sage, and the duties of morality and religion. Every attempt to stem the torrent of vice and dissipation proving fruitless, Khoong-chee at length quitted the scene: and sought, in the neighbouring provinces of China, those who would lend a more willing ear to his instructions. This introduces the third period of Confucius's life, in which we behold the venerable sage wandering from province. to province, for the space of nearly twelve years, exposed to poverty and insult, and often in the most imminent danger of his life. He first went into the Wy country, where he remained for some time in the house of Gnan-chok-chou, the brother-in-law of Chee-loo: from thence he went into the province of Chun, where he found every thing so inimical to his views and wishes, that he quickly passed from thence to that of Hong. Here, however, the men of Hong imagining him to be Yong-fhoo, the iniquitous minister of Qui-see, whom he very much resembled in countenance, detained the aged sage in confinement, and threatened to take away his life. on this occasion that he supported himself with those reflections on Divine Providence which occur in the fifth book of the Lun-gnee. The men of Hong, at length, perceiving their mistake, dismissed the philosopher unhurt. It was • Confucius, after this, returned to the Wy country again, and remained for some time at the house of Kheu-pak-yok, a mandarine of the second order. It was here that he, at her earnest and repeated request, visited Nam-chee, the wife of Lung-koong, the sovereign of that country. This was the woman, respecting whom Chee-loo, his faithful and affectionate, but rash and precipitate pupil, was so displeased with him, that the sage was constrained to attest his innocence by appealing to heaven. From Wy he departed to the province of Soong, from whence his ancestors originally came. Here Hoon-khooi, a mandarine, who hated philosophy and all knowledge, attempted to kill the venerable sage; but was by some means prevented. Destitute of an asylum, he, after this, returned again to the Chun country, and remained in the house of See-kun-chengchee, where he continued three years, practising every virtue. From thence, however, he returned to Wy, where Lung-koong would gladly have employed him in the mandarineship; but the jealousy of his other mandarines would not permit him. About this time the sage went westward, with the view of paying a visit to Cheu-kan-chee; but, coming to the river which parted the two districts, he was unable to obtain a conveyance over it, which compelled him to return again to the Wy country. Here he remained with Khee-pak-yok; till one day Lung-koong, the sovereign of Wy, asking the sage respecting war, he made no answer, and the next day departed to the Chun country. Qui-hong-chee, or Qui-see, who had conducted affairs so long in Loo, died about this time; but, before his death, he charged his son, Hong-chee, to send for the sage, and govern himself wholly by his counsels; but Hong-chee, on the death of Qui-see, found the dislike of his chief officers to the sage so strong, that he was unable to effect his recal. He, however, sent for Nim-khou, one of the disciples of Confucius, a man somewhat more to their taste. The philosopher, about this time, went into the Chhi country; and from thence to Chhoo, when he remained for some time in the district of Ip. The petty sovereign of Chhoo, venerating his age and his wisdom, wished to give him a quiet asylum, and employ him to instruct his people. The envy of Chee-si, however, one of his principal officers, prevented his giving Confucius the encouragement due to his merit, and constrained him at length to dismiss him; on which the venerable and aged sage departed again for the Wy country. Lung-koong, the former sovereign of Wy, was now dead, and Chup, his grandson, had taken the reins of government. This young man was greatly attached to the sage, and wished exceedingly to detain him in the Wy country, in order to obtain his assistance in governing. But, about this time, a war broke out between the countries of Loo and Chhi, the management of which, Hong-chee, who seems to have succeeded to the authority and influence of his father, Qui-see, committed to Nim-khou, the disciple of the sage before mentioned. Nim-khou conducted the war with such ability and success, that he, in a little time, subjugated the Chhi country. This put an end to the influence of the Chhi faction in Loo, and enabled Hong-chee to restore the sage to his own country again. He, on the first invitation, left Wy, and returned to his native province, Loo, after an absence of nearly twelve years. This event happened in the eleventh year of Oi-koong, and in the sixtyeighth year of the philosopher's age. Yet, even at last, the ruler of Loo did not avail himself of the talents of the sage. Such, indeed, was the state of things, that Khoong-chee, after his return, felt no inclination to engage in public affairs; but employed himself in completing the Chinese classics already mentioned. About the fourteenth year of Oi-koong, Confucius wrote the Chun-chou, which is esteemed one of the five king. The next year died, in the Wy country, Chee-loo, the disciple much esteemed by his master for his ardour of mind, and so often blamed for haste and inconsideration; and the year after, namely, in the sixteenth year of Oi-koong, (in the fourth month,) his beloved master followed him, in the seventy-third year of his age. He was buried in his own province, near the river, on the east side of the palace of Oi-koong. His disciples mourned for him three years; after which they all returned to their respective places of abode, except Chee-koong, who, erecting a small house over his beloved master's tomb, mourned for him three years longer. Confucius had one son, named Pak-gnee, who died before his father. His grandson, however, whose name was Cheesee, closely imitated the example of his grandfather, and became almost equally illustrious for knowledge and wisdom. He was instructed by Chung-chee, the most eminent of his grandfather's disciples, who survived him he compiled the Choong-yoong from his grandfather's papers, and had for his pupil the famous Mung-chee, whose work forms the fourth of the See-seu, or the second order of the Chinese classics. : His disciples amounted to THREE