rank are those moral and political essays which have the sanction of the government and of the learned. The Shing-yu, or sacred edict, a work to which we have had occasion to refer, stands high in the list of moral and didactic books, consisting of essays written by the Emperor Yoong-ching, or theses furnished by his father and predecessor, Kâng-hy. A very respectable translation of this work was published by Dr. Milne many years back, and we may here give his own account of the book. "It treats of moral duties and of political economy. Like all similar Chinese productions, it begins with filial piety, and thence branches out into various other relative duties, according to their supposed importance. Indeed, on whatever subject a Chinese writer treats, he can at all times with the utmost facility draw arguments for its support from the relation between parent and child.* Even the grossest absurdities of their idolatry are thus supported. The work we are now considering is in general, for the matter of it, well worth a perusal. Though Christians can derive no improvement to their ethics from it, yet it will confirm them more and more in the belief of two important points, viz. that God has not left himself without a witness in the minds of the heathen; and that the bare light of nature, as it is called, even when aided by all the light of pagan philosophy, is totally incapable of leading men to the knowledge and worship of the true God. Yet, for my own part as an individual, I am of opinion that, as all truth and all good come originally from the same source, so we ought to look with a degree of reverence on those fragments of just sentiment

*It may be observed that the duties of this relation are supported occasionally by arguments and illustrations drawn very unexpectedly from nature. 'Look," say they, "at the lamb and the kid, which kneel when they are suckled by the mother."

and good principle which we sometimes meet with among the heathen."

There is more common sense, as well as more Christianity in this, than in that narrow-minded and culpable spirit of detraction which can see nothing good except at home, and has sometimes pervaded the writings of those who undertook to enlighten the Chinese.

Like the Hebrews, the Chinese number the words of their most valued books: and one object of this has been to divide the aggregate into daily or monthly portions for the learner. The work above noticed is called Wanyen-yu, the "scripture of 10,000 words," and said actually to contain that number. It is appointed to be read publicly at new and full moon to the people and soldiery of each province, though in spring and autumn it is frequently omitted, on account of the labours of agriculture. Early on the first and fifteenth day of every moon, the civil and military officers meet full dressed in a spacious public hall. The superintendent, or master of the ceremonies, calls aloud, "Stand forth in order;" which they do, according to their rank. He then says, "Kneel thrice, and bow the head nine times." They kneel and prostrate themselves with their faces towards a raised eminence, on which is a tablet with the emperor's name. He next calls aloud, "Rise and retire;" upon which they proceed to the place where the law is usually read, and where the military and people are assembled, standing round in silence. The reciter or orator, advancing towards an altar of incense, kneels, and, reverently taking the board on which the thesis appointed for the day is written, ascends a stage with it. Silence being then commanded by a species of wooden rattle, or sistrum, the text is read aloud, after which the orator explains the

* Chinese Gleaner, vol. ii. p. 29.

sense. The same forms are observed in expounding the laws generally; for the Chinese have a maxim, that "to make the laws universally known is the best way to prevent their violation."

Among their other moral and didactic works, they have collections of detached sentences and aphorisms, of which they are extremely fond, and for the expression of which their language is singularly well adapted. Pairs of these sentences, displaying a parallelism of construction, as well as meaning, and written in a fine character on ornamental labels, are a frequent decoration of their dwellings and temples. There is a work in a single volume, called Mingsin paou-kien, ‘A precious Mirror to throw Light on the Mind,' being in fact a dictionary of quotations, filled with such extracts from various works, and therefore very useful to a learner. The favourite sayings and proverbs of all nations are among the best sources of information respecting their real character and condition; and with this view the reader is presented below with a collection, which has been made without any regard to arrangement or order: :

"1. A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.

2. Misfortunes issue out where diseases enter in-at the mouth.

3. The error of one moment becomes the sorrow of a whole life.

4. Diseases may be cured, but not destiny.

5. A vacant mind is open to all suggestions, as the hollow mountain returns all sounds.

6. When the tree is felled, its shadows disappear. (Desertion of the great by their parasites.)

7. He who pursues the stag, regards not hares.

8. To be afraid of leaving a track, and yet walk upon

snow.

9. If the roots be left, the grass will grow again. (Reason given for exterminating a traitor's family.)

10. Relaxation above produces remissness below. (In authority.)

11. The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.

12. What is told in the ear, is often heard a hundred miles off.

13. Ivory is not obtained from rats' teeth. (Said in contempt.)

14. A wise man forgets old grudges.

15. Riches come better after poverty, than poverty after riches.

16. A bird can roost but on one branch; a mouse can drink no more than its fill from a river. (Enough is as good as a feast.)

17. When the pool is dry, the fish will be seen. (When accounts are settled, the balance of profits will appear.)

18. You cannot strip two skins off one cow. (There is a limit to extortion.)

19. Who swallows quick can chew but little. (Applied to learning.)

20. What cannot be told had better not be done.

21. The torment of envy is like a grain of sand in the eye. 22. He who wishes to rise in the world should veil his ambition with the forms of humility.

23. Extreme delight produces its contrast.

24. The gods cannot help a man who loses opportunities.*

* Pour être grand homme, il faut savoir profiter de toute sa fortune." -La Rochefoucauld.

VOL. II.

G

25. Dig a well before you are thirsty. (Be prepared against

contingencies.)

26. Sweet words are poison; bitter words, physic. (Flattery and reproof.)

27. The full stomach cannot comprehend the evil of hunger. 28. To eat stolen food without wiping the lips. (The practices of a rogue without his art.)

29. Carelessness gives temptation to dishonesty.

30. Eggs are close things, but the chicks come out at last. (Murder will out.)

31. To swim with one foot on the ground. (A safe and prudent character.)

32. When Yen-wang (the King of Hell) has decreed a man to die at the third watch, no power will detain him till the fifth.

33. Better be a dog in peace than a man in anarchy.

34. Letters and husbandry-the two principal professions. 35. To add feet to a snake. (Superfluity in a discourse when the subject is exhausted.)

36. A diligent pen supplies memory and thought.

37. Who aims at excellence will be above mediocrity; who aims at mediocrity will fall short of it.

38. Pouring water on a duck's back. (Fruitless counsel or advice.)

39. To win a cat, and lose a cow.

tion.)

(Consequences of litiga

40. To stop the hand is the way to stop the mouth. (If a man will not work, neither shall he eat.)

41. No medicine is the safe medium in physic. (Between that which cures, and that which kills.)

42. Old age and faded flowers, no remedies can revive.

43. I will not try my porcelain bowl against his earthen dish. (Said in contempt.)