loc.
2 See the Li Chi, II, Sect. I. ii. 20.


out of his place. So death prevailed against him and he passed; his
countenance was changed, and he was sent away.'
10. I flatter myself that the preceding paragraphs contain a
more correct narrative of the principal incidents in the life of
Confucius than has yet been given in any European language. They
might easily have been expanded into a volume, but I did not wish
to exhaust the subject, but only to furnish a sketch, which, while
it might satisfy the general reader, would be of special
assistance to the careful student of the classical Books. I had
taken many notes of the manifest errors in regard to chronology
and other matters in the 'Narratives of the School,' and the
chapter of Sze-ma Ch'ien on the K'ung family, when the digest of
Chiang Yung, to which I have made frequent reference, attracted
my attention. Conclusions to which I had come were confirmed,
and a clue was furnished to difficulties which I was seeking to
disentangle. I take the opportunity to acknowledge here my
obligations to it. With a few notices of Confucius's habits and
manners, I shall conclude this section.
Very little can be gathered from reliable sources on the
personal appearance of the sage. The height of his father is
stated, as I have noted, to have been ten feet, and though
Confucius came short of this by four inches, he was often called
'the tall man.' It is allowed that the ancient foot or cubit was
shorter than the modem, but it must be reduced more than any
scholar I have consulted has yet done, to bring this statement
within the range of credibility. The legends assign to his figure