRITERS AND THEIR TIMES.

THE SHIH KING

OR

BOOK OF POETRY.

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

THE NAME AND CONTENTS OF THE CLASSIC.

of the

character Shih.

1. Among the Chinese classical books next after the Shû in point of antiquity comes the Shih or Book of Poetry. The character Shû, as formed by the combination of The meaning two others, one of which signified 'a pencil,' and the other 'to speak,' supplied, we saw, in its structure, an indication of its primary significance, and furnished a clue to its different applications. The character Shih 2 was made on a different principle,— that of phonetical formation, in the peculiar sense of these words when applied to a large class of Chinese terms. The significative portion of it is the character for 'speech,' but the other half is merely phonetical, enabling us to approximate to its pronunciation or name. The meaning of the compound has to be learned from its usage. Its most common significations are 'poetry,' 'a poem, or poems,' and 'a collection of poems.' This last is its meaning when we speak of the Shih or the Shih King.

The earliest Chinese utterance that we have on the subject of poetry is that in the Shû by the ancient Shun, when he said to his Minister of Music, 'Poetry is the expression of earnest thought, and singing is the prolonged

utterance of that expression.' To the same effect is the language of a Preface to the Shih, sometimes ascribed to Confucius, and certainly older than our Christian era :— 'Poetry is the product of earnest thought. Thought cherished in the mind becomes earnest; then expressed in words, it becomes poetry. The feelings move inwardly, and are embodied in words. When words are insufficient for them, recourse is had to sighs and exclamations. When sighs and exclamations are insufficient for them, recourse is had to the prolonged utterance of song. When this again is insufficient, unconsciously the hands begin to move and the feet to dance. . . . . To set forth correctly the successes and failures (of government), to affect Heaven and Earth, and to move spiritual beings, there is no readier instrument than poetry.'

Rhyme, it may be added here, is a necessary accompaniment of poetry in the estimation of the Chinese. Only in a very few pieces of the Shih is it neglected.

2. The Shih King contains 305 pieces and the titles of The contents six others. The most recent of them are of the Shih. assigned to the reign of king Ting of the Kâu dynasty, B. C. 606 to 586, and the oldest, forming a group of only five, to the period of the Shang dynasty which preceded that of Kâu, B. C. 1766 to 1123. Of those five, the latest piece should be referred to the twelfth century B. C., and the most ancient may have been composed five centuries earlier. All the other pieces in the Shih have to be distributed over the time between Ting and king Wăn, the founder of the line of Kâu. The distribution, however, is not equal nor continuous. There were some reigns of which we do not have a single poetical fragment. The whole collection is divided into four parts, called the Kwo Făng, the Hsiâo Yâ, the Tâ Yâ, and the Sung.

The Kwo Făng, in fifteen Books, contains 160 pieces, nearly all of them short, and descriptive of manners and events in several of the feudal states of Kâu. The title has been translated by The Manners of the Different States, 'Les Mours des Royaumes,' and, which I prefer, by Lessons from the States.