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At no period since racing became a National Sport in this country was it so pre-eminently popular as the present: never was there so promising an opportunity for purging it of its grossness, and restoring it to its healthy purpose. So long as the present system, as pursued at Tattersall's, continues to influence it, so long must it be obnoxious to monstrous abuse. While a set of notorious knaves are solicited in a manner to take part in its direction, can it be supposed that they will not by every means, fair or foul, seek to influence its economy to suit their own ends? It must be that soon the noble and the prin cipled will emancipate themselves from such an unholy alliance. How long, I ask again, would it be, were the design once taken up in the proper quarter, before a Turf Club could be established in London, that would throw all similar establishments into the shade? Would a single owner of race-horses withhold his subscription from an institution formed for the service of the sport he patronises? I cannot think it. Let there be no limit to the qualification, save such as the laws of society among us make imperative. I would advocate the principle that it be without restriction as to the nature of the games of chance or skill permitted to be introduced. Men should take care of themselves. It would be a ridicule to attempt straitlacing a society of such a nature. All I hope for and trust in is, that we shall not long be suffered to remain without one place in our Metropolis where gentlemen may meet together, to conduct the business of our noblest national sports, unintruded upon by vulgar impertinence, and safe from the designs of those whose existence depends upon the successful exercise of their knavery.

ALPHA AND OMEGA.

By T. W. AVELING. From the Christain Keepsake.
BEFORE the deep blue heavens arose on high;

Or e'er the depths of thundering seas were laid;
Or glittering stars shone 'mid the curtain'd sky;
Or giant mountains flung their lengthen'd shade :
Before the hosts of heaven, with radiant wings,

Glorious, were in their shining ranks arrayed;
He liv'd-the great First Cause, who all things made.
And when the heaven-appointed moment brings

The flaming fire that all created things

Consumes, and when the drops of Time's deep sea
Are lost within thy waves, Eternity!

And Darkness o'er the world her mantle flings;
From everlasting, He, with dreaded name,

To everlasting, still shall be the same.

THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF CONFUCIUS.

BY P. P. THOMS,

[Entered at Stationers' Hall.*]

THE FIRST PART OF THIS ARTICLE IS A TRANSLATION FROM A WORK THAT TREATS OF THE THREE RELIGIONS OF CHINA.

CONFUCIUS was born in the reign of the Emperor Ling-wang (B. C. 563), in the village Kwan-le, near the district Chang-ping of Keŭhfow, of the state Loo, in the province Shan-tung. His ancestors were natives of the state Sung, which formed part of Hoo-pih province. Kung-fang-suh, Confucius's grandfather, left his place of nativity in consequence of the commotion occasioned by a person named Sunghwa-tih, and repaired to the state Loo, where was born to him a son called Pih-hea. Pih-hea was the father of Suh-leang-yih, whose son was called Măng-pe, otherwise Pih-ne, who died in infancy. Suhleang-yih, either in consequence of the death of his wife, or from her becoming sterile, married a person named Yen-she, who bore Confucius on Kang tsze day of the eleventh month of the twenty-first year of Duke SEANG, who presided over the state Loo, which had declared itself independent.

We are informed by tradition, that on the morning of the day when Confucius was born, two dragons were seen playing on the top of the house, and that five immortal beings, who reside in the stars, entered Yen-she's room, and then disappeared. No sooner had they departed than the mother of Confucius heard celestial music, issuing, as it were from the centre of the room, and a voice which said, "We announce the birth of a holy child;" this was succeeded by the music of several instruments. Thus the narrator observes, the birth of the First Holy (Confucius) differed materially from that of ordinary persons; even while a child there was something extraordinary in his appearance. From an indentation on the apex of his head, he obtained the name Kew, "a declivity," and was also called Chung-ne. According to the work Ke-le, Suh-leang-yih, Confucius's father died before the birth of his illustrious son, and was buried at Fangshang, in the state Loo.

Confucius, during his childhood, was remarkably lively, and fond of playing with a kind of trencher, and the measure tow; and, as he grew up, was particular in observing the established usages in visiting, &c. In the work before us, Confucius is said to have acquired the height of nine Chinese cubits, and to have measured forty-nine inches round the waist, which is twice the height and size of an ordinary Chinese; and that on his breast were the following words," Appointed to give precepts that will tranquillize the age."+

*This paper has been entered at Stationers' Hall, as the annexed "Extract" forms part of an elaborate illustrated History of the early reigns of China, and is a specimen of the author's talent and research. When published, it will be found to be the most extensive work that has yet appeared relating to China.

