Mencius

TEUBNEE & CO., 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL. 1875. WHEN the author, in 18G7, published " The Life and Teachings of Confucius," he intimated that it would be followed by the present volume, " as soon as the publisher should feel authorized by public encouragement to go forward with the undertaking." It was not long till the publisher gave him notice that he was ready to go to press with an edition of Mencius, which might therefore have appeared in 1868. By that time, however, the author was occupied with the fourth and fifth volumes of his larger Work, containing the ancient poetry of China, and the history of the feudal kingdom of Chow from B.C. 721 to 480 ; and it was not till towards the end of 1872 that the publication of the fifth volume was com pleted. The author then began to take Mencius in hand, and to give the translation and notes in the second volume of his larger Work a careful revision. That was published in 1861, and, as a result of his studies during the intervening years, he saw that some improvement might be effected in his earlier labours. He therefore wrote out afresh the translation of the seven Books of Mencius, and the notes also with a special view to their suitability to an edition of the Chinese philosopher for general readers. The volume thus prepared is now submitted to the Public.

In the preface to the former volume the author referred to a re-publication of his translation of the Chinese Works contained in it in the United States, and mentioned that the appearance of that re-publication was a principal reason why his publisher had asked him to issue a popular edition of the Chinese Classics in his own name. The title-page of the volume, moreover, says ex- pressly that it was '' reproduced for general readers from the author's Work, containing the original Text, &c." If Dr John Heinrich Plath of Munich had taken the trouble to read the preface or even the title-page, he would hardly have done the injustice to the author which appears in his " Confucius und Seiner Schiiler Leben und Lehreri." There, in his "Leben des Confucius, 1," On p. 15, he has said that " The Life and Teachings of Confucius is a delusion practised on the Public, being a mere reprint of the author's Translations in his Chinese Classics, without the Chinese Text, and with his short Life of Confucius." The author cannot suppose that Dr Plath does not understand plain English suffici ently well to have saved him from such a misrepresentation. He did not practise any delusion on the Public, and it ought not to have been even insinuated that he had been guilty of such a thing.

London, 1st March, 1874. ™N THEIR RECOGNITION UNDER THE HAN DYNASTY, AND BEFORE II. CHAOU K'E AND HIS LABOURS UPON MENCIUS ... iv. INTEGRITY; AUTHORSHIP; AND RECEPTION AMONG THE I. THAT THE NATURE IS EVIL. BY THE PHILOSOPHER SEUN ... 77 II. AN EXAMINATION OF THE NATURE OF MAN. BY HAN WAN- I. THE OPINIONS OF YANG CHOO ... ... ... <J1 II. THE OPINIONS OF MIH TEIH ... ... ... ... 0!t UNIVERSAL LOVE, PART I. ... ... ... ... 100 UNIVERSAL LOVE, PART II. ... ... ... ... 102 KING HWUY OF LEANG, PART I. ... ... ... 123 KING HWUY OF LEANG, PART II. ... ... ... 139 KUNG-SUN CH'OW, PART I. ... ... ... ... 159 KUNG-SUN CH'OW, PART II. ... ... ... ... 178 T'ANG WAN KUNG, PART I. ... ... ... ... 190 T'ANG WAN RUNG, PART n. ... ... ... ••• 215 LE LOW, PART I. ... ... ... ... ... 232 LE LOW, PART II. ... ... ... ... ... 253 Of PROPER NAMES IN THE WORKS OF 1IENC1US THEIR RECOGNITION UNDER THE HAN DYNASTY, AND BEFORE IT. 1 . IN the third of the catalogues of Lew Hin,1 containing' a list of the Works of Scholars which had been collected up to his time (about A.D. 1), and in the first subdivision, devoted to authors of the classical or orthodox School, we have the entry — " The Works of Mencius, in eleven Books/' At that date, therefore, Mencius' writings were known and registered as a part of the literature of China.

2. A hundred years before Hin, we have the testimony of the historian Sze-ma Ts'e'en. In the seventy-fourth Book of his " Historical Records," there is a brief memoir of Mencius, where he says that the philosopher, having with drawn into private life, " with his disciples, Wan Chang and" others, prefaced the She and the Shoo, unfolded the views of Confucius, and made 'The Works of Mencius, in seven Books/ " The discrepancy that appears between these testimonies, in regard to the number of the Books which went by the common name of Mencius, will be considered in the sequel. In the mean while it is shown that the writings of Mencius were recognized by scholars a hundred years before the Christian era, which takes us back to little more than a century and a half from the date assigned to his death. 1 See Vol. I., Proleg., pp. 4. 5. VOL. II. 1 ^ 3. Among writers of the Han dynasty earlier than Sze-ma Ts'een, there were Plan Ying, and Tung Chung-shoo, con temporaries, in the reigns of the emperors Wan, Kino-, and Woo, (B.C. 178—86). Portions of their Works remain, and in them are found quotations from Mencius. Later than these there were Yang Hihmg (B.C. 53— A.D. 18), who wrote a commentary on Mencius, which was existing under the Sung dynasty, and Wang Ch'ung (died about A.D. 100), . who left a chapter of animadversions on our philosopher which still exists.

4. But we find references to Mencius and his Works anterior to the dynasty of Han. Between him and the rise of the Ts'in dynasty flourished the philosopher Seun K'iug, of whose writings enough is still preserved to form a large volume. By many he is regarded as the ablest of all the followers of Confucius. He several times makes mention of Meucius, and one of his most important chapters,— " That Human Nature is Evil," seems to have been written ex pressly against Mencius' doctrine of its goodness. He quotes his arguments, and endeavours to set them aside. 5. I have used the term recognition in the heading of this section, because the scholars 'of the Han dynasty do not seem to have had any trouble in forming or settling the text of Mencius such as we have seen they had with the Confucian Analects. And here a statement made by Chaou Ivfe, whoso labours upon our philosopher I shall notice in the next section, deserves to be considered. He says : — " When Ts'in sought by its fires to destroy the classical books, and put the scholars to death in pits, there was an end of the School of Mencius. His Works, however, were included under the common name of ' Philosophical/ and so the tablets con taining them escaped destruction." Ma Twan-lin does not hesitate to say that the statement is incorrect ; 1 and it seems strange that Mencius should have been exempted from the sweep of a measure intended to extinguish the memory of the most ancient and illustrious sovereigns of China and of their principles. But the same thing is affirmed in regard to the writings of at least one other author of antiquity, the philosopher Yuh; and the frequent

1 See his great work, Bk clxxxiv., upon Mencius. quotations of Mencius by Han Ying and Tung Chung-shoo, Sating that his Works were a comp ete collection in the? times rive some confirmation to K'e's account. On he whole, the evidence seems rather to preponderate in its favour. Mencius did not obtain his place as a els L''IiT long after the time of the Ts'in dynasty; and though the infuriate emperor would doubtless have given specml orders to destroy his writings, if his attention had been called to them, we can easily conceive their being overlooked, and escaping with a mass of others which were not considered dangerous to the new rule. 6 Another statement of Chaou K'e shows that the Woik, of Mencius, once recognized under the Han dynasty, were for a time at least kep? with a watchful care He says that, in the reign of the emperor Heaou-wan (B.C l/«— lo^J, <?tl Lun?yu, the Hcaou-king, Mencius, and the Urh-ya were all put under the care of a Board of < Great Scholars, which was subsequently done away with only . he I iv< Kin-' being left uuder such guardianship." Choo He has oWrved that the Books of the Han dynasty supply no evidence of such a Board; but its existence may be inferred a letter of Lew Hin, complaining of the supmeness with wh ch the scholars seconded his quest of the scattered ±uments of literature. He says :-'< Under the emperor Heaou-wiin, the Shoo-king reappeared, and the , beo-an to sprout and bud afresh. Throughout the empnc, a multitude of books were continually making their ^ appear ance and among them the Records and Sayings of all the Pnttosophers, which likewise had their place **f** them in the Courts of Learning, ^and a Board of Scholars appointed to their charge."

As the Board of Great Scholars in charge of the King was instituted B.C. 135, we may suppose that the pre vious arrangement hardly lasted half a century hat it did exist fo? a time, however, shows the value set upon the writings of Mencius, and confirms the point which I have rough? to set forth in this section.-that there were Works of Mencius current in China before the Han dynasty,^ which were eagerly recognized and cherished by the scholars under it, who had it in charge to collect the ancient literary productions of their country. 1 See the same work, Bk clxxiv. pp. 9, 10. CHAOU KfE AND HIS LABOURS UPON MENCIUS. 1 . IT has been shown that the Works of Mencius wore sufficiently well known from nearly the beginning of the Han dynasty; but its more distinguished scholars do not seem to have devoted themselves to their study and elucida tion. The classics proper claimed their first attention. There was much, labour to be done in collecting and collating the fragments of them ; and to unfold their meaning was the chief duty of every one who thought himself equal to the task. Mencius was but one of the literati, a scholar like them selves. He could wait. We must come down to the second century of the Christian era to find the first great comment ary on his writings.

In the Prolegomena to the Confucian Analects, Section i. 7, I have spoken of Gliding Heuen or Chfing K'aiig- siring, who died at the age of 74 some time between A.D. 190 — 220, after having commented on every ancient classical book. It is said by some 1 that he embraced the Works of Mencius in his labours. If he did so, which to me rs very doubtful, the result has not come down to posterity. To give to our philosopher such a treatment as he deserved, and compose a commentary that should descend to the latest posterity, was the Work of Chaou Kfe. 2. K'e was born A.D. 108. His father was a censor about the court of the emperor Heaou-gan, and gave him the name of Ke'a, which he afterwards changed into Kfe for the pur pose of concealment, changing also his original designation 1 In the "Books of the Suy dynasty" (A.D. 589— (517), Bk xxxix.. we find that there were then in the national Repositories three Works on Mencius, — Chaou K'e's, one by Clring Heuen, and one by Lew He also a scholar of Han, but probably not earlier than Chaou K'e. The same Works were existing under the T'ang dynasty (G2i — 1)07) ; — seethe " Books of Tang," Bk. xlix. By the rise of the Sung dynasty (A.D. !)7f>), however, the two last were both lost. The entries in the Records of Suy and T'ang would seem to prove that Chung Heuen had written on Mencius, but in the sketches of his life which I have con.sult.ed, — and that in the " Books of the After Han dynasty " must be the basis of all the rest, — there is no mention made of his having done so.

CHAOU KfE AND HIS LABOURS UPON MENCIUS. O of T'ae-k'ing into Pin-kfing. It was his boast that he could trace his descent from the emperor Chuen-heuh, B.C. 2510. In his youth K/e was distinguished for his intelligence and diligent study of the classics. He married a niece of the celebrated scholar and statesman Ma Yung, but bore himself proudly towards him and her other relatives. A. stern independence and hatred of the sycophancy of the times were from the first characteristic of him, and proved the source of many troubles. When he was over thirty, K'e was attacked with some severe and lingering illness, in consequence of which he lay , upon his bed for seven years. At one time, thinking he was near his end, he addressed a nephew who was with him in the following terms : — " Born, a man into the world, in retirement I have not displayed the principles exemplified on mount Ke,1 nor in office achieved the merit of E and Leu.3 Heaven has not granted me such distinction. What more shall I say ? Set up a round stone before my grave, and engrave on it the inscription, — ' Here lies a recluse of Han, by surname Chaou, and by name Ke'a. He had the will, but not the opportunity. Such was his fate. Alas ! ' '

Contrary to expectation, Kfe recovered, and in A.D. 1 54 we find him again engaged in public life, but in four years he is flying into obscurity under a feigned name, to escape the resentment of T'ang Hang, one of the principal minis ters, and of his partizans. He saved his life, but his family and relatives fell victims to the vengeance of his enemies, and for some time he wandered about the country of the Keang and Hwae, or among the mountains and by the seacoast on the north of the present Shan-tung. One day, as he was selling cakes in a market-place, his noble presence attracted the attention of Sun rJVung, a young gentleman of Gan-k'ew, who was passing by in a carriage, and to him, on being questioned, he made known his history. This proved a fortunate rencontre for him. Sun Ts'ung took him home, and kept him for several years concealed somewhere, " in the centre of a double wall." And now it was that he solaced his hard lot With literary studies. He wooed 1 It was to mount Ke that two ancient worthies are said to have withdrawn, when Yaou wished to promote them to honour.

s These are the well-known E Yin and T-ae-kung Wang, ancestor of the lords of Ts'e. the muse in twenty-three poetical compositions, which he called " Songs of Adversity," and achieved his commentary on Mencius. On the fall of the T'ang faction, when a political amnesty was proclaimed, Kfe emerged from his friendly confinement, and wTas employed in important offices, but only to fall a victim again to the intrigues of the time. The first year of the emperor Ling, A.D. 168, was the commencement of an imprisonment which lasted more than ten years ; but nothing could crush his elasticity, or daunt his perseverance. In 185, when he had nearly reached fourscore, he was active as ever in the field of political strife, and wrought loyally to sustain the fortunes of the falling dynasty. He died at last in A.D. 201, in King-chow, whither he had gone on a mission in behalf of his imperial master. Before his death, he had a tomb prepared for himself, which was long shown, or pretended to be shown, in what is now the district city of Keang-ling in the department of King-chow in Hoopih. 3. From the above account of Chaou Kfe it will be seen that his commentary on Mencius was prepared under great disadvantages. That ho, a fugitive and in such close hid ing, should have been able to produce a work such as it is shows the extent of his reading and acquirements in early days. I have said so much about him, because his name should be added to the long roll of illustrious menw-ho have found comfort in sore adversity from the pursuits of litera ture and philosophy. As to his mode of dealing with his subject, it will be sufficient to give his own account : — •

" I wished to set my mind on some literary work, by which I might be assisted to the government of my thoughts, and forget the approach of old age. But the six classics had all been explained and carefully elucidated by previous scholars. Of all the orthodox school there was only Mencius, wide and deep, minute and exquisite, yet obscure at times and hard to see through, who seemed to me to deserve to be properly ordered and digested. Upon this I brought forth whatever I had learned, collected testimonies from the classics and other books, and divided my author into chapters and sentences. My annotations are given along with the original text, and of every chapter I have separately indicated the scope. The Books I have divided into two Parts, the first and second, making in all fourteen sections. " On the whole, with regard to my labour, I do not venture to think that it speaks the man of mark, but, as a gift to the learner, it may dispel some doubts and resolve perplexi ties. It is not for me, however, to pronounce on its excel lencies or defects. Let men of discernment who come after me observe its errors and omissions and correct them; — that will be a good service."

