REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 197 



would be Giles' Chinese Poetry in English Verse; but we would 

 prefer to give him Giles, and this book, and three or four more that 

 we could name ; we would point out to him duplicate translations 

 such as "The Wife's Lament" (Fletcher, p. 9) and "From a Bel- 

 videre" (Giles, p. 62); "Kinling" (Fletcher p. 27) and "To the City 

 of Nanking" {Lute of Jade, p. 58) and many others; and leave him. 

 If perchance, he were of those who have not so much as heard whether 

 there be any Chinese heart, he would get a revelation. 



iii. As to the value of the book as an aid to students of Chinese, 

 which we take it was the translator's chief aim, we think it would be 

 for such a helpful introduction to the reading of Chinese poetry. 

 Mr. Fletcher, unlike his predecessors, is good enough to give us the 

 original ; and the well-printed book with translation and notes may 

 allure, where the native collection of T'ang poetry, running to some 

 49,000 poems, would alarm and perhaps effectually discourage. 



We doubt if the student will always agree with the translator; 

 and the former too, might with advantage study duplicates. We 

 give two examples only; in "The Moon Shines Everywhere," the 

 poet is made to say that he saw the moon and thought it was hoar 

 frost (not a very likely mistake) ; but does not the original say that 

 he saw the moonlight and thought it was rime until lifting up his 

 head he saw the moon herself, when overcome with thoughts of home, 

 he lays his head down again — perhaps to weep ; we are not told. 



Again on page 231 the line, "That caress to her babe my too 

 tender heart swayed," is translated by Giles, "The boy who was with 

 her quite felt for my sight." The expression $f A would seem to mean 

 the boy leading the palfrey ; and we think it was he whose feelings 

 were moved. 



However, one of the charms of Chinese poetry is its vagueness ; 

 and the more this book is studied, the more the difficulties the trans- 

 lator has had to encounter will be understood, and the way in which 

 he has overcome or "walked round" many of them will be corres- 

 pondingly admired ; and the less will any dare to dogmatize where 

 Chinese themselves do not always agree. 



In conclusion, anyone who is a poetry-lover at all, will be well 

 repaid for his trouble if he studies Chinese poems in Chinese ; the 

 more he sees in them, the more there will remain for him to see ; and 

 when he has got all he can out of them, let him (and us) humbly re- 

 member that all poetry keeps its innermost sweetness for those in 

 whose native tongue it is written, just as the dearest of women still 

 has a special smile for the man she loves. C.E.C. 



