[470] See No. LXXIII., [note 418]. Chang Fei was the bosom-friend of the last, and was his associate-commander in the wars of the Three Kingdoms. Chou Kung was the first Emperor of the Chou dynasty, and a pattern of wisdom and virtue. He is said by the Chinese to have invented the mariner’s compass; but the legend will not bear investigation.
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[471] Mr. Li had, doubtless, taken a “drop too much” before he started on his mountain walk.
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[472] Of whom I can learn nothing.
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[473] The following extract from a long and otherwise tedious story tells its own tale. Wang is the modest man, and the young man from Yü-hang the braggart. Sung is merely a friend of Wang’s.
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[474] This is one of our author’s favourite shafts—a sneer at examiners in general, and those who rejected him in particular.
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[475] This would be regarded as a very meritorious act by the Chinese.
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[476] The Byron of China.
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[477] Chinese wine—or, more correctly, spirits—is always taken hot; hence the term wine-kettle, which frequently occurs in these pages.
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[478] The Magistrate; who is supposed to be towards the people what a father is to his children.
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[479] This singularly un-Chinese surname is employed to keep up a certain play upon words which exists in the original, and which is important to the [dénouement] of the story. “River” is the simple translation of a name actually in use.
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