﻿202 ON THE SECOND CLASSICAL 



It was a very ancient practice in China to paint or 

 engrave moral sentences an'd approved verses on 

 vessels in constant use; as the words Renew thyfelf 

 daily were inscribed on the 'bason of the emperor 

 Tang, and the poem of Kien Long, who is now on 

 the throne, in praise of tea, has been published on a 

 set of porcelain cups ; and if the description just 

 cited of a selfish and insolent statesman were, in the 

 same manner, constantly presented to the eves and 

 attention of rulers, it might produce some benefit to 

 their subjects and to themselves ; especially if the 

 comment of Tsem Tsu, who may be called the 

 Xenopbon, as dm Ftt Tsu was the Socrates, and Mem 

 Tsu the Plata, of China, were added to illustrate and 

 enforce it. 



If the rest of the three hundred Odes be similar to 

 the specimens adduced by those great moralists in 

 their works, which the French have made public, I 

 should be very solicitous to procure our nation the 

 honour of bringing to light the second classical book 

 of the Chinese. The third, called Teking, or the 

 book of changes, believed to have been written by 

 Fo, the Hermes of the East, and consisting of right 

 lines variously disposed, is hardly intelligible to the 

 most learned Mandarins ; and Cun Fit Tsu himself, 

 who was prevented by death from accomplishing his 

 design of elucidating it, was dissatisfied with all the 

 interpretations of the earliest commentators. As to 

 the fifth, or Liki, whjch that excellent man compiled 

 from old monuments, it consists chiefly of the Chinese 

 ritual, and of tracts on moral duties; but the fourth 

 entitled Chung Cieu, or Spring and Autumn, b\ *\hich 

 the same incomparable writer mtaned the flourishing 

 state of an empire under a virtuous monarch, and the 

 fall of kingdoms under bad governors, must be an 

 interesting work in every nation. The powers, how- 