The book from which this is translated, not being a standard work, but designed to serve the three prevailing religions, some allowance should be made for a little hyperbole in the first part of the life of Confucius, which will not be required in what follows, taken from the standard history of China. In many instances the works are highly corroborative of each other.

The same work observes, in a kind of Chinese phrenological language, that on turning Confucius's head and observing its form, there was a flowing, or placid countenance; a corner of the moon with a fixed sun was to be seen, &c. When he sate down he was as a dragon (dignified); when he stood up, he resembled the Fung or Phoenix on its legs (stately); his eyes were like clouds (in motion); and when he went forth, he was like the sun (impetuous). His ears hung down like pearls, &c., and he possessed a powerful voice. It is farther remarked, that in the formation of his head he resembled the ancient emperor Tangyaou; in his forehead, that of Shun; and in the crown of his head, that of Kaou-yaou: thus in him were concentrated the virtues of the ancients:-possessing the knowledge of a divine being, nothing was abstruse to him; he was therefore an able successor to the ancient emperors Fuh-he, Tang-yaou, Yu-shun, and Duke Chow.

Confucius had scarcely held an appointment for a year at Chungtoo, under Duke Sing, before all the nobles adopted his mode of administering justice. During the ninth year he was called to the government of a city; in the tenth, he was made a Sze-kung officer, an under-minister of state; and in the eleventh, he was exalted to the office of Sze-too, a species of prime minister. In the course of the fourteenth year, he put to death the rebellious minister Shaouching-maou, when all the affairs of the state were referred to him. In the short space of three months peace was restored, and so much confidence prevailed that plunder, generally speaking, was not known. Confucius enacted a law requiring men and women to walk on different sides of the road, and that the road should not be given up to the honourable; that is, the poor were not required to make way for their superiors. Such was the confidence inspired by these regulations, that strangers from every quarter repaired to the capital of Loo, as an attendant officer was now unnecessary to ensure them a safe return to their own country. Confucius by his lofty principles of morality and extensive virtues was able to accomplish this important change.

Confucius, on resigning his appointment, became the pupil of a person named Sze-seang, of whom he learnt to play on the Kin instrument, and moreover studied the rules of Propriety under Laou-yen; after which he quitted the state Loo for forty years, during which time he visited all the other states of China, inculcating principles of respect on the part of the younger branches of the family to their seniors-reverence from children to their parents-love and affection between husband and wife-and loyalty and fidelity between minister and prince-with other moral and beneficial maxims.

In the eleventh year of the reign of Duke Gae, Confucius returned from the state Wei to the state Loo, when he revised and published a new edition of The She-king* and Shoo-king,* and established the

Choo-foo-tsze in his preface to the She-king informs us that" during the early reigns, the sovereigns of China made tours throughout the kingdom, when the poetical productions of the day were collected and submitted to them, the pieces that excelled were recorded. During the two reigns Chaou and Muh this usage was adhered to, but was afterwards discontinued. When owing to commotions the seat of the government was removed to the east of the empire, poetry was no longer cultivated. Confucius lived during this period; but he possessed not the power of influencing the go

national usages and national music, with the Six Arts: namely, Etiquette, Music, Archery, Driving, Belle-lettres, and Notation. It is said that he was now so delighted with the Yih-king (a metaphysical work), that, by reading it night after night, his copy required thrice to be bound in leather. Having surmounted the difficulties of that ancient work, he communicated at the northern gate of the city its principles to his three thousand disciples, who again diffused them to his 60,000 followers in the different states, among whom were seventy-two persons of eminence.

It is further said, that the ominous animal Ke-ling, previous to the birth of Confucius, appeared at Keŭh-le, when it cast forth a book in which mention was made that "the son of pure water would succeed in restoring tranquillity to the state Chow," which for years had been the scene of great carnage. Yen-she, the mother of Confucius, in her astonishment, seized the animal and bound round one of its horns a piece of embroidery, when at night it disappeared. We are also informed that in the fourteenth year of Gae-kung, Suh-sung-she, Chay-tsze, and Tsoo-shang, repaired to Se-yih to hunt, when they killed a Ke-ling, which was considered an inauspicious omen. Confucius on seeing it said, "Alas! the Ke-ling will never appear again;" and throwing his flowing sleeve over his arm, he shed tears so profusely that they fell on his dress. Suh-sung-she being surprised at the conduct of Confucius, enquired the cause of his grief. The Ke-ling was produced, and Confucius, noticing the embroidery, exclaimed, "My course is run!" Shortly after he was taken ill, but kept his bed only seven days, and died in his seventy-third year, on the Sze-noo day of the fourth month of the sixteenth year of the reign of Duke Shwae, and was buried to the south of the city Loo.

