Leaves from My Chinese Scrap - Book. By Frederick Henry Balfour. (Triibner
and Co.)—This volume, one of Messrs. Triibner's "Oriental Series," contains a curious collection of matters of very wide and varied interest. History and ethics, the curious mixture of fancy and empirical observation that does duty for science in the Flowery Land, legend and literature,—these things and many others make up huius farrago libelli. Such a volume does not admit of being reviewed, and scarcely of being criticised ; but we may say that wherever the reader may happen to open it, he can scarcely fail to find something to entertain him. We see that Mr. Balfour speaks in very strong language of the monstrous abuses to which the doctrine of "filial piety" gives rise in China. "We deliberately affirm that there is no cruelty or in- justice ever perpetrated in China grosser than that which is based upon this pernicious doctrine of filial piety." The Roman notion of patria potestas seems to be in full force without any of the checks which practice, if not theory, established in Rome. There 'is a curious parallel in "Confucius on Sageship" to the well-known passages where Cicero doubts whether the sapiens ever exists or can exist,—" Ant nemo, quod magis credo, aut, si quisquam, ille sapiens fuit," he says, in the person of Ltelius, of Cato. Put briefly, the story runs thus. The Premier Shang asked Confucius whether he was a sage. He disclaimed the title. "Were the Three Princes sages ?" "They were virtuous, tolerant, wise, and brave ; but whether they were sages, I don't know." "How about the Five Rulers ?" Confucius was equally doubtful. "The Three Emperors, then ?" "They were virtuous, tolerant, and always acted in accordance with the times ; but whether they were sages, I don't know." The Premier wanted to know whether a sage could be found anywhere. The philosopher, after a pause, replied,—" In the West there is a sage. He governs not, yet there is no disorder ; he speaks not, yet he is naturally trusted ; he attempts no reforms, yet his influence has free course. Vast and far-reaching are his aims The people can find no name for it. I suspect that he is a sage; yet I cannot be sure whether even he is or no."
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