cosmogony out of this work, but these would seem to have no better foundation than the fact of its claim to being a complete system of symbolization in which everything lies hid, until it becomes revealed to the earnest seeker. However vast the scope and intention of the "Yih-King" may have appeared to subsequent students, it cannot be doubted that, in the first instance, it did not go beyond the limitations of "the ever-changing phenomena of nature and experience," and that the chief aim of those who matured it, and of Confucius no less than others, was to perfect a medium, in accordance with its original purport, through which a sure and reliable guidance could be obtained by those who sought for it, under all the varying conditions in which they might be placed.

That this was the way in which it was regarded in the time of Confucius, is made clear by the fact of the "Yih-King" having been saved from destruction some two centuries after his death, as a book treating of divination, as has been already noticed.

It would seem as if this book had a strange fascination for all who came in contact with it; and even now, when the cultivated classes have ceased to consult it for guidance in the conduct of their affairs, it is still regarded by the Chinese literati as the arcanum of all knowledge; and some of them even

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assert that, to the initiated, there is no modern scientific invention which is not to be found in it.

Endless controversies have been the consequence. Endless attempts to define the indefinite, explain the incomprehensible, and produce order out of chaos. It would only weary the reader, and bring but small profit, to do more than refer to them, for it is scarcely possible to reduce them to terms which would enlighten his understanding. How, indeed, could the mystical union of the Yang and the Yinthe male and female principles of nature-be brought down to the level of an ordinary intellect? Or the endless combination and transmutation of all material and immaterial forms, be considered without an overwhelming sense of fatigue or weariness? I shall therefore confine myself to stating, as briefly as possible, the mode in which, during the divination days, this book was used.

In the commentary on this work, attributed to Confucius, it is stated that there were four important points connected with it by which the sages regulated their actions :-the study of its terms, so that, when speaking, their language might be brought into harmony with its teaching; of its changes, for the due guidance of their actions; of its symbols, for principles necessary in the construction of mechanical implements; and, lastly, of its prognostications, in

order that they might acquire a knowledge of results; and hence it is that a man of high character, who is about to take action in either a public or private matter, should begin by making inquiry through the transmutations as to his chances of success or failure, and straightway regulate his conduct according to the answer he may have received.

The mode of procedure connected with this inquiry is then minutely given; but it will be enough for our purpose to know that he who sought for guidance from these diagrams or symbols was brought en rapport with them through the agency of the stalks of a certain plant, which were cut into short lengths, and arranged in figures in conjunction with special numbers obtained, in the first 'instance, through the medium of the same mapped record of the mysterious spots from which the diagrams had been produced, and thus brought into agreement, though it is not very easy to make out how, with the corresponding symbol or with one of its component parts.

The "Yih-King," as may easily be supposed from the peculiar nature of the work, has had but few translators, but the translation of it, which forms the sixteenth volume of the "Sacred Books of the East," by Professor Legge, is, as indeed may be said of all his works, a monument of erudition and laborious research, and I would refer to its pages those amongst

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my readers to whom the present slight sketch, principally drawn from it, may be deemed insufficient.

An attempt has been made, with but small success, to find an explanation of the symbols which form the basis of this work by establishing a comparison between them and the theory of numbers which occupies such a prominent place in the Pythagorean system of philosophy; and to reduce the original arrangement of lines, and the diagrams formed out of them, into mere mathematical and figurative modes of expression belonging to a scheme of dynamical and scientific speculation, respecting the original elements of nature, and the constant and unceasing changes which they are perpetually undergoing.

As it now stands, to the uninitiated, the "Transmutations" will remain as one of the curiosities of Oriental literature. If the Chinese continue to hold it in such high esteem, it is probably on the principle that man is often found to value that most which he understands least.

An immense amount of labour has been bestowed on this work by the Chinese literati, the number of books upon it, enumerated in the catalogue of the imperial library, amounting to nearly fifteen hundred.

CHAPTER XIII.

The second of the "Five Classics: the "Shoo-King," or the "Records."

IT must be confessed that it is difficult to avoid a feeling of intense relief when closing the pages of the "Transmutations" and turning to those of the 66 Records," for here we stand once more on solid ground, and are brought face to face with one of the oldest if not the oldest-historical works in existence.

Although I have given it the second place, whether regarded from the point of view of its antiquity, its authenticity, or the value of its subject-matter, the Shoo-King" is unquestionably the most important of all the works belonging to the ancient Chinese literature.

Commencing with the reign of Yaou, B.C. 2356, and ending B.C. 721, it gives, in a broken sequence, a series of historical events, extending over a period of more than sixteen hundred years. Its historical accuracy is undoubted, but its chief interest lies in