the minister. To
conciliate the favour of the learned, the Emperor not only rescinded
the persecuting edicts, but caused search to be made for
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the lost books, and instituted sacrificial rites in honour of the
Sage.

Old men were still living who had committed those books to memory
in boyhood. One such, Fu-seng by name, was noted for his erudition;
and from his capacious memory a large portion of the sacred canon
was reproduced, being written from his dictation. The copies thus
obtained were of course not free from error. Happily a somewhat
completer copy, engraved on bamboo tablets, was discovered in the
wall of a house belonging to the Confucian family. Yet down to
the present day the Chinese classics bear traces of the tyrant's
fire. Portions are wanting and the lacunae are always ascribed to
the "fires of Ts'in." The first chapter of the Great Study closes
with the pregnant words, "The source of knowledge is in the study
of things." Not a syllable is added on that prolific text. A note
informs the reader that there was a chapter on the subject, but that
it has been lost. Chinese scholars, when taxed with the barrenness
of later ages in every branch of science, are wont to make the
naive reply, "Yes, and no wonder--how could it be otherwise when
the Sage's chapter on that subject has been lost?"

After the second reign, that of Hwei-ti, we have the first instance
in Chinese history of a woman seizing the reins of government.
The Empress Lu made herself supreme, and such were her talents
that she held the Empire in absolute subjection for eight years.
Like Jezebel she "destroyed all the seed royal," and filled the
various offices with her kindred and favourites. At her death they
were butchered without
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mercy, and a male heir to the throne was proclaimed. His posthumous
title _Wen-ti_, meaning the "learned" or "patron of letters,"
marks the progress made by the revival of learning.

One might imagine that these literary emperors would have been
satisfied with the recovery of the Confucian classics; but no, a
rumour reached them that "there are sages in the West." The West
was India. An embassy was sent, 66 A. D., by Ming-ti to import
books and bonzes. The triad of religions was thus completed.

Totally diverse in spirit and essence, the three religions could
hardly be expected to harmonise or combine. Confucianism exalts
letters, and lays stress on ethics to the neglect of the spiritual
w