University of Virginia Library

FRAGMENTS
OF
CHINESE
POETRY:
WITH A
DISSERTATION.

"ARS poetica est apud Sinas antiquissima,
et varia vario metro carmina complectitur.
Ea omnia legitimo literarum numero
constant, et quinque vocum ordine. Inter
quinque carminum libros - - - unus in explicandis
antiquorum principum recte secusque
factis ita versatur, ut malis terrorem addat,
bonis calcar ad virtutem. De floribus etiam,
de plantis, atque id genus rebus aliis vulgati
versus, ea tamen religione, ne qua fabularum
tormentis, ut nostrorum poetarum fert genius,
in illa scriptura sit locus. Sunt enim in eo
toti, ut eo congruentia rerum naturalium, morum
venustatem doceant. Insunt iis quædam
de amando, sed castitatem magis, quam nostrorum
poetarum molitiem spirantia, magna
decori ubique cura.

Martinij Hist. Sin. p. 111.

ADVERTISEMENT.

IT is the principal merit of these volumes that
they afford specimens of Chinese composition.
The Chinese are known to bestow great attention
on literature: this must excite our curiosity to examine
their productions. We have already seen
their attempts in prose, and in that species of it,
which may be called Romance: it is a natural
transition from thence to their Poetry. To enable
the Reader to form some judgment of this, we have
thrown together the following FRAGMENTS.
Few and trifling, as these may seem, they are almost
all that have been published in any European
language. But had we larger pieces of this kind,
they would after all give us a very incompetent idea
of the subject. The flowers of Poesy are of so delicate
a nature, that they will seldom bear to be
transplanted into a foreign language. From a
translation we can only judge of the sentiment,
the peculiar beauties of the expression will escape
us. Hence it is that the first artless productions
of any people will be translated with greater ease
and advantage, than those of a nation that is more
civilized and refined; as in the one, we expect
only the voice of sentiment; in the other the language
of study and reflection: in the one the pure
effusions of nature; in the other the studied refinements
of art. To be sensible of this, we need
only compare the literal versions of a psalm of
David, and of an ode of Horace: the former will

still retain much of that majestic simplicity, which
it possesses in the Hebrew: while the latter wi
be stripped of all those little nameless elegance
and graces, which charm us so in the original
This will also inform us, why a late translation
of some Erse Fragments appeared so striking an
poetical, whereas the most sprightly French
song, or the sublimest Grecian ode in a litera
prose version, would have been neglected.

The nearer any people are to a state of wila
nature, while their customs and notions are few
and simple, it is easy to conceive that their Poetry
will be easy and intelligible to other nations, because
it will contain descriptions of the most obvious
scenes, and will be animated by such images as
are fetched from the first and most striking views of
nature: whereas when a people have been long
trained up in a state of civil policy, when their
customs and manners have been carried to the
highest pitch of refinement, and their religious
notions and ceremonies become various and complicated,
their poetry will abound with such constant
allusions to their own peculiarities, as will
seem harsh and obscure to other nations. Thus
the artless beauties of a Lapland song, will have
charms for every eye, while the studied allusions
to their own customs and mythology, which so
constantly recur in the Poetry of the Greeks and
Romans, must to a plain unlearned Reader in
another language appear intolerably tedious and

insipid. And yet the learned know what beauty
those allusions have in the original.

To apply the foregoing reflections to the subject
in hand: no people live under more political restraints
than the Chinese, or have farther departed
from a state of nature: it is upwards of four
thousand years since they began to form a civilized
policed state: their civil and religious ceremonies
have in this time become infinitely complicated and
numerous: and hence their customs, manners, and
notions are the most artificial in the world. It
will follow that the beauties of the Chinese
Poetry[1] must of all other be the most incapable
of transfusion into other languages, and especially
into those, whose idioms are so remote and unsuitable
as are all those of Europe. It is hoped
therefore that our Fragments will be read with
some grains of allowance.

If there appear a great inequality of style in

the following translations, and if some of the
run less smoothly than others, it must be attribute
to the different mediums, through which they hav
been conveyed to us. The English version wa
made as literal, as possible, lest by aiming at elegance
it should depart from the sense of the Chinese
original.

P. Du Halde, tom. 3. p. 290.

A
DISSERTATION
ON THE
POETRY of the CHINESE.

EXTRACTED
From a Memoir of M. Freret.

In L'Hifl. de l' Acadamie Royal des Inscrip. &
Bell. Let. (Depuis 1711 jusques 1717.)

WITH ADDITIONS.

"THE Chinese language is the
most musical and harmonious
of all we are acquainted with; for
the words, which compose it, are
varied not only by Quantity, or the
longer and shorter time in which

they are pronounced: but also by
the raising and falling of the voice,
and by various inflections of tones,
like those in European music[2] . Yet
the Chinese have never been acquainted
with a versification whose
cadence is regulated by the arrangement
or disposition of these musical
tones. Their verses have only been
distinguished by the number of syllables,
to which at length they have
added rhymes[3] .