1 . ALL the commentaries on Mencius made prior to the Sung dynasty (A.D. 975) having perished, excepting that of Chaou K'e, I will not therefore make an attempt to enumer ate them particularly. Only three names deserve to be mentioned, as frequent reference is made to them in Critical Introductions to our philosopher. They were all of the T'ang dynasty, extending, if we embrace in it what is called " The after T'ang," from A.D. 624 to 936. The first is that of Luh Shen-king, who declined to adopt Chaou K'e's division of the text into fourteen sections, and many of whose interpretations, differing from those of the older authority, have been received into the now standard com mentary of Choo He. The other two names are those of Chang Yih and Ting Kung-choh, whose principal object was to determine the sounds and tones of characters about which there could be dispute. All that we know of their views is from the works of Sun Shih and Choo He, who have many references to them in their notes. 2. During the Sung dynasty, the commentators on Men cius were a multitude, but it is only necessary that I speak of two.

The most distinguished scholar of the early reigns was Sun Shih, who is now generally alluded to by his posthumous or honorary epithet of " The Illustrious Duke." We find him high in favour and reputation in the time of Tfae-tsung (977—997), Chin-tsung (998—1022), and Jin-tsung (1023— 1063). By imperial command, in association with several other officers, he prepared a work in two parts under the title of " The Sounds and Meaning of Mencius," and pre sented it to the court. Occasion was taken from this for a strange imposture. In the edition of " The Thirteen King/' Mencius always appears with " The Commentary of Chaou Kfe" and " The Correct Meaning of Sun Shin." Under the Sung dynasty, what were called " correct meanings" were made for most of the classics. They are commentaries and annotations on the principal commentator, who is con sidered as the expounder of the classic, the author not hesi tating, however, to indicate any peculiar views of his own. The genuineness of Shih's " Correct Meaning of Mencius" has been questioned by few, but there seems to be no doubt of its being really a forgery, at the same time that it contains the substance of the true Work of " the Illustrious Duke," so far as that embraced the meaning of Mencius and of Chaou K'e. The account of it given in the preface to " An Exam ination of the Text in the Commentary and Annotations on Mencius," by Yuen Yuen of the present dynasty, is — " Sun Shih himself made no 'Correct Meaning;' but some one — I know not who — supposing that his Work was really of that character, and that there were many things in the com mentary which were not explained, and passages also of an unsatisfactory nature, he transcribed the whole of Shih's Work on ' The Sounds and Meaning; ' and having interpo lated some words of his own, published it under the title of ' The Annotations of Sun Shih.' He was the same person who is styled by Choo He ' A scholar of Shaou-woo. "

In the 12th century Choo He appeared upon the stage, and entered into the labours of all his predecessors. He published one Work separately upon Mencius, and two upon Mencius and the Confucian Analects. The second of these, — " Collected Comments on the Analects and Mencius," is now the standard authority on the subject, and has been the test of orthodoxy and scholarship in the literary examinations since A.D. 1315. 3. Under the present dynasty two important contributions have been made to the study of Mencius. They are both published in the "Explanations of the Classics under the Imperial dynasty of IViiig." 1 The former, bearing the title 1 See Vol. I., Proleg., p. 21. of " An Examination of the Text in the Commentary and Annotations on Mencius/' forms the sections from 1039 to 1054. It is by Yuen Yuen, the Governor- general under whose auspices that compilation was published. Its simple aim is to establish the true reading by a collation of the oldest and best manuscripts and editions, and of the remains of a series of stone tablets containing the text of Mencius, which were prepared in the reign of Kaou-tsung (A.D. 1128 — 1162), and are now existing in the Examination Hail of Hang-chow. The second Work, which is still more import ant, is embraced in the sections 1117 — 1146. Its title is — " The Correct Meaning of Mencius, by Tse'aou Seun, a Keujin of Keang-too." It is intended to be such a Work as Sun Shih would have produced, had he really made what has been so long. current in the world under his name ; and is really valuable.

INTEGRITY ; AUTHORSHIP ; AND RECEPTION AMONG THE CLASSICAL 1. WE have seen how the Works of Mencius were cata logued by Lew Hin as being in " eleven Books," while a century earlier Sze-ma Ts'e'en referred to them as consisting only of " seven." The question has very much vexed Chinese scholars whether there ever really were four addi tional Books of Mencius which have been lost. 2. Chaou Kfe says in his preface: — "There likewise are four additional Books, entitled ' A Discussion of the Good ness of Man's Nature/ ' An Explanation of Terms/ ' The Classic of Filial Piety,' and ' The Practice of Government.' But neither breadth nor depth mark' s their composition. It is not like that of the seven acknowledged Books. It may be judged they are not really the production of Mencius, but have been palmed upon the world by some subsequent imitator of him." As the four Books in question are lost, and only a very few quotations from Mencius, that are not found in his Works which we have, can be fished up from ancient authors, our best plan is to acquiesce in the conclu sion of Chaou Kfe. The specification of " Seven Books," by Sze-ma Ts'een is an important corroboration of it. In the two centuries preceding our era the four Books whose titles are given by him may have been made and published under the name of Mencius, and Hin would only do his duty in including them in his catalogue, unless their falsehood was generally acknowledged. K'e, devoting him self to the study of our author, and satisfied from internal evidence that they were not his, only did his duty in reject ing them. There is no evidence that his decision was called in question by any scholar of the Han or the dynasties im mediately following, when we may suppose that the Books were still in existence.

The author of " Supplemental Observations on the Four Books, " : says upon this subject : — " ' It would be better to be without books than to give entire credit to them ;' 2 — this is the rule for reading ancient books laid down by Mencius himself, and the rule for us after men in reading about what purport to be lost books of his. The seven Books we have ' comprehend [the doctrine] of heaven and earth, examine and set forth ten thousand topics, discuss the subjects of benevolence and righteousness, reason and virtue, the nature [of man] and the decrees [of Heaven], misery andhappiness.'3 Brilliantly are these things treated of, in a way far beyond what any disciple of Kung-sun Chfow or Wan Chang could have attained to. What ; j the use of disputing about other matters ? Ho Sheh has his ' Expurgated Mencius/ but Mencius cannot be expurgated. Lin Kin-sze has his ' Con tinuation of Mencius/ but Mencius needs no continuation. I venture to say — Besides the Seven Boolcs there icere no other Works of Mencius." 3. On the authorship of the Works of Mencius, Szc-ma Ts'e'en and Chaou Kce are agreed. They say that Mencius composed the seven Books himself, and yet that he did so along with certain of his disciples. The words of the latter are : — " He withdrew from public life, collected and digested the conversations which he had had with his distinguished disciples, Kung-sun Ch'ow, Wan Chang, and others, on the difficulties and doubts which they had expressed, and also

1 See Vol. I., Prolpg., larger Work, p. 132. 2 Mencius, VII. Pt II. iii. 3 This is the language of Chaou K'e. compiled himself his deliverances as ex cathedra ; — and so published the Seven Books of his writings." This view of the authorship seems to have been first called in question by Han Yu, commonly referred to as " Han, the Duke of Literature/' a famous scholar of the eighth century (A.D. 768 — 82-1-), under the T'ang dynasty, who ex pressed himself in the following terms : — " The books of Mencius were not published by himself. After his death, his disciples, Wan Chang and Kung-sun Chfow, in commu nication with each other, recorded the words of Mencius." 4. If we wish to adjudicate in the matter, we find that we have a difficult task in hand. One thing is plain, — the book is not the work of many hands like the Confucian Analects. " If we look at the style of the composition," says Choo He, "it is as if the whole were melted together, and not composed by joining piece to piece." This language is too strong, but there is a degree of truth and force in it. No principle of chronology guided the arrangement of the dif ferent parts, and a foreigner may be pardoned if now and then the " pearls " seem to him " at random strung ; " yet the collection is characterized by a uniformity of style, and an endeavour in the separate Books to preserve a unity of matter. This consideration, however, is not enough to de cide the question. Such as the work is, we can conceive it proceeding either from Mencius himself, or from the labours of a few of his disciples engaged on it in concert.

The author of the " Topography of the Four Books " l has this argument to show that the works of Mencius are by Mencius himself: — "The Confucian Analects," he says, " were made by the disciples, and therefore they record minutely the appearance and manners of the sage. But the seven Books were made by Mencius himself, and there fore we have nothing in them excepting the words and public movements of the philosopher." This peculiarity is certainly consonant with the hypothesis of Mencius' own authorship, and so far may dispose us to adopt it. On the other hand, as the princes of Mencius' time to whom any reference is made are always mentioned by the honorary epithets conferred on them after their death, it is argued that those at least must have been introduced by his disciples. Thei'e are many passages, again, which savour more 1 See Vol., I.. Proleg., larger Work, p. 132. of a disciple or oilier narrator than of the philosopher him self. There is, for instance, the commencing1 sentences of Book III. Pt I. :— " When the Duke Wan of T'ang was crown-prince, having to go to TVoo, he went by way of -Sung, and visited Mencius (lit., the philosopher Many}. Mencius discoursed to him how the nature of man is good, and when speaking, always made laudatory reference to Yaou and Shun. When the crown-prince was returning from Ts'oo, he again visited Mencius. Mencius said to him, ' Prince, do you doubt my words ? The path is one, and only one."'

5. Perhaps the truth after all is as the thing is stated by Sze-ma Ts'een, — that Mencius, aloiKj u'itlt some of ///.•>• disci ples, compiled and composed the Work. It would be in their hands and under their guardianship after his death, and they may have made some slight alterations, to prepare it, as we should say, for the press. Yet allowing this, there is nothing to prevent us from accepting the sayings and doings as those of Mencius, guaranteed by himself. 6. It now only remains here that I refer to the reception of Mencius' Works among the Classics. We have seen how they were not admitted by Lew Ilin into his catalogue of classical works. Mencius was then only one of the many scholars or philosophers of the orthodox school. The same classification obtains in the books of the Suy and T'ang dynasties ; and in fact it was only under the dynasty of Sung that the works of Mencius and the Confucian Analects were authoritatively ranked together. The first explicitly to proclaim this honour as due to our philosopher was Cli'in Chih-chae,1 whose words are— "Since the time when Han, the Duke of Literature, delivered his eulogium, ' Confucius handed [the scheme of doctrine] to Mencius, on whose death the line of transmission was interrupted/ 2 the scholars of

The name and the account I take from the " Supplemental Observations on the Four Books," Art. I. on Mencius. Chili, I apprehend, is a misprint for Che, the individual referred to heing probably Ch'in Foo-leang, a great scholar and officer of the 12th century, known also by the designations of Keun-keu and Che-chae. 2 This eulogy of Han Yu is to be found subjoined to the brief introduction in the common editions of Mencius. The whole of the passage there quoted is : — " Yaou handed [the scheme of doctrine] down to Shun : Shun handed it to Yu ; Yu to T'ang; T'ang to Wan, "VVoo, and the Duke of Chow ; Wan, Woo, and the Duke of Chow to Confucius ; and Confucius to Mencius, on the empire have all associated Confucius and Mencius to gether. The Books of Mencius are certainly superior to those of Seun and Yang, and others who have followed thera. Their productions are not to be spoken of in the same day with his." Choo He adopted the same estimate of Mencius, and by his " Collected Comments " on him and the Analects bound the two sages together in a union which the government of China, in the several dynasties which have succeeded, has with one temporary exception approved and confirmed.

whose death there was no farther transmission of it. In Seun and Yang there are snatches of it, but without a nice discrimination : they talk about it, but without a definite particularity." 1. THE materials for a Memoir of Mencius are very scanty. The birth and principal incidents of Confucius' life are Paucity and duly chi'oniclcd in the various annotated editions uncertainty of „ .-, /-,, , rn ,.. -, • c, rii ,.. T, materials. oi the Oh un 1 s'ew, and in Sze-ma Is een. it is not so in the case of Mencius. TVe'en's account of him is contained in half a dozen columns which are without a single date. That in the "Cyclopaedia of Surnames" only covers half a page. Chaou K'e is more particular in regard to the early years of his subject, but he is equally indefinite. Our chief informants are K'ung Foo, and Lew He'ang in his " Ilecord of Note-worthy Women," but what we lind in them has more the character of legend than history. It is not till we come to the pages of Mencius himself that we are treading on any certain ground. They give the principal incidents of his public life, extending over about twenty-four years. We learn from them that in the course of that time he was in such and such places, and gave expres sion to such and such opinions ; but where he went first and where he went last, it is next to impossible to determine. I have carefully examined three attempts, made by compe tent scholars of the present dynasty, to construct a Har mony that shall reconcile the statements of the " Seven Books" with the current chronologies of the time, and do not see my way to adopt entirely the conclusions of any one of them.1 The value of the Books lies in the record

1 The three attempts are — one by the author of ' ' Supplemental Observations on the Four Books," an outline of which is given in his Notes on Mencius, Art. III. ; oue by the author of the " Topography of the Four Books," and which, they furnish of Mencius' sentiments, and the lessons which these supply for the regulation of individual conduct and national policy. It is of little importance that we should be able to lay them down in the strict order of time. With Mencius' withdrawal from public life, all traces of him disappear. All that is said of him is that he spent his latter years along with his disciples in the preparation and publication of his Works. From this paragraph it will be seen that there is not much to be said in this section. I shall relate, first, what is reported of the early years and training of our philo sopher, and then look at him as he comes before us in his own pages, in the full maturity of his character and powers. 2. Mencius is the latinized form of Mung-tsze, " The philosopher M&ng." His surname thus connects him with the Mang or Mang-sun family, one of the three IIis surname. great Houses of Loo, whose usurpations were birth-place : pasuch an offence to Confucius in his day. Their of his 'birth, B.C. power was broken in the time of duke Gae (B.C. i"1' 493 — 467), and they thenceforth dwindle into comparative insignificance. Some branches remained in obscurity in Loo, a*nd others went forth to the neighbouring States.

