Very shortly after, five of the great ministers of the Government of Wei, Sun Yung, Chang Ch'ung, Tsao Hsi, Hsun K'ai, and Ho Yen [6], united in the production of one great Work, entitled, 'A Collection of Explanations of the Lun Yu [7].' It embodied the labors of all the writers which have been mentioned, and, having been frequently reprinted by succeeding dynasties, it still remains. The preface of the five compilers, in the form of a memorial to the emperor, so called, of the House of Wei, is published with it, and has been of much assistance to me in writing these sections. Ho
1 包咸.
2 光武.
3 周氏.
4 至順帝時, 南郡太守, 馬融, 亦為之訓說.
5 司農, 陳群; 太常, 王肅; 博士, 周生列.
6 光祿大夫, 關內侯, 孫邕; 光祿大夫, 鄭沖; 散騎常侍, 中領軍, 安鄉亭侯, 曹羲; 侍中, 荀 顗; 尚書, 駙馬都尉, 關內侯, 何晏.
7 論語集解. I possess a copy of this work, printed about the middle of our fourteenth century.
Yen was the leader among them, and the work is commonly quoted as if it were the production of him alone.
3. From Ho Yen downwards, there has hardly been a dynasty which has not contributed its laborers to the illustration of the Analects. In the Liang, which occupied the throne a good part of the sixth century, there appeared the 'Comments of Hwang K'an [1],' who to the seven authorities cited by Ho Yen added other thirteen, being scholars who had deserved well of the Classic during the intermediate time. Passing over other dynasties, we come to the Sung, A.D. 960-1279. An edition of the Classics was published by imperial authority, about the beginning of the eleventh century, with the title of 'The Correct Meaning.' The principal scholar engaged in the undertaking was Hsing P'ing [2]. The portion of it on the Analects [3] is commonly reprinted in 'The Thirteen Classics,' after Ho Yen's explanations. But the names of the Sung dynasty are all thrown into the shade by that of Chu Hsi, than whom China has not produced a greater scholar. He composed, or his disciples complied, in the twelfth century, three Works on the Analects:-- the first called 'Collected Meanings [4];' the second, 'Collected Comments [5];' and the third, 'Queries [6].' Nothing could exceed the grace and clearness of his style, and the influence which he has exerted on the literature of China has been almost despotic.
The scholars of the present dynasty, however, seem inclined to question the correctness of his views and interpretations of the Classics, and the chief place among them is due to Mao Ch'i-ling [7], known by the local name of Hsi-ho [8]. His writings, under the name of 'The Collected Works of Hsi-ho [9],' have been published in eighty volumes, containing between three and four hundred books or sections. He has nine treatises on the Four Books, or parts of them, and deserves to take rank with Chang Hsuan and Chu Hsi at the head of Chinese scholars, though he is a vehement opponent of the latter. Most of his writings are to be found also in the great Work called 'A Collection of Works on the Classics, under the Imperial dynasty of Ch'ing [10],' which contains 1400 sections, and is a noble contribution by the scholars of the present dynasty to the illustration of its ancient literature.
1 皇侃論語蔬.
2 邢昺.
3 論語正義.
4 論語集義.
5 論語集註.
6 論語或問.
7 毛奇齡.
8 西河.
9 西河全集.
10 皇清經解.
SECTION IV.
OF VARIOUS READINGS.
In 'The Collection of Supplementary Observations on the Four Books [1],' the second chapter contains a general view of commentaries on the Analects, and from it I extract the following list of various readings of the text found in the comments of Chang Hsuan, and referred to in the first section of this chapter. Book II. i, 拱 for 共; viii, 餕 for 饌; xix, 措 for 錯; xxiii. 1, 十世可知, without 也, for 十世可知也. Book III. vii, in the clause 必也射乎, he makes a full stop at 也; xxi. 1, 主 for 社. Book IV. x, 敵 for 適, and 慕 for 莫. Book V. xxi, he puts a full stop at 子. Book VI. vii, he has not the characters 則吾. Book VII. iv, 晏 for 燕 ; xxxiv, 子疾 simply, for 子疾病. Book IX. ix, 弁 for 冕. Book XI. xxv. 7, 僎 for 撰 , and 饋 for 歸. Book XIII. iii. 3, 于往 for 迂; xviii. 1, 弓 for 躬. Book XIV. xxxi, 謗 for 方; xxxiv. 1, 何是栖栖者與 for 何為是栖栖者與. Book XV. i. a, 粻 for 糧. Book XVI. i. 13, 封 for 邦. Book XVII. i, 饋 for 歸; xxiv. 2, 絞 for 徼. Book XVIII. iv, 饋 for 歸; viii. 1, 侏 for 朱.
These various readings are exceedingly few, and in themselves insignificant. The student who wishes to pursue this subject at length, is provided with the means in the Work of Ti Chiao-shau [2], expressly devoted to it. It forms sections 449-473 of the Works of the Classics, mentioned at the close of the preceding section. A still more comprehensive work of the same kind is, 'The Examination of the Text of the Classics and of Commentaries on them,' published under the superintendence of Yuan Yuan, forming chapters 818 to 1054 of the same Collection. Chapters 1016 to 1030 are occupied with the Lun yu; see the reference to Yuan Yuan farther on, on p. 132.
1 四書拓餘說. Published in 1798. The author was a Tsao Yin-ku -- 曹寅谷.
2 翟教授, 四書考異.