500 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



by their parents with bitter re- 

 proaches for ttveir tardy piety and 

 ingratitude, ami ordered never to 

 enter their doors again. On the 

 old man's birth-day, however, tl>ey 

 send to ask permission to pay their 

 respects, when, to the utter asto- 

 nishment and unbounded joy of 

 the old man, his daughter presents 

 him with his second wife and her 

 son, now about thiee years of 

 age, both of whom it appears had 

 been secreted by the daughter, and 

 supported, out of affection for her 

 father, and tmknown to the hus- 

 band, who had supposed them to 

 have been otherwise disposed of. 

 The daughter is separated from 

 her husband, and taken back into 

 her family ; a new arrangement 

 is made for the disposal of the 

 old man's property, the daughter 

 to have a third, the nephew a 

 third, and the little son a third 5 

 and the piece concludes with ex- 

 pressions of joy and gratitude for 

 the old gentleman having been 

 blessed with " an heir in his old 

 age." 



Such is the brief outline of the 

 fable ; the unity and integrity of 

 action and design are strictly ad- 

 hered to, and all the incidents are 

 closely connected with the story, 

 which turns entirely on the misery 

 arising out of the want of an heir 

 to perform the duties which filial 

 piety demand, both to the living 

 and the dead. The time employed 

 in the course of the piece is three 

 years, but the events follow each 

 other in so natural a manner, and 

 ■with such uninteiTupted rapidity, 

 that the time elapsed would not be 

 perceived but for the age of the 

 child bi'ought forward m the con- 

 cluding act. The several scenes 



and acts are as properly divided 

 as those of an Eurojjean drama ; 

 the sentiments are naturally ex- 

 piessed, often tender and affecting, 

 and always friendly to virtue. The 

 translator observes, that a few 

 passages which were grossly in- 

 decent, have been omitted in the 

 translation ; the Chinese, wth all 

 their politeness, are coarse in their 

 expressions ; and vve have seen 

 that, from a too close adherence 

 to nature and to facts, the scenic 

 representations ar« often exceed- 

 ingly gross and indelicate. " lis 

 mettent," says De Guignes, "trop 

 de la verite dans le scene." 



The lyrical compositions, which 

 prevail more in tragedy than in 

 comedy, certainly bear a strong 

 resemblance to the chorus of the 

 old Greek tragedy ; like the cho- 

 rus too, they are sung with an 

 accompaniment of music. The 

 translator seems to think that these 

 passages are chiefly intended to 

 gratify the ear, and that sense is 

 very often sacrificed to sound ; 

 even if this were the case, ex- 

 amples of the same kind might be 

 produced nearer home. Perhaps, 

 however, their obscurity may be 

 owing to the nature of the wntten 

 language, in which associations of 

 ideas are presented rather to the 

 eye, or to the recollection, than to 

 the ear, by a combination of signs 

 or symbols, on the choice of which 

 the force of the expression must 

 depend. Mr. Morrison observes, 

 that " without extensive know- 

 ledge of their ancient poetry, and 

 the customs and manners of the 

 countiy, it is very difficult to \m- 

 derstand their poetical compo- 

 sitions. The very point and beauty 

 of the piece often depends on some 



slight 



