country?" Confucius replied, "With such principles you might pacify the world, how much more the Loo country." In a few years, Confucius became the prime minister of his sovereign; but seeing his prince carried away with the love of women and music, he resigned his office, and quitted Loo. At the age of seventy- five, he died. The writings compiled by Confucius and his followers are the most ancient Chinese records that have been handed down to the present time. Some of these are, professedly, collections of earlier documents, and refer to the traditionary period of Yaou and Shun, as well as to the times of Wan Wang, B.C. 1120; but it is more than probable, that some of the odes and speeches, collected by Confucius, were merely traditionary notices, found in the mouths of bards and statesmen, and not documents actually committed to writing before his time. Confucius' history of his own times commences with the reign of the emperor Ping, B.C. 720, and is as much to be depended on as the recitals of the Greek and Roman historians;—it not only bears on itself the stamp of credibility, but laid the foundation of all the subsequent historical works which China has produced. The well known "Four Books" are written by the followers of Confucius, and contain an account of the sayings and doings of the sage and his immediate disciples, something similar to our Gospels and Acts, or as has been observed, corresponding to Boswell's Life of Johnson.
It is very singular, that China should have given birth, at the same time, to two remarkable men, differing essentially in their doctrines and views, each the founder of a system of religion and morals, which has