During the following year Duke Gae caused a temple to be raised in honour of him, on the site of the house he had occupied, whither his disciples all repaired, and dwelt in mat sheds erected around the temple, mourning for three years the death of their great teacher. At the expiration of that time, after offering sacrifice to the manes of the departed, with weeping, they all returned to their habitations, except Tsze-kung, who remained six years andthen returned to his family. In the temple, besides a tablet in honour of Confucius, was placed his wardrobe, his Kin and Sih musical instruments, his library, and also his carriage. Here his disciples with the inhabitants constantly repair

vernment to admonish the slothful-repress the froward-degrade the vicious-and to promote the virtuous. When he compiled the She-king, he excluded repetition and corrected what was not expressive.-Sentiments that were not adequate to form a precept, and those that had a vicious tendency, and did not afford a warning, were by him laid aside. Here the student and lover of antiquity obtains information with regard to the virtues and vices of the ancients. Here a virtuous man finds a preceptor, the profligate character motives to change his mode of living. The laws of poetry then laid down, though not adopted, have since become models for ten thousand ages; thus the odes of that age afford instruction to the present day."-Choo-foo-tsze.

The Shoo-king is a very valuable work. It contains the sayings and many of the speeches and other documents of the early sovereigns of China. Chinese history is greatly indebted to this compilation.

This animal is often spoken of in early history as appearing on occasions of great national prosperity.

to worship; hence it is a proverbial saying that Confucius's temple is never without worshippers.

The emperor Kaou-tsoo of the Han Dynasty (B. C. 189), on visiting the state Loo, repaired to the temple and sacrificed several whole animals to Confucius, when he bestowed on him the posthumous title of "The Most Holy King Wăn-seuen." The ode says,

"Behold the splendour of that temple,

Where the virtuous and holy are revered!-
The dignity of his cap and dress are such,
That the devout cannot but worship.
The sovereign of Han, revering the scholar,
In state repaired to the village to worship,
When he offered splendid sacrifices,

Which for ages will never be surpassed."

THE FOLLOWING EXTRACT OCCURS IN THOMS'S MANUSCRIPT HISTORY OF THE EARLY REIGNS OF CHINA, TRANSLATED FROM

AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS.

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CONFUCIUS, as we have before stated, was born at the state Loo,* in the province Shang-tung, during the 21st year of the emperor Ling-wang. He was contemporary with Pythagoras, and prior to the days of Socrates. Confucius had two brothers younger than himself; one was named Tsze-loo and the other Tsze-yo, who are afterwards spoken of as his disciples. The emperor Ling-waug died during the 25th year of his reign, and was succeded by the emperor King-wang. At the age of fifteen Confucius devoted himself to study. In the thirteenth year of the emperor King-wang, Confucius was appointed a Wei-she officer, or keeper of grain. The historian remarks, he submitted to receive this menial appointment because he was poor. He married when only nineteen years old, and had a son whom he named Le-yu, Carp fish!' in consequence of Chaou-kung, the duke of Loo, sending him a present of carp. He was next appointed a Sze-chĭh-le officer, a kind of commissary, having charge of cattle and grain. In the course of his twenty third year, Confucius left the state Loo, and repaired to the Imperial capital, being desirous of making himself acquainted with the principles of the ancient go. vernments of the dynasties Hea and Yin, foreseeing that anarchy and strife would ere long prevail at Loo. Tranquillity having been restored, Confucius, it is mentioned, was the following year again at Loo, whence during the 11th month of the same year he repaired to the state Tse, when Duke King questioned him respecting government, to which he replied, "A prince should act as a prince, a minister as a minister, a father as a father, and a son as a son." The duke responded, "Excellent ;" and added, "To be considered a prince, yet in conduct not a prince; a minister, yet not a minister; a father, yet not a father; a son, yet not a son; what would it avail me even were I certain of my appointment for life!" While at Tse, Confucius was so delighted with the music of that state, that he remarked, "For three months I have disregarded the flavour of the meat I have eaten, not

In the "Memoire des Chinois," Confucius is represented as a man of colour. This is by no means probable, as Shan-tung is on the north-east part of China.

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