FIR-FLOWER TABLETS 73 



to make up the sense." He appends a metrical paraphrase 

 by Sir William Jones : — 



Gay child of spring, the garden's queen 

 Yon peach tree charms the roving flight ; 

 Its fragrant leaves how richly green ! 

 Its blossoms, how divinely bright ! 



So softy smiles the blooming bride 

 By love and conscious virtue led, 

 O'er her new mansion to preside, 

 And placid joys around her -spread. 



The translation and the paraphrase both lead one to wonder 

 how their sentiments can be reconciled with the alleged 

 absence of "the passion of love." The criticism would have 

 been still stranger to this early author if he had fully realized 

 the poetic inspiration of the original in associating the spring 

 months when the peach tree is in flower with the correct 

 marriage time of youthful lovers. Mr. Waley in his intro- 

 duction to "170 Chinese Poems" remarks with a greater 

 knowledge of his subject than was possible to Barrow, that 

 love poetry "ceases after the Han dynasty," thus making 

 clear that it still remains for some poet to revel in this 

 field of poetry before the Han period. It may also be 

 remarked that the ancient poetry of China is full of the 

 stirring inspiration of war. 



The apparent inadaptability of the Chinese language 

 for poetical composition has been more apparent than real 

 and has been no deterrent to the succeeding generations of 

 Westerners interested in Chinese literature. Sir John Davis 

 made a careful study of Chinese poetry and made verses out 

 of his translations one of which at least reveals rich beauty 

 which he has extracted from the original: — 



"Five mountain peaks, like so many fingers, rich tints blending 



Rising out of the plain like pillars half concealing the sky — 



By night, washing in the milky way, they pluck at the stars ; 



Bv day exploring the zenith, they play with the clouds. 



After a shower, like jewelled sprouts of bamboo, they stand in 

 mid-air ; . . 



When the moon rises, they resemble pearls suspended in the palm 



of the hand, . . • . . 



One might imagine it was a mighty spirit stretching forth its arm. 

 And numbering China's islands in the distant mam. 

 George Carter Stent ventured out of his domain of 

 dictionary-making into the fields of poetry and gave a 

 metrical version of the "Adventures of Tiny Bill, 



" Over green fields and meadows on " Tiny Rill " ran. 

 (The little precocious coquette) ;— 

 She was pretty she knew, and thus early began 

 Gaily flirting with all that she met. 



