7 The waters bubbling up make known How deep and strong the spring below; From which my words of sorrow flow. Why happened it ere I was dead ? Great and mysterious Heaven can aid. XI. The Shaou min; narrative, all but st. 6, which is metaphorical, THE WRITER BEMOANS THE MISERY AND RUIN WHICH WERE GOING ON, AND SHOWS HOW THEY WERE OWING TO THE KING'S EMPLOYMENT OF MEAN AND WORTHLESS CHARACTERS. The subject and style of this piece lead us to assign the same author. ship to it as to the preceding one. “The writer," says one of the critics, “saw that nothing now could be done for the kingdom, and that the honoured capital of Chow was near destruction; but in his loyal and righteous heart he could not cease to hope concerning his sovereign. In the former ode he expresses his wish that the king would not disgrace his ancestors, and here that he would use such ministers as the duke of Shaou. A filial son will not refrain from giving medicine to his father, though he knows-that his disease is incurable, and a loyal minister will still give good advice to his sovereign, though he knows that the kingdom is on the verge of ruin." 1 O pitying Heaven, why see we thee In terrors thus arrayed ? And homeless roam, dismayed. Our regions all lie waste and drear. And lo! in place appear Locusts looked at with fear, Can such as these bring peace and life ? Yet sees in them no ill. Us to dread peril's brink they bring; Our minds with care they fill. Not for a moment dare we rest, Degraded oft, and sore opprest. 4 As when the dry parched grass we see Wither for want of rain; Cannot their life retain ; 5 'Twas merit once that riches gained; The case how different now! And greater still they grow. 6 Now empty stands and dry the pool; No streams into it flow. Unfed now from below! 7 When our first kings the throne received, Such ministers they had In one day he would add THE B00K OF Ꮲ0ᎬᎢᎡY. PART IV. ODES OF THE TEMPLE AND THE ALTAR. Book I. Sacrificial Odes of Chow. SECTION I. DECADE OF TsʻING MEAOU, TITLE OF THE Part. This is simply in Chinese Sung ;-meaning, according to the Preface, “pieces in admiration of the embodied manifestation of complete virtue, announcing to Spiritual Beings their achieve. ment thereof." Two other definitions are—“ Songs for the music of the ancestral temple," and " Songs for the music at sacrifices." I have combined these two accounts of the pieces, though there are a few whose only claim to have anything to do with sacrifices is that they are found here. Of the pieces in the Second Book I will speak when we come to them, -It has been mentioned in the prolegomena that some of the pieces do not rhyme. This is probably the reason why they have not in this Book been divided into stanzas and numbered. TITLE OF THE BOOK. The pieces in this were all appropriate to the temple services of the kings of Chow; and they are arranged in sections, two of which contain ten pieces each, and the third, like the third Book of last Part, eleven. Yet all the sections are called Decades, Choo contends, in opposition to the older interpreters, and correctly in my opinion, that of the thirty-one pieces in the Sung of Chow, while most were made (or fixed) by the duke of Chow, there are some among them belonging to the reign of king K'ang (B.C. 1077—1050), and even of a later date. . The Ts'ing mëaou ; narrative. CELEBRATING THE REVERENTIAL MANNER IN WHICH A SACRIFICE TO KING WAN WAS PERFORMED, AND FURTHER PRAISING HIM. Choo agrees with the Preface in assigning the composition of this piece to the time of the sacrifice mentioned in the Book of History, V. xiii. 29, when, the building of Loh being completed, king Ching came to the new city, and offered a red bull to Wăn and the same to Woo. Solemn and pure the ancestral temple stands. The princes aiding in the service move Of officers their rapt devotion prove. And while they think of him on high in heaven, The duties to them in his temple given. And ne'er will men be weary of his fame. II. The Wei T ëen che ming; narrative. CELEBRATING THE VIRTUE OF KING WAN AS COMPARABLE TO THAT OF HEAVEN ; AND LOOKING TO HIM FOR BLESSING IN THE FUTURE. The Preface says that in this piece there is an announcement of the realization of complete peace throughout the kingdom ; and the old interpreters referred it to a sacrifice to Wăn by the duke of Chow, when he had completed his Statutes for the new dynasty in the sixth year of his regency after the death of Woo. But neither the piece nor any ancient testimony authorizes a more definite argument of the contents than that which I have given. Heaven by a deep and ceaseless law Orders its ways with man. The virtue of king Wan. As all our powers we strain His favour we shall gain. His love and grace retain ! Latinè. By W. T. Mercer. Et Regis probitas undique mira fuit. Sit satis; et nobis munera grata fluant : Et mentem similem sæcla futura colant. IIL The Wei ts'ing; narrative. APPROPRIATE AT SOME SACRIFICE TO KING WAN, AND CELEBRATING HIS STATUTES. According to the Preface, these lines were sung to accompany the dance of king Woo, called Sëang. That dance consisted in going through a number of movements, intended to illustrate the style of fighting introduced by Woo, and supposed to be described in the Book of History, V. ii. 7, 8. But, as Choo observes, there is no reference in the piece to the dance, and the imperial editors allow this, while at the same time they are unwilling to give up the old view, and accumulate authorities in support of it. But we can say nothing more about it than I have done above. The piece, moreover, has the appearance of a fragment. The statutes of king Wan are pure and clear; IV. The Lëch wăn; narrative. A SONG IN PRAISE OF THE PRINCES WHO HAVE ASSISTED AT A SACRIFICE. The Preface says that this piece was made on the occasion of king Ching's accession to the government, when he thus addressed the princes who had assisted him in the ancestral temple. Choo views it as a piece for general use in the ancestral temple when the king presented a cup to his assisting guests after they had thrice presented the cup to the representatives of the dead. Ye brilliant and accomplished lords, Who with your help my worship crown, My sons in future reigns shall own. Alike all greed and wastefulness; And when your present services |