to befriend rising talent, and helped to bring forward Wang An-shih, Su Shih, Su Ch'ê, and other men of mark. Loving the ancients and true learning, he used his influence as Examiner in 1057 to check the growing craze for eccentric writing and reasoning. Besides the history mentioned above, he was author of the 集古錄, the earliest work on ancient inscriptions; of the 洛陽牡丹記, an elaborate treatise on the peony; of the ^ QQ ^t a small collection of anecdotes of the men of his time; of an exposition of the Book of Odes, etc. etc. Su Shih says of him that in the discussion of great principles he resembled Han Yü, in the treatment of public questions he resembled Lu Chih, in recording eyents he resembled Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien, and in the composition of poetry he resembled Li Po. Fond of wine and company, he spoke of himself in one of his most famous essays as "the drunken Governor, an old man with white hair, bald at the top of his head." He was canonised as 文忠, and in 1530 he was finally admitted into the Confucian Temple.
1593 Ou-yang Hsüan 歐陽玄 (T. 原功). A.D. 1273-1357. A distinguished scholar and official of the Yüan dynasty, who served in the Han-lin College and was specially engaged in the preparation of State papers. His writings were collected under the title of 圭齋集. Posthumously ennobled as Duke, and canonised as 文.
1594 Ou-yang Hsün 歐陽询 (T. 信本). A.D. 557-645. A native of 臨湘 Lin-hsiang in Hunan, whose father was put to death for rebellion and who was brought up during his early youth in concealment. He was exceedingly clever, and possessed the useful faculty of being able to read several columns of a book at a glance. He entered the service of the Sui dynasty; and when the first Emperor of the T'ang dynasty, who had previously been a friend of his, came to the throne, he was at once promoted to be a Supervising Censor. Famous as a calligraphist, he began by imitating
