According to the Chinese ideas, music rests on two fundamental principles,—the _shên-li_, or spiritual immaterial principle; and the _ch’i-shu_, or substantial form. All natural productions are represented by unity; all that requires perfecting at the hands of man is classed under the generic term, _wan_, plurality. Unity is above, it is heaven; plurality is below, it is earth. The immaterial principle is above,—that is, it is inherent in natural bodies, and is considered their _pên_, basis, origin. The material principle is below; it is the _hsing_, form or figure of the _shên-li_. The form is limited to its proper shape by _shu_, number, and it is subjected to the rule of the _shên-li_. Therefore, when the material principle of music—that is, the instruments—is clearly and rightly illustrated, the corresponding spiritual principle—that is, the essence, the sounds of music—becomes perfectly manifest and the State’s affairs are successfully conducted. You will now be able thoroughly to understand something of the Chinese systems of music, and their rigidly scholastic basis; and should you think that the explanation that you have read requires to be supplemented by explication, I may say that the authorities at the British Museum have now shelved for public use in the King’s Library the five thousand and twenty volumes of the Chinese Encyclopædia, to which I refer you. This is said to be the only complete copy known in Europe of a work commenced how many centuries ago I forget; and as the Chinese had at hand four hundred and eighty-two learned treatises on music, no doubt the subject is exhaustively drawn out, and will repay your search in the various sections and sub-sections. It is said that in 2277 B.C. there were twenty-two authors on dance and music, twenty-three on ancient music, twenty-four on the playing of the _kin_ and the _chi_, twenty-four on solemn occasions, and twenty-six on scale construction. The sages alone comprehend the canons, and the mandarins of music are considered superior to those of mathematics. The College of Mandarins at Pekin is within the imperial palace. The head musician in China represents the five capital virtues,—humanity, justice, politeness, wisdom and rectitude. How very old these people are! Certainly, we have colleges—a few!—but for some reason or other we are not sufficiently advanced to have such a head musician; and, in consequence of lack of such representation, the profession may possibly be minus some of the virtues in these ways: which, as the saying goes, accounts for it.