Mr. Davis on the Poetry of the Chinese. 425 



" The faithless calm shall shift again. 



Another gale the bleak liill rend. 

 And ever}' blade shall wither then. 



And every tree before it bend : 

 — Then shalt thou mourn thy lonesome lot. 



Then vainly seek the injur'd man. 

 Whose virtues thou Iiadst all forgot. 



And only learn'd his faults to scan." 



The fourth and last portion, of the ancient poetical classic, is called Soong, 

 that is, eulogies or panegyrics on the ancestors of the dynasty Chow, then 

 filling the throne, and on the great personages of antiquity. They appear 

 to have been a species of hymn, sung before the emperor when he sacrificed 

 as ponttfex maximus, (which has always been the particular office of Chinese 

 sovereigns) in the temples of heaven and earth, or in the hall of his 

 ancestors. Whatever may be the real character of the Sheeking on the 

 score of poetical merit, it is at least curious, as having been compiled more 

 than twenty centuries prior to our time, and some portions of it composed 

 at a still earlier date. A pervading characteristic of the whole, as might 

 be predicted of the early poetry of every country, is the boldness and 

 frequency of the figures which are introduced.* 



It may be laid down as a rule, that every species of composition will be 

 studied and perfected, in exact proportion to the estimation in which it is 

 held, or the grandeur or interest of the occasions on which it is employed. 

 When lyric compositions, like the odes of Pindar, and the Carmen Seculare, 

 &c. of Horace, were displayed on great national and religious festivals — or 

 shone forth the subjects of public, or imperial patronage, they became 

 objects to which the first geniuses of the age directed their efforts ; and 

 the perfection which they attained was commensurate with the esteem 



* One of the most striking examples appears as a quotation in Dr. Morrison's Dictionary, 

 Part I. page 434 : 



" The royal legions were numerous and imposing ; 

 Swift, as if they flew upon wings ; 

 Impetuous, as a torrent or a cataract ; 

 Firm, as the base of a mountain ; 

 Resistless, as the course of a river ; 

 Forming an unbroken line, in matchless order ; 

 Their motions inscrutable, their prowess invincible, 

 They proceeded to the conquest of the state Seu." 



