Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/201

 reached the suburbs (of the capital), he was about to grant certain towns and lands to those who had attended him in his exile before entering. Liû Kwang said, "If all had (remained at home) to guard the altars for you, who would have been able to follow you with halter and bridle? And if all had followed you, who would have guarded the altars? Your lordship has now returned to the state, and will it not be wrong for you to show a partial feeling?' The intended allotment did not take place.

18. There was the grand historiographer of Wei, called Liû Kwang, lying ill. The duke said, "If the illness prove fatal, though I may be engaged at the time in sacrificing, you must let me know." (It happened accordingly, and, on hearing the news), the duke bowed twice, laying his head to the ground, and begged permission from the personator of the dead, saying, "There was the minister Liû Kwang,—not a minister of mine (merely), but a minister of the altars of the state. I have heard that he is dead, and beg leave to go (to his house)." On this, without putting off his robes, he went; and on the occasion presented them as his contribution (to the mourning rites). He also gave the deceased the towns of Khiû-shih and Hsien-fan-shih by a writing of assignment which was put into the coffin, containing the words:—"For the myriads of his descendants, to hold from generation to generation without change."

19. When Khǎn Kan-hsî was lying ill, he assembled his brethren, and charged his son 𝖅un-kî,