The branch from which Mencius sprang found a home in the small adjacent principality of Tsow, which in former times had been made known by the name of Choo. It was absorbed by Loo, and afterwards by Ts'oo, a,nd its name is still retained in one of the districts of the department of Yen-chow in Shan-tung. Confucius was a native of a dis- forming the 24th section of the " Explanations of the Classics under the Ts:ing dynasty; '' and one prefixed to the Works of Menoins, in "The Four Books, with the Relish of the Radical Meaning " (Vol. I., Proleg., larger Work, p. 131 ). These three critics display much ingenuity and research, but their conclusions are conflicting. — I may be pardoned in saying that their learned labours have affected me just as those of the Uarmonizers of the Gospel Narratives used to do in former years, — bewildering more than edifying. Most cordially do I agree with Dean Alford (New Testament. Vol. 1., Proleg., I. vii. 5) : — " If ( ? since) the Evangelists have delivered to us truly and faithfully the Apostolic Narratives, and if ( 1 since) the Apostles spoke as the Holy Spirit enabled them, and brought events and sayings to their recollection, then we may be sure that, if we knew the real process of the transactions themselves, that knowledge would enable us to glee an account of the diversities of narration and arrangement which the Gospels nom present to us. But without such knowledge, all attempts to accomplish this analysis in minute detail must be merely conjectural, and must tend to weaken the Evangelic testimony rather than to strengthen it."

trict of Loo having the same name, which many contend was also the birth-place of Mencius, making him a native of Loo and not of the State of Tsow. To my mind the evidence is decidedly against such a view.1 Mencius' name was Kfo. His designation does not* appear in his Works, nor is any given to him by Sze-rna Ts'een or Chaou Kfe. The latter says that he did not know how he had been styled ; but the legends tell that he was called Tsze-keu, and Tsze-yu. The same authorities — if we can call them such — say that his fathers name was Keih, and that he was styled Kung-o. They say also that his mother's maiden surname was Chang. Nothing is related of the former but that he died when his son was quite young, but the latter must have a paragraph to herself. " The mother of Mencius " is famous in China, and held up to the present time as a model of what a mother should be. The year of Mencius' birth was probably the 4th of the emperor Lc'eh, B.C. 371. He lived to the age of 81, dying in in the year B.C. 288, the 26th of the emperor Nan, with whom terminated the long sovereignty of the Chow dynasty. The first twenty-three years of his life thus synchronized with the last twenty-three of Plato's. Aristotle, Zeno, Epi curus, .Demosthenes, and other great men of the West, were also his contemporaries. When we place Mencius among them, he can look them in the face. He does not need to hide a diminished head.

3. It was his misfortune, according to Chaou Kfe, " to lose his father at an early period ; 2 but in his youthful years 1 Yen Joh-keu and Ts'aoti Che-shing stoutly maintain the different sides of this question, the latter giving tire arguments to show that the Tsow of Men cius was the Tsow of Loo. As Mencius went from Ts'e on the death of his mother to bury her in Loo (Bk II. Ft II. vii.), this appears to prove that he was a native of that Sta-te. But the conclusion is not necessary. Loo was the ancestral State of his family, and on that account he might wish to inter his parent there, according to the custom of the Chow dynasty (see the Le Ke, Bk II. Pt I. i. 2(>). The way in which Tsow always appears as the residence of Mencius, when lie is what we should say "at home," appears to me decisive of the question, though neither of the disputants presses it into his service. Compare Bk III. Pt I. ii. ; Bk VI. Pt II. i. and v. The point is really of no importance, for the States of Tsow and Loo adjoined. " The rattle of the watchman in the one was heard in the other."

8 The legend writers are more precise, and say that Mencius was only three years old when his father died. This statement, and K'e's as well, are diffi cult to reconcile with what we read in Bk I. Pt II. xvi., about the style in he enjoyed the lessons of his kind mother, who Mencius' mothrice changed her residence on his account." ther- At first they lived near a cemetery, and Mencius amused himself with acting the various scenes which he witnessed at the tombs. " This/' said the lady, " is no place for my son ; " — and she removed to a house in the market-place. But the change was no improvement. The boy took to playing the part of a salesman, vaunting his wares, and chaffering with customers. His mother sought a new house, and found one at last close by a public school. There her child's attention was taken with the various exercises of politeness which the scholars were taught, and he endeav oured to imitate them. The mother was satisfied. " This," she said, " is the proper place for my son." Han Ying relates another story of this period. Near their house was a pig-butchei^s. One day Mencius asked his mother what they were killing the pigs for, and was told that it was to feed him. Her conscience immediately re proved her for the answer. She said to herself, " While I was carrying this boy in my womb, I would riot sit down if the mat was not placed square, and I ate no meat which was not cut properly ; — so I taught him when he was yet unborn.1 And now when his intelligence is opening, I am deceiving him ; — this is to teach hirn untruthfumess I" With this she went and bought a piece of pork in order to make good her words.

As Mencius grew up, he was sent to school. When he returned home one day, his mother looked up from the web which she was weaving, and asked him how far he had got on. He answered her with an air of indifference that he was doing well enough, on which she took a knife and cut the thread of her shuttle. The idler was alarmed, and asked what she meant, when she gave him a long lecture, showing that she had done what he was doing, — that her cutting her thread was like his neglecting his learning. The ad monition, it is said, had its proper effect ; the lecture did not need to be repeated. There are two other narratives in which Chang-she figures, which Mencius buried his parents. If we accept the legend, we are reduced there to great straits. 1 See Choo He's " Education for the Young," at the commencement of the chapter on " Instruction," which begins with the educational duties of the mother, while the child is yet unborn. VOL. n. 2 and though they belong to a later part of Mencius' life, it may be as well to embrace them in the present paragraph.

His wife was squatting down one day in her own room, when Mencius went in. He was so much offended at find- .= ing her in that position, that he told his mother, and ex pressed his intention to put her away, because of ' ' her want of propriety." " It is you who have no propriety," said his mother, " and not your wife. Do not ' the Rules of Pro priety ' say, ' When you are about to ascend a hall, raise your voice ; when you enter a door, keep your e}res low ? ' The reason of the rules is that people may not be taken un prepared ; but you entered the door of your private apart ment without raising your voice, and so caused your wife to be caught squatting on the ground. The impropriety is with you and not with her." On this Mencius fell to reproving himself, and did not dare to put away his wife. One day, when he was living with his mother in Ts'e, she was struck with the sorrowfulness of his aspect, as he stood leaning against a pillar, and asked him the cause of it. He replied, " I have heard that the superior man occupies the place for which he is adapted, accepting no reward to which lie does not feel entitled, and not covetous of honour and emolument. Now my doctrines are not practised in Ts'e : — I wish to leave it, but I think of your old age, and am anxi ous." His mother said, " It does not belong to a woman to determine anything of herself, but she is subject to the rule of the three obediences. When young, she has to obey her parents ; when married, she has to obey her husband ; when a widow, she has to obey her son. You are a man in your full maturity, a.nd I am old. Do you act as your con viction of righteousness tells you you ought to do, and I will act according to the rule which belongs to me. Why should you be anxious about me ? "

Such are the accounts which I have found of the mother of Mencius. Possibly some of them are inventions, but they are devoutly believed by the people of China ; — and it must be to their profit. We may well believe that she was a wo man of vciy superior character, and that her son's subse quent distinction was in a great degree owing to her influ ence and training. 4. From parents we advance to be under tutors and jrovernors. The moulding hand that has wrought upon us in the pliant years of youth always leaves inef- st^?or" faceable traces upon the character. Can any- early life. thing1 be ascertained of the instructor or instructors of Mencius ? The reply to this inquiry must be substantially in the negative, though many have affirmed that he sat as a pupil at the feet of Tsze-sze, the grandson of Confucius. We are told this by Chaou K'e, whose words are : — " As he grew up, he studied under Tsze-sze, acquired all the know ledge taught by ' The Learned/, and became thoroughly acquainted with ' The Five King/ being more especially distinguished for his mastery of the She and the Shoo." A reference to dates, however, shows that this must be in correct. From the death of Confucius to the birth of Men cius there were 108 years, and supposing — what is by no means probable — that Tsze-sze was born in the year his father died, he must have been 112 years old when Mencius was born. The supposition of their having stood to each other in the relation of master and scholar is inconsistent, moreover, with the style in which Mencius refers to Tszesze. He mentions him seven times, showing an intimate acquaintance with his history, but never once in a manner which indicates that he had personal intercourse with him.

Sze-ma Ts'een's account is that " Mencius studied with the disciples of Tsze-sze." This may have been the case. There is nothing on the score of time to make it impossible, or even improbable ; but this is all that can be said about it. No famous names from the school of Tsze-sze have been transmitted to posterity, and Mencius nowhere speaks as if he felt under special obligation to any instructor. One short sentence contains all that he has said bearing on the point before us :-»-" Although I could not be a disci ple of Confucius myself, I have endeavoured to cultivate [my virtue] by means of others [who were]."1 The chapter to which this belongs is rather enigmatical. The other member of it says : — ' ' The influence of a sovereign sage terminates in the fifth generation. The influence of one who is merely a sage does the same." By " one merely a sage " Mencius is understood to mean Confucius ; and by extending his influence over five generations, he shows how it was possible for him to place himself under it by means of others who had been in direct communication with the Master.

1 " See Book IV. Ft II. xxii. We must leave the subject of Mencius' early instructors in the obscurity which rests upon it. The first forty years of his life are little more than a blank to us. Many of them, we may be sure,, were spent in diligent study. He made himself familiar during them with all the literature of his country. Its classics, its histories, its great men, had re ceived his careful attention. Confucius especially became to him the chief of mortal men, the object of his untiring admiration ; and in his principles and doctrines he recog nized the truth for want of an appreciation of which the bonds of society all round him were being relaxed, and the empire hastening to a general anarchy. How he supported himself in Tsow, we cannot tell. Per haps he was possessed of some patrimony; but when he first comes forth from his native State, we find him accompanied by his most eminent disciples. He probably imitated Con fucius by assuming the office of a teacher, — not that of a school-master in our acceptation of the Avord, but that of a professor of morals and learning, -encouraging the resort of inquiring minds, in order to resolve their doubts and inform them on the true principles of virtue and society. These disciples would minister to his wants, though we may pi-esume that he sternly maintained his dignity among them, as he afterwards did towards the princes of the time, when he appeared among them as a lecturer in another sense of the term. In Book VII. Pt II. xliii., and Book VI. Pt II. ii., we have two instances of this, though we cannot be sure that they belonged to the earlier period of his life.

5. The state of China had waxed worse and worse during the interval that elapsed between Confucius and Mencius. state of china in The elements of disorganization which were rife Mencius' tune. jn f-}ie times of the earlier sage had gone on to produce their natural results. One feeble sovereign had followed another on the throne, and the dynasty of Chow was ready to vanish away. Men were persuaded of its approaching extinction. The feeling of loyalty to it was no longer a cherished sentiment ; and the anxiety and ex pectation were about what new rule would take its place. Many of the smaller fiefs or principalities had been re duced to a helpless dependence on, or been absorbed by, the larger ones. Of Loo, Ch'ing, Wei, Woo, Ch'in, and Sung, conspicuous in the Analects, we read but little in Mencius. Tsin had been dismembered, and its fragments formed the nuclei of three new and vigorous kingdoms, — Wei, Chaou, and Han. Tsfe still maintained its ground, but was barely a.ble to make head against the States of Ts'in in the West and Ts'oo in the South. The struggle for supremacy was between these two, the former, as it was ultimately success ful, being the more ambitious and incessant in its aggressions on its neighbours.

The princes were thus at constant warfare with one another. Now two or more would form a league to resist the encroaching Ts'in, and hardly would that object be ac complished before they were at war among themselves. Ambitious statesmen were continually inflaming their quarrels. The recluses of Confucius' days, who Avithdrew in disgust from the world and its turmoil, had given place to a class of men who came forth from their retirements provided with arts of war or schemes of policy which they recommended to the contending chiefs. They made no scruple of changing their allegiance, as they were moved by whim or interest. Kung-sun Yen and Chang E may be mentioned as a specimen of those characters. " Are they not really great men ? " it was once asked of Mencius. " Let them once be angry, and all the princes are afraid. Let them live quietly, and the flames of trouble are extinguished through out the kingdom." l It is not wonderful that in such times the minds of men should have doubted of the soundness of the ancient princi ples of the acknowledged sages of the nation. Doctrines, strange and portentous in the view of Mencius, were openly professed. The authority of Confucius was disowned. The foundations of government were overthrown ; the founda tions of truth were assailed. Two or three paragraphs from our philosopher will verify and illustrate this represent ation of the character of his times.

