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POESEOS SINENSIS COMMENTARII. 



XXI. On the Poetry of the Chiriese. — By John Francis Davis, Esq., F.R.S., 



M.R.A.S. 



Read May 2, 1829. 



Quid 



" Quaerere coepit 



utile ferrent : 



Tentavit, quoque, rem si digne vertere posset.' 



HOR. 



In the arrangement of our subject, it may perhaps be useful to preserve 

 so much regard to method, as to treat of it separately, under the two fol- 

 lowing heads : 



Part I. Versification, or the particular rules which prevail in the mere 

 construction of hnes, couplets, and stanzas ; and the sources whence these 

 derive their melody and rythm. 



Part II. A general view of the style and spirit of Chinese poetry, the 

 character of its imagery and sentiment, and the extent to which it seems to 

 admit of a precise classification, relatively to the divisions and nomenclature 

 adopted in European literature. 



To such as should find the first portion of our treatise dry and technical 

 in its details, the second may possibly prove more attractive : but the order 

 of discussion could hardly be inverted with propriety. 



PART I. 

 In Chinese versification the following are the circumstances which 

 seem chiefly to demand our notice : 1. The nature of the sounds of which 



