such an ode, taken from the works of Li T'aipai:-- If life be nothing but an empty dream, Why vex one's self about the things of time? My part shall be to drain the flowing cup And sleep away the fumes of drowsy wine. When roused to life again, I straightway ask The Bird which sings in yonder leafy trees, What season of the year had come its round. "The Spring," he says, "When every breath of air suggests a song." Sad and disturbed, I heave a gentle sigh, And turn again to brightening, cheering wine, And sing until the moon shines, and until Sleep and oblivion close my eyes again. But before the time of the T'ang Dynasty a new element had been introduced into the national literature. With the introduction of Buddhism the Chinese became acquainted with religious doctrines and philosophical ideas, of which until then they had only been faintly conscious from their contact with the debased form of Brahminical teaching which under the name of Taoism had long existed in the land. A complete knowledge of the teachings of Sakyamuni was however imparted to them by the arrival, at the beginning of the first century of our era, of two Shamans from India who settled at Loyang in the province of Honan, and who translated the Sanskrit Sutra in forty-two sections into Chinese. From this time onward a constant succession of Buddhist missionaries visited China and labored with indefatigable industry, both by oral teaching and by the translation of Sanskrit works into Chinese, to convert the people to their faith. The knowledge thus acquired was of great advantage to the literature of the country. It enriched it with new ideas, and added wider knowledge to its pages. The history and geography of India, with which scholars had previously been scarcely acquainted, became, though indistinctly, matters of knowledge to them. Already Fahsien, the great forerunner of Chinese Buddhist pilgrims (B.C. 399), had visited India and had described in his 'Fuh kwo chi' (The Records of Buddhist Countries) the wonders which he had seen in Hindustan. With the spread of Buddhism in China, a desire to follow in his footsteps prompted others to undertake the long and arduous journey across the Mongolian steppes and over the passes of the Himalayas into the plains of India. Sung yun in the sixth century and Huean Ts'ang in the seventh are conspicuous among those who undertook this toilsome pilgrimage in the interest of the faith.