Mr James, in hig philosophical lectures, published under the title, "The Will to Believe," has two essays on the " Importance of Individuals " on the life of a nation. He quotes the words of an unlearned carpenter of his acquaintance, who once said, "there is very little difference between one man and another, but what little there ix, is of vast importance." We think that most men will agree with One has only to recall the purposes and achievements of a Washington, of a Clive, of Bismarck, and many others, where: Po. James rather than that of Mr.
the judgment will accept the dictum
Jon his antagonist. China, too, has p duced its great men, but partly because of our ignorance of her national history, snd partly because the sphere of their operations has been more circumscribed Europeans are naturally less familiar with them than with the heroes of their own nations., It must be admitted, too, that she has failed to produce the' explorers, the discoverers, the inventors, the orators, ete., in the same, way ax the West done. If, however, she has produced fewer than those countries, those whom she has produced stand out more conspicuous: ly, becatise there are fewer to jostle them from their proud eminence.
Among the greatest of the great-ext, there huve stood side' side, through all the ages, Confucius_ and Mencius, just Goethe and Schiller stood side by sid in German poe-'That, these men were great no one at. the influenced have of these two men may be ception of filial piety, which hay through all these centuries held such a grasp on the minds of the Chinese. This system is not philosophy of the schools, not a speculation of a few scholars, not the super of the specially benighted, but ix the est of all forces moulding Chinese ter and life. The minds that wrought a conception of duty, and pressed the countless millions, which ed it and joyfully complied with its demands, must be minds of no common or: der. Though later in time, and classed by Chinese scholars as inferior to Confucius Mencius has exerted a tremendous influ: ence over the minds of his countrymen. Some European scholars would almost rank him side by side with Confucius.
What Plate was to his Master, Scerates, such was Mencius to his Master, Confucius. Just as Plate studied the principles of his master, and then under the sluds groves taught them to whosoever would listen to him, so Mencius studied and then taught the principles of Confucius clement of jealousy ix traceable in his life work. He devoted the full energy of intellect. of no mean order to the extoll of his Master's teachings and virtues. Hi maintained their supreme importance a means whereby kings and princes might Jift their states from seclusion into prominance, and conduct them from confusion into tranquillity, The life of Mencius was not passed in such calmness as was that of his Greek contemporary, who lived and taught in the classic city of Athens. China during the lifetime of Mencius was torn and distressed by internecine wars, between the petty chieftains who ruled over their small sections of the empire, each of whom was struggling to suppress his rival, and ro himself to a firmer and more conspicuous position. The imperial dyn: whose founders are worship] the countless temples of China, as W Wu, was waning to its inglorious close, worn out apparently; China was ruled over by emperors who were either too weak or too dissolute to control the many warring factions. Hence, though the age was one that needed forceful utterance, and the protests of a dauntless teacher, and offered many openings through which he could drive home his pitiless thrusts of pointed satire, it was not an age when he could calmly reside in one place and attract to him clouds of scholars. He wandered about from one place to another, often rejected and sometimes insulted. Moreover, the minds of scholars were then seething with new thoughts, and torn with conflict ing theories, and passions. Taoism was demanding the adherence of men, and offering rich rewards to those who would accept her tenets. The scholar Yang, whose motto was "every one for himself," was preaching his doctrines of selfish and callous indifference to the needs of others his own us. Mik opposite tenets the simple rome ems opposed them all, and specially. the last two. With no hesitating voice he drove home the teaching of Confucin Yang's teaching iymored the "just claims f the emperor," Mih's " the peculiar affect ion due to a parent." Amidst such times he lived and worked and died.
