[1. If the character here translated 'temple' had no other signification but that, there would-be an end of the dispute about the meaning of the piece. But while we find it often used- of the ancestral temple, it may also mean any building, especially one of a large and public character, such as a palace or. mansion; and hence some contend that it should be interpreted here of 'the silkworm house.' We are to conceive of the lady, after, having gathered the materials for sacrificial use, then preparing them according to rule, and while it is yet dark on the morning of the -sacrificial day, going with them into the temple, and setting them forth in their proper vessels and places.]

With head-dress reverently rising aloft, Early, while yet it is night, she is in the prince's (temple). In her head-dress, slowly retiring, She returns (to her own apartments).

ODE 4. THE ZHI PIN.

CELEBRATING THE DILIGENCE AND REVERENCE OF THE YOUNG WIFE OF AN OFFICER, DOING HER PART IN SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS.

She gathers the large duckweed, By the banks of the stream in the southern valley. She gathers the pondweed, In those pools left by the floods.

She deposits what she gathers, In her square baskets and round ones. She boils it, In her tripods and pans.

She sets forth her preparations, Under the window in the ancestral chamber[1]. Who superintends the business? It is (this) reverent young lady.

[1. 'The ancestral chamber' was a room behind the temple of the family, dedicated specially to the ancestor of the officer whose wife is the subject of the piece. The princes of states were succeeded, as a rule, by the eldest son of the wife proper. Their sons by other wives were called 'other sons.' The eldest son by the wife proper of one of them became the 'great ancestor' of the clan descended from him, and 'the ancestral chamber' was an apartment dedicated to him. Mo and other interpreters, going on certain statements as to the training of daughters in the business of sacrificing in this apartment for three months previous to their marriage, contend that the lady spoken of here was not yet married, but was only undergoing this preparatory education. It is not necessary, however, to adopt this interpretation. The lady appears doing the same duties as the wife in the former piece.]

BOOK III. THE ODES OF PHEI.

WHEN king W overthrew the dynasty of Shang, the domain of its kings was divided into three portions, the northern portion being called Phei, the southern Yung, and the eastern Wei, the rulers of which last in course of time absorbed the other two. It is impossible to say why the old names were retained in the arrangement of the odes in this Part of the Shih, for it is acknowledged on all hands that the pieces in Books iii and iv, as well as those of Book v, are all odes of Wei.

ODE 4. THE ZAH YEH.

SUPPOSED TO BE THE COMPLAINT AND APPEAL OF KWANG KIANG, A MARCHIONESS OF WEI, AGAINST THE BAD TREATMENT SHE RECEIVED FROM HER HUSBAND.

All the Chinese critics give this interpretation of the piece. Kwang Kiang was a daughter of the house of Kh, about the middle of the eighth century B.C., and was married to the marquis Yang, known in history as 'duke Kwang,' of Wei. She was a lady of admirable character, and beautiful; but her husband proved faithless and unkind. In this ode she makes her subdued moan, appealing to the sun and moon, as if they could take cognizance of the way in which she was treated. Possibly, however, the addressing those bodies may simply be an instance of prosopopoeia.

O sun, O moon, Which enlighten this lower earth! Here is this man, Who treats me not according to the ancient rule. How can he get his mind settled? Would he then not regard me?

O sun, O moon, Which overshadow this lower earth! Here is this man, Who will not be friendly with me. How can he get his mind settled? Would he then not respond to me?

O sun, O moon, Which come forth from the east! Here is this man, With virtuous words, but really not good. How can he get his mind settled? Would he then allow me to be forgotten?

O sun, O moon, From the east that come forth! O father, O mother, There is no sequel to your nourishing of me. How can he get his mind settled? Would he then respond tome contrary to all reason?

ODE 15, STANZA 1. THE PEI MAN.

AN OFFICER OF WEI SETS FORTH HIS HARD LOT, THROUGH DISTRESSES AND THE BURDENS LAID UPON HIM, AND HIS SILENCE UNDER IT IN SUBMISSION TO HEAVEN.

