Kwoh-foong, from kwoh, 'country,' and foong, wind, manner,' is divided into fifteen sections, the first of which, bearing the name of Tchyeu, who begins with an epithalamium on the marriage of Wun-wang. Wun-wang held the government of See-khee, long sought in marriage Tse-see, a virgin illustrious for her virtues : on their nuptials this ode was written, which Confucius highly extols. The next two are said to be composed by Tse-see herself, one on her having prepared with her own hands a double suit of apparel for her lord, and the other on his absence: the next two are odes in praise of her condescension and sweetness of nature. The rest in this section, celebrate the effects of Wun-wang's laws and virtues on both his own and the surrounding provinces. Among these is the ode on marriage, two stanzas of which Sir Wm. Jonss has so beautifully versified; Wun-wang having reformed the manners of the people, and brought marriage into high reputation, this ode was written to celebrate so happy a change. The second section, which bears the name of Wun-wang's third son Chao, contains fourteen odes, and celebrates in various ways the admirable effects of Wun-wang's example and government in the provinces south of his own, reformed partly through his own influence, and partly through the instructions of his son Chao. The other thirteen sections in this part are distinguished by the names of as many different provinces or cities in China, from their being esteemed the production of persons living in those different parts. These exhibit a great variety: complaint, lamentation, fear, impatience, encouragement, congratulation, are among the subjects chosen on which they are written a considerable number of them also are amatory; and a few are satires on the vices of men. Of the three hundred and eleven odes, this part comprizes nearly half, and composes two of the four volumes.

The Second Part, termed Yá, ' right, just,' written chiefly on public occasions, is divided into the Syéu-ya, and the Ta-ya, from syéu, small, and tà, great. The Syeu-ya, the largest in size, occupies the whole of the third volume, and contains eighty odes: it opens with one on friendship, to which follow two written by ministers on an embassy, complaining of the arduous nature of their duties. Others follow, expressing gratitude to a sovereign; lamenting absence from home; commending diligence; celebrating a prince's return from exile, &c. Three are written in praise of the emperor Syuen, (hereafter mentioned), and two are said to be the production of Syuen himself. Certain others, on slander, unjust punishment, exile, filial ingratitude, &c. conclude the Syeu-ya, and finish the third volume. Most of the odes-in the Ta-ya relate to sovereign princes. It begins with an admonitory ode of eighty-eight lines, addressed by the great Tchyeu, the son of Wun-wang, to his nephew and sovereign Ching-wang. Three others addressed by Tchyeu to his royal nephew, follow, which set before him the example of his illustrious grandfather Wun-wang. Then succeed certain satires on the vices of the Emperor Lee, who mounted the throne A. C. 878, and, after a reign of thirty-three years, was expelled by the people: one of them foretells his approaching fall. After these follow eulogies on his son, emperor Syuen, just mentioned, who succeeded him, and reigned happily forty-seven years. Among the rest is one of a hundred and fourteen lines, addressed by Woo-koong, sovereign of the Wy province, to his affectionate people.

the

The Third Part, distinguished by the term

Tsoòng, laudare, benedi

cere,' was chiefly intended for the worship of paternal ancestors. It contains only thirty-one odes; the first five of which, ascribed to the great Tchyeu,

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celebrate the virtues of Wun-wang, of his father, and grand-father, and even his remote ancestor, Hyeu-tsih, the minister of Shun, to whom the Chinese ascribe the improvement, if not the invention of agriculture. Another, in praise of his father, is said to be written by the emperor Woo-wang himself. Several of the rest are ascribed to his son, the emperor Ching-wang, to whom Tchyeu was both tutor and guardian of certain others Ching-wang is the subject; and among the rest is one said to be written by Wy-tse, a minister of the tyrant Chyeu, the last of the Syang dynasty, All are not panegyrics on deceased ancestors, however; this part contains an ode on spring, and several on agriculture. Four others are merely eulogies, one of which, on Heekoong, the king of Loo, is the longest ode in the book, as it contains one hundred and twenty-one lines. The last section contains the five sacred to the Shyang family, of which the first has been already mentioned, and which are probably the most ancient in the book. Such then are the contents of this celebrated work.

