What was the real object of that strange expedition?  Chinese authors assert that it was sent in search of the “elixir of life,” but do they not distort everything in the history of the First Hwang-ti?  The great monarch was, in fact, a devout believer in the fables of Taoism, among which were stories of the Islands of [Page 104] the Blest, and of a fountain of immortality, such as eighteen centuries later stimulated the researches of Ponce de Leon.  The study of alchemy was in full blast among the Chinese at that time.  It probably sprang from Taoism; but, in my opinion, the ambitious potentate, sighing for other worlds to conquer, sent that jolly troop as the vanguard of an army.

In spite, however, of elixirs of life and fountains of youth, death put an end to his conquests when he had enjoyed the full glories of imperial power for only twelve years.  His son reigned two years; and the first of the imperial dynasties came to an end—­overturned by a revolution which placed the House of Han on the vacant throne.

[Page 105] CHAPTER XX

THE HOUSE OF HAN, 206—­B.  C.—­220 A. D.

(24 Emperors, 2 Usurpers)

Liu-pang Founds Illustrious Dynasty—­Restoration of the Books—­A Female Reign—­The Three Religions—­Revival of Letters—­Sze-ma Ts’ien, the Herodotus of China—­Conquests of the Hans

The burning of the books and the slaughter of the scholars had filled the public mind with horror.  The oppressions occasioned by the building of the Great Wall had excited a widespread discontent; and Liu-pang, a rough soldier of Central China, took advantage of this state of things to dispossess the feeble heir of the tyrant.  He founded a dynasty which is reckoned among the most illustrious in the annals of the Empire.  It takes the name of Han from the river on the banks of which it rose to power.  When Liu-pang was securely seated on the throne one of his ministers proposed that he should open schools and encourage learning.  “Learning,” exclaimed the Emperor, “I have none of it myself, nor do I feel the need of it.  I got the empire on horseback.”  “But can you govern the empire on horseback?  That is the question,” replied the minister.  To conciliate the favour of the learned, the Emperor not only rescinded the persecuting edicts, but caused search to be made for [Page 106] the lost books, and instituted sacrificial rites in honour of the Sage.

Old men were still living who had committed those books to memory in boyhood.  One such, Fu-seng by name, was noted for his erudition; and from his capacious memory a large portion of the sacred canon was reproduced, being written from his dictation.  The copies thus obtained were of course not free from error.  Happily a somewhat completer copy, engraved on bamboo tablets, was discovered in the wall of a house belonging to the Confucian family.  Yet down to the present day the Chinese classics bear traces of the tyrant’s fire.  Portions are wanting