Shu). The former were edited by Confucius; the latter are
by the disciples of that sage or by Mencius, a distinguished teacher
in his school about a century after him. The five Classics are the
most sacred of all. They are as follows:--

I.--1. The _Yih-king_, or Book of Changes. This is a divining book;
it consists of a set of interpretations by princes of the twelfth
century B.C., of a set of lineal figures. The system is in itself of
childlike simplicity, but use and age have collected mysteries about
it. It was exempted from the proscription of Shi-Hoang-Ti.

2. The _Shu-king_, or Book of History, contains speeches and
documents of the early princes from the twenty-fourth to the eighth
century B.C.

3. The _Shi-king_, or Book of Poetry, consists of a collection of 300
songs, selected by Confucius from a mass ten times as great. Some of
these pieces are extremely old.

4. The _Le ke_, or Record of Rites. This book is said to have been
composed by the duke of Chow in the twelfth century B.C., and is the
principal source of information about the ancient state religion of
China. It contains precepts not only for religious ceremonies, but
also for social and domestic duties, and is the Chinaman's manual of
conduct to the present day.

5. _Chun Tsew_, Spring and Autumn, contains the annals of the
principality of Loo, of which Confucius was a native, from 721-480
B.C. They are extremely dry; and if we could understand the statement
of Mencius that Confucius by writing them (for they are his own work)
produced a great effect on the minds of his contemporaries, many
things about Chinese religion and manners would be clearer to us than
they unfortunately are.

To these five Classics is sometimes added, as a sixth, the
_Hsiao-king_, or Book of Filial Piety, a conversation on that subject
between Confucius and a disciple.

It is impossible to tell how much Confucius did for these old books.
Some hold that he did not change them much, nor put into them much of
his own, and that, in fact, he was himself indebted to these books
for all he is reported to have taught. On the other hand, it is
declared that he made the ancient books teach his own doctrine, and
left out all that did not suit him; and, in confirmation of this
view, the fact is pointed out that while these books as we have them
teach pure Confucianism, another religion of a different spirit was
growing up in China in Confucius's own day, which must have had som