Hau Kiou choaan or, The pleasing history |
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| FRAGMENTS
OF
CHINESE POETRY. |
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| XXI. |
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 | Hau Kiou choaan |  |
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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.
For they [i. e. the people] are the root of empire,
On whose constancy and strength is founded the stability of the state.
He, who ruleth over others, resembleth a charioteer:
But he who harnesseth six horses with decayed harness,
Ought not he to act circumspectly?
The second Brother.
Thou erectest, in the blood of citizens, buildings, which menace heaven[18] .
He, who doth these things (however ungrateful the thought)
I must deem to rush headlong and wilful to his destruction.
The houses of the Chinese have from the earliest antiquity been built low (generally but one story high) and there is nothing they have in greater abhorrence than any innovation in this matter. P. Le Compte tells us, that he himself knew one of the principal lords of the court, who having built a house a little higher than custom permitted, was glad a few days after to level it with the ground; when he found that one of the public censors was about to lodge a complaint against him for the enormity. [Voi. tom. II. 22.]—Some of the Missionaries one day shewed the late Emperor Kang-hi the model of an European house, which was several stories high: the Emperor asked, if in Europe they were straightened for room below, that they were forced thus to take up their lodging in the air. Lett. edif. &c. xxvij. 33.
The third Brother.
The imperial house hath flourished in all kinds of virtue:
Thou hast turned aside the first from the steps of our ancestors.
Since thou hast overturned all those things,
Wherein their government was happily established,
What wonder that thou thyself art also fallen?
The fourth Brother.
Who by their most holy laws, and precepts, gave light to govern well
Alas! how do I grieve, that these dominions, left to thee and us,
Should be neglected and despised by thee alone.
Thou art justly fallen from thy kingdom: who the first [of thy race]
Hast prevented it from descending to thy posterity.
The fifth Brother.
Sorrow hath eaten up and consumed my spirit,
TAI-KANG our brother is the public hatred of the people.
Grief hath descended into my heart, more deeply than I am able to bear!
I am grieved to my inmost soul! my countenance
Is overwhelmed with shame! My heart wasteth away with anguish!
But this I suffer deservedly, in that I turned aside from the path of uprightness;
Neither did follow virtue as my guide.
But it is too late to lament, and weep for the time that is past away.
The banishment of this Emperor, is dated
by the Chinese chronologists, 2159 years before
the Christian Æra, that is, about 238 years before
the Call of Abraham. And if the Chinese
opinion be true, that these verses were really the
composition of Tai-kang's brothers, this is the
most ancient piece of Poetry extant in the world.
Vid. Martinij Hist. p. 55.
II.
A CHINESE Panegyric
From an ancient Ode[19]
.
How happily did he unite the splendor of virtue with all his actions?
When VEN-VANG acted the King, he perfected himself in universal love:
When VEN-VANG acted the son, he perfected himself in dutiful obedience:
When VEN-VANG acted the father, he perfected himself in paternal affection.
When VEN-VANG had dealings with men in general, he perfected himself in unshaken integrity.
This is an ancient Chinese hero, highly celebrated by their Poets. He is said to have given his son the three following admonitions. "Whatever thou seest, that is virtuous, imitate. Time and opportunity fail not to use. To remove and extirpate vice, never cease."
Confuc. lib. 1. p. 10.
III.
Verses in Praise of VU-CUNG Prince
of the kingdom of GUEY,
From an ancient Ode[21]
.
Beset with tufts of verdant canes, how beautifully luxuriant!
So is our prince adorned with virtues.
He is like one, that carveth and smootheth ivory.
O how sublime, yet profound [is he!]
O how resolute, yet cautious! How renowned and respectable!
We have a prince adorned with virtues:
Whom to the end of time we never can forget.
Ki is a river in the province Hu-quang, that gives name to a city, which is watered by its streams. Vid. Mart. Atlas.
The Chinese commentator Tseng-tsu (for the Chinese have their commentators and scholiasts) explains the fourth and fifth verses, as expressing the unwearied care and attention of this prince to reform and improve himself and his subjects: as a nice artist, who deals in works of the most elegant kinds, never rests till he hath brought his manufacture to the most exquisite perfection. Vid. Confuc. lib. 1. p. 10.
IV.
Verses on a Tyrant,
From an ancient Ode, quoted by the
CHINESE Scholiast on CONFUCIUS[24]
.
Its assemblage of cliffs, how vast, and horrid!
Thus formidable for thy power and dignity,
Thou risest eminent, mighty master, royal YU:
And all the people look up to thee with awe and terror;
But thy own interest and welfare.
V.
On an amiable Bride.
