tell Ho-chi to go and study proprieties under him [1].' In consequence of this charge, Ho-chi [2], Mang Hsi's son, who appears in the Analects under the name of Mang I [3], and a brother, or perhaps on]y a near relative, named Nan-kung Chang- shu [4], became disciples of Confucius. Their wealth and standing in the State gave him a position which he had not had before, and he told Chang-shu of a wish which he had to visit the court of Chau, and especially to confer on the subject of ceremonies and music with Lao Tan. Chang-shu represented the matter to the duke Ch'ao, who put a carriage and a pair of horses at Confucius's disposal for the expedition [5]. At this time the court of Chau was in the city of Lo [6]. in the present department of Ho-nan of the province of the same name. The reigning sovereign is known by the title of Chang [7], but the sovereignty was little more than nominal. The state of China was then analogous to that of one of the European kingdoms during the prevalence of the feudal system. At the commencement of the dynasty, the various states of the kingdom had been assigned to the relatives and adherents of the reigning family. There were thirteen principalities of greater note, and a large number of smaller dependencies. During the vigorous youth of the dynasty, the sovereign or lord paramount exercised an effective control over the various chiefs, but with the lapse of time there came weakness and decay. The chiefs --corresponding somewhat to the European dukes, earls, marquises, barons, &c. -- quarrelled and warred among themselves, and the stronger among them barely acknowledged their subjection to the sovereign. A similar condition of things prevailed in each particular State. There there [sic] were hereditary ministerial families, who were continually encroaching on the authority of their rulers, and the heads of those families again were frequently hard pressed by their inferior officers. Such was the state of China in Confucius's time. The reader must have it clearly before him, if he would understand the position of the sage, and the reforms which, we shall find, it was subsequently his object to introduce. Arrived at Chau, he had no intercourse with the court or any of 1 See 左氏傳, 昭公七年. 2 何忌. 3 孟懿子. 4 南宮敬叔. 5 The 家語 makes Chang-shu accompany Confucius to Chau. It is difficult to understand this, if Chang-shu were really a son of Mang Hsi who had died that year. 6 洛. 7 敬王 (B.C. 519-475)