" A host marches [in attendance on the ruler], and stores of provisions are consumed. The hungry are deprived of their food, and there is no rest for those who are called to toil. Maledictions are uttered by one to another with eyes askance, and the people proceed to the commission of wickedness. Thus the royal ordinances are violated, and the people are oppressed, and the supplies of food and drink flow away like water. The rulers yield them selves to the [bad] current, or they urge their [evil] way [against a good one] ; they are wild ; they are utterly lost." 2 1 Bk III. Pt II. ii. 2 Bk I. Pt II. iv. 6. " The five chiefs of the princes were sinners against the three kings. The princes of the present day are sinners against the five chiefs. The great officers of the present day are sinners against the princes. . . . The crime of him who connives at and aids the wickedness of his prince is small, but the crime of him who anticipates and excites that wickedness is great. The officers of the present day all go to meet their sovereigns' wickedness, and therefore I say that they are sinners against them." '

" Sage kings cease to arise, and the princes of the States give the reins to their lusts. Unemployed scholars indulge in unreasonable discussions. The words of Yang Choo and Mill Teih fill the empire. If you listen to people's discourses, you will find that they have adopted the views either of Yang or of Mih. [Now.] Yang's principle is — ' each one for himself,' which does not acknowledge [the claims of] the sovereign. Mill's principle is — ' to love all equally,' which does not acknowledge [the peculiar affection due to] a father. But to acknowledge neither king nor father is to be in the state of a beast. Kung-ming E said, ' In their kitchens there is fat meat. In their stables there are fat horses. But their people have the look of hunger, and on the wilds there are those who have died of famine. This is leading on beasts to devour men.' If the principles of Yang and Mih are not stopped, and the principles of Confucius not set forth, those perverse speakings will delude the people and stop up [the path of] benevolence and righteousness. When bene volence and righteousness are stopped up, beasts will be led on to devour men, and men will devour one another." 2

6. It is in Ts'e that we first meet with Mencius as a counsellor of the princes/ and it was in this State that he Mencius the sPeut much the greater part of his public life. first time in His residence in it. however, appears to have Ts'e ; some time , T-IT-J. j. • i i between B.C. 333 been divided into two portions, and we know not to which of them to refer many of the chap ters which describe his intercourse with the prince and his ministers • but, as I have already observed, this is to us of little moment. Our interest is in what he did and said. It) matters little that we cannot assign to each saying and doing its particular date. That he left Ts'e the first time before B.C. 323 is plausibly inferred from Bk II. Pt II. xiv. 4 ; 4 and assuming that the 1 Bk YI. Pt II. vii. 1, 4. 2 Book III. Pt II. ix. 0. 3 In the "Annals of the Empire" (Vol. I., Proles:., larger Work, p. KJ4). Men cius' visit to king Hwuyof Leang is set down as having occurred in B.C. olio, and under B.C. 31 8 it is said — " Mencius goes from Leang to Ts'e." The visit to Leang is placed too early, and that to Ts'e too late. The disasters of king Hwuy, mentioned Bk I. Pt I. v 1. had not all taken place in B.C. o!8; and if Mencius remained 17 years in Leang, it is strange we have only five conversa tions between him and king Hwiiy. So far from his not going to Ts'e till B.C. 318, it will be seen from the next note that he was leaving Ts'e before B.C. 321-5.

4 Meucius' words are — " From the commencement of the Chow dynasty conversation in the same Book, Ft I. ii., took place immedi ately before or after his arrival,1 we can determine that he did not enter the State before B.C. 331, for he speaks of himself as having attained at forty years of age to " an un perturbed mind." The two chapters contain the most re markable expressions indicative of Mencius' estimate of himself. In the first, while he glorifies Confucius as far before all other men who had ever lived, he declines having comparisons drawn between himself and any of the sage's most distinguished disciples. In the second, when going away sorrowful because he had not wrought the good which he desired, he observes : — " Heaven does not yet wish that the empire should enjoy tranquillity and good order. If it wished this, who is there besides me to bring it about ? " We maybe certain that Mencius did not go to Ts'e unin vited. His approach was waited for with curious expecta tion, and the king, spokqn of always by his honorary epithet of Seuen, " The Illustrious/' sent persons to spy out whether he was like other men.2 They had their first interview at a place called Ts'ung, which was so little satis factory to the philosopher that he resolved to make only a short stay in the State. Circumstances occurred to change this resolution, but though he" remained, and even accepted office, yet it was only honorary ; — he declined receiving any salary.3

From Ts'ung he appears to have retired to P'ing-luh, where Ch'oo, the prime minister, sent him a present, wish ing, no doubt, to get into his good graces. 1 call attention to the circumstance, though trifling in itself, because it illustrates the way in which Mencius carried himself to the great men. He took the gift, but subsequently, when he went to the capital, he did not visit the minister to acknow- till now more than 700 years have elapsed." It was to the pin-pose of his argument to make the time appear as long as possible. Had 800 years elapsed, he would surely have said so. But as the Chow dynasty commenced in B.C. 11 HI, the year B.C. 322 would he its 800th anniversary, and Mencius' departure from Ts'e did not take place later that the year befpre B.C. 323. 1 This chapter and the one before it have very much the appearance of having taken place on the* way from Tsow to Ts'e. Mencius has been invited to a powerful court. He is emerging from his obscurity. His disciple expect great things for him. Kung-sun Ch'ow sees him invested with the government of Ts'e, and in the elation of his heart makes his inquiries.

2 Bk IV. Pt II. xxxii. 3 Bk II. Pt II. xiv. ledge it. His opinion was that Ch'oo might have come in person to Pfing-luh to see him. " There was a gift, but no corresponding respect." 1 When Mencius presented himself at the capital of the State, he was honourably received by the king. Many of the conversations with the sovereign and officers which are scattered through the seven Books, though the first and second are richest in them, must be referred to this period. The one which is first in place,2 and which contains the full est exposition of the philosopher's views on government, was probably first likewise in time.3 It sets forth the grand essential to the exercise of royal government, — a heart on the part of the sovereign impatient of the sufferings of the people, and eager to protect them and make them happy ; it brings home to king Seuen the conviction that he was not without such a heart, and presses on him the truth that his not exercising it was from a want of will and not from any lack of ability; it exposes unsparingly the errors of the course he was pursuing ; and concludes by an exhibition of the outlines and happy issues of a true royal sway.

Of this nature were all Mencius' communications with the sovereign ; but he lays himself open in one thing to severe censure. Afraid apparently of repelling the prince from him by the severity of his lessons, he tries to lead him on by his very passions. " I am fond of beauty," says the king, " and that is in the way of my attaining to the royal government which you celebrate." "Not at all," replies the philosopher. " Gratify yourself, only do not let your doing so interfere with the people's getting similar enjoy ment for themselves."4 So the love of money, the love of war, and the love of music are dealt with. Mencius thought that if he could only get the good of the people to be recognized by Seuen as the great aim which he was to pur sue, his tone of mind would be so elevated, that the selfish passions and gratifications. of which he was the slave would 1 Bk VI. Pt II. v. = Bk I. Pt I. vii. 3 I judge that this was the first set conversation between king Seuen and Mencius, because of the inquiry with which the king opens it, — " May I be informed by you of the transactions of Hwan of Ts'e, and Wan of Tsin?" A very brief acquaintance with our philosopher would have taught him that he was the last person to apply to about those characters.

4 Bk I. Pt II. i. iii. v. ; ct dl. be purified or altogether displaced. And so it would have been. Where he fails, is in putting his points as if benevo lence and selfishness, covetousness and generosity, might exist together. Chinese moralists rightly find fault with him in this respect, and say that Confucius never conde scended to such a style of argument. Notwithstanding the apparent cordiality of the king's re ception of him, and the freedom with which Mencius spoke his mind at their interviews, a certain suspiciousness appears to have been maintained between them. Neither of them would bend to the other. Mencius would not bow to the royal state ; Seuen would not vail bonnet to the philosopher's cloak. We have one amusing instance of the struggles to which this sometimes gave rise. One day Mencius was pre paring to go to court of his own free will, when a messenger arrived from the king, saying he had intended to come and see him, but was prevented by a cold, and asking whether Mencius would not appear at the audience next morning. Mencius saw that this was a device on the part of the king to avoid stooping to visit him, and though he had been about to go to court, he replied at once that he was unwell. He did not hesitate to meet the king's falsehood with one of his own.

He did not wish, however, that the king should be ignorant of the truth, and went out next morning to pay a visit of condolence. He supposed that messengers would be sent from the court to inquire about his health, and that, when they took back word that he had gone out visiting, the king would understand how his sickness of the day before was only feigned. It happened as he expected. The king sent a messenger, and his physician besides. Mencius being out, they were received by Mling Chung, either his son or cousin, who com plicated the affair by an invention of his own. " To-day," he said, "he was a little better, and hastened to go to court. I don't know whether he has reached it by this time or not." No sooner were the visitors gone with this story, than he sent several persons to look for the philosopher, and urge him to go to the court before he returned home. It was now necessary that a full account of the matter should reach the royal ears ; and to accomplish this, Mencius neither went home nor to the court, but spent the night at the house

of one of the high officers. They had an animated discussion. The officer accusedMencius of showing disrespect to the king. The philosopher replied that no man in Ts'e showed so much respect for the sovereign as he did, for it was only he who brought high and truly royal subjects under his notice. "That," said the officer, " is not my meaning. The rule is — ' When the prince's order calls, the carriage must not be waited for.' You were going to the court, but when you heard the king's message, you did not do so. This seems not in accordance with that rule." Mencius explained : — " There are three things universally acknowledged to be honourable, — -nobility, age, and virtue. In courts, nobility holds the first place ; in villages, age ; and for helping one's generation and presiding over the people, the other two are not equal to virtue. The possession of one of the three docs not authorize the despising of one who has the other two. " A prince who is to accomplish great deeds will have ministers whom he does not call to go to see him. When he wishes to consult with then., he goes to them. The prince who does not honour the virtuous, and delight in their ways of doing, to this extent, is not worth having to do with.

"There was T'ang with E Yin : — he first learned of him, and then made him his minister ; and so without difficulty he became sovereign. There was the duke II wan with Kwan Chung : — he first learned of him, and then made him his minister ; and so without difficulty he became chief of all the princes. " So did T'ang behave to E Yin, and the duke Hwan to Kwan Chung, that they would not venture to call them to go to them. If Kwan Chung might not be called to him by his prince, how much less may I be called, who would not play the part of Kwan Chung ! " ' We are to suppose that these sentiments were conveyed to the king by the officer with whom Mencius spent the night. It is a pity that the exposition of them could only be effected in such a roundabout manner, and was preceded by such acts of prevarication. But where the two parties were so suspicious of each other, we need not wonder that they separated before long. Mencius resigned his honorary ap pointment, and prepared to return to Tsow. On this occa sion king Seuen visited him, and after some complimentary expressions asked whether he might expect to see him again. "I dare not request permission to visit you [at any particular time]," replied Mencius, "but, indeed, it is what I desire." 2

1 Ek II. Ft II. ii. 2 Bk II. Pt II. x. I consider that this chapter, and others here referred to, belong to Mencius' first departure from Ts'e. I do so because we can hardly suppose that the king and his officers would not have understood him better by the end of his second residence. Moreover, while Mencius retires, his language in x. 2 and xi. 5, C is of such a nature that it leaves an opening for him to return again. The king made another attempt to detain him, and sent an. officer, called She, to propose to him to remain in the State, on the understanding that he should have a house large enough to accommodate his disciples, and an allowance of ten thousand measures of grain to support them. All Mencius' efforts had not sufficed to make king Seuen and his ministers understand him. They thought he was really actuated like themselves by a desire for wealth. He indignantly rejected the proposal, and pointed out the folly of it, considering that he had already declined a hundred thousand measures in holding only an honorary appointment. So Mencius turned his back on Ts'e ; but he withdrew with a slow and lingering step, stopping three nights in one place, to afford the king an opportunity to recall him on a pi-oper understanding. Some reproached him with his hesi tancy, bat he sufficiently explained himself. " The king/'' he said, "is, after all, one who may be made to do good. If he were to use me, would it be for the happiness of Tsfe only ? It would be for the happiness of the people of the whole em pire. I am hoping that the king will change ; I am daily hoping for this.

"Am I like one of your little-minded people ? They will remonstrate with their prince, and on their remonstrance not being accepted, they get angry, and, with their passion dis played in their countenance, they take their leave, and travel with all their strength for a whole day, before they will rest,"1 7. After he left Ts'e, Mencius found a home for some time in the small principality of T'ang, on the south of Ts'e, in the ruler of which he had a sincere admirer and Mencius in docile pupil. He did not proceed thither imrne- hi^iJavingT'se diately, however, but seems to have taken his way to B-c- 318to Sung, which consisted mostly of the present department of Kwei-tih in Ho-nan.2 There he was visited by the heirson of T'ung, who made a long detour, while on a journey to Ts'oo, for the purpose of seeing him. The philosopher dis coursed on the goodness of human nature, and the excellent ways of Yaou and Shun. His hearer admired, but doubted. 1 Bk II. Pt II. xii. 2 This is gathered from Bk III. Pt I. i. 1, where the crown-prince of T'aii^ visits Menciu?, and from Bk II. Pt II. iii., where his accepting a gift in Sung appears to have been subsequent to his refusing one in Ts'e.