I go out at the north gate, With my heart full of sorrow. Straitened am I and poor, And no one takes knowledge of my distress. So it is! Heaven has done it[1];—What then shall I say?

BOOK IV. THE ODES OF YUNG.

See the preliminary note on p. 433.

ODE 1. THE PAI KU.

PROTEST OF A WIDOW AGAINST BEING URGED TO MARRY AGAIN, AND HER APPEAL TO HER MOTHER AND TO HEAVEN.

THIS piece, it is said, was made by Kung Kiang, the widow of Kung-po, son of the marquis Hs Of Wei (B.C. 855-814). Kung-po having died an early death, her parents (who must have been the marquis of Kh and his wife or one of the ladies of his harem) wanted to force her to a second marriage, against which she protests. The ode was preserved, no doubt, as an example of

[1. The 'Complete Digest of Comments on the Shih' warns its readers not to take 'Heaven' here as synonymous with Ming, 'what is decreed or Commanded.' The writer does not go on to define the precise idea which he understood the character to convey. This appears to be what we often mean by 'Providence,' when we speak of anything permitted, rather than appointed, by the supreme ruling Power.]

what the Chinese have always considered a great virtue,—the refusal of a, widow to marry again.

It floats about, that boat of cypress wood, There in the middle of the Ho [1]. With his two tufts of hair falling over his forehead [2], He was my mate; And I swear that till death I will have no other. O mother, O Heavens[3], Why will you not understand me?

It floats about, that boat of cypress wood, There by the side of the Ho. With his two tufts of hair falling over his forehead, He was my only one; And I swear that till death I will not do the evil thing. O mother, O Heaven, Why will you not understand me?

ODE 3, STANZA 2. THE KN-DZE KIEH LO.

CONTRAST BETWEEN THE BEAUTY AND SPLENDOUR OF HSAN KIANG AND HER VICIOUSNESS.

Hsan Kiang was a princess of Kh, Who, towards the close of the seventh century B.C., became wife to the marquis of Wei, known as duke Hsan. She was beautiful and unfortunate, but various things are related of her indicative of the grossest immoralities prevailing in the court of Wei.

How rich and splendid Is her pheasant-figured

[1. These allusive lines, probably, indicate the speaker's widowhood, Which left her like 'a boat floating about on the water.'

2. Such was the mode in which the hair was kept, while a boy or young man's parents were alive, parted into two tufts from the pia mater, and brought down as low as the eyebrows on either side of the forehead.

3. Mo, thought that the lady intended her father by 'Heaven;' while K held that her father may have been dead, and that the mother is called Heaven, with reference to the kindness and protection that she ought to show. There seems rather to be in the term a wild, and not very intelligent, appeal to the supreme Power in heaven.]

robe[1]! Her black hair in masses like clouds, No false locks does she descend to. There are her earplugs of jade, Her comb-pin of ivory, And her high forehead, so white. She appears like a visitant from heaven! She appears like a goddess[2].

ODE 6, STANZAS 1 AND 2. THE TING KIH FANG KNG.

CELEBRATING THE PRAISE OF DUKE WIN;—HIS DILIGENCE, FORESIGHT, USE OF DIVINATION, AND OTHER QUALITIES.

The state of Wei was reduced to extremity by an irruption of some northern hordes in B.C. 660, and had nearly disappeared from among the states of Kau. Under the marquis Wei, known in history as duke Wan, its fortunes revived, and he became a sort of second founder of the state.

When Ting culminated (at night-fall)[3] He began to build the palace at Kh [4], Determining

[1. The lady is introduced arrayed in the gorgeous robes worn by the princess of a state in the ancestral temple.

