of Kiangsi, but fell a victim to eunuch intrigues, together with Tou Wu. When a boy of fifteen, he carried a letter from his father to 薛勤 Hsieh Ch'in; and the latter, on coming to call next day, said, "You have an extraordinary son. I came to see him, not you." Then, noticing that the court-yard was in a neglected state, he turned to Ch'ên Fan and asked him why he did not sweep it against the arrival of guests. "A hero," replied the lad, "should sweep the empire, and not court-yards."
218 Ch'ên Hao 陳澔 (T. 可大. H. 雲莊 and 經歸). A.D. 1261—1341. A native of 都昌 Tu-ch'ang in Kiangsi, and son of an official in Hupeh. Author of the 禮記集說, an elaborate work on the Canon of Rites, which is still the textbook for the public examinations. He is also known as 東匯澤, from the situation of his birthplace. In 1724 his tablet was admitted to the Confucian Temple.
219 Ch'ên Hao 宸濠. A.D. 1478-1519. A grandson of Prince 寧靖 Ning-ching, a scion of the Imperial family of the Mings. In 1507 he was restored to the title and dignity of which his grandfather had been deprived for misconduct, and was recognised as Prince Ning. After having enjoyed for years the favour of the debauched and extravagant monarch, Wu Tsung, to whom he owed his elevation, he took advantage of the confusion into which public affairs were thrown in 1519 by the Emperor's whim of undertaking a progress through the southern provinces, to head a revolt. With a large body of adherents, he made himself master of a portion of the province of Kiangsi, and proceeded to lay siege to An-ch'ing. The Imperial commander, Wang Shou-jen, who had subdued an insurrection in Kiangsi in the previous year, at once devised measures for drawing away the insurgent army from the Yang-tsze, lest an attempt should be made upon Nanking. He marched upon Nan-ch'ang Fu, the capital of