He could not forget, however, and the lessons which he re ceived produced fruit before long. From Sung Mencius returned to Tsow, by way of Se'eh. In both Sung and Se'eh he accepted large gifts from the rulers, * which help us in some measure to understand how he could maintain an expenditure which must have been great, and which gave occasion also for an ingenious exposition of the princi ples on which he guided his course among the princes. " When you were in Ts'e," said one of his disciples, " you refused 100 yih of fine gold, which the king sent, while in Sung you accepted 70 ylh, and in Se'eh 50. If you were right in refusing the gift in the first case, you did wrong in accepting it in the other two. If you were right in accepting it in those two cases, you were wrong in refusing it in Ts'e. You must accept one of these alternatives." " I did right in all the cases," replied Mencius. ''When, I was in Sung, I was ahout to undertake a long journey. Travel lers must he provided with what is necessary for their expenses. The prince's message was— 'a present against travelling-expenses:' why should I have declined the gift ? In Se'eh I was under appre hensions for my safety, and taking measures for my protection. The message was — ' I have heard you are taking measures to protect yourself, and send this to help you in procuring arms.' Why should I have declined the gift ? But when I was in Ts'e, I had no occasion for money. To send a man a gift when he has no occasion for it is to bribe him. How is it possi ble that a superior man should be taken with a bribe ? " '

Before Mencius had been long in Tsow, the crown-prince of T'ang succeeded to the rule of the principality, and, call ing to mind the lessons which he had heard in Sung-, sent an officer to consult the philosopher on the manner in which he should perform the funeral and mourning services for his father.2 Mencius of course advised him to carry out in the strictest manner the ancient regulations. The new prince's relatives and the officers of the State opposed, but ineffectu ally. Mencius' counsel was followed, and the effect was great. Duke Wan became an object of general admiration. By and by Mencius proceeded himself to T'ang. We may suppose that he was invited thither by the prince as soon as the rules of mournino- would allow his holding free communication with him. The chapters which give an account of their conversations are really interesting. Men- 1 Bk II. Ft II. iii. 2 Bk III. 1'c I. ii. The note of time which is relied on as enabling us to follow Mencius here is the intimation, Bk I. Ft II. xiv., that "Ts'e was about to fortify Se'eh." This is referred to B.C. 320, when king Seuen ap pointed his brother T'e'eu Ying over the dependency of Se'eh, and took measures to fortify it.

cius recommended that attention should be chiefly directed to the encouragement of agriculture and education. He would have nourishment secured both for the body and the mind of every subject.1 When the duke was lamenting' the danger to which he was exposed from his powerful and en croaching neighbours, Mencius told him he might adopt one of two courses ; — either leave his State, and like king Tfae go and find a settlement elsewhere, or be prepared to die for his patrimony. "If you do good/' said he, "among your descendants in after-generations there will be one who shall attain to the Royal dignity. But results are with Heaven. What is Ts'e to you, 0 prince ? Be strong to do good. That is all your business." 2 After all, nothing came of Mencius' residence in TTtng. We should like to know what made him leave it. Confucius said that, if any of the princes were to employ him, he should achieve something considerable in twelve months, and in the course of three years the government would be per fected.3 Mencius taught that, in his time, with half the merit of former days double the result might be accom plished.4 Here in T'ang a fair field seemed to be afforded him, but he was not able to make his promise good. Pos sibly the good purposes and docility of duke Wan may not have held out, or Mencius may have found that it was easier to theorize about government, than actually to carry it on. Whatever may have been the cause, we find him in B.C. 319 at the court of king Hwuy of Le'ang.

Before he left T'ang, Mencius had his rencounter with the disciples of the " slmke-tongued barbarian of the south/' one Heu King, who came to T'ang on hearing of the reforms which were being made at Mencius' advice by the duke Wiin. This was one of the dreamy speculators of the time, to whom I have already alluded. He pretended to follow the lessons of Shin-nung, one of the reputed founders of the empire and the father of husbandry, and came to T'ang with his plough upon his shoulder, followed by scores of followers, all wearing the coarsest clothes, and supporting themselves by making mats and sandals. It was one of his maxims that " the magistrates should be labouring men." He would have the sovereign grow his own rice, and cook his 1 Bk III. Pt I. iii. 2 Bk I. Pt II. xiii. xiv. xv. a Confucian Analects XIII. x. 4 Bk II. Pt I. i. 13. own meals. Not a few of " The Learned " were led away by his doctrines, but Mencius girt up his loins to oppose the heresy, and ably vindicated the propriety of a division of labour, and of a lettered class conducting the government. It is just possible that the appearance of Hen Hing, and the countenance shown to him, may have had something to do with Mencius' leaving the State.

8. Le'ang was another name for Wei, one of the States into which Tsiii had been divided. King Hwuy, early in his reign, B.C. 364-, had made the city of Taeleang, in the present department of K'ae-fung, his capital, and given its name to his whole principality. It was the year before his death, when Mencius visited him.1 A long, stormy, and disastrous rule was about to terminate, but the king was as full of activity and warlike enterprise as ever he had been. At his first interview with Mencius, he addressed him in the well-known words, " Venerable Sir, since you have not counted it far to come here, a distance of a thousand le, may I presume that you are likewise provided with counsels to profit my kingdom ? " Mencius in reply starts from the word profit, and expatiates eloquently on the evil consequences that must ensue from n:aking a regard to profit the ground of conduct or the rule of policy. As for himself, his theme must be benevolence and righteousness. On these he would discourse, but on nothing else, and in following them a prince would obtain true and sure advan tages. Only five conversations are related between king Hwuy and the philosopher. They are all in the spirit of the first which has just been described, and of those which he had with king Seuen of Ts'e. There is the same freedom of expostulation, or, rather, boldness of reproof, and the same unhesitating assurance of the success that would follow the

1 There are various difficulties about the reign of king Hwuy of Le'ang. 8ze-ma Ts'een makes it commence in 3G!) and terminate in 334. He is then succeeded by Seang whose reign ends in 318 ; and he is followed by Gae till 205. What are called "The Bamboo Books" extend Hwuy's reign to B.C. 318, and the next 20 years are assigned to king Gae. <; The Annals of the Em pire "(which are compiled from "The General Mirror of History") follow the Bamboo Books in the length of king Hwuy's reign, but make him followed by Scang ; and take no note of a king Gae. — From Mencius we may be assured that Hwuy was succeeded by Seang, and the view of his Life, which I have followed in this sketch, leads to the longer period assigned to his reign. MEXCIUS AND HIS OPINIONS. j3\ adoption of his principles. The most remarkable is the third, where we have a sounder doctrine than where he tells king Seuen that his love of beauty and money and valour need not interfere with his administration of royal govern ment. Hwuy is boasting of his diligence in the govern ment of his State, and sympathy with the sufferings of his people, as far beyond those of any of the neighbouring rulers, and wondering how he was not more prosperous than they. Mencius replies, " Your Majesty is fond of war ; — let me take an illustration from it. The drums sound, and the weapons are crossed, when suddenly the soldiers on one side throw away their coats of mail, trail their weapons be hind them, and run. Some of them run a hundred paces, and some run only fifty. What would you think if those who run fifty paces were to laugh at those who run a hun dred paces?" " They may not do so/' said the king; " they only did not run a hundred paces, but they also ran/' " Since your Majesty knows this/' was the reply, " you need not hope that your people will become more numerous than those of the neighbouring kingdoms." The king was thus taught that half measures would not do. Royal govern ment, to be effectual, must be carried out faithfully and in its spirit.

King Hwuy died in B.C. 319, and was succeeded by his son, the king Seang. Mencius appears to have had but one interview with him. When he came out from it, he observed to some of his friends : — " When I looked at him from a distance, he did not appear like a sovereign ; when I drew near to him, I saw nothing venerable about him." It was of no use to remain any longer in Le'ang ; he left it, and we meet with him again in Ts'e. 9. Whether he returned immediately to Tsfe we cannot tell, but the probability is that he did, and remained in it till the year B.C. 311 .2 When he left it about Mencius the seven years before, he had made provision for ^"-^TVc! his return in case of a change of mind in king 311- 1 Bk 1. pt I. vi. - This conclusion is adopted because it was in 311 that Yen rebelled, when the king said that he was very much ashamed when he thought of Mencius, who had strongly condemned his policy towards the State of Yen. — This is another case in which the chronology is differently laid down by the author ities, Sze-ina Ts'een saying that Yen was taken by king Min the son and successor of Seuen.

Seuen. The philosopher, I apprehend, was content with an insufficient assurance of such an alteration. Be that as it may, he went back, and took an appointment again as a high noble. If he was contented with a smaller reformation on the part of the king than he must have desired, Mencius was not himself different from what he had been. In the court and among the high officers his deportment was equally un bending ; he was the same stern mentor. Among the officers was one Wang Hwan, called also Tsze-gaou, a favourite with the king, insolent and presum ing. Him Mencius treated with an indifference and even contempt which must have been very provoking. A large party were met one time at the house of an officer who had lost a son, for the purpose of expressing their condolences. Mencius was among them, when suddenly Wang Hwan made his appearance. One and another moved to do him honour and win from him a smile, — all indeed but Mencius, who paid no regard to him. The other complained of the rudeness, but the philosopher could show that his conduct was only in accordance with the rules of propriety.1

Now and then he became the object of unpleasant remark and censure. At his instigation, an officer, Ch'e Wa, re monstrated with the king on some abuse, and had in conse quence to resign his office. The people were not pleased with Mencius, thus advising others to their harm, and yet continuing to retain his own position undisturbed. " In the course which he marked out for Ch/e Wa," they said, "he did well, but we do not know as to the course which he pursues for himself." The philosopher, however, was never at a loss in rendering a reason. He declared that, as his office was honorary, he could act " freely and without restraint either in going forward or retiring." 2 In this matter we have more sympathy with the condemnation than with the defence. Some time during these years there occurred the death of Mencius' excellent mother. She had been with him in Ts'e, and he carried the coffin to Loo, to bury it near the dust of his father and ancestors. The funeral was a splen did one. Mencius perhaps erred in having it so from his * Bk IV. Pt II. xxvii. 2 Bk II. Ft II. v.

dislike to the Mihists, who advocated a spare simplicity in nil funeral matters.1 His arrangements certainly excited the astonishment of some of his own disciples,2 and were the occasion of general remark.3 He defended himself 011 the ground that "the superior man will not for all the world be niggardly to his parents/' and that, as he had the means, there was no reason why he should not give all the expres sion in his power to his natural feelings. Having paid this last tribute of filial duty, Mencius re turned to TVe, but he could not appear at court till the three years of his mourning were accomplished.4 It could not be long after this when trouble and confusion arose in Yen, a large State to the north-west of IVe, in the present Chih-le. Its prince, who was a poor weakling, wished to go through the sham of resigning his throne to his prime minister, understanding that he would decline it, and that thus lie would have the credit of playing the part of the ancient Yaou, while at the same time he retained his king dom. The minister, however, accepted the tender, and, as lie proved a tyrannical ruler, great dissatisfaction arose. Shin T'ung, an officer of IVe, asked Mencius whether Yen might be smitten. He replied that it might, for its prince had no right to resign it to his minister, and the minister no right to receive it. " Suppose," said he, " there were an officer here with whom you were pleased, and that, without in forming the king, you were privately to give him your salary and rank ; and suppose that this officer, also without the king's orders, were privately to receive them from you : — would such a transaction be allowable ? And where is the difference between the case of Yen and this ? " 5

Whether these sentiments were reported to king Seuen or not, he proceeded to attack Yen, and found it an easy prey. Mencius was charged with having advised the measure, but he ingeniously repudiated the accusation. " I answered Shin T'ung that Yen might be smitten. If he had asked me — 'Who may smite it?' I would have 1 Bk III. Pt I. v. 2. 2 Bk II. Tt II. vii. 3 Bk I. Pt II. xvi. 4 Some are of opinion that Mencius stopped all the period of mourning in Loo, but the more natural conclusion, Bk II. Pt II. vii. 1, seems to me that he returned to Ts'e, and stayed at Yiiig, without going to court. * Bk II. Pt II. viii. answered him — ' He who is the minister of Heaven may smite it.' Suppose the case of a murderer, and that one asks me — ' May this man be put to death ? ' I will answer him — ' He may/ If he ask me — -'Who may put him to death ? ' I will answer him — ' The chief criminal judge may put him to death.-' But now with one Yen to smite another Yen : — how should I have advised this ? " This reference to " The minister of Heaven " strikingly illustrates what was said about the state of China in Mencius' time. He tells us in one place that hostile States do not correct one another, and that only the supreme authority can punish its subjects by force of arms.1 But there was now no supreme authority in China. He saw in the emperor but " the shadow of an empty name." His conception of a minister of Heaven was not unworthy. He was one who, by the distinction which he gave to talents and virtue, and by his encouragement of agriculture and commerce, attracted all people to him as a parent. He would have no enemy under heaven, and could not help attaining to the Royal dignity.2

King Seuen, after conquering and appropriating Yen, tried to get Mencius' sanction of the proceeding, alleging the case and rapidity with which he had effected the con quest as an evidence of the favour of Heaven. But the philosopher was true to himself. The people of Yen, he said, had submitted, because they expected to find in the king a deliverer from the evils under which they groaned. If they were pleased, he might retain the State, but if he tried to keep it by force, there would simply be another revolution.3 The king's love of power prevailed. He determined to keep his prey, and era long a combination was formed among the neighbouring princes to wrest Yen from him. Full of alarm he again consulted Mencius, but got no com fort from him. "Let him restore his captives and spoils, consult with the people of Yen, and appoint them a ruler — so he might be able to avert the threatened attack." 4 The result was as Mencius had predicted. The people of Yen rebelled. The king felt ashamed before the philoso pher, Avhose second residence in IVo was thus brought to an unpleasant termination. 1 P,k VII. Pt II. ii. = Bk II. Pt I. v.

