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Within the period of an hundred years, it must have belonged to some other person;

And it is surely better to sell it while than when become old.

new,

The pine trees, the bamboos, and the
mei flowers must enter the account;
But my kin and my books, my dogs and
my chickens, shall accompany me.
The scraps+ of old verses stuck against the
walls; for these he may fix his price.
For the wet-weather clothes, hanging
without, it is not worth while to bargain.
Hereafter, when, perhaps, I may come,
during my leisure, to pay a visit,
The former master will be called the ho-
noured guest.

The above detached lines, together with the regular stanzas, were composed by an eminent person, in the dynasty of Ming, who sold his house and built another. Selling one's house, however, is a troublesome sort of business; it cannot sufficiently be regretted. What is there of pleasure in it, that a man should compose all sorts of verses and rhymes on such a subject?

If you wish to know the nature of property in this world, learn that it is altogether transitory. There is not a river nor hill which

A musical instrument, common among the Chinese.

† It is usual in private houses to have labels suspended against the walls, on which are inscribed moral sentences, or verses from the ancient

remains unchanged for a thousand years; but there is not a house which remains unsold for an hundred. If you give it into the hands of your children and grand-children, they will deliver it to other per sons, with its value diminished. It is better oneself to seek a purchaser, before it is altogether destroyed: then, if you cannot sell it for its price, you still leave behind you the reputation of liberality. It will be said, "He knew well enough it was expensive, and therefore let it go cheap. He did it as a favour; it was not that he was taken in." If, on the contrary, your children or grand-children happen to sell it low, there soon arise plenty of discussions. It is said, "He has wasted the patrimony of his fathers, and is undutiful. He has dismembered what his ancestors loved, and is wicked. He knows not the difficulty of laying the foundation of a fortune, and is a fool. These three bad names, are all that his ancestors, who founded the family, and accumulated the property, have delivered down to him. It is better to have not a single brick left you. Though the man, who has not enough land to stick an awl into, is the cause of his posterity acquiring their fortune with empty hands, they still obtain the credit of not having had an inch of ground as a step towards it. Those men, therefore, who are fathers and grand-fathers, when they have arrived at the end of their days, should turn round their heads and give a look at those who are coming after them. If, upon

books. These are generally very obscure in their examination, they appear by their

import.

The Chinese, in rainy weather, use a sort of cloak, made of the leaves of some vegetable, from which the rain runs off, as if from a thatched

conduct to be unworthy children, it is better to get rid of the pro

roof, and completely shelters what is under. It perty at once; thus preventing their

is to these garments that the text alludes.

becoming the prodigal sons of a

frugal father, and receiving the ridicule of mankind.

From ancient times down to the present, of those persons who have been particularly eminent for such good sense, there have been only two. The one was named Tangyew; the other Yu-shin.

They, seeing that their sons were degenerate, and that afterwards, their property must inevitably be given up to other persons in a ruined state, thought it better to dispose of it with their own hands. There are still two lines of an old ode, which allude to this, they say, "Give splendid arms to grace the soldier's side;

"Give paints and patches to the beauteous bride."

If their posterity, they thought, disposed of it for them, it was most probable that they would not find a good receiver. Most inevitably one would contend and another tug, until they fought about it. To say nothing about their sons and wives having no place to live in, their very graves and tombs would not be secure from disturbance. If such then is the case with those who possess the empire, how much more so with the common people.

I am now going to speak of one person, who was eminent for sense, and of another, who was deficient ; that they may serve as examples to the world. The patrimony of these two persons could not be compared to a tile on Tang-yew's house, or to a brick on Yu-shin's wall. But

* These are the names of two famous emperors, the eighth and ninth from Fo

why do I, in speaking of these two inferior men, make use of such a lofty comparison? The reason is, because of these two, the surname of one was Tang, of the other, Yu. Every one said, they were the de cendants of Tang-yew, and Yushin; that they took the national appellation of those Emperors for their surnames; and that they were descended in a line from them. I therefore speak of the ancestors in delineating the descendants, in order to do justice to the original

source.

