very cultured gentleman of
literary tastes,--a poet, and no mean one. He too was a Taoist;
an initiate of the Taoism of the day; which might mean in part
that he had an eye to the Elixir of Life; but it also meant
(at least) that he had a restless, exorbitant, and gorgeous
imagination. Such, indeed, inflamed the whole nation; which was
rich, prosperous, energetic, progressive, and happy. Ts'in ideas
of bigness in architecture had taken on refinement in Chinese
hands; the palaces and temples of Han Wuti are of course all
lost, but by all accounts they must have been wonderful and
splendid. Very little of the art comes down: there are some
bas-reliefs of horses, fine and strong work, realistic, but with
redeeming nobleness. How literature had revived may be gathered
from this: in Han Wuti's Imperial Library there were 3123
volumes of the Classics and commentaries thereupon; 2705 on
Philosophy; 1318 of Poetry; 2528 on Mathematics; 868 on
Medicine; 790 on the Science of War. His gardens at Changan
were famous; he had collectors wandering the world for new and
ornamental things to stock them; very likely we owe many of our
garden plants and shrubs to him. He consecrated mountains and
magnificent ceremonies; and for the sake of the gods and genii
appeared as flaming splendors over Tai-hsing and the other sacred
heights. For the light of Romance falls on him; he is a shining
half faery figure.--Outwardly there was pomp, stately manners,
pageantry, high magnificence; inwardly, a burning-up of the
national imagination to ensoul it. The Unseen, with all its
mystery and awe or loveliness, was the very nearly visible: not
a pass nor lake nor moor nor forest but was crowded with the
things of which wonder is made. Muh Wang, the Chow king, eight
centuries before, had ridden into the West and found the garden
of that Faery Queen whose Azure Birds of Compassion fly out into
this world to sweeten the thoughts of men. Bless you, Han Wuti
married the lady, and had her to abide peaceably in his palace,
and to watch with him

"The lanterns glow vermeil and gold,
Azure and green, the Spring nights through,
When loud the pageant galeons drew
To clash in mimic combating,
And their dark shooting flames to strew
Over the lake at Kouen Ming."

From about 130 to 110 Han Wuti was Napoleonizing: bringing
in the north-west; giving the Huns a long quietus in 119;
conquering the south