These should seem to be part of an
Epithalamium, and are of great antiquity,
being quoted by CONFUCIUS[25]
.
Its leaves how beset with flowers! O how delightful!
Such is the new-married bride, when she passeth into the house of her husband,
And dischargeth every duty to him and his family.
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]
.
Alas! vain and empty wishes! Our respective dwellings are far asunder.
VII.
A Fragment of an ancient Ode, quoted
by CONFUCIUS[27]
.
By abiding there, she sheweth she is acquainted with her proper station.
Why will not man imitate the bird?
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]
.
If the lord of heaven doth not lend a hand to strengthen it, it tumbleth at the first shock.
It is a water, which, not far from its source,
Loseth itself, and is dried up in the first sand of the plain.
It is a flower, which is blown in the morning, and withereth at night.
A whole nation is corrupted by the example of a wicked king.
IX.
On the Divine Justice[29]
.
Its knowledge of things here below doth not commence
The instant it shineth forth, and letteth us see that it knoweth them.
Virtue and vice never remain, the one without reward, the other without punishment.
There is no dispute, but about the time; sooner, or later it must come to pass.
X.
On curbing the Passions[30]
.
Free from the inquietudes, which destroy health.
Not that I would blame the natural love,
Which bindeth father and son, or uniteth brethren;
They are to each other, what the branches of the tree are to the trunk.
This love ought to endure as much as the mutual relation.
XI.
On Detraction[31]
.
As if sharp thorns were piercing my heart.
When I hear another commended, it giveth me as much pleasure,
As the exquisite smell of the most fragrant flowers.
XII.
On the Cultivation of the Heart[32]
.
And soon after by introducing a limpid water, he seeth in this green inundated field, the image of a clear sky.
Our heart is the field: it hath its attire and riches, when the passions are pure and regular.
The sure means of attaining a state of perfection, and a sign that we advance towards it, is not to be conceited, and boast we have attained to it.
XIII.
On the Revolutions of Families[33]
.
Were once possessed by families now gone to decay.
Let not the present possessors exult too much:
Others after them may be masters in their turn.
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,
Wait but a few years longer, both the man and his fortune shall be overturned.
The jewels and silver shall have passed away into another family[35] .
The same writer proceeds to condemn the like extravagance in building, upon which occasion he introduces the following, "I remember to have seen in the province of Kiang-si, the house of the noble and learned Li-po-ngan: the columns and joists that supported it, were not so much as smoothed: the wood was covered with its bark; the walls were of dry rough stone. Yet he was visited by every body of distinction, and saw none, who found fault with his lodging." P. Du Halde, 2. 64. &c.
XV.
Among the Poems of Tû-Chao-lin, is
the following Song[36]
.
Who hath only coarse vessels of common earth to contain his wine,
And who poureth it out himself that he may drink it:
While ye quaff it out of vessels of gold and silver.
While ye are waited on by numbers of slaves:
When you have drunk freely after your fashion,
Ye will sleep together without ceremony under the same tree.
XVI.
A description of a fine day after rain[37]
.
A hundred different sorts of birds, enlivened and diversified the groves.
Infinite numbers of butterflies, fluttering over the flowery heads of the peachtrees fanned by the gentle zephyrs, formed a splendid attire.
The flowers sticking to the branches and
All the youths of the city scattered over the plain made a charming sight:
Each was filled with joy, and gave himself up to feasts and banquets.
XVII.
On the Detection of a bad man[38]
.
The parrot, hidden in a bushy willow tree, is taken notice of, when he beginneth to chatter.
XVIII.
On an old man killed by accident[39]
.
Which towards morning, hurrieth in an instant behind the mountain.
Life is like a lamp, which, the oil failing, goeth out at the third watch[40] .
The Chinese divide the night into five parts or watches, which are longer or shorter according to the season of the year. See on this head, P. Magalh. p. 122.
XIX.
On a person sailing home after long
absence[41]
.
The bark runneth along the water, swifter, than the shuttle
Over the loom of a weaver, who is in haste to finish his work.
XX.
Extract from a Poem intitled,
"The Age instructed."[42]
[43]
Conceal a heart as full of venom, as serpent
Who among them remembereth, that t eyes of heaven,
Which are more active than the motion a wheel,
Look on all sides, and nothing can escape them
That, which one man some months ag stole from his neighbour in the west,
In vain doth any one flatter himself, that by his artifices,
He shall be able to make his fortune at the expence of his neighbour.
This pretended fortune is no more durable, than the flowers,
Which we see open in the morning, and shed their leaves in the evening.
All riches, that are unlawfully acquired, melt like a snow ball, in the hands of their possessor.
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.
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