122 



CONFUCIUS. 



Confucius, he distributed into four classes ; the Jtrsl consisting of 

 those who devoted themselves to the cultivation of their 

 minds by frequent meditation, and to the improvement 

 of their hearts by the sentiments of virtue; the second, 

 of those who addicted themselves to the study of just 

 reasoning, and to the practice of eloquent composition; 

 the third, of those who employed themselves in investi- 

 gating the principles of good government, and instruct- 

 ing the mandarins in their duties ; and the fourth, of 

 those who exercised their powers in communicating to 

 the people, in a clear and polished style, the precepts 

 of practical morality. All these disciples were under- 

 stood as engaged, in their respective stations and pur- 

 suits, in cultivating and extending the philosophy of 

 their master ; and five hundred of his pupils are said to 

 have attained, during his life, the highest offices of go- 

 vernment in the different kingdoms of China. Seventy- 

 two of that number were selected as a kind of honorary 

 class, who were distinguished by the superiority of their 

 attainments ; and again, ten out of these are celebrated 

 as the most perfect, who had reached the full compre- 

 hension of the plrilosopher's system. One of these, 

 particularly, named Yen-yuen, was the most favoured 

 of his pupils ; and his death, at the early age of thirty 

 years, is said to have afflicted him with more poignant 

 and lasting grief, than any other calamitous occurrence 

 in the course of his protracted and eventful life. 



Confucius, during the latter part of his life, sent 600 

 of his disciples through the different provinces of Chi- 

 na, to disseminate his tenets, and reform the manners 

 of the people ; and is said to have even formed the de- 

 sign of propagating his doctrines in foreign countries. 

 His reputation and success, however 1 , while he was 

 alive, appear, even from the Chinese accounts, to have 

 been extremely limited and variable, and to have de- 

 pended more upon the favour of the individual princes, 

 by whom he was occasionally patronized, than upon 

 any real attachment to his principles among his con- 

 temporaries. When he was invited to the palace, and 

 honoured with the notice of any of the petty sovereigns 

 in the empire, it became the fashion of the court, and, 

 in a manner the law of the kingdom, to admire his in- 

 structions, and extol his character. But, upon the de- 

 rease of his royal patrons, or the decay of their attach- 

 ment, he frequently experienced a total revolution in 

 his affairs, and found his precepts despised, and his 

 person in a manner proscribed in those very places, 

 where he had been revered as the fountain of all wis- 

 dom, and the example of every virtue. The courtiers, 

 on such occasions, who had envied his influence, and 

 disliked his restraints, made him the subject of their 

 songs and satires ; and the changeable multitude, fol- 

 lowing the example of their superiors, assailed him 

 openly with the most insolent revilings. He appears, 

 indeed, before his death, to have lost all his influence, 

 and to have retained the affections only of a few disci- 

 ples, who were more immediately attached to his per- 

 son. This is sufficiently confirmed by the circumstan- 

 ces related of his latter days, and the expressions ascri- 

 bed to him on his death-bed by his most ardent admi- 

 rers. According to their united testimony, he spent 

 the three concluding years of his life in retirement and 

 sorrow. A short time before his last illness, he told 

 his disciples, with tears in his eyes, that he was over- 

 whelmed with grief, on account of the great disorders 

 which every where prevailed throughout the empire. 

 " The mountain," he added, " is fallen, the high ma- 

 chine is demolished, and all the sages have disappear- 

 ed ;" by which he intimated, that the edifice of perfec- 



tion, which he had endeavoured to raise, Tras almost 

 completely overthrown. From this period, he began ' 

 to languish ; and, on the seventh day before his death, 

 again addressed his attendants in similar terms of de- 

 spondency : " The kings refuse to follow my maxims ; 

 and since I am no longer useful on the earth, it is as 

 well that I leave it." He then sunk into a lethargy, 

 which continued for the space of seven days, when he 

 expired in the arms of his disciples, in the 73d year of 

 his age, and about 479 years before the birth of 

 Christ. 



No sooner was he dead, than the veneration for his 

 name began to revive ; and the prince who then reign- 

 ed in Loo, whose name was Ngai-kong, upon recei- 

 ving intelligence of his decease, is said to have burst 

 into tears, exclaiming at the same time, " The Tien 

 is displeased with me, since he has taken away Confu- 

 cius." His disciples clothed themselves in habits of 

 mourning, and lamented his loss, as they would have 

 done that of a parent. His sepulchre was erected near 

 the city of Kio-feoo, the supposed place of his nativity, 

 upon the banks of the river Loo, where he used to as- 

 semble his pupils. His descendants possess the rank 

 of nobility ; and he receives throughout the vast em- 

 pie of China, not indeed divine honours, as some have 

 affirmed, but that secondary species of worship which 

 the Chinese are accustomed to offer to tutelary- spirits, 

 and to the manes of their ancestors. In almost every 

 city and village, a plain building or chapel is erected 

 to his memory, called " The house of Confucius," in 

 which is placed a simple tablet, with inscriptions in 

 gilt letters to this effect : " O Confucius, our revered 

 master, let thy spiritual part descend, and be pleased 

 with this tribute of respect, which we now humbly of- 

 fer thee." Wine, fruits, flowers, and perfumes are pla- 

 ced before the tablet ; incense is burned ; tapers of san- 

 dal-wood lighted ; and the same ceremonies observed, 

 as in the honours which are paid to deceased ancestors. 

 These offerings in the temples of Confucius are made 

 chiefly by the literary young men, when they are about 

 to undergo their public examinations ; but the memory 

 of the philosopher is held in estimation by all classes 

 of the Chinese, who regard him as, without exception, 

 the most eminent sage, and the wisest legislator that 

 ever appeared, either in their own or in any other na- 

 tion. His name is interwoven with almost every civil 

 institution or observance in the Chinese empire ; and 

 his doctrine is considered as the only foundation of all 

 political wisdom, or moral virtue. 



With respect to his personal appearance, he is de- 

 scribed by his Chinese biographers, as having been of 

 a tall stature, and a well proportioned form, with an 

 olive complexion, large eyes, a flat nose, a long and 

 black beard, a broad chest, and a sharp strong voice. 

 His countenance was rather disfigured, by a swelling 

 in the middle of his forehead ; from this circumstance, 

 he received from his father the sirname of Kieoo, or 

 " little hill ;" a designation which he used frequently, 

 in modesty or in jest, to apply to himself, even during 

 the period of his highest renown. 



In his moral character, he is represented as having 

 been a pattern of integrity, temperance, and contempt 

 of sublunary wealth ; and as having invariably exem- 

 plified in his own conduct the precepts of virtue, which 

 he publicly inculcated. He is likewise celebrated on 

 account of the unequalled fortitude and equanimity 

 with which he sustained every reverse of his fame or 

 fortune ; and the following instance of his pious com- 

 posure, in situations of the most imminent danger, is 



Confu 