THOUSAND, among whom there were seventy-two who entered in the most intimate manner into the doctrine and views of their master. Among these, Hooi, or Gnan-in, whose death Confucius so pathetically laments in the Lun gnee, appears to have possessed the esteem of his master in the highest degree, on account of his superior proficiency in virtue and wisdom. The philosopher often commends him for his docility and attention, his love of learning and virtue, and his contempt of poverty. After Hooi, the most eminent of the sage's pupils was Chung-chee. He had the principal hand in compiling the Lun-gnee; he also instructed Confucius's grandson, as before mentioned, and seems to have been considered by his fellow pupils as almost equal to the sage himself. Several of his sayings, as well as anecdotes respecting him, are interspersed in the Lun-gnee; which were probably inserted by Yaou-chee, his fellow-pupil, who assisted in compiling this work. Among the other pupils of Confucius, seven appear most prominent, namely, Chee-koong, who expressed such affection for the sage after his death; he appears to have been highly valued by his master.-Chee-loo, so much esteemed by the sage for his ardour and sincerity, and so often blamed by him for his rashness. He, on several occasions, served his country, Loo, in a military capacity, with great reputation, although the envy of Mung-suen-see, one of the three brothers with whose vices the sage had to contend, prevented his rendering her that service which he desired.-Yaou-chee, the coadjutor of Chung-chee, in compiling the anecdotes and sayings of the sage.-Nim-yaou, or Nim-khou, who was employed by Qui hong-chee, and who ultimately procured the recal of his master to his native province.-Choy-gno, and Choong-koong. The conversation of the sage with these pupils, principally on the social virtues, with their relation of his acts and sayings, constitute the substance of the Lun-gnee; which might, therefore, with propriety, be termed "The Life and Sayings of the Chinese Sage." ASTROLOGY. [From Galt's Life of Cardinal Wolsey.] "ASTROLOGY has long, by the absurd pretensions of its professors, been so effectually consigned to oblivious contempt, that the books which treat of its principles are rarely to be found even in libraries of curious literature, and are never inquired for without provoking a sort of compassionate ridicule, not easily withstood. And yet, the study itself, as professing to discover, by celestial phenomena, future mutations in the elements and terrestrial bodies,* ought not to be despised. The theory of the tides is, altogether, an astrological doctrine, and, long before the days of Sir Isaac Newton, was as well understood as it is at this moment. The correspondence which the ancient physicians alleged to exist between the positions of the moon and the stages of various diseases, has certainly received a degree of confirmation, auspicious to a modified revival of the doctrine of celestial influences. It is not a just philosophy which rejects as vain what appears to be improbable. Though many things, of which the astrologers speak, be apparently fanciful, they are not the less worthy of being examined. They have asserted that the fits of a particular kind of madness are governed by the moon; that her rays quicken the putrefaction of animals ; that persons are rendered dull and drowsy who sleep abroad in the moonlight; that vegetables sown in the spring of the moon, differ in flavour from the same kind sown in her wane; that vines pruned during her conjunction with the sun, shoot forth a less rank foliage afterwards; and that timber felled at the same time, endures longest uncorrupted. They have also alleged that oysters, crabs, and all testaceous fish, grow fat Sir Christopher Heydon's Defence of Astrology, p. 2. ed. 1603. † Dr. Mead's Treatise concerning the influence of the Sun and Moon upon Human Bodies, &c. Heydon, p. 425. $ Ibid. p. 186. and full with the waxing of the moon, and dwindle with her waning. That she has an influence on the procreation of mares and horses; and that children born at the time of new moon are always short lived. Any man, possessing patience and inclination, might so easily ascertain the fact of these things, that it is surprising they should be still pronounced incredible, and denied rather than contradicted. "Yet safe the world and free from change doth last; And, therefore, say the astrologers, a correspondence and coincidence must exist throughout the universal phenomena; as in the machinery of a clock, in which the state of one part indicates what has passed, or is to happen in another.-The principles of astrology, like those of every other science, must have been founded on some species of experience. The first occurrences that probably attracted observation, would be those that naturally had some apparent concordance with the great luminaries and planets, such as the seasons of the year, &c. The tides, varying with the phases of the moon, would early obtain attention; their regular increase, corresponding to her opposition and conjunction, would lead to the consideration of the solar influence. Thence, perhaps, it was observed, that when certain planets were in particular constellations, and the sun in certain signs of the zodiac, the tides were otherwise affected. Hence the qualities of the planetary influence came to be studied.-A transition from the tides to the variations of the atmosphere, if they did not first attract notice, was very natural; and as valetudinarians are particularly affected by the weather, the progress towards that branch of astrology which relates to diseases would be the consequence. If the diseases of man be regulated by the stars, why not his passions also? And, as his passions govern his actions, making one class of motives more acceptable than another, why not by the means of his passions regulate his fortune? Fortune is but another name for situation, and men are evidently allured into their various circumstances or situations by their passions. The next inquiry would naturally, therefore, be, to ascertain from what particular aspects of the skies the varieties of fate and character proceed. Hence the theory of nativities, and that branch of the study which has brought the whole into such disrepute. Ptolemy had vainly |