2 Black is every plant become;

Every man is torn from home.
Kept on foot, our state is sad ;-

As if we no feelings had ! 3 Not rhinoceroses we !

Tigers do we care to be ?
Fields like these so desolate

Are to us a hateful fate. 4 Long-tailed foxes pleased may hide

'Mong the grass, where they abide. We, in box-carts slowly borne, On the great roads plod and mourn.

THE BOOK OF POETRY.

PART III.

GREATER ODES OF THE KINGDOM.

Book I.

Decade of King Wăn.

TITLE OF THE PART. Little needs to be added here to what I have said on the title of Part II. The term "greater" is given to the pieces because of their greater length, and the themes of several of them being of a more exalted kind,—the history and virtues of the ancestors of the House of Chow, and of the founders of the dynasty. The first eighteen pieces are “the correct Ya," and are attributed to the duke of Chow.

TITLE OF THE BOOK. As in the last part, the odes should be arranged in tens; and each Decade takes its name from that of the first ode in it. In this Book Wăn is mainly the subject of the first eight pieces, and king Woo is more prominent in the other two.

The Wăn wang ; narrative. CELEBRATING KING WĂN, DEAD AND ALIVE, AS THE FOUNDER OF THE DYNASTY OF CHOW, SHOWING HOW HIS VIRTUES DREW TO HIM THE FAVOURING REGARD OF HEAVEN, AND MADE HIM A BRIGHT PATTERN TO HIS DESCENDANTS AND THEIR MINISTERS,

It is to be borne in mind that in this and other pieces Wån is spoken of as “king Wăn," as having been kinged by the duke of Chow after the subjugation of the Yin or Shang dynasty, when Woo, Wăn's son, in his old age received the appointment to the throne ;—see " The Doctrine of the Mean,” XVIII. 3. Wăn never assumed the title of king himself. The appointment of Heaven lighted on him, but it took effect only when his son Fah-king W00-became the sovereign of China.

The dynasty which Chow superseded is called indifferently Yin or Shang, and sometimes Yin-shang, by a combination of these names. The descendants of its kings, appearing at the court of Chow, assisted at the sacrifices of the king in his ancestral temple, and continued to wear the insignia of rank belonging to them as of the royal House of Yin.

1 The royal Wan now rests on high,

Enshrined in brightness of the sky.
Chow as a state had long been known,
And Heaven's decree at last was shown.
Its lords had borne a glorious name;
God kinged them when the season came.
King Wan ruled well when earth he trod;
Now moves his spirit near to God.

2 A strong-willed, earnest king was Wan,

And still his fame rolls widening on.
The gifts that God bestowed on Chow
Belong to Wan's descendants now.
Heaven blesses still with gifts divine
The hundred scions of his line;
And all the officers of Chow
From age to age more lustrous grow.

3 More lustrous still from age to age,

All reverent plans their zeal engage;
And brilliant statesmen owe their birth
To this much-favoured spot of earth.
They spring like products of the land,-
The men by whom the realm doth stand.
Such aid their numerous bands supply,
That Wan rests tranquilly on high.

4 Deep were Wan's thoughts, sustained his ways;

His reverence lit its trembling rays.
Resistless came great Heaven's decree;
The sons of Shang must bend the knee ;-
The sons of Shang, each one a king,
In numbers beyond numbering.
Yet as God spoke, so must it be :-
The sons of Shang all bent the knee.

5 Now each to Chow his homage pays,

So dark and changing are Heaven's ways.
When we pour our libations here,
The officers of Shang appear,
Quick and alert to give their aid ;-
Such is the service by them paid,

While still, they do not cast aside
The cap and broidered axe,—their pride.
Ye servants of our line of kings,
Remember him from whom it springs.

6 Remember him from whom it springs ;

Let this give to your virtue wings.
Seek harmony with Heaven's great mind;-
So shall you surest blessing find.
Ere Shang had lost the nation's heart,
Its monarchs all with God had part
In sacrifice. From them you see
'Tis hard to keep high Heaven's decree.

7 'Tis hard to keep high Heaven's decree !

O sin not, or you cease to be.
To add true lustre to your name,
See Shang expire in Heaven's dread flame.
For Heaven's high dealings are profound,
And far transcend all sense and sound.
From Wan your pattern you must draw,
And all the States will own your law.

II.

The Ta ming; narrative. How THE APPOINTMENT OF HEAVEN RESTED ON KING WAN, AND DESCENDED TO HIS SON, KING WOO, WHO OVERTHREW THE DYNASTY OF YIN OR SHANG ;-CELEBRATING ALSO THE MOTHER AND THE WIFE OF WAN.

Of Wăn's father I shall speak particularly on ode VII. He married, as st. 2 here tells us, a Jin, the second daughter of the prince of Che, a principality somewhere in the royal domain of Yin. Chinese writers celebrate her—T'ae-jin-in the highest terms, saying that her instruction of Wăn commenced while he was yet in her womb. “Her eyes looked on no improper sight; her ears listened to no licentious sound ; and her lips uttered no word of pride."

Wăn's own wife was the famous Tae-sze, of the State of Sin, north of the river Hëah, in the present district of Hoh-yang, in Trung Chow, Shen-se. The principal city must have been near the Wei.

The wild or plain of Muh, where the deciding battle between Chow and Shang was fought, was in the present Ho-nan, not far from the capital of Shang. Of Shang-foo, who appears to have been Woo's principal officer and supporter on the occasion, I have spoken in the introductory note to the Odes of Ts'e, Part I.

1 Majestic Heaven from kings below, That they illustrious virtue show,

With strictest law requires. They must not on its grace rely, Nor think that they can change defy. The House of Yin long ruled the land, Called to the throne by Heaven's command. But its last monarch, from it driven, Lost by supreme decree of Heaven

The kingdom of his sires.

2 What time in Chow ruled our king Ke,
Among the princesses of Che,

In the domain of Yin,
The second daughter of her name
Had through the land a noble fame.
Her from her parents Ke had sought,
And to his capital he brought,

And wedded her, T'ae-jin.
They both could perfect virtue claim,

No duty left undone.
A mother soon the wife became;

The child was our king Wan.

3 This our king Wan in all his way

Did watchful reverence display,
With clearest wisdom serving God,
Who, pleased to see the course he trod,

Him with great favour crowned.
His virtue no deflection knew,
But always to the right was true.
The States beheld, and all approved ;
With loyal ardour stirred and moved,

Wan as their Head they owned.

4 Throughout the land Heaven sent its glance; Whom should it to the throne advance ?

To Wan came the decree.
While he was still in early years,
By Heaven's arranging there appears

She who his bride should be.