664
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Illustrations of Men and Things in China.
晴
DEC.
his residence at Seängyang in Honan. He had a concubine, called Yangtae, a very skillful actor and singer, unequalled by any in her day, whom he loved very much. He had placed her once in a separate house, which, when his wife Soo heard, she inquired and ascertained where it was, and gave,her a severe beating. Tow was very much disturbed at this conduct, and Yang, tae also telling him all her other misdemeanors, slandering and vilifying her, he wished to take her with hiin to Seängyang, where he was then going, but Soo would not accompany him. Tow thereupon took Yangtae, and ceased all intercourse with Soo; but she, deeply grieved for, and repentant of, her folly, wove an1hwuy wan, or revolving composition, on silk, in which many different colors were so blended, that it rejoiced the mind, and entranced the eyes.' It was about a foot square, and contained more than eight hun- dred characters; and if read either up or down, crosswise, backwards or for- wards, it made sense; nor was a stroke or a point in it deficient. The talent and ingonuity displayed in it was surpassing, excelling that of the ancients and putting to shame the moderns; she called it the seuen-ke picture. Even fearned persons called hardly understand it, upon which Soo laughing, said,
• 1 who am nothing uncommon have made this piece of anagramatic compo- Jition, and now none of you can explain it.' She sent it by a faithful do- mestic to her husband, who narrowly examined it, and was so affected by its extraordinary elegance and singularity, that He dismissed Yangtae, and sent a carriage loaded with presents to Soo to bring her to him. She was therefore exceedingly beloved, and wrote more than Ave, thousand lines, which however were irrecoverably lost during the commotions of the Tsuy dynasty, together with this worked anagram."
From a notice in the Koo Sze Tsin Yuen, or. Deep Researches into Ancient Matters, it would appear that Soo Hway wrote this while her. husband was banished beyond the frontiers, and before he went to Seangyang; it is also there said, that the emperor compassionated her, and as a reward for her talents and skill in weaving it, recalled Tow Taou. The sonnet is written in heptameters, and contains 280 cha- racters; it commences at the character kwan near the circle in the left upper corner, and reads along the top and down the right side; the lines there reäscend, forming all the squares on the right șide, and then again go down and up until they end next to the circle. at keë, which is the second word of a line, and is connected with the first column of large characters on the left side. The last four lines are placed somewhat” irregularly so as to bring the two characters teen tsze the emperor, in the middle. The last character in the piece is hwan to return. The whole, to say the least, is ingenious in its arrangement, and is a good specimen of a kind of literary trifling common among the Chinese one that would: not be misplaced in D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature.
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