It is interesting to note that the aye of Mencits was not without its great_men. "Plate, Aristotle, Zeno, Epicurus, Demos-thenes, and other great men of the West contemporaries. When we place jus among them ho can look them in the face. He docs not need to hide his diminished 1 The age of the sage was prolific of philosopher: 3 who have shone as fixed stars ever since. OF the life of Mencius little is really known. He was born, it is believed, in B.C. 371, and lived, like Plate, just eighty-two years. Of his father nothing is known, oxcept that the" legends" say that he died when the child was very young. It is the other of Mencius,* whose name and fame are little less brilliant than that of her illusttions son. The stories which dus: ter round the life of the young philosopher 1 little that is miraculous, but reet he seems to have submitted right loyally to his mother, and even in his mature manhood he feared her proaches and heeded her reproof. The rent stories of the early life of Mencius are well known to all Chinese and most surely believed among them, Though many of them are alo well known to those who have studied things Chinese, we do not apologise for again referring to them here. The home of Mencius was at first situated near a cemetery. The fore amused himself by imitating the v: rious ceremonies which the mourners po formed at the tombs. This would not do for his mother. Another house was sought and found near a market-place. Here the little fellow at once entered into competition with the other salesmen, and pretended to sell wares and struggle for the mas-tory in the bargain, Another move was deemed necessary, and this time his mother selected a home near a school. There Mencius began to imitate the bigger boys, who were taking lessons in the art of po-Titeness. "Here." said his mother, "is the proper place." But: the most striking story connected with the early life of Men-dus, is the destruction of the web. Though Mencius was fond of imitating the politeness of the students, he at first, like many another famous man, was not specially devoted to his books. One day when he Jounged in from school, his mother, who had been weaving cloth, asked after his progress. He replied in an indifferent tone, " Oh, Tam doing well enough." She immediately took up a knife and cut the web in twain. The youth was astonished. The lesson was applied. "As by my one act I have spoiled my work and waste all my time, so you by your negligence and idleness are wasting your time and failing to accomplish any permanent good.".u¢ lesson and its application were most effective, and we hear no more of idleness.
There are other stories which have made the "Mother of Mencius" famous, and which illustrate the stern regime to which she submitted him, by which no doubt she helped to mould his stern and resolute character. One is reminded of the stern discipline to which the Mother of the Wesleys submitted her children, which helped no doubt to produce two of the most famous of England's sons. Another story—if reliablo—siz, ws that the old lady maintained this imperial sway over her son throughout his life. Tt appeared that one day Mencius entered the women's apart: ments, without first giving warming by the customary cough. He found his wife squatting on the floor" and was very angry, and was determined to divorce her. But the old lady, to whom he told his in: tention and the reason of it, fell upon him in right good earnest. "Your wife docs not know the rules of propriety, or ignores them? What about yourself? Do not the Rules of Propriety' say, When you are about to ascond a hall raise your voice, or when you enter a door keep your eyes low.'" He, it appears, had failed to cough, -and so had not given the inal of his ap= proach. When Byron's Sultan was about to enter the apartment of his consort, he used to send old Baba, "to hint that he was coming up this way." Mencius there. fore reconsidered his intention, and so it appears was saved the expenses of a divorce case. OF course, after all, these stories are in some respects trivial, and no doubt some of them are inventions of later writers.
There is really nothing known of his lifo except what may be gathered and pieced together from his works. His teachers are really unknown, His so-called tutor must have been one hundred and twelve years old when be was born, and by the time that he was fourteen had long been laid to Fest. What may well be asstimed is: that encits studied in the schools of moral philosophy then existing, which is the only safe thing to say. Ho himself says, "the fluence of a sovereign sage terminates with the fifth tion. The influence of an unsceptred sage does the same." By the latter he refers to. Confucius. He could not have been a disciple of the " unsceptred sage," but he affirms that he had "endeavoured to cultivate his own character and knowledge by moans of those who were." No doubt but that the first forty years of his life were spent in strenuous study, in order to gain a complete mastery of the literary remains and the tewbings of his great example.
The next twenty y ars he devoted to the we He taught his dis ciples; he reproved princes; he encouraged rulers; he exhorted them to virtue and benevolent Government; he elucidated the teachings of Confucius; he confuted the prevalent errors which he believed were bringing destruction upon China; he endeavoured by every means in his power to support the decaying dynasty, whose career had been so brilliant. But after twenty years of strenuous exertion, during which he had maintained a proud self-respect, and ght reserve through which the most imperious sovereign had not dared to break, be confessed himself unequal to the task, and <0 quietly departed from the gaze of the public. Of the re-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.