3 Bk I. Pt II. x. < Bk 1. Pt II. xi. 10. We do not know that Mencius visited any of the princes after this. On leaving Ts'e, he took his way again to Sung, the duke of which had taken the title Mencius in of king in B.C. 317. A report also had gone LOO;— B.C. soa abroad that he was setting about to practise the true royal government, but Mencius soon satisfied himself of its in correctness.1 The last court at which we find him is that of Loo, B.C. 309. The duke P'ing had there called Yoh-ching, one of the philosopher's disciples, to his councils, and indeed com mitted to him the administration of the government. When Mencius heard of it, he was so overjoyed that he could not sleep.2 The first appearance (in point of time) of this Yoh-ching in the Seven Books is not much to his credit. He comes to Ts'e in the train of Wang Hwan, the favourite who was an offence to the philosopher, and is very sharply reproved for joining himself to such a character " for the sake of the loaves and fishes." 3 Other references to him are more favourable. Mencius declares him to be " a good man," " a real man." 4 He allows that " he is not a man of vigour," nor ' ' a man wise in council," nor " a man of much informa tion," but he says — "he is a man that loves what is good," and " the love of what is good is more than a sufficient qualification for the government of the kingdom ; — how much more is it so for the State of Loo ! " 5

Either on his own impulse or by Yoh-ching' s invitation, Mencius went himself also to Loo, hoping that the prince who had committed his government to the disciple might be willing to listen to the counsels of the master. The duke was informed of his arrival by Yoh-ching, and also of the deference which he exacted. He resolved to go and visit him and invite him to the court. The horses were put to the carriage, and the duke was ready to start, when the in tervention of his favourite, a worthless creature called Tsang Ts'ang, diverted him from his good purpose. When told by the duke that he was going to visit the scholar Mang, Ts'ang said, " That you demean yourself to pay the honour of the first visit to a common man, is, I apprehend, because 1 See Bk III. Pt II. v. vi. " Bk VI. Pt II. xiii. 3 Bk IV. Pt I. xxv. * Bk VII. Pt II. xxv. 6 Bk VI. Pt II. xiii. you think that he is a man of talents and virtue. From such men the rales of ceremonial proprieties and right pro ceed ; but on the occasion of this Mang's second mourning, his observances exceeded those of the former. Do not go to see him, my prince." The duke said, "I will not ; "• and carnage and horses were ordered back to their places.

As soon as Yoh-ching had an audience of the duke, he explained the charge of impropriety which had been brought against Mencius ; but the evil was done. The duke had taken his course. "I told him," said Yoh-ching, "about you, and he was coming to see you, when Tsang Ts'ang stopped him." Mencius replied to him, " A man's advance ment is effected, it may be, by others, and the stopping him is, it may be, from the efforts of others. But- to advance a man or to stop his advance is really beyond the power of other men ; my not finding in the prince of Loo a ruler who would confide in me, and put my counsels into practice, is from Heaven. How could that scion of the Tsang family cause me not to find the ruler that would suit me ? " l Mencius appears to have accepted this intimation of the will of Heaven as final. He has a remarkable saying, that Heaven controls the development of a man's faculties and affections, but as there is an adaptation in his nature for these, the superior man does not say — "It is the appoint ment of Heaven." In accordance with this principle he had striven long against the adverse circumstances which threw his hopes of influencing the rulers of his time again and again in the dust. On his first leaving 'IVe we saw how he said : — " Heaven does not yet wish that the empire should enjoy tranquillity and good order." For about fifteen vears, however, he persevered, if peradventure there might be a change in the Heavenly councils. Now at last he bowed in submission. The year after and he would reach his grand climacteric. We lose sight of him. He retired from courts and great officers. We can but think and con jecture of him, according to tradition, passing the last twenty years of his life amid the more congenial society of his disciples, discoursing to them, and compiling the Works which have survived as his memorial to the present day.

1 1 . I have endeavoured in the preceding paragraphs to 1 15k I. Pt II. xvi. * Bk III. Tt II. xiv put together the principal incidents of Mencius' history as they may be gathered from his Writings. There is no other source of information about him, and we must regret that they tell us nothing of his domestic life and habits. In one of the stories about his mother there is an allusion to his wife, from which we may conclude that his marriage was not without its bitternesses. It is probable that the Mang Chung, mentioned in Bk II. Pt II. ii., was his son, though this is not easily reconcileable with what we read in VI. Pt I. v., of a Mtlng Ko, who was, according to Chaou K'e, a bi-other of Mang Chung. We must believe that he left a family, for his descend;-) nts form a large clan at the present day. He-wan, the 56th in descent from Mencius, was, in the period Kea-tsing (A.D. 1522 — 1506), constituted a member of the Hau-liu college, and of the Board in charge of the five King, which honour was to be hereditary in the family, and the holder of it to preside at the sacrifices to his ancestor.1 China's appreciation of our philosopher could not be more strikingly shown. Honours flow back in this empire. The descendant ennobles his ancestors. But in the case of Mencius, as in that of Confucius, this order is reversed. No excellence of descendants can extend to them ; and the nation acknowledges its obligations to them by nobility and distinction conferred through all generations upon their posterity.

1. CONFUCIUS had hardly passed off the stage of life before his merits began to be acknowledged. The duke Gae, who had neglected his counsels when he was alive, was the first to pronounce his eulogy, and to order that public sacrifices should be offered to him. His disciples proclaimed their estimation of him as superior to all the sages whom China had ever seen. Before long this view of him took possession 1 See Morrison's Dictionary, on Mencius. of the whole nation; and since the Han dynasty , lie has been the man whom sovereign and people have delighted to honour. The memory of Mencius was not so distinguished. We have seen that many centuries elapsed before his Writings : Acknowiedg- were received among the classics of the empire, meritsby theiUS> Ifc was natural that under the same dynasty government. when this was done the man himself should bo admitted to share in the sacrifices presented to Confucius. The emperor Shin-tsung,1 in A.D. 1083, issued a patent, constituting Mencius " duke of the State of Tsow," and ordering a temple to be built to him in the district of Tsow, at the spot where the philosopher had been interred. In the following year it was enacted that he should have a place in the temple of Confucius, next to that of Yen Yuen, the favourite disciple of the sage.

In A.D. lOoO, the emperor Wan,2 of the Yuen dynasty, jiiade an addition to Mencius' title, and styled him " duke of the State of Tsow, Inferior Sage/' This continued till the rise of the Ming dynasty, the founder of which had his indignation excited in 1-J72 by one of Mencius' conversations with king Seuen. The philosopher had said: — "When the ruier regards his ministers as his hands and feet, the ministers regard their ruler as their belly and heart ; when he regards them as his dogs and horses, they regard him as any other man ; when he regards them as the ground or as grass, they regard him as a robber and an enemy." 3 To apply such names as rolilx'i' and cucinij in any case to rulers seemed to the imperial reader an unpardonable outrage, and he ordered Mencius to be degraded from his place in the temples of Confucius, declaring also that if any one remonstrated on the proceeding he should bo dealt with as guilty of " Contempt of Majesty." The scholars of China have never been slow to vindicate the memory of its sages and worthies. Undeterred by the imperial threat, Ts'een T'ang, a president of the Board of Punishments, presented himself with a remonstrance, say ing — " 1 will die for Mencius, and my death will be crowned with glory." The emperor was moved by his earnestness, and allowed him to go scathless. In the following year, moreover, examination and reflection produced a change of

3 Bk IV. Pt II. iii. mind. He issued a second proclamation to the effect that Mencius, by exposing heretical doctrines and overthrowing1 perverse speakings, had set forth clearly the principles of Confucius, and ought to be restored to his place as one of his assessors.1 In 1530, the ninth year of the period Kea-tsing, a general revision was made of the sacrificial canon for the sage's temple, and the title of Mencius was changed into — " The philosopher Mang, Inferior Sage." So it continues to the present day. His place is the second on the west, next to that of the philosopher Tsang. Originally, we have seen, he followed Yen Hwuy, but Hwuy, Tsze-sze, Tsang, and Mang were appointed the sage's four assessors, and had their relative positions fixed, in 1267. 2. The second edict in the period Hung-woo, restoring Mencius to his place in the temples of Confucius, states fairly enough the services which he is held to have rendered to his country. The philosopher's own estimate of Estimate of himself has partly appeared in the sketch of ^TffiyS his Life. He seemed to start with astonish- lars- 1 I have taken this account from " The Sacrificial Ganon of the Sage's Temples " (Vol. I. Proleg. p. 10o). Dr. Morrison in his Dictionary, under the character Mang, adds that the change in the emperor's mind was pro duced by his reading the remarkable passage in Bk VI. Pt II. xv., about trials and hardships as the way by which Heaven prepares men for great services. He thought it was descriptive of himself, and that he could argue from it a good title to the crown ; — and so he was mollified to the philoso pher. It may be worth while to give here the concluding remarks in " The Paraphrase for Daily Lessons, Explaining the Meaning of the Four P>ooks" (Vol. I. Proleg. of larger Work, p. 131), on the chapter of Mencius which was deemed by the imperial reader so objectionable : — "Mencius wished that sove reigns should treat their ministers according to propriety, and nourish them with kindness, and therefore he used these perilous words in order to alarm and rouse them. As to the other side, the part of ministers, though the sovereign regard them as his hands and feet, they ought notwithstanding to discharge most earnest!}' their duties of Io3'alty and love. Yea, though he regard them as dogs and horses, or as the ground and grass, they ought still more to perform their part in spite of all difficulties, and oblivious of their person. They may on no account make the manner in which they are regarded, whether it beot ap preciation or contempt, the standard by which they regulate the measure of their grateful service. The words of Confucius, that th/i ruler should behave to h'is ministers according to propriety, and, the ministers serve their savereiyn nnth faithfulness, contain the unchangingruleforall ages." The authors of tne U.nly Lessons did their work by imperial order, and evidently had the fear of the court before their eyes. Their language implies a censure of our philosopher. There will ever be a grudge against him in the minds of despots, aud their creatures will be ready to depreciate him.

inent wlicn his disciple Kung-sun Chfow was disposed to rank him as a sage ; l but Lo also said on one occasion — " When sages shall rise up again, they will not change my words."2 Evidently, he was of opinion that the mantle of Confucius had fallen upon him. A work was to be done in his generation, and he felt himself able to undertake it. After describing what had been accomplished by the great Yu, by Chow-kung, and Confucius, he adds : — " I also wish to rectify men's hearts, and to put an end to those perverse doctrines, to oppose their one-sided actions, and banish away their licentious expressions ; and thus to carry on the work of the three sages/' 3 o. The place which Mencius occupies in the estimation of the literati of China may be seen by the following testimonies, selected from those appended by Choo He to the prefatory notice of his Life in the " Collected Comments/' Han Yu 4 says, " ]f we wish to study the doctrines of the sagos, we must begin with Mencius/' He also quotes the opinion of Yang Tsze-yun,6 "Yang and Mih were stopping up the way [of truth] , when Mencius refuted them, and scattered their delusions without difficulty;" and then remarks upon it : — " "\Vhen Yang and Mih walked abroad, the true doctrine had nearly come to nought. Though Mencius possessed talents and virtue, even those of a sage, he did not occupy the throne. He could only speak and not act. With all his earnestness, what could he do ? It is owing, however, to his words, that learners iiow-a-days still know to revereConfucius, to honour benevolence and righteousness, to es teem the true sovereign and despise the mere pretender. But the grand rules and laws of the sage and sage-emperors had been lost beyond the power of redemption ; only one in a hundred of them was preserved. Can it be said in those circumstances that Mencius had an easy task? Yet had it not been for him, we should have been buttoning the lappets of our coats on the left side, and our discourse would have been all-confused and indistinct ; — it is on this account that I have honoured Mencius, and consider his merit not inferior to that of Yu/'

One asked the philosopher Ch'ing 6 whether Mencius might 1 P,k II. Pt I. ii. 18, 19. ~ Bk III. Pt II. ix. 10. 3 Jb., par. 13. * See above. 5 Died A.D. 18. 6 See Vol. I., Proleg., p. 2-i. DO pronounced to be'a sage. He replied, " I do not dare to say altogether that he was a sage, but his learning had reached the extremest point." The same great scholar also said : — " The merit of Mencius in regard to the doctrine of the sages is ^ore than can be told. Confucius only spoke of bcnvvoltncc, but as soon as Mencius opens his mouth, we Itmr of brr/f'ruJi'i/ri' and ri<jl<t>'i»i*ur,-;3. Confucius only spoke ft|» -rnifflfflf) fr"* |V| pTiTtTn 0 enlarged also -eft - tkff nourishment of the, passion-nature. In these two respects hfs~~m"errF was great." " Mencius did great service to the world by his teaching tire goodness of man's nature/' " JtfSnSusTSSnTcerSuS^kmount of the heroical spirit, and to that there always belong some jutting corners, the effect of which is very injurious. Yen Yuen, all round and cdmplete, was different from this. He was but a hair's-breadth removed from a sage, while Mencius must be placed in a lower rank, a great worthy, an inferior sage." Ch'ing was asked where what he called the heroical spirit of Mencius could be seen. "We have only to compare his words with those of Confucius," he said, " and we shall perceive it. It is like the comparison of ice or crystal with a precious stone. The ice is bright enough, but the precious stone, without so much brilliancy, has a softness and richness all its own."1 The scholar Yang Kwei-shan 2 says : — "The great object of Mencius in his writings is to rectify men's hearts, teaching them to preserve their heart and nourish their natui'e, and to recover their lost heart. When he discourses of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge, he refers to the principles of these in the heart commiserating, feeling shame and dislike, affected with modesty and complaisance, approv-

1 This is probably the original of what appears in the " Memoires concernant les Chinois," in the notice of Mencius, vol. iii., and which Thornton (vol. ii., pp. 216, 217) has faithfully translated therefrom in the following terms: — " Confucius, through prudence or modesty, often dissimulated; he did not always say what he might have said : Mang-tsze, on the contrary, was incapable of constraining himself ; he spoke what he thought, and with out the least fear or reserve. He resembles ice of the purest water, through which we can see all its defects as well as its beauties : Confucius, on the other hand, is like a precious gem, which though not so pellucid as ice, has more strength and solidity." The former of these sentences is quite alien from the style of Chinese thinking and expression. 2 One of the great scholars of the Sung dynasty, a friend of the two Ch'ing. He has a place in the temples of Confucius. ing and disapproving. When he speaks of the evils springing from perverted speakings, he says — ' Growing first in the mind, they prove injurious to government/ When he shows how a prince should be served, he says — ' Correct what is wrong in his mind. Once rectify the prince, and the kingdom will be settled/ With him the thousand changes and ten thousand operations of men all come from the mind or heart. If a man once rectify his heart, little else will remain for him to do. In ' The Great Learning/ the cultivation of the person, the regulation of the family, the government of the State, and the tranquillization of the empire, all have their root in the rectifying of the heart and the making the thoughts sincere. If the heart be rectified, we recognize at once the goodness of the nature. On this account, whenever AJencins came into contact with people, he testified that man's nature is good. When 0\vyang Yung-shuh1 says, that, in the lessons of the sages, man's nature does not occupy the first place, he is wrong. There is nothing to be put before this. Yaou and Shun are the models for ten thousand ages simply because they fol lowed their nature. And to follow our nature is just to accord with Heavenly principle. To use plans and arts, away from this, though they may be successful in great achievement, is the selfishness of human desires, and as far removed from the mode of action of the sage, as earth is from heaven." I shall close these testimonies with a sen tence from Choo Ke himself. He says : — " Mencisis, when compared with Confucius, always appears to speak in 'too lofty a style ; but when we hear him proclaiming the good ness of man's nature, and celebrating Yaou and Shun, then we likewise perceive the solidity of his discourses."

