1 seems to be the latest improvement which Chinese poetry has received. It The first attempt at verse in China, is said to be nearly as ancient as the language itself.* In the Annals of China,' it is related, that after filling the throne fifty years, the emperor Yao, revolving one day the state of his people, and enquiring in vain of those around him respecting the effect of his laws, at length went out, full of anxiety, into the public road, where he heard one recite the following stanza: 順不莫立 識 匪我 之不爾烝 則知極民 Lih ngó ching min Mŏh fý írr kih Pooh shih pooh chee Shuen tee tchee tsuh "The tranquillity we, the people, enjoy, Is wholly the fruit of thine exalted virtue; No information or knowledge is needed, All flows from the sovereign's wise institutions." * See Kang-kyen, vol. ii. page 4. Two of these lines are also quoted in the Shee, in an ode which cele brates the virtues of the father, grand-father, and great grand-father of Wun-wang. This stanza, if it deserve the name, seems to be the first specimen of Chinese poetry on record. Of the three characteristics just mentioned, it is easy to see, however, that it has only one, that of Measure, it being merely four lines formed of an equal number of syllables, without rhyme, and without regard to the alternate position of the direct and the oblique tones. The next specimen we meet with on record, a triplet of the kind termed Ko,'* said to be the production of Yao's successor, the Emperor Shun, is preserved in the Shoo-king. One day, contemplating with joy the labours of the able ministers who served him, he thus addressed them : To this his ministers are said to have responded in the following stanza: From ko, to chant, to sing.' + Literally, the arms.' Literally, the head.' 股元 事肱 康良明 哉哉哉 Yuen shyéu ming tsai Koó koong lyang tsai Shju tsè khang trai "When the sovereign* is wise, The ministerst are faithful to their trust, And all things happily succeed!" Shoo-king, vol. i. Several other of Shun's poetic efforts are preserved; but they are nearly all of the same kind. In them we see, that to measured lines is added an attempt at Rhyme; an attempt however of the rudest kind, as each line is terminated by the same character. The following ko' is an admonitory address to his children, by the great Yu, who succeeded Shun, and founded the Hya dynasty.‡ * Or, "the head." + Or," the arms." The Hya, the first of the three most ancient and famous dynasties, commenced with the great Yu, and, under seventeen emperors, continued 458 years. It was succeeded by the Shyang dynasty, founded by Thang, who was constrained, by the solicitations of the people, to drive from the throne into exile the tyrant Kyeh, the last of the Syang dynasty. Under twenty-eight empe- rors, Thang's family held the throne 644 years ;¡the last of whom, the tyrant Chyeu, was upheld by the virtues of Wun-wang, as long as he lived; but wa dethroned by his Bon Wan-wang, who founded the Tchyeu dynasty, A. C. 1121, in the 571st year of which, Confucius was born. Thang therefore lived twelve hundred years before Confucius, and Yu above sixteen hundred. See "Annals of China." In this stanza we find that each line contains four syllables, and that the first, second, fourth, and sixth lines harmonize with each other. We have here, therefore, two of the characteristics of Chinese poetry, Measure, and Rhyme; but of the alternate position of the direct and oblique tones, no trace appears. Respecting the state of poetry under the Shyang dynasty, which com menced under the emperor T'hang, we have few documents. There is extant, indeed, a triplet, said to be composed by T'hang himself, and at his command engraved on his bathing vessels, the substance of which is Daily renew thyself; but such a trifle scarcely deserves the name of poetry, it being only nine characters, and the rhyme observable therein, only the same character thrice repeated. The last volume of the Shee, however, contains several odes sacred to the worship performed in honour of their ancestors, by the T'hang dynasty; which, although the author of them is unknown, were probably written under that dynasty. In the first, third, and fourth stanzas of the first of these odes, the second and fourth lines agree in rhyme: the second stanza contains eight lines, of which the second, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth harmonize, all ending with ing. Still no attempt is made to diversify the verse by the alternate position of the direct and oblique tones. come to the Tchyeu dynasty, under which, with the exception just mentioned, originated the Shee-king, or the Book of Odes. We now shee,' poetry,' is said to have The Shee.-This work, thus termed from been selected by the Chinese sage from a multitude of odes. The high idea which he entertained of it, is sufficiently evident from the manner in which he recommends the study of it to his disciples. Its poetic merit will perhaps be less readily conceded by European judges: but with this, our business at present does not so much lie, as with the structure of the verse. A brief account of this celebrated collection may not be wholly unacceptable. These Odes, Three Hundred and Eleven in number, which are comprized in four small volumes, consist of Three Parts. The First Part, termed |