. The awakening of China . to his ward,who received the title of Cheng-wang, The Com-pleter. Accused of scheming to usurp the throne, theD\ike resigned his powers and withdrew from thecourt. The young prince, opening a golden casket,found in it a prayer of his uncle, made and sealedup diiring a serious illness of the King, im-ploring Heaven to accept his life as a ransom for hisroyal ward. This touching proof of devotion dis-pelled all doubt; and the faithful duke was recalledto the side of the now full-grown monarch. Even during the minority of his nephew the Dukenever entered his presence in
. The awakening of China . to his ward,who received the title of Cheng-wang, The Com-pleter. Accused of scheming to usurp the throne, theD\ike resigned his powers and withdrew from thecourt. The young prince, opening a golden casket,found in it a prayer of his uncle, made and sealedup diiring a serious illness of the King, im-ploring Heaven to accept his life as a ransom for hisroyal ward. This touching proof of devotion dis-pelled all doubt; and the faithful duke was recalledto the side of the now full-grown monarch. Even during the minority of his nephew the Dukenever entered his presence in other than full courtcostume. On one occasion the youthful king, playingwith a younger brother, handed him a palm leaf saying, This shall be your patent of nobility. I make youdtike of such and such a place. The regent remon-strated, whereupon the King excused himself by saying,I was only in sport. The Diike replied, A kinghas no right to indulge in such sports, and insistedthat the younger lad receive the investiture and. HOUSE OF CHOU 87 emoluments. He was also, it is said, so careful of thesacred person that h« never left on it the mark of hisrod. When the little king deserved chastisement, theguardian always called up his own son, Pechin, andthrashed him soxmdly. One pities the poor fellow whowas the innocent substitute more than one admiresthe scrupulous and severe regent. The Chinese havea proverb which runs, Whip an ass and let a horsesee it. What shall be said of the successors of Cheng-wang?To account for the meagre chronicles of previous dy-nasties one may invoke the poverty of a language notyet sttfficiently mature for the requirements of history;but for the seeming insignificance of the long line ofChous, who lived in the early bloom, if not the richfruitage, of the classic period, no such apology isadmissible. Some there were, doubtless, who failed to achievedistinction because they had no foreign foe to oppose,no internal rebellion to suppress. Others, again, we
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