4. The judgment concerning our philosopher contained in the above quotations will approve itself to every one who Correctness of has carefully perused his Works. The long the above testi- ,, •> i^r -„ . , . -,,0 monies. Men- passage from I ang Kwei-sliaii is especially iSmeTappear valuable, and puts the principal characteristic in his exi,osi- of \[encius5 teachings in a clear light. Whether tions of doc- °. ..", ..,. trine. those teachings have the intrinsic value which is ascribed to them is another question: But Mencius' posi- 1 Also one of China's greatest scholars. He has now a place in the tem ple? of Confucius. tion with reference to ' ' the doctrines of the sages " is cor rectly assigned. We are not to look for new truths in him. And this does not lead his countrymen to think less highly of him. I ventured to lay it down as one grand cause of the position and influence of Confucius, that he was simply the preserver of the monuments of antiquity, and the exem pli fier and expounder of the maxims of the golden age of China. In this Mencius must share with him. But while we are not to look to Mencius for new truths, the peculiarities of his natural character were more striking than those of his master. There was an element of " the heroical " about him. Ho was a dialectician, moreover. If he did not like disputing, as he protested that he did not, yet, when forced to it, he showed himself a master of the art. An ingenuity and subtlety which we cannot but enjoy often mark his reasonings. We have more sympathy with him than with Confucius. He comes closer to us. He is not so awe-ful, but he is more admirable. The doctrines of the sages take a tinge from his mind in passing through it, and it is with that Mencian character about them that they are now held by the cultivated classes and by readers generally.

[ will now call attention to a few passages illustrative of these remarks. Some might prefer to search them out for themselves in the body of the volume, and I am far from intending to exhaust the subject. There will be many readers, however, pleased to have the means of forming an idea of the man for themselves brought within small com pass. My next object will be to review his doctrine con cerning man's mental constitution and the nourishment of the passion-nature, in which he is said to have rendered special service to the cause of truth. That done, I will conclude by pointing out what I conceive to be his chief defects as a moral and political teacher. To the opinions of Yang Choo and Mih, which he took credit to himself for assailing and exposing, it will be necessary to devote another chapter. 5. It was pQiiited_out in treating of the opinions of Confucius,"~that he allowed no "right divine" to a sovereign, independent of his exercising a benevolent rule, specimens of This was -one of the topics, however, of which Mencius' opin- i -\Ttr- i m • i • ions, and man- lie was shy. With Mencius, on the contrary, it nor of advocat-

was a favourite theme. The degeneracy of the lng *' 4i MENCIUS AND HIS OPINIONS. times and the ardour of his disposition prompted him equally to the free expression of his convictions about it. " The people," he said, " are the most important element [in a country] ; the spirits of the land and grain are the next ; the ruler is the lightest. When the ruler endangers the altars of the spirits of the ment — Thepeo- liinc* an(* £rain> ne i§ changed, and another appointed in his pie more im- place. When the sacrificial victims have been perfect, the portant than millet in its vessels all pure, and the sacrifices offered at their the ruler. . ,£ . proper seasons, if yet there ensue drought, or the waters over flow, the altars of the. spirits of the land and grain are changed, and others appointed." ' " The people are the most important element in a count nf, and the ruler is the lightest ; " — that is certainly a bold and An unworthy ringing affirmation. Mencius was not afraid to 'hr'on^yoreput follow it to the conclusion that the ruler who to death. was exercising an injurious rule should be de

throned. His existence is not to be allowed to interfere with the general good. Killing in such a case is no murder. King Seuen once asked, "Was it so that T'ang banished Keeh, and that king Woo smote Chow ? " Mencius replied, " It is so in the records." The king asked, " May a min ister then put his sovereign to death ? " Our philosopher's reply was : — " He who outrages the benevolence. proper to his nature is called a robber ; he who outrages righteousness is called a ruffian. The robber and ruffian we call a mere fellow. I have heard of the cutting off of the fellow Chow, but I have not heard in his case of the putting a ruler to death." 2 With regard to the ground of the relation between ruler and people, Mencius refers it very clearly to the will of God. The Around of In one place he adopts for his own purpose the tween rui:" and language of king Woo in the _ Shoo-king :- people. " Heaven, having produced the inferior people, made for them rulers and instructors, with the purpose that they should be assisting to God, and therefore gave them distinction throughout the four quarters of the land." a But the question arises — How can this will of Heaven be known ? Mencius has endeavoured to answer it. He says : — " Heaven gives the empire, but its appointment is not conferred with specific injunctions. Heaven does not speak.

1 Bk VII Ft II. xiv. - Bk I. Pt IT. viii. 3 Bk I. Pt II. iii. 7. It sliows its will by a man's personal conduct and his con duct of affairs." The conclusion of the whole matter is : — " Heaven sees according as the people see ; Heaven hears according as the people hear." l It may not be easy to dispute these principles. I for one have no hesitation in admitting them. Their application, however, must always be attended with diffi- An unworthy culty. Here is a sovereign who is the very thronedaby>hile" reverse of a minister of God for good. He relativesought to be removed, but who is to remove him ? Mencius teaches in one passage that the duty is to be performed by his relatives who are also ministers. King Seuen of Ts'e asked him about the office of chief ministers. Mencius said, "Which chief ministers is your Majesty asking about?" " Are there differences among them ? " inquired the king. " There are," was the reply ; " there are the chief ministers who are noble and relatives of the ruler, and there are those who are of a different surname." The king said, " I beg to ask about the chief ministers who are noble and relatives of the ruler." Mencius answered, "If the ruler have great faults, they ought to remonstrate with him, and if he do not listen to them when they have done so again and again, they ought to appoint another in his place." The king on this looked moved, and changed countenance. Mencius said, " Let riot your Majesty think what I say strange. You asked me, and I did not dare to reply but correctly." 2

This plan for disposing of an unworthy sovereign has been acted on in China and in other countries. It is the best that can be adopted to secure the throne virtuous minin the ruling House. But where there are no StoWwrf13" relatives that have the virtue and power to play ?';tven' may • 11 o -\ r • i dethrone a such a part, what is to be done i Mencius has ruler. two ways of meeting this difficulty. Contrary to his gen eral rule for the conduct of ministers who are not relatives, he allows that even they may, under certain conditions, take summary measures with their sovereign. His disciple Kung-sun Ch'ow said to him, " E Yin said, ' I cannot be near so disobedient a person,' and therewith he banished T'ae-keah to T'ung. The people were much pleased. When T'ae-keah became virtuous, he brought him back, and the people were again much pleased. When worthies are ministers, may they indeed banish their rulers in this way when they are not virtuous ? " Meucius replied, " If they have the mind of E Yin, they may. If they have not that mind, it would be usurpation." 3

1 Bk V. Pt I. v. 2 Bk V. Pt II. ix. 3 Bk VII. Pt I. xxxi. His grand device, however, is what he calls " the minister of Heaven." When the sovereign has become worthless and useless, his hope is that Heaven will raise up some o.ne for the help of the people ; — some one who shall so occupy in his original subordinate position as to draw all eyes and hearts to himself.1 Let him then raise the standard, not of rebellion but of righteousness,2 and he cannot help attain ing to the highest dignity. So it was with the great T'ang ; so it was with the kings Wan and Woo. Of the last Mencius says : — " There was one man " — -i.e., the tyrant Chow — " pursuing a violent and disorderly course in the land, and king Woo was ashamed of it. Hy one display of his anger, he gave repose to all the people." 3 He would have been glad if any one of the princes of his own time had been able to vault in a similar way to the royal throne, and he went about counselling them to the attempt. "Let your Majesty," said he to king Seuen, " in like manner, by one burst of anger, give repose to all the people of the empire." This was in fact advising to rebellion, but the philosopher would have recked little of such a charge. The House of Chow had forfeited in his view its title to the kingdom. Alas ! among all the princes he had to do with, he did not find one who could bo stirred to so honourable an action.

We need not wonder that Mencius, putting forth the above views so boldly and broadly, should not be a favourite with the rulers of China. His sentiments, professed by the literati, and known and read by all the people, have oper ated powerfully to compel the good behaviour of " the powers that be." It may be said that they encourage the aims of selfish ambition, and the lawlessness of the licentious mob. I grant it. They are lessons for the virtuous, and not for the lawless and disobedient, but the government of China would have been more of a grinding despotism, if it had not been for them. On the readiness of the people to be governed Mencius * only differs from Confucius in the more vehement style in The influence which he expresses his views. He does not of personal cha- , . i . >•> • n r> i racter m a ruler, dwell so much on the iiinueiice ot personal virtue, and I pointed out, in the sketch of his Life, how he 1 Bk II. Pt I. v. 2 " Eaise righteous soldiers ; " — this is the profession of all rebel leaders in China. 3 Bk I. Pt II. iii. 7.

all but compromised his character in his communications with kincr Seuen, telling1 him that his love of women, of war, aud of money might be so regulated as not to interfere with his exercise of true royal government. Still he speaks at times correctly and emphatically on this subject. He quotes Confucius' language on the influence generally of superiors on inferiors, — that " the relation between them is like that between the wind and grass ; the grass must bend when the wind blows upon it ; " 1 and he says himself : — "It is not enough to remonstrate with a ruler on account of the malemployrnent of ministers, nor to blame errors of government. It is only the great man who can correct what is wrong in the ruler's mind. Let the ruler be benevolent, and all his acts will be benevolent. Let the ruler be righteous, and all his acts will be righteous. Let the ruler be correct, and all his acts will be correct. Once rectify the ruler, and the State will be firmly settled/' 2 But the misery which he saw around him, in consequence of the prevailing anarchy and constant wars between State and State, led Mencius to insist on the necessity of what he called " a benevolent government." government, The king Seang asked him, " Who can unite all aud its effectsunder the sky under one sway ? " and his reply was, " He who has no pleasure in killing men can so unite it." 3 His being so possessed with the sad condition of his time like wise gave occasion, we may suppose, to the utterance of another sentiment, sufficiently remarkable. " Never," said he, " has he who would by his excellence subdue men, been able to subdue them. Let a ruler seek by his excellence to nourish men, and he will be able to subdue all under heav en. It is impossible that any one should attain to the true royal sway to whom the hearts of all under heaven are not subject." 4 The highest style of excellence will of course have its outgoings in benevolence. Apart from that, it will be powerless, as Mencius says. His words are akin to those of Paul : — " Scarcely for a righteous man will one die : yet peradventure fora good man some would even dare to die."

On the effects of a benevolent rule he says : — " Keeh and Chow's losing the kingdom arose from their losing the people ; and to lose the people means to lose their hearts. There is a way to get the 1 Bk III. Pt I. ii. 4. - Bk IV. Ft I. xx. 3 Bk I. I't I. vi. « Bk IV. Pt II. xvi. kingdom : — get the people, and the kingdom is got. There is a way to get the people : — get their hearts, and the people are got. There is away to get their hearts : — it is simply to collect for them what they desire, and not to lay on them what they dislike. The people turn to a benevolent rule as water flows dowriwards, and as wild beasts run to the wilds. As the otter aids the deep waters, driving the fish into them, and as the hawk aids the thickets, driving the little birds to them, so Keeh and Chow aided T'ang and Woo, driving the people to them. If among the present rulers throughout the kingdom there were one who loved benevolence, all the other rulers would aid him by driving the people to him. Although he wished not to exercise the royal sway, he could not avoid doing so."

Two principal elements of this benevolent rule, much insisted on by Mencius, deserve to be made prominent. They are to be found indicated in the Analects, and in the older classics also, but it Tvas reserved for our philosopher TO make the to set them forth, sharply defined in his own ousf!an?H)opor" styH and to show the connexion between them. educate them, They are : — that the people be made well off, are important ^ .. , , l L, ni „ . elements m a be- and that they be educated; and the former is necessary in order to the efficiency of the other. Once, when Confucius was passing through Wei in com pany with Yen Yew, he was struck with the populousness of the State. The disciple said, " Since the people are thus numerous, what more shall be done for them ? " Confucius answered, " Enrich them." " And when they have been enriched, what more shall be done for them ? " The reply was — " Teach thorn." 2 This brief conversation contains the germs of the ideas on which Mencius delighted to dwell. We read in one place : — " Let it be seen to that their fields of grain and hemp are well cultivated, and make the taxes on them light : — so the people may be made rich.

" Let it be seen to that they use their resources of food seasonably, and expend them only on the prescribed ceremonies : — so they will be more than can be consumed. " The people cannot live without water and fire ; yet if you knock at a man's door in the dusk of the evening, and ask for water and fire, there is no man who will not give them, such is the great abundance of them. A sage would govern the kingdom so as cause pulse and grain to be as abundant as water anil fire. When pulse and grain are as abundant as water and fire, how shall there be among the people any that are not virtuous ? " 3 Again he says : — " In good years the children of the people are most of them good, and in bad years they are most of them evil."-4 ' Bk IV. Pt I. ix. 2 Con. Ana., XIII. ix. » Bk VII. Pt I. xxiii. * Bk VI. Pt I. vii. It is in his conversations, however, with king Seuen of Ts'e and duke Wan of T'ting, that we find the fullest expo sition of the points in hand.

