Mr. Davis on the Poetry of the Chinese. 46 1 



3. The doors of every village are opened towards tlie hills. 

 And crowds on this festive day flock thence hither ; 



The not«s of merriment on high are answered hy like notes below. 

 The mingled timuilt of sounds is like the distant thunder. 



4. Why do the bells and wooden instruments mingle their clamour? 

 — The crowded guests are assembled to partake of the lenten feast : 

 But sovereign heaven no longer sends its showers of grain 



To replenish, worthy friends, your diurnal repasts'."* 



* The priests of Budh are assembled by the ringing of bells, &c. to their entertainments of 

 herbs, fruits, and sweetmeats, being forbidden the use of flesh and wine. Their monasteries are 

 in the recesses of hills, wherever hills prevail, and always in the most romantic spots. The tM'o 

 last lines allude to the following tradition. When Yoonglo, of the family called Ming, usurped 

 the whole empire (A.D. 1400), one of his nephews, the proper heir, shaved his head, and 

 assuming the habit of a priest, retired to the depths of the mountains The living rock there 

 opened, and poured out a constant supply of grain for the support of the royal refugee. After 

 his death, the miracle still went on, until a covetous priest, not satisfied with the quantity of 

 grain thus obtained, enlarged the hole or fissure in the stone through which it flowed, — when 

 the supply immediately stopped altogether, as the proper reward of his cupidity. 



Vol. II. 3 O 



