The sovereigns of the tottering dynasty of Chau had not the intelligence, nor were they in a position, to do honour to the departed philosopher, but the facts detailed in the first chapter of these prolegomena, in connexion with the attempt of the founder of the Ch'in dynasty to destroy the literary monuments of antiquity, show how the authority of Confucius had come by that time to prevail through the nation. The founder of the Han dynasty, in passing through Lu, B.C. 195, visited his tomb and offered the three victims in sacrifice to him. Other sovereigns since then have often made pilgrimages to the spot. The most famous temple in the empire now rises near the place of the grave. The second and greatest of the rulers of the present dynasty, in the twenty-third year of his reign, the K'ang-hsi period, there set the example of kneeling thrice, and each time laying his forehead thrice in the dust, before the image of the sage. In the year of our Lord 1, began the practice of conferring honourary designations on Confucius by imperial authority. The emperor Ping [3] then styled him-- 'The duke Ni, all-complete and l Li Chi, II. Sect. I. iii. 43. This eulogy is found at greater length in the 左傳, immediately after the notice of the sage's death. 2 See the 聖廟祀典圖考, 卷一, art. on Confucius. I am indebted to this for most of the notices in this paragraph. 3 平帝. illustrious [1].' This was changed, in A.D. 492, to-- 'The venerable Ni, the accomplished Sage [2].' Other titles have supplanted this. Shun-chih [3], the first of the Man-chau dynasty, adopted, in his second year, A.D. 1645, the style, 'K'ung, the ancient Teacher, accomplished and illustrious, all- complete, the perfect Sage [4];' but twelve years later, a shorter title was introduced,-- 'K'ung, the ancient Teacher, the perfect Sage [5].' Since that year no further alteration has been made. At first, the worship of Confucius was confined to the country of Lu, but in A.D. 57 it was enacted that sacrifices should be offered to him in the imperial college, and in all the colleges of the principal territorial divisions throughout the empire. In those sacrifices he was for some centuries associated with the duke of Chau, the legislator to whom Confucius made frequent reference, but in A.D. 609 separate temples were assigned to them, and in 628 our sage displaced the older worthy altogether. About the same time began the custom, which continues to the present day, of erecting temples to him,-- separate structures, in connexion with all the colleges, or examination-halls, of the country. The sage is not alone in those temples. In a hall behind the principal one occupied by himself are the tablets -- in some cases, the images -- of several of his ancestors, and other worthies; while associated with himself are his principal disciples, and many who in subsequent times have signalized themselves as expounders and exemplifiers of his doctrines.