No sooner was he dead, than the veneration for his name began to revive ; and the prince who then reigned in Loo, whose name was Ngai-kong, upon receiving in telligence of his decease, is said to have burst into tears, exclaiming at the same time, " The Tien is displeased with me, since he has taken away Confucius." His dis ciples clothed themselves in habits of mourning, and lamented his loss, as they would have done that a parent. His sepulchre was erected near the city of Kin feoo, the supposed place of his nativity, upon the banks of the river Loo, where he used to assemble his pupils. His descendants possess the rank of nobility ; and he receives throughout the vast empire of China, not ind,n:d divine honours, as some have affirmed, but that secondary species of worship which the Chinese arc accustomed to offer to tutelary spirits, and to the manes of their ances tors. In almost every city and village, a plain building or chapel is erected to his memory, called " The house of Confucius," in which is placed a simple tablet, with inscriptions in gilt letters to this effect : " 0 Confucius, our revered master, let thy spiritual part descend, and be pleased with this tribute of respect, which we now humbly offer thee." Wine, fruits, flowers, and perfumes are placed before the tablet ; incense is burned ; tapers of sandal-wood lighted ; and the same ceremonies ob served, as in the honours which are paid to deceased ancestors. These offerings in the temples of Confucius arc made chiefly by the literary young men, when they are about to undergo their public examinations ; but the memory of the philosopher is held in estimation by all classes of the Chinese, who regard him as, without ex ception, the most eminent sage, and the wisest legislator that ever appeared, either is their own or in any other nation• His name is interwoven with almost every civil institution or observance in the Chinese empire ; and his doctrine is considered as the only foundation of all poli tical wisdom, or moral virtue.
With respect to his personal appearance, he is des cribed by his Chinese biographers, as having been of a tall stature, and a well proportioned form, with an olive complexion, large eyes, a flat nose, a long and black beard, a broad chest, and a sharp strong voice. his countenance was rather disfigured, by a swelling in the middle of his forehead ; from this circumstance, he received from his father the sirname of Kieoo, or " little hill ;" a designation which he used frequently, in modesty or in jest, to apply to himself, even during the period of his highest renown.
In his moral character, he is represented as having been a pattern of integrity, temperance, and contempt of sublunary wealth ; and as having invariably exem plified in his own conduct the precepts of virtue, which he publicly inculcated. He is likewise celebrated on account of the unequalled fortitude and equanimity with which he sustained every reverse of his fame or fortune ; and the following instance of his pious com posure, in situations of the most imminent danger, is frequently cited by his admirers in China. An officer of the army, named Hoan-tee, enraged by the restraints, which the precepts and presence of Confucius imposed upon him and his associates, made a daring assault upon the philosopher in open day with a drawn sabre, but happily failed in his attempt to inflict a mortal blow. The intrepid sage, in the mean time, discovered not the smallest emotion or symptom of dread ; and when his terrified followers besought him to hasten from the presence of the brutal mandarin, he is said to have calmly replied in these words : n If the Tien protects us, of which he has just given a sensible proof, what harm can the rage of Hoan-tee do to us, although he be the president of the tribunal of the army ?" This bold and undaunted spirit was united, we arc told, with the most gentle temper and humble disposition of mind, which frequently led him to disclaim the high praises that were bestowed upon him, and to lament, on the contrary, his numerous deficiencies. His doctrine, he used to say, was not his own, but was derived from the ancient sages, particularly from those wise legislators, Yao and Shun. " There arc four things," he frequently said to
his more favoured disciples, " which give me continual uneasiness; the first, that I have made so little progress in virtue ; the second, that I am not sufficiently eager in the prosecution of my studies; the third, that 1 am not more devoted to the duties of justice ; the fourth, that I am not duly watchful over my own heart and actions." Being informed one day, that he was generally denomi nated king, which, in the Chinese tongue, signifies wisest, he replied, " I deserve no such encomium, and I can by no means suffer it. All the good that can be said of me is, that I do my utmost to acquire wisdom and vir tue, and that 1 am not discouraged by the difficulties which I encounter in teaching them to mankind." The following epitome of his character is current among his disciples in China, namely, that he united in himself three things, which appear most incompatible with each other ; all the grace of a polite behaviour, with a great dea, of gravity ; a stern aspect, with a great deal of good nature ; and an extraordinary elevation of soul, with a great deal of modesty.
These details of the life and character of Confucius rest entirely upon the authority of the Chinese writers, and may naturally he conceived to partake, in sonic res pects, of their characteristic exaggeration in whatever relates to the honour of their nation. But of the nature of his doctrines, a more impartial judgment may be formed from his own writings, which have been faith fully preserved, and which compose the greatest portion of the classical or canonical books of the Chinese. For a general view of his principal tenets, the reader is referred to the article Cni NA in this work, p. 89; and to p. 118, for an account of those sacred hooks, among which his writings are classed. The productions of his pen, which rank in the first class of the King, or canoni cal books, are, 1. A commentary on the lines of Fo-shee, in which he details a species of divination or fortune telling, and which forms the principal part of the book Y-king : 2. The whole of the second canonical book, called S,Iooking, a collection of the earliest historical records of the Chinese nation, of which Confucius pro fesses only to he the editor, but of which he is suspected to have been in reality the author : 3. A book of his maxims, collected by his disciples, and forming part of the canonical book cane,. Lec-kee: 4. The whole of the fifth canonical book, called Tchun-tsieoo, consisting of the annals of his native country, the kingdom of Loo, commencing 722 years before Christ. His other writ ings, which arc arranged in the second class of King, or classics, are known under the title of See-shoo, or " the four books" of Confucius, viz. Ta-hio, or sublime science ; Tchong-yong, or just medium ; Lun-yu, or words and discourses ; and AIeng-tse, or the book of Mencins, one of his disciples. Of the contents of the three first of these pieces, a slight sketch may be found in Du Ilaide's History of China, vol. iii. p. 303. of the English translation, published in London in the year 1736; and an English translation of the first, viz. Ta-hio, has been very recently published by the Rev. R. Morri son, Protestant missionary at Canton, in a work entitled Horse &niece. Two other books, considered as the pro duction of this philosopher, are held in great repute, and ale more generally perused among the great body of his countrymen, than his writings of a higher class. These are Hiao-king, which treats of filial reverence, or the respect due to parents ; and Siao-hio, that is, " the science or school of children," a collection of sentences and examples from various authors. These two pieces have been translated into Latin by Father Noel, one of the earliest missionaries in China, and were printed at Prague in 1711. See Du Halde's History of China, vol. iii. p. 293 ; Modern Universal History, vol. viii. p. 104 ; General Biographical Dictionary ; Enfield's History of Philosophy, vol. ii. ; D'Anquctil's Hist. Universelle ; Le Compte's Memoirs of China ; Martinii Historia Sinica, lib. iv. ; Barrow's Travels in China ; and Alorrison's Hory Sinicce. (q)