KAOU YANG

1 [Those] lamb-skins and sheep-skins,

With their five braidings of white silk

They have retired from the court to take their meal;

Easy are they and self-possessed.

2 [Those] lamb-skins and sheep-skins,

With their five seams wrought with white silk

Easy are they and self-possessed;

They have retired from the court to take their meal.

We must take 室家 in the last line of st. 2 in the same way. 速=召致, 'to summon and bring so'. 獄 and訟 are both = 'trial'. Maou gives for the former 埆,which should be, as in the Shwoh-wăn, 确, the place where the defendant was confined while the case was pending.

The rhymes are—in st. 1, 露, 夜*, 露, cat. 5, t.1: in 2.角, 屋, 獄, 獄, 足, cat. 3, t .3: in 3, 牙*, 家*, cat.5, t. 1;墉, 訟, 訟, 從, cat. 9.

Ode 7. Narrative. THE EASY DIGNITY OF THE GREAT OFFICERS OF SOME COURT. The structure of the piece is very simple, the characters and their order in the lines, and the order of the lines themselves, being varied for the sake of the rhythm. By the 'lamb-skins and sheep-skins' we are to understand the officers wearing such furs. It is better to do so than to take the piece as allusive.

革, in st. 2, is to be taken as=皮. We cannot give it its proper signification of 'the hide, with the hair taken off'. Great officers wore such furs;—some say, in court; others, as both Maou and Choo, in their own families. It is not worth while entering here on a discussion of the point. They were often dyed black, and being seamed together with white silk, the hems were conspicuous. 紽, 緎, and 總 all refer to the same thing,—the seams of the furs of which the robes were made. Choo acknowledges that he does not understand紽 and 總, and Maou explains them both by 數, which is unintelligible. The meaning of 紽 which I have followed is that given by K'oh King (郝敬; Ming dyn.):—織素絲為組,其縫際, 曰紽; and for that of 總,I am indebted to Hoo Yih-kwei (胡一桂; Yuen dyn.);—合二為一謂之總. Maou says 緎 is the same as 縫,—after the Urh-ya.

3 The seams of [those] lamb-skins and sheep-skins,

The five joinings wrought with white silk

Easy are they and self-possessed;

They have retired to take their meal from the court.