lives of Yang Chên, Yang 秉 Ping, Yang 賜 Tz'ŭ, and Yang 彪 Piao.
2401 Yang P'0 楊朴 (T. 契元 ). 10th cent. A.D. A native of 管城 Kuan-ch'êng in Honan, who distinguished himself as a poet and received an o£Per of a post from the Emperor T'ai Tsang of the Sang dynasty. He declined this however, and lived in retirement with wine and books until summoned to Court by the Emperor Cheên Tsung in 998. "Did any one give you any verses at parting?" asked his Majesty. "My wife," replied Yang, "gave me the following stanza:
Don*t fuddle your brains with making verse;
For now you're to be a Mandarin
'Tis the last I shall see of my old man's skin!
At this the Emperor laughed and gave him a handsome present. He used to ride about upon an ox, and called himself 東里野民. His works were published under the title of 東里楊聘君集.
2402 Yang P'u 楊溥 Brother to Yang Lung-yen and his successor in A.D. 920 as fourth and last sovereign of the Wu State. In 927 he assumed the Imperial title, but in 936 he abdicated in favour of Hsü Chih-kao.
2403 Yang P'u 楊溥 (T. 弘濟). A.D. 1872-1446. A native of 石首 Shih-shou in Hupeb. Graduating as chin shih, he was for some time attached to the establishment of the Heir Apparent, until forced to go into mourning for his father. In 1414 he got into serious trouble by failing to meet the Emperor at an appointed time, and was thrown into prison. There he remained for ten years, all of which he passed in close application to literary studies; at length, upon the accession of the Emperor Jen Tsung, he was released and appointed to the Han-lin College. He ultimately rose to high office and was much respected, especially for his calm and
