Some Taoist writers claim Lao-tsze as the author of 930 of the current works on the superstitious varieties of modern Taoism, and add complacently that all other books are unworthy of the same regard, having been secretly added by the followers of Tao in later ages. THE VISIT OF CONFUCIUS TO LAO-TSZE. Confucius once held an interview with Lao-tsze. From this he returned to his disciples, and for three days he did not utter a word. According to his own account, Lao-tsze exercised a complete fascination over him. He felt, when conversing with the older philosopher, that he was in the presence of a master mind, and the merciless criticism of which his doctrines were the object, shook his faith somewhat in their truth. “At his voice,” said he, “my mouth gaped wide, my tongue protruded, and my soul was plunged in trouble.” To Yang-tsze, a disciple of Confucius, Lao-tsze spoke in the same strain. “The spots of the tiger, and of the leopard, and the agility of the monkey, are that which exposes them to the arrows of the hunter.” And in reply to a question concerning the administration of the illustrious kings of antiquity, he said, “Such was the administration of the illustrious kings, that their merits overspread the empire unknown to themselves; the influence of their example extended to all beings; they effected the happiness of the people without letting them feel their presence. Their virtue was so sublime that human speech is unable to express it; they lived in an impenetrable retreat, and were absorbed in Tao.” THE VOYAGE IN SEARCH OF THE TALISMAN OF LONG LIFE.