"Their first measured verses were
always composed of four syllables
or words: for these are synonimous
with the Chinese, each of their words
being pronounced in one time. Here
follows an example extracted from
the Shi-king or collection of verses,

one of the classical books, in which
Confucius collected together many
ancient pieces of poetry. These are
verses of the king Voëne Van-li,

"That is.

"While the dragon and the serpent are
silent, we perceive no difference: but
at the first hiss they discharge, we
begin to distinguish them.

"The Chinese verses at present consist
of an unequal number of syllables,
viz. of five, seven, or nine:
the ancient verses of four syllables
being now rejected. The verses now
in use have rhymes, and although the
Chinese don't distinguish, as we (Sc. the
French) their rhymes into masculine
and feminine, they nevertheless
very artificially dispose them in such
poems, as have the rhymes varied;
for the Chinese have pretty long

pieces of poetry upon the same
rhyme, and this kind of versification
is in great request amongst them.

"The stanzas are always composed
of an even number, whether of four,
six, eight, ten or twelve verses: but
in each of these the rhymes are differently
disposed according to the
nature of the stanza, in a regular
stated method, from which they never
deviate. Thus in Quatrains or
stanzas of four verses, the first and
fourth, the second and third rhyme
together. But in Sixtains or stanzas
of six verses, the first, fourth and
sixth rhyme together: the second
with third, and the fifth is left free.

Invariable laws of a similar kind
are observed in the other stanzas[4]
.

"By way of example, we shall present
the Reader with a stanza of
eight verses together with a translation:
it is An Elogium on the willow
tree, extracted from a Chinese Romance,
which the Sieur Hoangh[5] a

native of China had begun to translate
into French."

THE ELOGIUM ON THE WILLOW TREE
attempted in the same kind of stanza
with the original.

Thus far the account of M. Freret:
which is correspondent with that of
the missionaries, who add some other
particulars not mentioned in it. They
inform us that the Chinese verses ought

to have a particular relation, not only
in their rhymes, but also in their signification
and meaning: thus if one
verse signify a mountain, fire, water, or
whatever else, the correspondent verse
(as suppose the first and fourth) must
likewise correspond in its meaning[7] .
They tell us also that they have another
kind of poetry without rhyme, which
consists in the antithesis or opposition
of the thoughts; insomuch that if the
first thought relates to the spring,
the second shall turn upon the autumn:
or if the first mention fire, the other
shall express water[8] . In short the
more difficult and artificial their compositions
are, the more highly are they
valued.

From this account the Reader of
taste will expect no great matters from
the Chinese poetry: and yet this pleasing
art hath been no where in higher
request, than in China, where it was
the first vehicle of their morality religion
and politics, and where it hath
always been regarded with peculiar
reverence and esteem. Nay a facility
of composing verses is not only intitled
to general applause, but is among
the qualifications expected in all their
great Doctors and Mandarines of letters.
And they have often occasion to
exert these talents, for the Emperor

sometimes sends them pictures or furniture
for them to embellish with poetical
inscriptions[9] : nor is it unusual
at great entertaiments for the company
to divert themselves with capping
extemporary verses[10] .

But after all, the Chinese Poetry seems
to be chiefly of the epigrammatic kind,
and to consist of those difficiles nugæ,
which good taste and sound criticism

have taught Europeans to neglect. It
does not appear that they have ever
attempted any of the greater kinds of
Poesy: this at least is true of the Epic:
and it is matter of doubt whether the
Dramatic may be excepted: for the
Chinese Plays seem to be meer prosaic
dialogues, interspersed with a sew airs,
like the Italian opera. Their ancient
Odes, it must be confessed, have a grave
and majestic simplicity; but if we may
judge from the specimens produced by
P. Du Halde, they are rather solemn
lectures on morality[11] , than fraught
with that bold and daring sublimity,
which we expect to find in compositions
of that name. The only kinds
of Poetry that are cultivated much
among the Chinese, are either short
pieces, resembling the Epigrams, Rondeaus
and Madrigals of the last age:
or else collections of moral Apothegms,
which are their only essays of any
length. But in almost all their poetical
productions appears a quaintness
and affectation; a fondness for little
conceits; and a want of that noble
simplicity, which is only to be attained
by the genuine study of nature, and
of its artless beauties: a study to which
the Chinese seem to pay the least attention
of any people in the world.

And yet amidst all the restraint and
disguise in which false taste may have
confined or obscured it, true genius
will exert its powers, so that among
the Poetry of the Chinese, there will
frequently be found something to be
admired.

