398 Mr. Davis on the Poetry of the Chinese. 



Of a species of technicality which admits so ill of illustration on paper, it 

 is enough to observe, that the words (we shall presently see that these are 

 equivalent to feel in other languages) which answer to the even numbers in 

 each line, — the second, fourth, sixth, according to the length of the verse, 

 — together with the last word of all, are, in regular poetry, the subjects of 

 attention with regard to the allernate position of the tones called ' natural,' 

 and ' deflected.' The rule for placing them seems to have variety, or the 

 avoiding of a too frequent recurrence of the same tone, for its principal 

 object. Their attention to this point goes beyond the single lines, and 

 extends to the couplets : for whatever the intonation of the second, fourth, 

 or sixth words in the first line may be, — wliether natural or deflected, — that 

 of tlie corresponding words in the next line is required to be the opposite. 

 M. Freret, in the Memoires de I'Academie, fell into a great error, in 

 asserting that ' les Chinois n'ont jamais connu la versification cadencee par 

 I'arrangement de ces tons musicaux : leur poesie a seulement ete consacree 

 par le nombre des syllabes, et dans la suite on a y ajout^ la rime.' Even 

 the most irregular species of Chinese verse, called Tsze, is to a certain 

 degree regulated by the tones, though in a different manner from the 

 foregoing. 



3. The next source of harmony that we have to notice, is the use of 

 poetical numbers. Every word of Chinese poetry, instead of being regarded 

 as a mere syllable, may more properly be considered as corresponding to a 

 metrical foot in other languages. It has already been shewn, tliat a con- 

 siderable portion are really dissyllabic — and all of them are pronounced, in 

 the recital of verse, with an emphasis and prolongation of the voice, very 

 different from the manner in which we slur over the unaccented portion of 

 our syllables. 



To begin with the smallest number of words that form a measured line in 

 Chinese, we sometimes meet with so few as three, repeated like a kind of 

 ' refrain ' in popular songs. This short measure also constitutes occasionally 

 a species of chime for the inculcation of moral maxims ; and it was, 

 no doubt, for the similar purpose of assisting the memory, that it has 

 been adopted in the composition of the San tsze king, or "Trimetrical 

 Classic," — a work evincing considerable ingenuity, though intended for the 

 humble purpose of conveying to youth the rudiments of general knowledge. 

 In China, as elsewhere, persons of high attainments occasionally think it 

 worth their while to devote their talents to the promotion of the great busi- 



