help calling them Supplements to the Topography, which was his
'first love.'
皇清經解, 'Explanations of the Classics, under the Imperial
Ts'ing Dynasty.' See above, p. 20. The Work, however, was not
published, as I have there supposed, by imperial authority, but
under the superintendence, and at the expense (aided by other
officers), of Yuan Yuan (阮元), Governor-general of Kwang-tung
and Kwang-hsi, in the ninth year of the last reign, 1829. The
publication of so extensive a Work shows a public spirit and zeal
for literature among the high officers of China, which should keep
foreigners from thinking meanly of them.
孔子家語, 'Sayings of the Confucian Family.' Family is to be
taken in the sense of Sect or School. In Liu Hsin's Catalogue, in
the subdivision devoted to the Lun Yu, we find the entry:--
'Sayings of the Confucian Family, twenty-seven Books,' with a
note by Yen Sze-ku of the T'ang dynasty,-- 'Not the existing Work
called the Family Sayings.' The original Work was among the
treasures found in the wall of Confucius's old house, and was
deciphered and edited by K'ung An-kwo. The present Work is by
Wang Su of the Wei (魏) dynasty, grounded professedly on the
older one, the blocks of which had suffered great dilapidation
during the intervening centuries. It is allowed also, that, since
Su's time, the Work has suffered more than any of the
acknowledged Classics. Yet it is a very valuable fragment of
antiquity, and it would be worth while to incorporate it with the
Analects. My copy is the edition of Li Yung (李容), published in
1780. I have generally called the Work 'Narratives of the School.'
聖廟祀典圖考, 'Sacrificial Canon of the Sage's Temples, with
Plates.' This Work, published in 1826, by Ku Yuan, styled Hsiang-
chau (顧沅, 字湘舟), is a very painstaking account of all the Names
sacrificed to in the temples of Confucius, the dates of their
attaining to that honour, &c. There are appended to it Memoirs of
Confucius and Mencius, which are not of so much value.
十子全書, 'The Complete Works of the Ten Tsze.' See
Morrison's Dictionary, under the character 子. I have only had
occasion, in connexion with this Work, to refer to the writings of
Chwang-tsze (莊子) and Lieh-tsze (列子). My copy is an edition of
1804.
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