" They are only men of education who, without a certain livelihood, are able to maintain a fixed heart. As to the people, if they have not a certain livelihood, it follows that th'^y will not have a fixed heart. And if they have not a fixed heart, there is nothing which they will not do in the way of selfabandonment, of moral deflection, of depravity, and of wild license. When they have thus been involved in crime, to follow them up and punish them: — this is to entrap the people. Therefore an intelligent ruler will regulate the livelihood of the people, so as to make sure that, above, they shall have sufficient wherewith to serve their parents, and, below, sufficient where with to support their wives and children ; that in good years they shall always be abundantly satisfied, and that in bad years they shall escape the danger of perishing. After this he may urge them, and they will pro ceed to what is good, for in this case the people will follow after that with readiness." ' It is not necessary to remark here on the measures which Mencius recommends in order to secure a certain livelihood for the people. They embrace the regulation both of agri culture and commerce.2 And education should be directed simply to illustrate the human relations.3 What he says on these subjects is not without shrewdness, though many of his recommendations are inappropriate to the present state of society in China itself as well as in other countries. But his principle, that good government should contemplate and will be seen in the material well-being of the people, is worthy of all honour. Whether government should inter fere to secure the education of the people is questioned by not a few. The religious denomination to which I have the honour to belong has distinguished itself by opposing such a doctrine in England, — more zealously perhaps than wisely.4 But when Mencius teaches that with the mass of men edu cation will have little success where the life is embittered by a miserable poverty, he shows himself well acquainted with human nature. Educationists now seem generally to recognize it, but 1 think it is only within a century that it has assumed in Europe the definiteness and importance with which it appeared to Mencius here in China two thou sand years ago.

1 Bk I. Pt I. vii. 20, 21 ; Bk III. Pt I. iii. 3. 2 Bk III. Pt I. iii. ; Bk I. Pt II. iv. ; Bk II. Pt I. v. : et al. 3 Bk III. Pt I. iii. 10. 4 Its views are now, in 1874, very different. We saw how Mencius, when he was residing in T'ang, came into contact with a class of enthusiasts, who advocated a return to the primitive state of society, " When Adam delved and Eve span." They said that wise and able princes should cultivate the ground equally and along with their people, and eat the Necessity for a fruit of their labour, — that " to have granaries, bo™*° and* that arsenals, and treasuries was an oppressing of foiTdiTcted^by1^ t^6 people-" Mencius exposed "these errors lettered class. very happily, showing the necessity to society of a division of labour, and that the conduct of government should be in the hands of a lettered class. " I suppose." he said to a follower of the strange doctrines, " that Heu Hing sows grain and eats the produce. Is it not so 1 " " It is so," was the answer. " I suppose that he also weaves cloth, and wears his own manufac ture. Is it not so ? " " No ; Heu wears clothes of haircloth." " Does he wear a cap?" "He wears a cap." "What kind of cap?" "A plain cap." " Is it woven by himself ? " " No ; he gets it in exchange for grain." "Why does Heu not weave it himself?" "That would injure his hus bandry." " Does Heu cook his food in boilers and earthen-ware pans, and does he plough with an iron share ? " " Yes." " Does he make those articles himself ? " " No ; he gets them in exchange for grain." On these admissions Mencius proceeds: — "The getting those various articles in exchange for grain is not oppressive to the potter and the founder, and the potter and the founder in their turn, in exchanging their various articles for grain, are not oppressive to the husbandman. How should such a thing be supposed I But why does not Heu, [on his principles,] act the potter and founder, supply ing himself with the articles which he uses solely from his own establish ment ? Why does he go confusedly dealing and exchanging with the handi craftsmen ? Why does he not spare himself so much trouble ? " His oppo nent attempted a reply : — " The business of the handicraftsman can by no means be carried on along with the business of husbandry." Mencius resum ed : — "Then, is it the government of the empire which alone can be carried along with the practice of husbandry ? Great men have their proper busi ness, and little men have their proper business. Moreover, in the case of any single individual, whatever articles he can require are ready to his hand, being produced by the various handicraftsmen ; — if he must first make them for his own use, this way of doing would keep all the people running about npon the roads. Hence there is the saying : — ' Some men labour with their minds, and some with their strength. Those who labour with their minds govern others ; those who labour with their strength are govern ed by others. Those who are governed by others support them ; those •who govern others are supported by them.' This is a principle universally recognized." '

1 Bk III. Pt iv. Sir John Davis lias observed that this is exactly Pope's line, "And those who think still govern those who toil." : Mencius goes on to illustrate it very clearly by referring to the labours of Yaou and Shun. His opponent makes a feeble attempt at the end to say a word in favour of the new doctrines he had embraced : — " If Heu's doctrines were followed there would not be two prices in the market, nor any deceit in the kingdom. If a boy were sent to the market, no one would impose on him ; linen and silk of the same length would be of the same price. So it would be with bundles of hemp and silk, being of the same weight : with the different kinds of grain, being the same in quan tity ; and with shoes which were the same in size." Mencius meets this with a decisive reply : — " It is the nature of things to be of unequal quality ; some are twice, some five times, some ten times, some a hundred times, some a thousand times, some ten thousand times as valuable as others If you reduce them all to the same standard, that must throw the empire into confusion. If large shoes were of the same price with small shoes, who would make them ? For people to follow the doctrines of Heu would be for them to lead one another on to practise deceit. How can they avail for the government of a State ? "

There is only one other subject which I shall here notice, with Mencius' opinions upon it, — the position namely, which he occupied himself with reference to the princes. Mencius' posi- p i • -L- TT 11 'j. J.T j. c ci mi )j tioii as " a Teach.- oi his time. He calls it that ot " a Teacher, «-." but that term in our language very inadequately represents it. He wished to meet with some ruler who would look to him as " guide, philosopher, and friend, " regulating him self by his counsels, and thereafter committing to him the entire administration of his government. Such men, he insisted, there had been in China from the earliest ages. Shun had been such to Yaou ; Yu and Kaou Yaou had been such to Shun ; E Yin had been such to T'ang ; Tfae-kung Wang had been such to king Wan ; Chow-kung had been such to the kings Woo and Shing ; Confucius might have been such to any prince who knew his merit ; Tsze-sze was such, in a degree, to the dukes Hwuy of Pe and Muh of Loo.1 The wandering scholars of his own day, who went from court to court, sometimes with good intentions and sometimes with bad, pretended to this character; but Men-

1 The Chinese, vol. ii. p. 56. * See Bk V. Pt II. iii. vii. : et al. cius held them in abhorrence. They disgraced the charac ter and prostituted it, and he stood forth as its vindicator and true exemplifier. Never did Christian priest lift up his mitred front, or show his shaven crown, or wear his Geneva gown, more loftily in courts and palaces than Mencius, the Teacher, de meaned himself. We have seen what struggles sometimes arose between him and the princes who would fain have had him bend to their power and place. "Those," said he, "who give counsel to the great should despise them, and not look at their pomp and display. Halls several fathoms high, with beams projecting several cubits : — these, if my wishes were to be realized, I would not have. Food spread before me over ten cubits square, and attend ant girls to the amount of hundreds : — these, though my wishes were realized, I would not have. Pleasure and wine, and the dash of hunting, with thou sands of chariots following after me : — these, though my wishes were realized, I would not have. What they esteem are what I would have nothing to do with ; what I esteem are the rules of the ancients. — Why should I stand in awe of them ? " *

Before we bring a charge of pride against Mencius on account of this language and his conduct in accordance with it, we must bear in mind that the literati in China do in reality occupy the place of priests and ministers in Christian king doms. Sovereign and people have to seek the law at their lips. The ground on which they stand, — " the rules of the ancients,"- — affords but poor footing compared with the Word of God ; still it is to them the truth, the unalterable law of life and duty, and, as the expounders of it, they have to maintain a dignity which will not compromise its claims. That " scholars are the first and head of the four classes of the people/' is a maxim universally admitted. I do desi derate in Mencius any approach to humility of soul, but I would not draw my illustrations of the defect from the bold ness of his speech and deportment as " a Teacher." But in one respect I am not sure but that our philosopher failed to act worthy of the character which he thus assumed. The charge The great men to whom he was in the habit of

nvhTgon'the0* referring as his patterns nearly all rose from priuces. deep poverty to their subsequent eminence. 1 Bk VII. Pt II. xxxiv. This passage was written on the pillars of a hall in College street, East, where the gospel was first preached publicly in their own tongue to the people of Canton, in February, 1858. " Shun rose to the Empire from among the channeled fields ; Foo Yueh was called to office from the midst of his building-frames ; Kaou Kih from his fish and salt." ' " E Yin was a farmer in Sin. When T'ang sent persons with presents of silk, to entreat him to enter his service, he said, with an air of indifference and self-satisfaction, ' What can I do with those silks with which T'ang invites me ? Is it not best for me to abide in the channeled fields, and there delight myself with the principles of Yaou and Shun? ' " 2 It does not appear that any of those worthies accepted favours while they were not in office, or from men whom they disapproved. With Mencius it was very different : he took largely from the princes whom he lectured and de nounced. Possibly he might plead in justification the ex ample of Confucius, but he carried the practice to a greater extent than that sage had ever done, — to an extent which staggered even his own disciples and elicited their frequent inquiries. For instance : —

P'ang Kang asked him, saying, " Is it not an extravagant procedure to go from one prince to another and live upon them, followed by several tens of carriages, and attended by several hundred men ? " Mencius replied, " If there be not a proper ground for taking it, a single bamboo-cup of rice may not be received from a man. If there be such a proper ground, then Shun's receiving the empire from Yaou is not to be considered excessive. Do you think it was excessive?" "No," said the other, "but for a scholar per forming no service to receive his support notwithstanding is improper." Mencius answered, " If you do not have an intercommunication of the pro ductions of labour, and an interchange of men's services, so that one from his overplus may supply the deficiency of another, then husbandmen will have a superfluity of grain, and women will have a superfluity of cloth. If you have such an interchange, carpenters and carriage-wrights may all get their food from you. Here now is a man who, at home, is filial, and, abroad, respectful to his elders, and who watches over the principles of the ancient kings, awaiting the rise of future learners ; — and yet you will refuse to sup port him. How is it that you give honour to the carpenter and carriagewright, and slight him who practises benevolence and righteousness ? " P'ang Kang said, " The aim of the carpenter and carriage-wright is by their trades to seek for a living. Is it also the aim of the superior man in his practice of principles to seek for a living ? " "What have you to do," re turned Mencius, " with his purpose ? He is of service to you. He deserves to be supported, and should be supported. And let me ask — Do you remu nerate a man's intention, or do you remunerate his service ? " To this Kang replied, " I remunerate his intention." Mencius said, " There is a man here who breaks your tiles and draws unsightly figures on your walls ; — his pur pose may be thereby to seek for his living, but will you indeed remunerate him ? " " No," said Kang ; and Mencius then concluded : " That being the case, it is not the purpose which you remunerate, but the work done." 3

f Bk VI. Pt II. xv. 1. 2 Bk V. Pt I. vii. 2, 3. 3 Bk III. Pt II. iv. The ingenuity of Mencius in the above conversation will not be questioned. The position from which he starts in his defence, that society is based on a division of labour and an interchange of services, is sound, and he fairly hits and over throws his disciples on the point that we remunerate a man not for his aim but for his work done. But he does not quite meet the charge against himself. This will better ap pear from another brief conversation with Kung-sun Ch'ow on the same subject. " It is said, in the Book of Poetry," observed Chow, " ' He •will not eat the bread of idleness.' How is it that we see superior men eating without labouring ? " Mencius replied, " When a superior man resides in a country, if the sovereign employ his counsels, he comes to tranquillity, wealth, honour, and glory ; if the young in it follow his instructions, they become filial, obedient to their elders, true-hearted, and faithful. — What greater example can there be than this of not eating the bread of idleness ? " '

The argument here is based on the supposition that the superior man has free course, is appreciated by the sovereign, and venerated and obeyed by the people. But this never was the case with Mencius. Only once, the short time that he was in T'ling, did a ruler listen favourably to his counsels. His lessons, it may be granted, were calculated to be of the greatest benefit to the communities where he was, but it is difficult to see the " work done/' for which he could claim the remuneration. His reasoning might very well be applied to vindicate a government's extending its patronage to literary men, where it recognized in a general way the advan tages to be derived from their pursuits. Still more does it accord with that employed in western nations where ec clesiastical establishments form one of the institutions of a country. The members belonging to them must have their maintenance, independently of the personal character of the rulers. But Mencius' position was more that of a reformer. His claims were of those of his personal merit. It seems to me that P'ang Kiing had reason to doubt the propriety of his course, and characterize it as extravagant.

Another disciple, Wan Chang, pressed him very closely with the inconsistency of his taking freely the gifts of the princes on whom he was wont to pass sentence so roundly. 1 Bk VII. Ft I. xxxii. Mencius had insisted that, where the donor offered his gift on a ground of reason and in a manner accordant with pro priety, even Confucius would have received it. " Here now," said Chang, " is one who stops and robs people outside the city-gates. He offers his gift on a ground of reason and in a proper manner ; — would it be right to receive it so acquired by robbery ? " The philosopher of course said it would not, and the other pursued : — " The rulers of the present day take from their people just as a robber despoils his victim. Yet if they put a good face of propriety on their gifts, the superior man receives them. I venture to ask you to explain this." Mencius answered : — " Do you think that, if there should arise a truly royal sovereign, he would collect the rulers of the present day and put them all to death ? Or would he admonish them, and then, on their not changing their ways, put them to death 1 Indeed to call every one who takes what does not properly belong to him a robber, is pushing a point of resemblance to the utmost, and insist ing on the most refined idea of righteousness." '