Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/65

 observances at the proper time. It might be that he was absent from the state, charged by his ruler with public business, or he might be in the same state but at a distance, and so occupied that he bad been unable to take part in the mourning services.

But they were too sacred to be entirely neglected, and we have here the rules applicable to such a case, in a variety of circumstances and different degrees of consanguinity. Some other matter, more or less analogous, is introduced towards the end.

We have seen how the first of the "Three Rituals" recovered in the Han dynasty was seventeen Books that now form the Î Lî. Kǎng Hsüan supposed that the Pǎn Sang had been another Book of that collection, and was afterwards obtained from the tablets found in the village of Yen-kung in Lû. It has been decided, however, that the style determines it to be from another hand than the Î Lî.

Here it is, and we have only to make the best of it that we can, without knowing who wrote it or when it came to light. The Khien-lung editors say:—"Anciently, in cases of mourning for a year or shorter period even, officers left their charges and hurried to the rites. In consequence of the inconvenience arising from this, it was enacted that officers should leave their charge only on the death of a parent. It was found difficult, however, to enforce this. The rule is that a charge cannot be left, without leave asked and obtained."

The Wǎn Sang, or "Questions about Mourning Rites," is a short Treatise, which derives its name from inquiries about the dressing of the corpse, the putting off the cap and replacing it by the cincture, and the use of the staff in mourning. Along with those inquiries there are accounts of some of the rites, condensed and imperfect. The Book should be read in connexion with the other Books of a similar character, especially XIII.

Much cannot be said in favour of the style, or of the