Having thus described generally the nature of the teachings of the _Tao-tê ching_, I shall now proceed to examine them more in detail. In doing so it will be convenient to consider them under the three leading divisions of Speculative Physics, Politics and Ethics. I must, however, beg pardon of the pale shade of their author for doing so, as I am certain that he would not sanction this division; and at the same time I must forewarn the reader that he is not to think that subjects in his opinion appertaining to these three departments are kept rigorously distinct. Lao-tzŭ, like Plato and some other philosophers, makes Physics and Politics subordinate parts of Ethics—the grand, all embracing study. So when reading in the _Tao-tê ching_ about matters which we regard as belonging peculiarly to one or other of these divisions, we must endeavour to regard them from Lao-tzŭ’s point of view—viz., as part of one universal, all containing nature. If we leave out the important word which I enclose in brackets, and substitute some such word as _yet_ or _still_, we find in the writings of a great English poet of the 18th century sentiments very similar to those of the Chinese sage who lived more than two thousand years before him:— “All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body nature is, and [God] the soul; That, changed through all, and yet in all the same; Great in the earth, as in the ethereal frame; Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, Lives through all life, extends through all extent, Spreads undivided, operates unspent: Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart: As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns, As the rapt seraph that adores and burns: To _it_ no high, no low, no great, no small; _It_ fills, _it_ bounds, connects, and equals all.” [1] Collected Writings, ch. 58. [2] Chine Moderne, p. 351. [3] Ch. 59. [4] Ch. 1. This passage is, however, also rendered according to the metaphor of a road. See Wu-chʽêng’s note. [5] Chs. 47, 49, 73, 77. [6] See Ch. 25. [7] Chs. 25, 26. [8] Ch. 41. [9] Ch. 1. The word chʽang (常), however, may mean lasting, eternal. [10] Chs. 14, 35. [11] Ch. 1, &c. [12] Ch. 25. [13] Chs. 25, 37. [14] Chs. 14, 21. [15] Chs. 1, 51. [16] See chs. 18, 38. [17 Ch. 6. The character 谷 is, however, also rendered otherwise in this page. See Yi-yuan’s edition and that in the 十子全書. [18] Ch. 4. [19] Ch. 32. [20] Chs. 24, 52. [21] Ch. 51. The _Tao_ is also, however, said not to rule over the world. See ch. 34. [22] Chine Moderne, p. 351. [23] Melanges Posthumes, p. 167, and in the Melanges Asiatiques. See also Julien’s Introduction, p. xii. [24] Introduction, p. xiii. [25] Introduction, p. xiii. [26] See Wu-chʽêng’s note to the passage. [27] _E.G._, chs. 16, 14, &c.