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The best translation of the Choong-yoong is that by Abel Rémusat, late professor of Chinese at Paris: but his version has been properly censured for being rather too verbal, and for too close an adherence to the mere letter of the text, in a work which, of all others in that language, requires to be illustrated with some degree of freedom in order to make it intelligible.

3. The Lun-yu, the conversations or sayings of Confucius recorded by his disciples, together with the most remarkable actions of his life, is in all respects a complete Chinese Boswell. There is the same submissive reverence towards the great master of letters and morals, and the same display of self-devotion in erecting the fabric of his greatness. The conversational style is preserved alike throughout, as may be seen from these examples :

LUN-YU.

A disciple inquired, "What must the sage do to deserve renown?" Confucius asked, "What do you call renown?" The other replied, "To be known among the nations, and at home." Confucius said, "That is merely notoriety, and not true renown. Now this consists in straightforward and honest sincerity, in the love of justice, in the knowledge of mankind, and in humility," &c.

BOSWELL.

Talking of Goldsmith, he said, "Sir, he is so much afraid of being unnoticed, that he often talks merely lest you should forget that he is in the company." Boswell, "Yes, he stands forward." Johnson, "True, sir; but if a man is to stand forward, he should wish to do it, not in an awkward posture, not in rags, not so as that he shall only be exposed to ridicule," &c.

The advantage, however, to our taste, is much on the side of the modern philosopher. The Chinese work consists in all of twenty chapters, divided into two equal parts-the Shang and Hea (upper and lower), first and second. The maxims turn chiefly upon private or public conduct, morals or politics. The demeanour and habits of the sage are diligently recorded:-"He was mild, yet firm; majestic, though not harsh; grave, yet agreeable." He seems to have been fond of a simple and retired life. "The virtues of country people (he observes) are beautiful: he who in selecting a residence refuses to dwell among them, cannot be considered wise." The following is a specimen of the style of the Lun-yu. Being asked by a disciple to define the man of superior virtue, Confucius replied, "He has neither sorrow nor fear." "Does that alone constitute the character?" observed the other, surprised. "If a man," rejoined the sage, "searches within and finds nought wrong, need he have either sorrow or fear?" This is nothing more than the sentiment of Horace :—

"Nil conscire sibi, nullâ pallescere culpâ."

The Chinese philosopher is stated to have been an enthusiastic lover of music, and to have done something to improve it. Certain it is, that whatever was said or done by him is made a rule of action at the present day, even to his personal demeanour. It has been observed before that many of the provisions of the Penal Code are founded upon his maxims; and one instance in particular was noticed, wherein it is enacted, "that children and near relations, or dependents, shall not be punishable for concealing the faults of those with whom they dwell." The object of this seems to be the strengthening of kindred and domestic ties, founded on that precept of

Confucius "The father may conceal the faults of his son, and the son those of his father-virtue consists with this." The most remarkable passage of the Four Books,' and the best maxim of the Chinese teacher, is the following:-Being asked if any one word could express the conduct most fitting for one's whole life, he replied, "Will not the word Shoo serve?” and he explains this by "Do unto others as you would they should do unto you." This word must be admitted to be one of comprehensive import.

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“There are three things," said Confucius, “to beware of through life. When a man is young, let him beware of his appetites; when middle-aged, of his passions; and, when old, of covetousness especially." The following passage deserves notice :— "How can a mean man serve his prince? (asked the sage)-When out of office, his sole object is to attain it; and when he has attained it, his only anxiety is to keep it. In his unprincipled dread of losing his place, he will readily go all lengths.' The extreme conciseness of the language in which these books are written makes it sometimes very difficult to render their true meaning into English, except by some degree of paraphrase and circumlocution; and hence the apparent absurdities that have been justly ridiculed in some of the Protestant missionary translations. Those honest but injudicious men seemed to imagine that a verbal rendering was the one best calculated to convey the import of the original, whereas the very reverse is often the fact. The language of China is so much altered in point of copiousness, since the 'Four Books' were composed, that the native editions consist chiefly of commentaries and amplifications which are found to be absolutely necessary towards elucidating the text. This, it must be admitted,

* Chap. xvii. sec. 15.

may occasionally lead the rulers of China to interpret their great oracle in the manner best calculated to suit their own purposes, and such was the opinion of a correspondent of ours, who had spent half his life at Peking:"Confucius est toujours grave, sentencieux, laconique, mystérieux-les lettrés y trouvent tout ce qu'ils veuillent.”

4. Ranking next to Confucius (similis aut secundus) is the celebrated Mencius, so called by the Jesuits, from his Chinese name Meng-tse. He lived about a century after his great predecessor, whose doctrines he still farther illustrated and promoted, and left behind him the fourth of the sacred books, bearing his own name. His birth was, as usual, said to be attended with prodigies, but the less fabulous part of the legend attributes the virtues and learning of Mencius to the excellent precepts and example which he received from his mother. Such was her care of the boy, that she three times removed her dwelling on account of some fault in the neighbourhood. Satisfied at length on this point, she sent her son to school, while she, a poor widow, remained at home to spin and weave for a subsistence. Not pleased with his progress, she learned, on inquiry, that he was wayward and idle, upon which she rent the web, which she was weaving, asunder, partly from vexation, and partly as a figurative expression of what she wished him to remember; for when the affrighted boy asked the reason of her conduct, she made him understand that, without diligence and effort, his attending school would be as useless to his progress in learning, as her beginning a web, and destroying it when half done, would be to the procuring of food and clothing. He took the hint, addressed himself to learning with all diligence, and became a sage second only to Confucius himself. One anecdote of the mother of Mencius deserves notice. The boy, on seeing some

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animals killed, asked her what was going to be done with them. She in jest said, "They are killed to feed you; but, on recollecting herself, she repented of this, because it might teach him to lie; so she bought some of the meat and gave it to him, that the fact might agree with what she had uttered. The Chinese hold her up as the pattern of mothers.

The first book of Mencius opens with a conversation between him and the king of the state called Leang. The latter had usurped the title, and, when he invited the worthies and philosophers of the day to his court, Mencius went among the rest. On his entering, the king accosted him, saying, "I suppose you come to increase the gains of my country?" To which he replied, "What need is there to speak of gain? Benevolence and justice are all in all;"—and he illustrated this by showing that, if a spirit of selfish avarice went abroad among all ranks from the prince downwards, mutual strife and anarchy must be the result; upon which the king, as if convinced, reiterated his words, and said, "Benevolence and justice are all in all." Mencius lived to the age of eighty-four, and his memory remained without any particular marks of honour, until an emperor of the Soong dynasty, A.D. 1085, reared a temple to him in Shantong province, where his remains had been interred. He then obtained a niche in the temple of Confucius. Kea-tsing, an emperor of the Ming dynasty, which expelled the Mongols, established the memory of the sage in its ancient honours, and made one of his real or supposed descendants in the fifty-sixth generation a member of the Hân-lin College, which title was to remain hereditary in the family for the performance of the requisite sacrifices. If," as Dr. Morrison observes, "the persons who now profess to * Dictionary, part i. p. 732.

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