connection with the last named we meet with one of the two cases
in Chinese art in which we see the same undercurrent of feeling,
or rather superstition, as that found among western nations. We
read in the writings of Mencius, the Chinese philosopher (350
B.C.), the following bit of gossip about the king Senen of Tse.

"The king," said he, "was sitting aloft in the hall, when
a man appeared, leading an ox past the lower part of it.
The king saw him, and asked, 'Where is the ox going?'

"The man replied, 'We are going to consecrate a bell with
its blood.'

"The king said, 'Let it go. I cannot bear its frightened
appearance as if it were an innocent person going to the
place of death.'

"The man answered, 'Shall we then omit the consecration
of the bell?'

"The king said, 'How can that be omitted? Change the ox
for a sheep.'"

As stated before, this is one of the few cases in which Chinese
superstition coincides with that of the West; for our own church
bells were once consecrated in very much the same manner, a
survival of that ancient universal custom of sacrifice. With
the exception of this resemblance, which, however, has nothing
to do with actual music, everything in Chinese art is exactly
the opposite of our western ideas on the subject.