CHINESE POETRY.* THE preface to this ponderous collection of tediously

para- phrased versions, in which whatever charm the original may possess almost entirely disappears, furnishes another instance of the contempt with which sinologues treat the usual canons of historical and philological criticism. Mr. Allen accepts the theory of the Accadian origin of the Chinese and their civilisation, though neither from Accadian nor from Chinese chronicles can a single reference be quoted in support of the theory. He places a like faith in the native annals from the year 2500 B.C., and for the previous history of China, we are told to look into the Accadian and Baby- lonian chronicles, where not the faintest allusion to the Chinese has, so far as we know, yet been discovered. The philological evidence is equally unsatisfactory. In fact, Chinese history anterior to the creation of the Empire by Shih Hwangti in the third century B.C., is a mere mixture of myth, tradition, and invention. There exist none of the vestiges, documents, and monuments which throw light upon the early history of Egypt and Babylonia. It is doubtful whether Confucius, Laotse, and Mencius ever really existed. Their names—Cave (Kung) Sage, Old (Lao) Sage, and Great (Meng) Sage—have an air of invention about them. The story of the discovery of the Confucian Classics in a hole in a wall,

• The Book of Chinese Poetry; being the Shih Ching or Classic of Poetry. Metrically translated by C. F. it. Allen, her Majesty's Consul, Meta,. London ; Eagan Paul, Trench, TrObner, and Co. 1891.

to the accompaniment of bells and drums, looks more like a myth than a reality. There are evidences in the Classics themselves that bring their composition down to a date posterior to the earliest beginnings of Buddhism in China. It is not unlikely that contact with Buddhism had something of the effect upon the Chinese that contact with the Phcenicians had upon the Greeks ; or that contact with the Chinese them- selves had upon the Japanese, who about the eighth century A.D. made up a history dating back thousands of years, and properly furnished with Emperors, battles, prodigies, and ordinary events.

With regard to the Shih Ching, to which collection Mr. Allen ascribes an antiquity ranging from the eighteenth to

the sixth century before Christ, probably many of the pieces

are very ancient, and after having been handed down orally, perhaps for some centuries, were committed to writing—an art never alluded to by Confucius—during the sway of the Han Emperors. Up to the Christian era, paper was unknown in China, and shu (books) were merely piles or bundles of bamboo tablets. Thus the evident corruption of the texts

—specially favoured by the homophonies of the characters— and the absurdities of the commentators become alike sus- ceptible of explanation.

The Classic of Poetry contains some three hundred pieces in all, distributed in four categories,—the " Feng " or

"Ballads," the "Lesser Ya " or "Songs of the Minor Feasts," the "Greater Ya " or "Songs of the Greater Feasts," and the " Sung " or "Hymns." Of these, the " Ballads " are the most interesting, or, to put the matter more correctly, the least uninteresting. Before giving examples, a few remarks

on the poetry of China may not be out of place. The forms of Celestial poetry are simple enough. Usually the verse consists of four or five or seven feet, monosyllabic, or nearly so, and are complete in sense, enjambement being unknown. Each alternate line rhymes, beginning with the second. The literary language is harmonious and musical,—

each syllable ends in a vowel or the letter " n " or the soft" ng ;" there are no guttural consonants, and when carefully read, the tones give an agreeable cadence. These tones are peculiar, and may be reduced to two, the rising and falling tones. In both the vowel is, so to speak, doubled ; in the former the pitch or stress of the voice rises on the second, in the latter on the first, vowel. But what is most distinctive of Chinese poetry is a sort of parallelism, compared by Sir John Davis to that of Hebrew poetry. This parallelism is usually constructive, that is, each line of the distich, though expressing different ideas, expresses them in the same way. Thus the hero of "The Fortunate Union" is metrically described—we use Sir John Davis's translation in the following verse :—

" Alone and dauntless he walked—all-confident in his courage ; Proud and reserved—he must needs possess high talents; Courage—as if Tsylung the hero had reappeared in the world; Talents—as though Lipih the poet bad again been born 1"

But the parallelism may be also either synonymous or anti- thetic—to use Dr. Louth's language. Of the first kind we have an instance in such a distich as this :—

" White stone not fractured, ranks most precious :

Blue lily unflawed, gives forth most fragrance."

Of the second variety the following may serve as an example :— " Tsung sitei ju teng, "Following virtue, like (hill-) climbing,

Tsung go ju peng." Following vice, like (hill-) descending."

As these instances show, the language of Chinese poetry is extremely concise,—a sort of skeleton or telegram-style, cleared of merely non-presentive words. Of imagery the Celestial poet has no idea ; he never indulges in a metaphor ; and any approach to personification of things or qualities would be regarded by him as an absurdity. Hence the productions of the Chinese Muse lack grace, variety, and interest ; they are of a purely literary character; and what charm they possess—and a certain characteristic and unique charm they do possess—can only be appreciated by those who are thoroughly familiar with the com- plicated conventional rules that govern versification and style.