2 P. Lacharme translated these two concluding lines by 'Tu primo aspectu coelos (pulchritudine), et imperatorem (majestate) adaequas,' without any sanction of the Chinese critics; and moreover there was no T (#) in the sense of imperator then in China. The sovereigns of Kau were Wang or kings. K Hs expands the lines thus:—'Such is the beauty of her robes and appearance, that beholders are struck with awe, as if she were a spiritual being.' Hs Khien (Yan dynasty) deals with them thus:—With such splendour of beauty and dress, how is it that she is here? She has come down from heaven I She is a spiritual being!'

3 Ting is the name of a small space in the heavens, embracing /alpha/ Markab and another star of Pegasus. Its culminating at night-fall was the signal that the labours of husbandry were over for the year, and that building operations should be taken in hand. Great as was the urgency for the building of his new capital, duke Win would not take it in hand till the proper time for such a labour was arrived.

4 Kh, or Kh-khi, was the new capital of Wei, in the present district of Khang-w, department Zho-ku, Shan-tung.]

its aspects by means of the sun. He built the palace at Kh. He planted about it hazel and chesnut trees, The , the Thung, the Dze, and the varnish tree. Which, when cut down, might afford materials for lutes.

He ascended those old walls, And thence surveyed (the site of) Kh. He surveyed Kh and Thang[1], With the lofty hills and high elevations about. He descended and examined the mulberry trees. He then divined by the tortoise-shell, and got a favourable response [2]; And thus the issue has been truly good.

BOOK V. THE ODES OF WEI.

IT has been said on the title of Book iii, that Wei at first was the eastern portion of the old domain of the kings of Shang. With this a brother of king W, called Khang-sh, was invested. The principality was afterwards increased by the absorption of Phei and Yung. It came to embrace portions of the present provinces of Kih-l, Shan-tung, and Ho-nan. It outlasted the dynasty of Ku itself, the last prince of Wei being reduced to the ranks of the people only during the dynasty of Khin.

ODE 4, STANZAS I AND 2. THE MANG.

AN UNFORTUNATE WOMAN, WHO HAD BEEN SEDUCED INTO AN IMPROPER CONNEXION, NOW CAST OFF, RELATES AND BEMOANS HER SAD CASE.

An extract is given from the pathetic history here related, because it shows how divination was used among the common people, and entered generally into the ordinary affairs of life.

A simple-looking lad you were, Carrying cloth

[1. Thang was the name of a town, evidently not far from Kh.

2. We have seen before how divination was resorted to on occasion of new undertakings, especially in proceeding to rear a city.]

to exchange it for silk. (But) you came not so to purchase silk;-You came to make proposals to me. I convoyed you through the Kh [1], As far as Tun-khi [2], 'It is not I,' (I said), 'who would protract the time; But you have had no good go-between. I pray you be not angry, And let autumn be the time.'

I ascended that ruinous wall, To look towards F-kwan [3]; And when I saw (you) not (coming from) it, My tears flowed in streams. When I did see (you coming from) F-kwan, I laughed and I spoke. You had consulted, (you said), the tortoiseshell and the divining stalks, And there was nothing unfavourable in their response [4]. 'Then come,' (I said), 'with your carriage, And I will remove with my goods.'

BOOK VI. THE ODES OF THE ROYAL DOMAIN.

KING Wan, it has been seen, had for his capital the city of Fang, from which his son, king W, moved the seat of government to Ho. In the time of king Khang, a city was built by the duke

[1. The Kh was a famous river of Wei.

2. Tun-khi was a well-known place—'the mound or height of Tun'-south of the Wei.

'F-kwan must have been the place where the man lived, according to K. Rather, it must have been a pass (F-kwan may mean 'the gate or pass of F'), through which he would come, and was visible from near the residence of the woman.

4 Ying t observes that the man had never divined about the matter, and said that he had done so only to complete the process of seduction. The critics dwell on the inconsistency of divination being resorted to in such a case:—'Divination is proper only if used in reference to what is right and moral.']

of Ku, near the present Lo-yang, and called 'the eastern capital.' Meetings of the princes of the states assembled there; but the court continued to be held at Ho till the accession of king Phing in B.C. 770. From that time, the kings of Ku sank nearly to the level of the princes of the states, and the poems collected in their domain were classed among the 'Lessons of Manners from the States,' though still distinguished by the epithet 'royal' prefixed to them.

