in the reign of Chungting (B.c. 1562 to 1548) were also Tartars. Father Martini speaks of an even earlier invasion in the reign of Shun, or immediately after the deluge; but that rests on very doubtful authority.

The next batch of emperors was an exceedingly bad one. The Tartars attacked the frontiers repeatedly in the reign of Seuenwang (B.C. 827 to 782), and were only repulsed after sanguinary contests, all of which were fought by the people for their own protection, not by the king. By the reign of Pingwang (B.C. 770 to 720), these incursions became so frequent that the emperor, unable to protect the demesnes which were attacked, presented them to the prince of Tsin, one of the many powerful princes, or barons, who had started into existence by the arrangements sanctioned by Woowang, leaving that chief to take his own measures for defending the country. The other sovereigns of the Chow dynasty were weaker still, and the history of their reigns is entirely engrossed by the history of the semi-independent princes and their wars with each other, all fighting with an eye on the imperial throne. In the reign of Lingwang, in B.C. 552, was born Confucius (Kungfutszé), the greatest philosopher of China; and in the reign of Leëwang (B.C. 375 to 369) was born Mangtszé, who ranks next only to Confucius.

The Chow dynasty was overturned by the prince of Tsin, named Chaouséang; but the other princes, or barons, refused to acknowledge him as emperor, which title was therefore not assumed till every opposition was subdued by the grandson of Chaouséang, who ascended the throne under the name of Chwang-séang-wang, in B.C. 249. This new dynasty reigned for forty-three years. The second sovereign, Ché-Hwangté, was one of the most vigorous that China ever owned. He reconquered the whole country from the independent barons by force of arms; signalized himself by a successful excursion against the Huns, who, occupying the country immediately to the north of China, had commenced to give much trouble; and built the Great Wall all along the northern frontier, to keep out the bar

barians. He at the same time made himself infamous by waging a war against literature and learned men; and many thousands of books were burnt by his orders, for which reason the Chinese historians never name him without abhorrence.

The vigour of the Tsin name died with Ché-Hwangté. The dynasty was overturned in B.C. 206 by Lewpang (afterwards named Kaoutsoo), the captain of a troop of robbers, who founded the Han dynasty, which reigned for four hundred and twenty-two years. It was in the time of this prince that the art of printing was discovered, apparently with a view to provide against such general destruction of books as Ché-Hwangté had effected. The third in succession was Leuhow, the first female that ever reigned over the Celestial Empire. Her talents were great, but she was a savage in ferocity, and her memory has been execrated by historians. Her successors were weak; and the Huns invading China repeatedly, had to be paid off by presents and blackmail. Not satisfied with bribes of this nature the barbarians demanded a tribute of maidens, and many females of the highest families had to be surrendered. In the time of Wooté (B.c. 140 to 88), another application of the same kind having been made, was rejected by him with disdain; and this was followed by a sudden attack on the Huns, by which the whole horde was routed. The Huns renewed the struggle repeatedly, but were defeated on every occasion; and Wooté having succeeded in sowing dissensions among the different sub-hordes of the tribe, which prevented them from becoming mischievous, they were only too glad to swear fealty to him and remain at peace. Wooté also distinguished himself as an encourager of learning; and the father of Chinese history, Izematseen, flourished during his reign. In the time of Seuenté (B.C. 73 to 49), the Huns and other Tartar tribes up to the borders of the Caspian, tired of fruitless struggles amongst themselves, submitted with one accord to the emperor, so that nominally the whole of Tartary, to the extent indicated, appertained at this time to the Chinese Empire.

The reign of Kwangwooté (A.D. 25 to 57) succeeded a period of great anarchy and confusion, the result of the continual wars carried on between the leaders of the different factions in the empire, during which the Tartars were enabled to reassert their independence, and resume their hostility. But the new emperor was vigorous, and besides making himself feared by all the contending parties at home, was able to gain several advantages over the barbarians by reviving the old policy of dividing their strength against each other, the object and inevitable consequence of which they were yet too thick-headed to foresee. In the reign of Mingté (A.D. 58 to 75), a deputation of mandarins visited India, and brought back with them the religion of Buddha. Both in this reign and the next the Tartars again became troublesome, till they were beat back with great slaughter. In the reign of Changté (A.D. 76 to 88) lived the greatest of Chinese female authors, Panhwuy-pan. The subsequent reigns to the end of the Han dynasty may be skipped over. They simply furnish us with a history of civil wars of great fury waged between the three kingdoms of Wei, Woo, and Shuh, for supremacy. The Tartars in the meantime were pressing continually on the frontiers, though fortunately the boldest of the tribes, the Huns, had already turned the whole of their strength towards the west, and were cutting out their way on to Europe, through the Alani and the Ostrogoths.

