country possessing an alphabet, that the same sounds when taken down by
different writers should be represented by different characters.

On the whole, the evidence given above is as full as could be desired in
such a case, and leaves no reason for us to hesitate in accepting the
present received text of the Shih as a very close approximation to that
which was current in the time of Confucius.


CHAPTER IV.


THE FORMATION OF THE COLLECTION OF THE SHIH HOW IT CAME TO BE SO
SMALL AND INCOMPLETE; THE INTERPRETATION AND AUTHORS OF THE
PIECES; ONE POINT OF TIME CERTAINLY INDICATED IN IT; AND THE
CONFUCIAN PREFACE.

1. It has been shown above, in the second chapter, that the Shih existed
as a collection of poetical pieces before the time of Confucius[1]. In
order to complete this Introduction to it, it is desirable to give some
account of the various subjects indicated in the heading of the present
chapter.

How were the odes collected in the first place? In his Account of a
Conversation concerning 'a Right Regulation of Governments for the
Common Good of Mankind' (Edinburgh, 1704), p. 10, Sir Andrew Fletcher,
of Saltoun, tells us the opinion of 'a very wise man,' that 'if a man
were permitted to make all the ballads of a nation, he need not care who
should make its laws.' A writer in the Spectator, no. 502, refers to a
similar opinion as having been entertained in England earlier than the