The sensible man had all his an cestor's disposition; the stupid fellow had very little of the character of his family. They mutually diverged from each other, as the heavens from the abyss. How dissimilar branches sprung from the same stem will be perceived.

of the dynasty of Ming, in the During the reign of Kea-tsing,* province of Sze-chuen, the Foot of Ching-too, and the Heen of Ching-too, there lived a rich man in thriving circumstances. His surname was Tang; his epithet, Yo-chuen. This man had an immense quantity of land. Whenever he got any money, he delighted only in buying fields and purchasing ground. But he would build no houses; and of those family utensils which are in constant use, he would not buy one too many. With regard to clothes and food, they had no weight with him. His dis position was to make money by all sorts of means. As to his extensive

hi, the founder of the monarchy. The property in rich lands, no sooner

former of these two, after having reigued upwards of seventy years, resigned the throne to the latter; or, at least, made him an associate in the empire with himself. The latter again left the empire out of his own family.

did they enter into his possession,

* The eleventh emperor of this dynasty. He ascended the throne about the year 1521.

$

The foo is a division of the province, or seng; and the heen of the foo..

than the profits came in. They increased daily, as the moon towards her plenitude. Houses and furniture (he thought) are not only unprofitable, but there is a fear lest the god of fire should destroy them, and in a moment they should become annihilated. If all the family have fine garments, there immediately come unpleasant fellows to borrow clothes. If there are plenty of victuals, one soon has people claiming acquaintance, and taking their seats in quest of food. There is nothing like being contented with coarse articles; people, in that case, will not be begging them.

He took fast hold of this idea, and, except in buying houses, would not spend so much as a candareen or a cash. The state of his mind 'being thus, he could not be at rest with his niggardliness, but wanted also to steal a great name. He said, that he was descended from the Emperor Tangyew; and that his ancestors had great celebrity. That they lived in a thatched house with mud steps; that what they lived upon was broth and Yuen wine ;-that they used earthen jars and pots ; and that their garments were of cloth and deer-skins. The father being thus economical, his son could not but obey his precepts. People seeing him (the father) parsimonious in the extreme, began to scrutinize him behind his back, saying, "There is an ancient proverb,

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Hwuy-lo, the spirit which is supposed to preside over fire.

These are the European names for the fuen and le. The former is one hundredth part of the leang, or ounce of silver; and the latter, one tenth of the former, or one thousandth part of the leang:

which says, 'If a man is very ecoà nomical he must have a prodigal son.' He must inevitably have a successor who will turn things up. side down; so that Tang's disposi❤ tion to save will not descend." Unexpectedly, however, the son imitated his father. From his earliest years he commenced a scholar, seeking preferment by all sorts of means; and was a titular Sew-tsae.* In his eating and drinking, he did not seek for luxury; in his clothes he wished not for a superabun→ dance; in his instruments of amusement, he did'not aim at the best. It was only on the subject of houses that he differed from his other desires. There, indeed, he was not contented with economy. To look at the house in which he lived, it was like any rich man's necessary. He was quite ashamed of it. He wanted to be building fine houses; but was afraid to begin, lest the means could not be obtained. He had heard people say, that to buy an old house was better than to build a new one; therefore, in a consultation with his father, he said, "If we can buy a handsome house, which will be fit for us to live in, we may then look for a garden, and build a library in it, such as may suit our wish." Yochuen, desiring much to become a Fung-keun,† wished only to flatter his son, and, without being aware, deviated from his constant opinion. He said, in answer, "There is no necessity to be in a hurry.; in this

The lowest literary title. The next above it is kiujin; and the next above that, tsin-sze. The three first of the tsin-sze, at each examination, which is always conducted by the Emperor himself, are called chang-yuen, tan-hwa, and pang-yen.

The fathers of persons possessing eminent rank are thus called.

street is a handsome house and garden. It is not yet completely built ; but the day of its being finished must inevitably be the day of its sale; you and I will just wait awhile." The son said, "When people want to sell houses, they do not build: when they build houses, they do not intend to sell them. Where is the probability that, when they have finished building, they intend to sell the house?" Yo-chuen said, " Pray where did you get that crochet? The man who possesses ten thousand pieces of gold may build a house which costs him only one thousand. But if a man's possessions in houses and lands are balf and half, he may be said to be a large tree without a root, which must inevitably be blown down when the wind comes. Then how much more nray this man, who, without possessing an hundred acres in land, suddenly builds a house with a thousand rooms, be called a tree without a root ? He truly will not wait for the wind's blowing, but will tumble down of himself! How can there be any question about it ?"

