elf early; as a child he amused himself with
playing at ceremonies; at thirteen, he tells us, he bent his mind to
learning, the subject of his studies being history and poetry, the
ceremonies and the music of the empire. He early arrived at the views
he always afterwards held as to the proper way to govern a people,
and he believed with all the faith of an enthusiast that a vast
improvement of society would follow the adoption of his method. It
was to public employment that he aspired from an early period of
life; but he did not readily find it in the unquiet times in which
his lot was cast. He did enjoy office for certain brief periods, and
marvellous things are told of the reformation of manners which at
once attended his efforts as a governor. All got their due; there was
no thieving, and there was no occasion to put the penal laws in
execution, for no offenders showed themselves. What was the method
which was held to have had such results? In the counsels which he
gave to various rulers who applied to him this is set forth. He
believed the power of example to be capable of effecting all that a
ruler should desire. Punishments might be dispensed with, and
excessive pains need not be bestowed on the machinery of government,
but a prince who has "rectified" himself will soon have his people
"rectified" too. The first task of a ruler is to "rectify names";
_i.e._ there is good government when the prince is really a prince
and the minister a minister, when the father is a real father and the
son a real son. The perfect order consists of the due observance by
each rank of the duties belonging to it; there is to be a
well-regulated hierarchy in which each understands his function and
acts it out. The people are naturally good and docile, he held, and
if they are well governed they will not do wrong even though rewards
be offered for it. Thus by docile respect to tradition and authority,
which all men are willing to pay if properly guided towards it, the
pillars of the state are established.

His Doctrine.--This is the truth which Confucius preached most
earnestly. He spoke of heaven but seldom, and of the spirits he
professed no certain knowledge; he declared towards the end of his
life that he had not prayed for many years. He was a diligent
frequenter of all religious ceremonies and a strong upholder of the
old order, but his interest in these things was not speculative or
mystical, but entirely practical. He regarded h