ODE 1, STANZA 1. THE SH-L.

AN OFFICER DESCRIBES HIS MELANCHOLY AND REFLECTIONS ON SEEING THE DESOLATION OF THE OLD CAPITAL OF KAU, MAKING HIS MOAN TO HEAVEN BECAUSE OF IT.

There is no specific mention of the old. capital of Ku in the piece, but the schools of Mo and K are agreed in this interpretation, which is much more likely than any of the others that have been proposed.

There was the millet with its drooping heads; There was the sacrificial millet coming into blade[1]. Slowly I moved about, In my heart all-agitated. Those who knew me said I was sad at heart. Those who did not know me, Said I was seeking for something. O thou distant and azure Heaven[2]! By what man was this (brought about)[3]?

[1. That is, there where the ancestral temple and other grand buildings of Ho had once stood.

2. 'He cried out to Heaven,' says Yen Zhan, 'and told (his distress), but he calls it distant in its azure brightness, lamenting that his complaint was not heard.' This is, probably, the correct explanation of the language. The speaker would by it express his grief that the dynasty of Ku and its people were abandoned and uncared for by Heaven.

3. Referring to king Y, whose reckless course had led to the destruction of Ho by the Zung, and in a minor degree to his son, king Phing, who had subsequently removed to the eastern capital.]

ODE 9, STANZAS 1 AND 3. THE T K.

A LADY EXCUSES HERSELF FOR NOT FLYING TO HER LOVER BY HER FEAR OF A SEVERE AND VIRTUOUS MAGISTRATE, AND SWEARS TO HIS THAT SHE IS SINCERE IN HER ATTACHMENT TO HIM.

His great carriage rolls along, And his robes of rank glitter like the young sedge. Do I not think of you? But I am afraid of this officer, and dare not (fly to you).

While living we may have to occupy different apartments; But, when dead, we shall share the same grave. If you say that I am not sincere, By the bright sun I swear that I am[1].

BOOK X. THE, ODES OF THANG.

THE odes of Thang were really the odes of Zin, the greatest of the fiefs of Ku until the rise of Khin. King Khang, in B.C. 1107, invested his younger brother, called Sh-y, with the territory where Yo was supposed to have ruled anciently as the marquis of Thang, in the present department of Thi-yan, Shan-hs, the fief retaining that ancient name. Subsequently the name of the state was changed to Zin, from the river Zin in the southern part of it.

ODE, 8, STANZA 1. THE PO Y.

THE MEN OF ZIN, CALLED OUT TO WARFARE BY THE KING'S ORDER, MOURN OVER THE CONSEQUENT SUFFERING OF THEIR PARENTS, AND LONG FOR THEIR RETURN TO THEIR ORDINARY AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS, MAKING THEIR APPEAL TO HEAVEN.

S-s go the feathers of the wild geese, As

[1. In the 'Complete Digest' this oath is expanded in the following way:—'These words are from my heart. If you think that they are not sincere, there is (a Power) above, like the bright sun, observing me;—how should my words not be sincere?']

they settle on the bushy oaks[1]. The king's affairs must not be slackly discharged, And (so) we cannot plant our millets;—What will our parents have to rely on? O thou distant and azure Heaven [2]! When shall we be in our places again?

ODE 11. THE KO SHANG.

A WIFE MOURNS THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND, REFUSING TO BE COMFORTED, AND DECLARES THAT SHE WILL CHERISH HIS MEMORY TILL HER OWN DEATH.