The Time when the earliest of these odes were written, may be easily ascertained, if they were really the production of the persons to whom they are ascribed. The odes recited in the paternal worship of the Syang family, were probably written in the time of Woo-ting, the twentieth emperor of that dynasty, who ascended the throne A. C. 1323, and whose name occurs in the last of them. Wun-wang's son, the emperor Woo, died A. C. 1115, at the age of ninety-three; and Woo's younger brother, the great Tchyeu, (from whom the dynasty takes its name,) died A. C. 1104, at the age of a hundred. The odes written therefore by them, and by their father's consort, Tse-see, must have been written in the twelfth century preced

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ing the Christian æra. The latest name mentioned seems to be that of Heekoong, who ascended the throne of Loo, A. C. 693. Thus this work appears to be a selection from the poetry of nearly seven centuries, which period includes the earliest of the Greek poets down to Tyrtæus. In variety of subjects, perhaps it is excelled by few collections of odes; while its numerous allusions to the various personages and transactions of Chinese history, render it a most valuable Historical Document; especially when regarded as a selection made two thousand three hundred years age, by a man of wisdom born on the spot, and well versed in the history and affairs of China.

This work contains the chief varieties of poetry among the Chinese. While the work itself is denominated Shee,' the term applied to the highest kind of poetry, a multitude of the stanzas are styled fhoò; and no small number of the odes are of the kind termed 'Ko,' particularly those intended for recitation at the worship of paternal ancestors. As it relates to Prosody, however, little advance appears to have been made in the former part of the Tchyeu Dynasty. In the Measure there is a freedom nearly equalling that in our pindaric odes, the lines consisting of all numbers, from three monosyllables to seven, although four forms the most frequent measure. Respecting Rhyme, no less freedom is observable: many of these odes are evidently written without any regard to rhyme; and in the rest, six lines sometimes rhyme in a stanza of eight, occasionally four, three, and often only the first and the last. Nor is the Stanza more regular in its Number of Lines; a few contain only three, many contain four; some consist of six; a few are to be found of eight lines, and a greater number of ten stanzas of eleven are not uncommon; and there are some of twelve;

* Fhoo, which literally denotes, an idea declared plainly without metaphor,' has since been applied to a kind of ode exceedingly irregular in its construction, and generally drawn out to a great length.

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and one ode indeed contains five stanzas of seventeen lines each. Of the alternate position of the direct and oblique tones, however, nothing is observable.

It seems to have been under the Thang dynasty, which filled the throne of China from the middle of the seventh to the beginning of the tenth century, that Chinese Prosody attained its present state. It is said that the second emperor of this dynasty, Thai-choong, encouraged literature in a very high degree, and that his queen Chan-sun, a most excellent princess, was a great patroness of literature and literary men. Under this dynasty poetry is said to have been highly cultivated; and the poetry of that period is esteemed superior to any of the present day. A description of the structure of Chinese verse, therefore, as then formed, and still deemed the standard, may properly finish our account of the Chinese prosody.

At present, the ancient measure of four characters is little used: lines of Five and of Seven characters, are most common. Those of five often contain sixteen lines in a stanza; those of seven seldom exceed eight; but in both, the measure of each line is formed on the same principles. In these the Line, the Couplet, and the Stanza deserve notice.

In the Line, at the present day, the second, fourth, and sixth words or syllables are particularly regarded, respecting which it is a fundamental rule, that two similar accents or tones cannot follow each other: if the Second syllable therefore, have the direct accent, the Fourth must have an oblique one, (either the acute, the grave, or the short,) and, vice versa. These then, the second, the fourth, and the sixth syllables, in reality form