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Speedy promotion is inscribed. On this occasion, however, the Duke had full honours, for no less than eight of the company, magnificently robed, six as Statesmen and Princes, and two as Princesses (men in female dress, but a perfect imitation) appeared to do him homage. First they talked (as if they were holding a council) about the Royal visitor; and then one, shaking his long white beard, recited a congratulatory Address, to which the others gave their assent by the utterance of repeated squeals, that being the conventional mode of agreement on the stage in China.
Then they knelt down, two by two, prostrating themselves till their foreheads touched the ground, with a wonderful, almost mechanical, simultaneity, very curious when it is considered that they were looking all the time at the Royal box, and never at each other. The two ladies knelt last, and remained kneeling longest.
The pieces selected for performance on this occasion were a celebrated Historical Drama, founded on the selection of a Prime Minister in ancient times; and a Farce called "A-làn selling his pig;" and as they both furnish good specimens of Chinese Plays, the following sketches of the plot of each, contributed by a gentleman who is well acquainted with Chinese literature, is given.
Outline of the Historical Drama.
"In the third century before Christ, when the tottering Chau dynasty, whose decadence Confucius had lamented in his own time, was drawing to its close, China, as it has repeatedly been, was divided into a number of Feudal States, always engaged in internecine war, and owning but a nominal allegiance to the shadow of Imperial authority which the Emperor possessed. Both Confucius and Mencius loudly lamented this state of things, and a great part of their works, especially those of Mencius, consists of rebukes,
(29)
counsels, exhortations to unity, and essays on the evils of the times, which seem to have been impatiently listened to, and very uniformly disregarded.
"In the latter days of the house of Chau, then, several of these States, each governed by a Feudal Prince with the title of 'King,' were alarmed at the pushing ambition of the State of Tsin, which, under vigorous counsels, seemed to be carrying everything before it. The only man who perceived clearly what should be done was, like Solomon's 'poor wise man,' a poor scholar, who went round to the six principal States, urging a defensive alliance against Tsin. His burning words kindled a spirit of resistance amongst even these Feudal Princes, and the six States, forming themselves into a confederation, found no man so fit to administer its affairs as the poor scholar, whom they with one consent elected Prime Minister of the Six Kingdoms."
"Then for eight years, great peace possessed the land, but, at their end, the Prime Minister died, and there was no one to fill his place. The ambitious schemes of the King of Tsin were pushed on more vigorously than ever. At last, in B.C. 249, all the States had yielded to him and he consolidated the Empire during the short-lived dynasty of Tsin."
"The play opens with the entrance of one of the six Kings, who chants a long harangue in praise of the eloquent scholar, who has united the States in common cause against the foe. He recommends his appointment as Plenipotentiary. Another King enters, discusses the proposal, agrees, and the other Kings are summoned to a council."
"The council is held at great length and the appointment agreed on."
45
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speedy promotion is inscribed. On this occasion, however, the Duke had full honours, for no less than eight of the company, magnificently robed, six as Statesmen and Princes, and two as Princesses (men in female dress, but a perfect imitation) appeared to do him homage. First they talked (as if they were holding a council) about the Royal visitor; and then one, shaking his long white beard, recited a congratulatory Address, to which the others gave their assent by the utterance of repeated squeals, that being the conventional mode of agreement on the stage in China.
Then they knelt down, two by two, prostrating them- selves till their foreheads touched the ground, with a wonderful, almost mechanical, simultaniety, very curious when it is considered that they were looking all the time at the Royal box, and never at each other. The two ladies knelt last, and remained kneeling longest.
The pieces selected for performance on this occasion were a celebrated Historical Drama, founded on the selec- tion of a Prime Minister in ancient times; and a Farce called "A-làn selling his pig;" and as they both furnish good specimens of Chinese Plays, the following sketches of the plot of each, contributed by a gentleman who is well acquainted with Chinese literature, is given.
Outline of the Historical Drama.
"In the third century before Christ, when the tottering Chau dynasty, whose decadence Confucius had lamented in his own time, was drawing to its close, China, as it has repeatedly been, was divided into a number of Feudal States, always engaged in internecine war, and owning but a nominal allegiance to the shadow of Imperial authority which the Emperor possessed. Both Confucius and Mencius loudly lamented this state of things, and a great part of their works, especially those of Mencius, consists of rebukes,
( 29 )
counsels, exhortations to unity, and essays on the evils of the times, which seem to have been impatiently listened to, and
very uniformly disregarded."
"In the latter days of the house of Chau, then, several of these States, each governed by a Feudal Prince with the title of 'King,' were alarmed at the pushing ambition of the State of Tsin, which, under vigorous counsels, seemed to be carrying everything before it. The only man who perceived clearly what should be done was, like Solomon's 'poor wise man,' a poor scholar, who went round to the six principal States, urging a defensive alliance against Tsin. His burning words kindled a spirit of resistance amongst even these Fendal Princes, and the six States, forming themselves into a confederation, found no man so fit to administer its affairs as the poor scholar, whom they with one consent elected Prime Minister of the Six Kingdoms.""
"Then for eight years, great peace possessed the land, but, at their end, the Prime Minister died, and there was no one to fill his place. The ambitious schemes of the King of Tsin were pushed on more vigorously than ever. At last, in B. C. 249, all the States had yielded to him and he consolidated the Empire during the short lived dynasty of Tsin."
"The play opens with the entrance of one of the six Kings, who chants a long harangue in praise of the elo- quent scholar, who has united the States in common cause against the foe. He recommends his appointment as Ple- nipotentiary. Another King enters, discusses the proposal, agrees, and the other Kings are summoned to a council.”
"The council is held at great length and the appoint- ment agreed on."
45
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