g feet.

But though the moon declines to tipple
She dances in yon shining ripple,
And when I sing, my festive song,
The echoes of the moon prolong.

Say, when shall we next meet together?
Surely not in cloudy weather,
For you my boon companions dear
Come only when the sky is clear.

[Footnote *: From "Chinese Legends and Other Poems," by W. A. P.
MARTIN.]

The second emperor, Tai-tsung, made good his claims by killing
two of his brothers who were plotting against him. Notwithstanding
this inauspicious beginning
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he became an able and illustrious sovereign. The twenty-three years
during which he occupied the throne were the most brilliant of
that famous dynasty.

At Si-ngan in Shensi, the capital of the T'angs, is a stone monument
which records the introduction of Christianity by Nestorians from
Syria. Favoured by the Emperor the new faith made considerable
headway. For five hundred years the Nestorian churches held up
the banner of the Cross; but eventually, through ignorance and
impurity, they sank to the level of heathenism and disappeared.
It is sad to think that this early effort to evangelise China has
left nothing but a monumental stone.

At the funeral of Tai-tsung his successor, Kao-tsung, saw Wu, one
of his father's concubines, who pleased him so much that, contrary
to law, he took her into his own harem. Raised to the rank of empress
and left mother of an infant son, she swayed the sceptre after
Kao-tsung's death for twenty-one years. Beginning as regent she
made herself absolute.

A system of civil service examinations which had sprung up with
the revival of learning under the Hans was now brought to maturity.
For good or for evil it has dominated the mind of the Empire for
twelve centuries. Now, however, the leaders of thought have begun
to suspect that it is out of date. The new education requires new
tests; but what is to hinder their incorporation in the old system?
To abolish it would be fraught with danger, and to modify it is
a delicate task for the government of the present day.

That the scholar should hold himself in readiness
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to serve the state no less than the soldier was an acknowledged
principle. It was reserved for the statesmen of T'ang to make it
the mainspring of the government. To them belongs the honour of
constructing a system which would stimulate literary culture and
skim the cream of the national talent for the use of the state.
It