of the House of Chou. Besides
encouraging letters Wen-wang contributed much to the new literature.
He is known as a commentator in the _Yih-King_, "Book of Changes,"
[Page 85]
pronounced by Confucius the profoundest of the ancient classics--a
book which he never understood.

In theory there was under this and the preceding dynasty no private
ownership of land. The arable ground was laid out in plots of nine
squares, thus:

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Eight of these were assigned to the people to cultivate for themselves;
and the middle square was reserved for the government and tilled
by the joint labour of all. The simple-hearted souls of that day
are said to have prayed that the rains might first descend on the
public field and then visit their private grounds.

In later years this communistic scheme was found not to work perfectly,
owing, it is said, to the decay of public virtue. A statesman, named
Shangyang, converted the tenure of land into fee simple--a natural
evolution which was, however, regarded as quite too revolutionary
and earned for him the execrations of the populace.

The charming simplicity of the above little diagram would seem
to have suggested the arrangement of fiefs in the state, in which
the irregular feudality of former times became moulded into a
symmetrical system. The sovereign state was in the centre; and those
of the feudal barons were ranged on the four sides in successive
rows. The central portion was designated _Chung Kwoh_, "Middle
Kingdom," a title which has come to be applied to the whole empire,
implying, of course, that all the nations of the earth are its
vassals.

Laid out with the order of a camp and ruled with martial vigour,
the new state prospered for a few reigns.
[Page 86]
At length, however, smitten with a disease of the heart the members
no longer obeyed the behests of the head. Decay and anarchy are
written on the last pages of the history of the House of Chou.

The martial king died young, leaving his infant heir under the
regency of his brother, the Duke of Chou. The latter, who inherited
the tastes and talents of Wen-wang, was avowedly the character which
the great Sage took for his pattern. With fidelity and ability he
completed the pacification of the state. The credit of that achievement
inured to his ward, who received the title of _Chen