He passed in his progress through the kingdoms of Tchi, Goo-shi, and Tsoo, without receiving the slightest encouragement to take up his residence in any of their cities. The austere integrity of his politics, and the strict simplicity of his manners, rendered him every where rather an object of dread ; and he was generally regarded by the leading men of every province, both as a dangerous associate, who would speedily undermine their influence by his superior talents, and also as a troublesome monitor, who would perpetually disturb their pleasures by his virtuous reproofs. Ile often experienced the most contemptuous treatment from the more licen tious nobles ; and conspiracies evt n were in some in stances formed against his life. By totally neglecting 'his personal interests, he found himself reduced at length to a state of extreme indigence, and was compelled to resume his original office of a private instructor. Declin ing the invitation of certain sages of his time, to with draw from the world, and lead the life of a hermit, he resolved to devote himself to the improvement of the lower classes of the people. Ceasing, therefore, to ad dress himself to the inhabitants of palaces, and the atten dants of courts, he employed the remaining part of his life in making the most distant and fatiguing journies throughout the Chinese empire, instructing every where persons of every rank, who were willing to listen to his precepts. And as in all his discourses, he was con tinually producing the maxims and example of the ancient Chinese worthies, Yao, Shun, Yu, Tehing-tang, and Ven-vang, he began to be regarded as in a manner the representative of these imperial sages, and at length attracted around him a considerable number of fol lowers.
Besides his general admirers, he is said to have had above three thousand disciples, who were more parti cularly attached to his person and principles. These he distributed into four classes; the first, consisting of those who devoted themselves to the cultivation of their minds by frequent meditation, and to the improvement of their hearts by the sentiments of virtue ; the second, of those who addicted themselves to the study of just reasoning, and to the practice of eloquent composition ; the third, of those who employed themselves in investigating the principles of good government, and instructing the man darins in their duties; and the fourth, of those who exercised their powers in communicating to the people, in a clear and polished style, the precepts of practical morality. All these disciples were understood as engag ed, in their respective stations and pursuits, in cultivat ing and extending the philosophy of their master ; and five hundred of his pupils are said to have attained, dur ing his life, the highest offices of government in the different kingdoms of China. Seventy-two of that num ber were selected as a kind of honorary class, who were distinguished by the superiority of their attainments ; and again, ten out of these are celebrated as the most per fect, who had reached the full comprehension of the philosopher's system. One of these, particularly, named
Yen-yuen, was the most favoured of his pupils; and his death, at the early age of thirty years, is said to have afflicted him with more poignant and lasting grief, than any other calamitous occurrence in the course of his protracted and eventful life.
Confucius, during the latter part of his life, sent 600 of his disciples through the different provinces of China, to disseminate his tenets, and reform the manners of the people ; and is said to have even formed the design of propagating his doctrines in foreign countries. His reputation and success, however, while he was alive, appear, even from the Chinese accounts, to have been extremely limited and variable, and to have depended more upon the favour of the individual princes, by whom he was occasionally patronized, than upon any real at tachment to his principles among his contemporaries. When he was invited to the palace, and honoured with the notice of any of the petty sovereigns in the empire, it became the fashion of the court, and, in a manner the law of the kingdom, to admire his instructions, and extol his character. But, upon the decease of his royal patrons, or the 'decay of their attachment, he frequently ex perienced a total revolution in his affairs, and found his precepts despised, and his person in a manner proscribed in those very places, where he had been revered as the fountain of all wisdom, and the example of every %blue. The courtiers, on such occasions, who had envied his influence, and disliked his restraints, made him the sub ject of their songs and satires ; and the changeable mul titude, following the example of their superiors, assailed him openly with the most insolent revilings. He ap pears, indeed, before his death, to have lost all his in• Iluence, and to have retained the affections only of a few disciples, who were more immediately attached to his person. This is sufficiently confirmed by the circum stances related of his latter days, and the expressions ascribed to him on his death-bed by his most ardent admirers. According to their united testimony, he spent the three concluding years of his life in retirement and sorrow. A short time before his last illness, he told his disciples, with tears in his eyes, that he was over whelmed with grief, on account of the great disorders which every where prevailed throughout the empire "The mountain," he added, 66 is fallen, the high machine is demolished, and all the sages have disappeared ;" by which he intimated, that the edifice of perfection, which he had endeavoured to raise, was almost completely overthrown. From this period, he began to languish ; and, on the seventh day before his death, again addressed his attendants in similar terms of despondency : " The kings refuse to follow my maxims ; and since 1 am no longer useful on the earth, it is as well that I leave it." He then sunk into a lethargy, which continued for the space of seven days, when he expired in the arms of his disciples, in the 73d year of his age, and about 479 years before the birth of Christ.