With this view it was thought so
short a collection as the following would
not be unacceptable to the public: nor
are there materials for a much larger.
It consists of Fragments, which are
found sprinkled up and down in a few
Latin and French books: which, although
they are only occasionally produced
in short extracts, and therefore
must appear to great disadvantage thus

disjointed from the context, yet will not
perhaps ill-repay the trouble of a slight
perusal. After all, we must intreat
the Reader's candour for whatever imperfections
he finds in the following
pieces: desiring him to consider that
many of them are not such as we
would have chosen, had we known
where to have found better.

INTRODUCTION.

THE following extract from the works
of CONFUCIUS[12] , will be no
improper introduction to the succeeding
pages, as it bears such honourable testimony
to the morul cast of the ancient
CHINESE POETRY, and contains
an argument in favour of the utility
and respectableness of that fine art in
general. It is much to the honour of
Poesy, that she hath been in all ages,
the first conductress to wisdom and virtue.

"CONFUCIUS exciting his disciples
to the study of the ancient

Poesy, saith, O my children, why do
not you study the book of ODES[13] ?

"For if we grovel on the earth, if
we lie useless and inglorious: by
the instructions in the Odes, we may
as it were be erected again, and rise
up to true and perfect honour.

"In the Odes, as in a mirrour, we
may behold what becomes us, as

also what is misbecoming: by contemplating
which we may be strongly
affected with a wholesome indignation.

"Under the influence of the Odes
we may come forth sociable, and
affable, and pleasant: for as Music[14]
aptly tempereth sounds, even so doth
Poesy our passions and appetites.

"We may hate without anger, we

may admit any other natural sensation,
and gratify it without vice[15] .

"The Odes teach us how at home
we may serve our parent: how abroad
[we may serve] our prince.

In another place, CONFUCIUS
addressing himself to his son Pe-yu, says,

"Dost thou exercise thyself in the
first chapters of the Odes, called
Cheu-nan and Chao-nan? He who
doth not exercise himself in those

chapters is like a man standing with
his face to a wall; he is rendered
totally insignificant and useless, for
he can neither move a step forward,
nor contemplate any object."

FRAGMENTS
OF
CHINESE POETRY.

I.
ELEGIAC VERSES,

Addressed to the Emperor Tai-kang[16] by
his five brethren, when, upon his being
dethroned for his vices, they
were driven with him into exile[17] .

The first Brother.

The second Brother.

The third Brother.

The fourth Brother.

The fifth Brother.

II.
A CHINESE Panegyric
From an ancient Ode[19] .

III.
Verses in Praise of VU-CUNG Prince
of the kingdom of GUEY,
From an ancient Ode[21] .

IV.
Verses on a Tyrant,

From an ancient Ode, quoted by the
CHINESE Scholiast on CONFUCIUS[24]
.

V.
On an amiable Bride.

These should seem to be part of an
Epithalamium, and are of great antiquity,
being quoted by CONFUCIUS[25]
.

VI

Among the sayings of CONFUCIUS,
are quoted from some ancient
Poem the following verses;
spoke by a Person in exile, who
seeing by chance a tree, like one
in his own Country, is reminded of
some Friend with whom he had often
there sat under its shade[26] .

VII.
A Fragment of an ancient Ode, quoted
by CONFUCIUS[27] .

VIII.

An Ode of Wey-vû-kong, a venerable
old Man of ninety-five: which he
caused to be sung every day at the
gate of the Palace[28] .

IX.
On the Divine Justice[29] .

X.
On curbing the Passions[30] .

XI.
On Detraction[31] .

XII.
On the Cultivation of the Heart[32] .

XIII.
On the Revolutions of Families[33] .

XIV.
Against Extravagance[34] .

[A CHINESE Author, speaking of
the extravagant splendor, with which
his Countrymen celebrate some of
their festivals; adds, "One would
be apt to say, that the money employed
on these occasions was like
the leaf of a tree taken from a
vast forest; or like a grain of
corn taken from a large granary."—There
needs no more than
a marriage to ruin the best houses.
It is because they don't read what
is said by the Poet,

XV.
Among the Poems of Tû-Chao-lin, is
the following Song[36] .

XVI.
A description of a fine day after rain[37] .

XVII.
On the Detection of a bad man[38] .

XVIII.
On an old man killed by accident[39] .

XIX.
On a person sailing home after long
absence[41] .

XX.
Extract from a Poem intitled,
"The Age instructed."[42] [43]

XXI.
A CHINESE FABLE[44] .

["The king of TSU being informed
of the great reputation of the philosopher
CHWANG-TSE, deputed certain
Mandarines of his court with rich presents
of gold and silk, to invite him to
come and take upon him the office of
Prime-Minister. CHWANG-TSE
excused himself by the following fable,

"A heifer, appointed for sacrifice, and
delicately fed for a long time, marched in
pomp, loaded with all the ornaments of a
victim: in the midst of her triumph, she
perceived on the road some oxen yoked and
sweating at the plough. This sight redoubled
her pride: but when she was brought
into the temple, and saw the knife lifted up
ready to slay her, she wished to be in the
place of those, whose unhappy lot she had
despised.