Under the Han dynasty a most harmonious _king_ was presented to the emperor. The designs traced upon the stones were not quite satisfactory to that potentate; on endeavoring to alter slightly the fashion of the stones, the pitch of the instrument was irrevocably lost, and its harmony destroyed forever.[111] The _king_ has from time immemorial been played by striking the stones with a stick or mallet of hard wood. The skill of the player is shown in the degree of shading he can impart to the tones, by varying the force of his blows. Of all instruments, the Chinese claim that the _king_ blends best with the human voice. The entire Chinese chronicles teem with praises of this peculiar instrument. Confucius was thrown into ecstatic bliss on hearing it for the first time. The musical work entitled _Li-ki_ says: “the harmonious sound of the _king_ invites the sage to think of the end of life. When he hears it, he thinks of death, and fortifies himself in his love of duty.” But this passage refers only to the great _king_ made of _Yu_ (the finest melodious stones), which was only played on great religious occasions; it is not singular that this instrument should be associated with religious thoughts. There were other kinds of _kings_ which were used on lesser occasions. In the imperial palace were several of smaller size, called _pien-king_, which were composed of sixteen stones each. The _tse-king_ consisted of one large stone, and is used to give the pitch to other instruments, to signalize the commencement of a tune, and according to some writers, was anciently used to beat the time throughout a composition. The shape of the stones is much like a carpenter’s square; and if sixteen of these tools were suspended from a clothes horse, the shape at least of the _king_ would be attained; but in the most ancient specimens the stones are shaped with much more diversity, fishes, bats, and other quaint forms appearing with much ingenuity in the different pieces. The only modern instrument of similar style to the _king_, which is known to American readers, is the glass-harmonica, where short strips of glass, being struck by a mallet, give out a melodious, but not very manageable tone, and any person performing on the _musical glasses_, not by friction, but by percussion, can give a fair representation of the music of the favorite instrument of China. OF THE SOUND OF METAL.