It is supposed that the husband whose death is bewailed in this piece had died in one of the military expeditions of which duke Hsien (B.C. 676-651) was fond. It may have been so, but there is nothing in the piece to make us think of duke Hsien. I give it a place in the volume, not because of the religious sentiment in it, but because of the absence of that sentiment, Where we might expect it. The lady shows the grand virtue of a Chinese widow, in that she will never marry again. And her grief would not be assuaged. The days would all seem long summer days, and the nights all long winter nights; so that a hundred long years would seem to drag their slow course, But there is not any hope expressed of a re-union with her husband in another state. The 'abode' and the 'chamber' of which she speaks are to be understood of his grave; and her thoughts do not appear to go beyond it.

The dolichos grows, covering the thorn trees; The convolvulus spreads all over the waste [3]. The

[1. Trees are not the proper. place for geese to rest on; and the attempt to do so is productive of much noise and trouble to the birds. The lines would seem to allude to the hardships of the soldiers' lot, called from their homes to go on a distant expedition.

2. See note 2 on ode I of Book vi, where Heaven is appealed to in the same language.

3. These two lines are taken as allusive, the speaker being led by the sight of the weak plants supported by the trees, shrubs, and tombs, to think of her own desolate, unsupported condition. But they may also be taken as narrative, and descriptive of the battleground, where her husband had met his death.]

man of my admiration is no more here;—With whom can I dwell? I abide alone.

The dolichos grows, covering the jujube trees; The convolvulus spreads all over the tombs. The man of my admiration is no more here;—With whom can I dwell? I rest alone.

How beautiful was the pillow of horn! How splendid was the embroidered coverlet[1]! The man of my admiration is no more here;—With whom can I dwell? Alone (I wait for) the morning.

Through the (long) days of summer, Through the (long) nights of winter (shall I be alone), Till the lapse of a hundred years, When I shall go home to his abode.

Through the (long) nights of winter, Through the (long) days of summer(shall I be alone), Till the lapse of a hundred years, When I shall go home to his chamber.

BOOK XI. THE ODES OF KHIN.

THE state of Khin took its name from its earliest principal city, in the present district of Khing-shui, in Khin Kau, Kan-s. Its chiefs claimed to be descended from Y, who appears in the Sh as the forester of Shun, and the assistant of the great Y in his labours on the flood of Yo. The history of his descendants is very imperfectly related till we come to a Fei-Dze, who had charge of the herds of horses belonging to king Hsio (B.C. 90989.5), and in consequence of his good services. was invested with

[1. These things had been ornaments of the bridal chamber; and as the widow thinks of them, her grief becomes more intense.]

the small territory of Khin, as an attached state. A descendant of his, known as duke Hsiang, in consequence of his loyal services, when the capital was moved to the cast in B.C. 770, was raised to the dignity of an earl, and took his place among the great feudal princes of the kingdom, receiving also a large portion of territory, which included the ancient capital of the House of Ku. In course of time Khin, as is well known, superseded the dynasty of Ku, having gradually moved its capital more and more to the east. The people of Khin were, no doubt, mainly composed of the wild tribes of the west.

ODE 6, STANZA 1. THE HWANG NIO.

LAMENT FOR THREE WORTHIES OF KHIN, WHO WERE BURIED IN THE SAME GRAVE WITH DUKE M.

There is no difficulty or difference in the interpretation of this piece; and it brings us down to B.C. 621. Then died duke M, after playing an important part in the north-west of China for thirty-nine years. The Zo Kwan, under the sixth year of duke Wan, makes mention of M's requiring that the three brothers here celebrated should be buried with him, and of the composition of this piece in consequence. Sze-m Khien says that this barbarous practice began with M's predecessor, with whom sixty-six persons were buried alive, and that one hundred and seventy-seven in all were buried with M. The death of the last distinguished man of the House of Khin, the emperor [1], was subsequently celebrated by the entombment with him of all the inmates of his harem.

They flit about, the yellow birds, And rest upon the jujube trees [1]. Who followed duke M in the grave? Dze-k Yen-hs. And this Yen-hs Was a man above a hundred. When he came to the

[1. It is difficult to see the relation between these two allusive lines and the rest of the stanza. Some say that it is this,-that the people loved the three victims as they liked the birds; others that the birds among the trees were in their proper place,—very different from the brothers in the grave of duke M.]

grave, He looked terrified and trembled. Thou azure Heaven there! Could he have been redeemed, We would have given a hundred (ordinary) men for him[1].

