The heart in its trouble finds no place of The heart, when intensely grieved, knows rest; of no place of rest; The mind in its bitterness thinks only of While the mind in its agony is relieved by grief. commiseration. Say not then that tears become only chil dren; For the brave, when their feelings are wounded, also shed tears. In the faithful discharge of official duties, to be undismayed evinces fortitude; But when ensnared, to have that on which to rest, shews the greatness of the soul. Were high feelings alone to be allowed to constitute bravery, The heroic deeds of the last thousand years would be a mere sound. CHAPTER II. In the affairs of the world, all declare the forms prescribed are the most essential; But there are occasions when even these must be suspended. Le-ying, who broke open the pillar, was considered wise; Chang-kien, who gave notice of his approach, was accounted good for nothing. You must look for the hare near the wood, and in the grass; Take a lesson from the birds of prey in seizing their game: Know that, setting aside the ordinary rules and prescriptions, There is a right of acting according to the changes of circumstances. In government, we may exultingly affirm, that propriety is the first law: Who, acquainted with propriety and decorum, cherish unlawful, hankering desires? Le-ying, by breaking open the pillar, evinced his wisdom, But Chang kien, by throwing down the door, from lecherous motives, was never esteemed virtuous. From amidst the grass and the jungle the hare may be caught So also the stork and cormorant, how not wonderful! Know then that the national established usages alter not, For sudden changes transfer the power into other hands. Those duties which exist between a prince and his minister, father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger brothers, and friends. + Keun is frequently rendered "sir," but never "friend." The scope of the passage will not bear such an epithet. Mr. Davis' Translation. To explore the tiger's den belongs to the valour of the hero ; To trace the fox's flight, proves the sagacity of the experienced : A New Translation. To enter the den of a tiger indicates valour and bravery, While to trace the artful fox's steps, the sagacity of the experienced. The restoration of the pearl to Hopoo If you would meet with Fung-choo, re Since the publication of the Fortunate Union, I have been favoured with a sight of Mr. Davis' paper on Chinese poetry, inserted in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. On the whole, I consider it very creditable to Mr. Davis' talents and industry. His remarks are generally judicious, and his arrangement good. I only regret that he did not pay more attention to the meaning of the verses, at the commencement of his work, which he has translated. Lest I should be thought wanting in candour, I beg to lay before your readers all the stanzas that Mr. Davis gives to the 19th page, with the exception of those which occur in the 15th and 16th pages, which are well rendered. Shall I then be unmindful of the purposes of heaven, Like some who lean on their tables, and grow unprofitably old, Who exert not their strength in the proper time ? How may I disregard the mind of heaven? Alas! there are those who lean on the table till old, And who at proper seasons never exert their strength. The rain falls in drops before my rude Leaning on the door, they merely watch door-way As I stroll about, or sit, immersed in such meditation. the falling drops, And whether walking or sitting, appear lost in [vague] thought. Mr. Davis, at page 13, when speaking of the metrical quantity of Chinese poetry, conceives that he has discovered what had never occurred to the mind of any European, that the heptametric Chinese verse was subject to a cœsural pause near the middle of the line. Now this was noticed some years since; and it seems almost impossible to read a verse of this description, and understand it, without perceiving it. Yet Mr. Davis seems to have doubted his discovery, for after referring "to a gentleman whose profound knowledge of the language rendered him a very competent judge in all matters connected with it, he became persuaded of the existence of the fact." We are then informed, that a Séw-tsae (Mr. D.'s teacher) is summoned into the room to read out the longer measures of verse in a slow and deliberate manner;" when, wonderful," the cæsura fell exactly after the fourth character!" The object of Mr. Davis's paper being a treatise of Chinese poetry, a mere statement that the heptametric verse was subject to a cæsural pause, would have been sufficient, particularly with the explanation he has given. The literal rendering of a single line is sufficient to make it apparent to every reader; for example: World affairs-hurry hurry-not have limit.* Mr. Davis Englishes it by "The affairs of the world are all hurry and trouble-without end." But what shall we say of Mr. Davis's discovery, if we apply his remarks to the two first stanzas which occur in the Fortunate Union, which are also heptametric verses? He will there perceive, on reading it deliberately, that in the second line of the first stanza, the cæsural pause does not follow after the fourth character, as he would have us believe, but after the third; and, in the second and third lines of the second stanza, that it falls immediately after the second character in each line, instead of the fourth. The fact is, that this kind of metre does not depend upon the certain fall of the cæsural pause after the fourth character, though its excellence is considerably heightened thereby, but on the quantity of the line; and where narration and description occur, it must take its chance, as these verses sufficiently prove. Whilst I regret that Mr. Davis, amongst so many novels as are contained in the literature of China, did not choose one which had not been before translated (for the Fortunate Union had appeared in an English dress, though very imperfectly rendered), yet I cannot withhold my thanks from him for this, as well as his other translations from the Chinese, as a great favour conferred upon the public. I hope his next work will be a translation of the She-king, if illustrated by historical notices of persons and events; an undertaking that would have done honour to the talents of Sir George Staunton. I am, Sir, &c. * The Chinese language being monosyllabic, these seven words are of course expressed by as many monosyllables. THE LAND-TAX IN INDIA.* Or the legislative acts framed by the India Company for the executive administration of their now enormous empire, by far the largest portion has been directed to the important subject of revenue. It is a subject, however, so destitute of the attractions which fascinate public attention, and consists for the most part of such dry and uninteresting details, that it is not to be wondered at, if it has received, neither from the general reader, nor from those whose duty it is to be acquainted with all the elements of Indian policy, the full consideration to which it is entitled. It requires also such extensive and minute local knowledge, that the most persevering inquirer, without that advantage, might despair of being able to wind himself into the labyrinth of our financial system in India, whatever diligence or general information he might bring to the task. Nor is it at all singular that, even in India itself, the science of finance, considered as the means of raising a revenue for the exigencies of the state, that shall prove the most easy of collection, and the least oppressive upon those by whom it is contributed, should be still in its infancy. Many of the ablest and most experienced of the Company's servants in that country (and it is a service which has been always fruitful of great talent) are but partially acquainted with many important facts relative to its diversified soils, its various climates, and the productive energies of its population. And when it is considered that the existence of the Company as a territorial power took place only in 1760, and that an impenetrable curtain has always concealed from our inspection the moral and social character of the natives, which we have never contemplated but in those artificial and studied attitudes which it presents in formal and official intercourses; the slow growth of intelligence upon a subject at once so intricate and uninviting, may without difficulty be accounted for. Hence it has arisen that every successive scheme for the final adjustment of Indian revenue has heretofore proceeded upon an absolute ignorance of the nature and qualities of the Hindu tenures, and the original rights inherent in the occupiers of the soil. Amongst the many momentous topics, however, relative to our Indian empire, the taxation imposed upon the immense agricultural races by whom it is peopled, and by whose productive industry the whole of its revertue is supplied, must at no distant period force itself upon the attention of Parliament and the Company, with an importunity which can no longer be either evaded or resisted. The magnitude of the subject is apparent from the fact, that the revenue of India is derived from a tax upon land equal to more than the whole surplus profit of every field. The questions, therefore, which relate to a fiscal impost of so vast an extent, must be of awful interest to the people on whom it is levied, to the government by whom it is collected, and eventually to the commercial intercourse of Great Britain with that important member of her empire. Colonel Briggs, the enlightened and accomplished author of the tracts The Present Land-Tax in India considered as a measure of Finance, in order to shew its Effects on the Government and People of that Country, and on the Commerce of Great Britain. In three Parts. 1830. (Not published.) |