430 



Mr. Davis on the Poetry of the Chinese. 



" The Inlet of Peach Blossoms." 



" Few were th' iiJiabitants of that fair dell, — 

 Remnants their manners were of other days, — 

 Flourish'd their fields in peace, — no impost fell 

 Midway check'd labour's fruitful course, — the lays 

 Their children sung had 'scaped the general blaze : 

 Adown the vale was heard the cock's shrill strain ; 

 The watch-dog's voice welcom'd the morning rays ; 

 Oh, could my bark those happy fields regain. 



Long years of toil I'd brave — nor deem my labours vain." 



The following specimen is from the same collection with the preceding. 

 The value of timely showers, to which it alludes, can only be duly felt in a 

 hot climate and a thirsty soil like the south of China, where, according 

 to the common saying, " Three days make a short drought — five days a 

 long one." 



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" An Evening Shower in Spring,' 



" See how the gently falling rain 



Its vernal influence sweetly showers, 

 As through the calm and tepid eve 

 It silently bedews the flowers : 



" Cloudy and dark th' horizon spreads, 



— Save where some boat its light is burning : 

 But soon the landscape's tints shall glow 

 All radiant, with the morn returning." 



There exist abundant materials of poetry in what may be called the 

 heroic ages of China, when she was divided into independent states, con- 



