Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/426

 414 CHINESE LITERATURE

sedentary life, he likes to have a flower by his side on the table. He draws enjoyment, even inspiration, from its petals. He will take a flower out for a walk, and stop every now and again to consider the loveliness of its growth. So with birds. It is a common thing on a pleasant evening to meet a Chinaman carrying his bird- cage suspended from the end of a short stick. He will stop at some pleasant corner outside the town, and listen with rapture to the bird's song. But to the preface. Our author goes on to say that in his hollow bamboo pillow he always keeps some work on his favourite subject.

" People laugh at me, and say that I am cracked on flowers and a bibliomaniac ; but surely study is the proper occupation of a literary man, and as for garden- ing, that is simply a rest for my brain and a relaxation in my declining years. What does T'ao Ch'ien say ?

' Riches and rank I do not love,

I have no hopes of heaven above? . ..

Besides, it is only in hours of leisure that I devote myself to the cultivation of flowers."

Ch'en Hao-tzu then runs through the four seasons, showing how each has its especial charm, contributing to the sum of those pure pleasures which are the best antidote against the ills of old age. He then proceeds to deal with times and seasons, showing wha* to do under each month, precisely as our own garden-books do. After that come short chapters on all the chief trees, shrubs, and plants of China, with hints how to treat them under diverse circumstances, the whole concluding with a separate section devoted to birds, animals, fishes, and insects. Among these are to be found the crane,

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