They can, therefore, scarcely be translated with success, though sometimes a not nnpleasing imitation is possible. We cannot congratulate Mr. Allen on his attempts. He is much too diffuse, and pays little attention to the parallelisms. Thus, of the first ode (one of the best), he quotes a version by "V. W. Z.," only to condemn as "appalling," what is much more accurate, Chinese-like, and vigorous than his oval We give the first two stanzas of each rendering, that the reader may judge for himself :—

" v. w. z." Ma. ALLEN.

"As the ospreys woo "They sent use to gather the creases, which lie On the river Bit, And sway on the stream as it glances by,

So the graceful lass That a fitting welcome we might provide

Has her manly mate. For our Prince's modest and virtuous bride.

As the coy marsh-flowers I heard. as I gathered the cress from the alt, Here and there do peep, The mallard's endearing call to its mate, Bo the graceful lass And I said as I heard it, ' Oh, may this prove In his wakeful sleep." An omen of joy to our master's love!

The The discrepancy in the renderings is remarkable. Mr. Allen has incorporated the commentary (which is valueless). "V. W. Z." has translated the poem itself. One of the wonders of Chinese scholarship is the extraordinary diver- gence that so often obtains between the translations made by different hands. Thus, a passage in Chwangtzu is rendered by one translator, "Servants will tear up a portrait, not liking to be confronted with its beauties and defects ;" while another offers the following strangely incompatible but equally mean- ingless version, "A one-legged man discards ornament, his exterior not being open to commendation." How many one- legged men, it may be asked, exist in countries where amputa- tion is unknown ? In the above stanzas, hsingtsai is rightly rendered " marsh-flowers " by "V. W. Z.," while Mr. Allen's " mallard " is probably a more correct approximation to tsiichia than "osprey." Some of Mr. Kingsmill's versions of these odes are pleasing, but we have not tested their accuracy. They differ, toto ccelo one might almost say, from those offered by Mr. Allen. But by far the most agreeable imitations that we know are the paraphrases of Sir John Davis, one of which we give. The subject is the kieu, or robber-bird :— " The nest yon winged artist builds,

The robber-bird shall tear away : —So yields her hopes th' affianced maid, Some wealthy lord's reluctant prey.

The anxious bird prepares a home, In which the spoiler soon shall dwell : —Forth goes the weeping bride, constrained, A hundred cars the triumph swell.

Mourn for the tiny architect, A stronger bird hath ta'en its nest : —Mourn for the hapless, stolen bride, How vain the pomp to soothe her breast !"

To a pleasing version of another of these poems Mr. Allen appends a clever imitation on English lines :—

"In Mei are beauteous maidens thre3, "Three beauteous maids in town I see,

Each oldest of her line; Each eldest of her line ; The first one is a Chiang of Chi, A Howard this, a Talbot she, The next a Yang, the third a Ti, A Vere de Pere completes the three, And all are mates of mine. And all are loves of mine.

To pluck the herbs or wheat I stray, As through the Regent's Park I stray, And laugh in mirthful glee, I laugh in merry glee. For all my thoughts are far away ; But all my thoughts are far away ; I think upon the three. I think upon the three. Each damsel promised in Shanchung Each maiden promised in the " Zoo " That she would meet me in Shangkung, That she would meet me down at Kew, With me to cross the Ch'i." And cross the Thames with me."

Few of our readers probably will remember Sir John Davis's translation of a poem on London, composed by a Chinaman who visited England in 1813. We subjoin the first and last of the ten stanzas as a modern instance of Celestial skill in the art of verse-making :—

" Afar in the ocean, towards the extremities of the north-west, There is a nation, or country, called England :

The clime is frigid, and you are compelled to approach the fire ; The houses are so lofty, that you may pluck the stars : The pious inhabitants respect the ceremonies of worship, And the virtuous among them ever read the Sacred Books : They bear a peculiar enmity towards the French nation, The weapons of war rest not for an instant (between them). . ..... . . . . . . The climate is too cold for the cultivation of rice, But they have been for ages exempt from the evils of famine : With strong tea they immingle rich cream, And their baked wheaten bread is involved in unctuous lard : Here excellent meats are served in covers of silver, And fine wines are poured into gem-like cups : The custom of the country pays respect to the ceremony of meals, Previous to their repast they make a change in their vestments."

Even in these few couplets the explanatory or synonymous, the antithetic, and the constructive parallelisms, distinctive of Chinese poetry, are all exhibited. Here we must close. To one long out of practice, the further comparison of Chinese poetic texts with translations has become too arduous a labour.