solemnization of that would bring the duke back to his right mind. No such result followed. The ceremony was hurried through, and portions of the offerings were not sent round to the various ministers, according to the established custom. Confucius regretfully took his departure, going away slowly and by easy stages [1]. He would have welcomed a message of recall. But the duke continued in his abandonment, and the sage went forth to thirteen weary years of homeless wandering. 8. On leaving Lu, Confucius first bent his steps westward to the State of Wei, situate about where the present provinces of Chih-li and Ho-nan adjoin. [Sidebar] He wanders from State to State. B.C. 497-484. He was now in his fifty-sixth year, and felt depressed and melancholy. As he went along, he gave expression to his feelings in verse:-- 'Fain would I still look towards Lu, But this Kwei hill cuts off my view. With an axe, I'd hew the thickets through:-- Vain thought! 'gainst the hill I nought can do;' and again,-- 'Through the valley howls the blast, Drizzling rain falls thick and fast. Homeward goes the youthful bride, O'er the wild, crowds by her side. How is it, O azure Heaven, From my home I thus am driven, Through the land my way to trace, With no certain dwelling-place? Dark, dark; the minds of men! Worth in vain comes to their ken. Hastens on my term of years; Old age, desolate, appears [2],' A number of his disciples accompanied him, and his sadness infected them. When they arrived at the borders of Wei at a place called I, the warden sought an interview, and on coming out from the sage, he tried to comfort the disciples, saying, 'My friends, why are you distressed at your master's loss of office? The world has been long without the principles of truth and right; Heaven is going to use your master as a bell with its wooden tongue [3].' Such was the thought of this friendly stranger. The bell did indeed sound, but few had ears to hear. 1 史記, 孔子世家, p. 5. See also Mencius, V. Pt. II. i. 4.; et al. 2 See Chiang Yung's Life of Confucius, 去魯周遊考. 3 Ana. III. xxiv.