The character of the Chinese nation was formed principally during the reigns of the Chow and Han dynasties. The Han period especially was signalized by the revival of learning, which had suffered considerably from the anarchy and misrule of previous ages, and particularly from the barbarous hostility of Che-Hwangté. Such fragments of ancient literature as still survived, were now carefully collected and restored, the characters were improved and fixed, and the future preservation of books was secured by the useful inventions of paper, ink, and the art of printing. The empire was at the same time well consolidated. The original seat of the Chinese nation was the province of

Shensé, situated in the north-west corner of China. The other northern provinces had been afterwards acquired and added to it gradually; while its southern provinces were for a long time peopled by savages, supposed to be of Indian origin. The Han dynasty consolidated the whole of this empire, and gave it the form and extent which it ever afterwards retained.

The middle ages of Chinese history commence with the rule of the second Tsin dynasty, which began in A.d. 264, and continued for one hundred and fifty-six years. The states of Woo and Shuh had both become enfeebled by continual wars; while Wei, which still remained unshaken, was seized by Szemayen, the prince of Tsin, who ascended the imperial throne under the name of Wooté (the second). But neither he, nor his immediate successors, proved to be equal to the times, which were exceedingly troublesome. A new branch of the Tsin family occupied the throne with the ascent of Yuenté, in A.D. 317, but did not prove any stronger than that which had preceded it. The period was one of wars and bloodshed; the principality of Chaou was in rebellion against the imperial power, and was supported by the Tartars; as soon as this state was put down, that of Yeu rose up in arms: and this chronic state of disaffection continued to the end of the chapter, till the throne was abdicated by Kungté, in A.D. 420, and passed to the Sung dynasty.

The first Sung prince was Lewyu, who adopted the name of Kaoutsoo, which means "grand exalted sire," apparently a favourite name with the emperors, as several others assumed it, both before and after him. The new king was a bold man and highly gifted, but one whose hands were imbrued with the blood of many members of the last royal family, and whose party, therefore, was not strong. He did not possess the whole empire, the northern portion of it being held entirely by the princes in revolt, who, supported by the Tartars, defied him and his successors to the end of the Suy dynasty. In the reign of Wanté (A.D. 424 to 453), many colleges and schools were founded and the

Chinese began to revive as a literary nation; but the times were so wicked that the emperor was killed by one of his own sons. The last prince of the line, Shunté, was also assassinated.

Of the Tsé dynasty which followed, the first emperor, Séaou-taou-ching, proved to be an excellent sovereign. Léungwooté, of the Léang dynasty also, besides being a valiant soldier, was a good patron of learning, and especially of classical studies; but he became very imbecile in latter life, and the country was always in unrest during his reign. Kaoutsoo, the head of the Chin dynasty, had his throne dyed in blood. Yangkeen, the head of the Suy dynasty (who also assumed the name of Kaoutsoo), was a sovereign of better parts, and succeeded in uniting once more the northern and southern portions of the empire, by bribing the Tartar chief, who had hitherto supported the former in revolt, with the hand of an imperial princess. Shortly after, in A.D. 619, during the time of the Tang dynasty, China came in contact with another barbarous nation, the Turks, who had originally worked under the Tartars at the foot of the Imaus, as slaves occupied in digging iron, but having since asserted their independence, were allured by the luxuries of China to the desire of settling in it. They were, however, easily bought off by bribes, on receiving which they directed their forces westward, where they established the Turkish dominions still extant.

But though the external enemies of the empire were thus disposed of, and their course diverted into other directions, there was no protection to it from its internal enemies, who gave it no repose. Civil wars and private quarrels had exhausted all the energies of the country, and brought it to the brink of ruin; the affairs of government were controlled entirely by the eunuchs of the palace; the emperors were mere puppets selected for their well-known imbecility; the history of the period is only a record of incapacity and crime. One of the princes, Chaoutsung, was at last obliged to call in the aid of a body of robbers to extricate him from the toils in which he found himself entangled.