collection of riddles, to which there are as many answers as there are guessers. It is hardly possible for a Chinese to cast off from his mind the influence of this 'praise-and-censure' theory in studying the Classic. He has learned it when a child by committing to memory at school the lines of the 'Primer of Three Characters,'[1] and it has been obtruded upon him in most of his subsequent reading. Even a foreigner finds himself occasionally casting about for some such way of accounting for the ever varying forms of expression, unwilling to believe that the changes have been made at random. I proceed in another section to give a fuller idea of the nature of the Work; and to consider what were its sources, and whether we have reason to think that Confucius, in availing himself of them, made additions of his own or retrenchments.
SECTION II.
THE SOURCES OF THE CH‘UN TS‘EW, AND ITS NATURE. DID CONFUCIUS ALLOW HIMSELF ANY LIBERTY OF ADDITION OR RETRENCHMENT IN THE USE OF HIS AUTHORITIES?
1. What were Confucius’ authorities for the events which he has chronicled in the Ch‘un Ts‘ëw? In proceeding to an inquiry into the Sources of the Work, it will be well to give at the commencement an explanation of its name.
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