[337] The second of these, Tu Fu, is a poet of some distinction noticed by Rémusat (Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., p. 174). He lived in the eighth century A.D., dying of hunger in the year 768. His writings are usually edited with those of Lí Tai-peh.
[338] Davis, Poetry of the Chinese, London, 1870; G. C. Stent, The Jade Chaplet, London, 1874; Entombed Alive, and other Verses, 1878; Le Marquis D’Hervey-Saint-Denys, Poésies de l’Epoque des Thang, Paris, 1862. A number of extracts of classical and modern literature will be found in Confucius and the Chinese Classics, compiled by Rev. A. W. Loomis, San Francisco, 1867. China Review, Vols. I., p. 248, IV., p. 46, and passim.
[339] Chinese Courtship. In Verse. To which is added an Appendix treating of the Revenue of China, etc., etc., by Peter Perring Thoms, London, 1824. Compare the Quarterly Review for 1827, pp. 496 ff. Le Li-Sao, Poème du IIIe Siècle avant notre ère. Traduit du Chinois, par le Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys, Paris, 1870.
[340] Stent’s Jade Chaplet.
[341] A translation is given in the Chinese Repository (Vol. IX., p. 508) of a supposed complaint made by a cow of her sad lot in being obliged to work hard and fare poorly during life, and then be cut up and eaten when dead; the ballad is arranged in the form of the animal herself, and a herdboy leading her, who in his own form praises the happiness of a rural life. This ballad is a Buddhist tractate, and that fraternity print many such on broad-sheets; one common collection of prayers is arranged like a pagoda, with images of Buddha sitting in the windows of each story.
[342] The kí, or ‘flag,’ is the term by which the leaflets are called when they just begin to unroll; the tsiang, or ‘awl,’ designates those leaves which are still wrapped up and which are somewhat sharp.
[343] The ting is not exactly a stile, being a kind of shed, or four posts supporting a roof, which is often erected by villagers for the convenience of wayfarers, who can stop there and rest. It sometimes contains a bench or seat, and is usually over or near a spring of water.
[344] Tchao-chi-cou-eulh, ou l’Orphelin de la Maison de Tchao, tragédie chinoise, traduite par le R. P. de Prémare, Miss. de la Chine, 1755. Julien published a translation of the same, Paris, 1834.
[345] Since the appearance of M. Bazin’s Théâtre Chinois (Paris, 1838) and Davis’ Sorrows of Han (London, 1829), there has been astonishingly little done in the study of Chinese plays. Compare, for the rest, an article on this subject by J. J. Ampère, in the Revue des Deux Mondes, September, 1838; The Far East, Vol. I. (1876), pp. 57 and 90; Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 575; China Review, Vol. I., p. 26; also Lay’s Chinese as They Are, and Dr. Gray’s China, passim. Lieut. Kreitner gives an interesting picture of the Chinese theatre in a country town, together with a few pages upon the drama, of which his party were spectators. Im fernen Osten, pp. 595-599.
[346] The commendation by Lord Brougham of this “admirable precept,” as he called it, is cited by Sir J. Davis.