BOOK XV. THE ODES OF PIN.

DUKE Li, an ancestor of the Ku family, made a settlement, according to its traditions, in B.C. 1797, in Pin, the site of which is pointed out, 90 l to the west of the present district city of San-shui, in Pin Kau, Shen-hs, where the tribe remained till the movement eastwards of Than-f, celebrated in the first decade of the Major Odes of the Kingdom, ode 3. The duke of Ku, during the minority of king Khang, made, it is supposed, the first of the pieces in this Book, describing for the instruction of the young monarch, the ancient ways of their fathers in Pin; and subsequently sonic one compiled other, odes made by the duke, and others also about him, and brought them together under the common name of 'the Odes of Pin.'

ODE 1, STANZA 8. THE KH YEH.

DESCRIBING LIFE IN PIN IN THE OLDEN TIME; THE PROVIDENT ARRANGEMENTS THERE TO SECURE THE CONSTANT SUPPLY OF FOOD AND RAIMENT,—WHATEVER WAS NECESSARY FOR THE SUPPORT AND COMFORT OF THE PEOPLE.

If the piece was made, as the Chinese critics all suppose, by the duke of Ku, we must still suppose that he writes in the person of an old farmer or yeoman of Pin. The picture which it gives of the manners of the Chinese people, their thrifty, provident ways, their agriculture and weaving, nearly 3,700 years ago, is

[1. This appeal to Heaven is like what we met with in the first of the Odes of the Royal Domain, and the eighth of those of Thang.]

full of interest; but it is not till we come to the concluding stanza that we find anything bearing on their religious practices.

In the days of (our) second month, they hew out the ice with harmonious blows [1]; And in those of (our) third month, they convey it to the ice-houses, (Which they open) in those of (our) fourth, early in the morning A lamb having been offered in sacrifice with scallions[2]. In the ninth month, it is cold, with frost. In the tenth month, they sweep clean their stack-sites. (Taking) the two bottles of spirits to be offered to their ruler, And having killed their lambs and sheep, They go to his hall, And raising

[1. They went for the ice to the deep recesses of the hills, and wherever it was to be found in the best condition.

2.. It is said in the last chapter of 'the Great Learning,' that 'the family which keeps its stores of ice does not rear cattle or sheep,' meaning that the possessor of an ice-house must be supposed to be very wealthy, and above the necessity of increasing his means in the way described. Probably, the having ice-houses by high ministers and heads of clans was an innovation on the earlier custom, according to which such a distinction was proper only to the king, or the princes of states, on whom it devolved as I the fathers of the people,' to impart from their stores in the hot season as might be necessary. The third and fourth lines of this stanza are to be understood of what was done by the orders of the ruler of the tribe of Ku in Pin. In the Official Book of Ku, Part 1, ch. 5, we have a description of the duties of 'the Providers of Ice,' and the same subject is treated in the sixth Book of 'the Record of Rites,' sections 2 and 6. The ice having been collected and stored in winter, the ice-houses were solemnly opened in the spring. A sacrifice was offered to 'the Ruler of Cold, the Spirit of the Ice' and of the first ice brought forth an offering was set out in the apartment behind the principal hall of the ancestral temple. A sacrifice to the same Ruler of Cold, it is said, had also been offered when the ice began to be collected. The ceremony may be taken as an illustration of the manner in which religious services entered into the life of the ancient Chinese.]

the cup of rhinoceros horn, Wish him long life,—that he may live for ever[1].

[1. The custom described in the five concluding lines is mentioned to show the good and loyal feeling of the people of Pin towards their chief Having finished all the agricultural labours of the year, and being now prepared to enjoy the results of their industry, the first thing they do is to hasten to the hall of their ruler, and ask him to share in their joy, and express their loyal wishes for his happiness.]