Page:Hutcheson Macaulay Posnett - Comparative Literature (1886).djvu/342

 Amoor rather than wed the Khan of the Tartars, there breathes an air of autumn delicately in keeping with the simile from Nature just observed in the name. The prominence of Nature in the Chinese drama may indeed be readily conceived from the fact that Chinese critics, dividing the subjects of dramatic composition into twelve classes, specify as the second and ninth of these classes, "Woods, springs, hills, and valleys," and "The wind, the flowers, the snow, the moon." A few illustrations may be selected from the plays of the Youen Collection translated by M. Bazin.

In Tchao-meï-hiang ("A Maid's Intrigues") the following words, partly sung, partly spoken, are put into the mouth of one of the female characters. "With gentle sound our gemmed sashes wave in the wind; how softly trip our little feet like golden creepers o'er the grass! Above, the moon shines brightly as we tread the dark green moss. … Lady, see, how crimson are the flowers; they show like pieces of embroidered silk. Look on the green