The son, hearing these words, said, that they were very true; and, as before, accorded with his father.

He went seeking only for land, and did not come to ask about houses.

He wished that the other man would soon have finished building; in order, that the present owner being gone, he might give the finishing stroke instead of him. The rich man's plans proved successful: the result justified his words. There are two lines of the " She-king," which are applicable to the case,

66 The nest one bird constructs with anxious toil,

He, who was building the house, was descended from Chunghwa. His surname was Yu, his name Haou, and his epithet Soochin. He was one who delighted in reading books of poetry; but did not seek to be an eminent scholar. From the indolence of his disposition, he had a great aversion to any office; and was not cut out for being a Mandarin. He therefore detached his thoughts from a great name, and entirely gave himself up to odes and wine, and by these means could not but be reduced to beggary.

During his whole life, he had scarcely any other delight than in arranging and building gardens and summer-houses. From the begining of the year to the end, not a day passed without his advancing the work. The house which he was now building, he wished to be of the highest perfection, and not of the common order; he said, "Let other men have their fine fields and their numerous acres: pleasures and riches were the concerns of others; on him they had no influence." There were only three things in which he truly took an interest, and which he was determined to have of the best quality These three were, the house which he inhabited in the

day, the bed in which he slept at night, and the coffin in which he was to be laid up after death. Having these ideas in his breast,* he went on with the work of earth† and wood, labouring continually at it, in an indefatigable manner.

(To be continued.)

*The Chinese, like some other eastern anatomists, suppose the heart to be the seat of ideas.

The Chinese houses are built, in a great measure, of mud. Hence a bricklayer is called Ne shwuy tseang,

«Ere long another seizes as her spoil." earth and water workman.”

Asiatic Journ.-No. 1.

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ASIATIC FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, &c.

(No. I.)

HINDU ARTIFICE. A late Bombay paper gives the following, as an extract of a letter from an officer to his friend :

I was travelling, says the writer, with a party of officers and a guard of Sepoys; we stopped to refresh ourselves, and, among the inhabitants of a village, who came out to view us as objects of curiosity, one fellow was so unusually audacious as to force himself into the tent where we were dining, using strange gestures, and making an extravagant noise. Having in vain endeavoured to learn bis meaning, we ordered him out; he refused to go, and we then ordered the palanquin-bearers in attendance to force him out. On his being thus removed to a short distance from our tent, we soon heard a confused noise and lamentation, and were informed that this fellow, who pretended to be a devotee, had swooned away from the effect of pollution, in being touched by our palanquin bearers, who were parrias.

We rather laughed at this account. Louder lamentations were heard, and word was brought that the man was dead; we went out and found a great many people assembled round the body, lamenting and complaining loudly of the outrage. It became necessary to order our Sepoys under arms, and the servants to be on their guard. We sent for the head man of the village, and the body was thoroughly examined by the natives, and pronounced to be dead. There certainly appeared no visible signs of

life, but the trifling injury he could have received by the handling, to overcome merely his own resistance, and the absurdity of a man's dying from the effect of fancied pollution, added to my experience of their powers of deception, perfectly satisfied my mind that this fellow was an impostor.

Desiring my brother officers to leave the business to my management, I acquainted the natives that I had an infallible mean of knowing whether the man was dead or not; that, if there was the least spark of life remaining, since the body had received no injury, I could restore him, though the remedy would be exceedingly severe. They wanted to remove him, but this I would not suffer, well knowing they might make any report they pleased concerning his death and create much trouble.

I laid hold of his hand, and was some time before I could feel a pulse, which completely satisfied me; but I kept my own counsel. Again the people pressed forward tumultuously, with an apparent design to carry away the body by force; but, ordering the Sepoys to advance with fixed bayonets, I made them retire to a distance, suffering only the head man to remain. In vain did I endeavour to persuade them that the man counterfeited, until, finding nothing else would do, I assured them I possessed powers they had no conception of, and, without touching the body again, I would convince them of the man being still alive, by

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