1
文徵明附:蔡羽等黄佐附:歐大任黎民表柯維騏王慎中附:屠應埈等高叔嗣附:蔡汝楠陳束附:任瀚熊過李開先田汝成子:藝蘅皇甫涍弟:沖汸濂茅坤子:维謝榛附:盧柟李攀龍附:梁有譽等王世貞附:汪道昆胡應麟弟:世懋歸有光子:子慕附:胡友信
Wen Zhengming (with Cai Yu and others); Huang Zuo (with Ou Daren and Li Minbiao); Ke Weiji; Wang Shenzhong (with Tu Yingjun and others); Gao Shusi (with Cai Runan); Chen Shu (with Ren Han, Xiong Guo, and Li Kaixian); Tian Rucheng and his son Yiheng; Huangfu Qin and his brothers Chong, Fang, and Lian; Mao Kun and his son Wei; Xie Zhen (with Lu Kan); Li Panlong (with Liang Youyu and others); Wang Shizhen (with Wang Daokun, Hu Yinglin, and his brother Shimao); Gui Youguang and his son Zimu (with Hu Youxin).
2
文徵明附蔡羽等
Wen Zhengming, with appendix: Cai Yu and others
3
文徵明，長洲人，初名璧，以字行，更字徵仲，別號衡山。 父林，溫州知府。 叔父森，右僉都御史。 林卒，吏民醵千金為賻。 徵明年十六，悉卻之。 吏民修故卻金亭，以配前守何文淵，而記其事。
Wen Zhengming was from Changzhou. He was originally named Bi, went by his courtesy name, later changed it to Zhengzhong, and took the style name Hengshan. His father Lin served as prefect of Wenzhou. His uncle Sen was Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief. When Lin died, local officials and people pooled a thousand taels of silver as funeral gifts. Zhengming was sixteen and refused every bit of it. Officials and commoners restored the old Declined-Gold Pavilion to honor the former prefect He Wenyuan alongside Lin and recorded what had happened.
4
徵明幼不慧，稍長，穎異挺發。 學文於吳寬，學書於李應禎，學畫於沈周，皆父友也。 又與祝允明、唐寅、徐禎卿輩相切劘，名日益著。 其為人和而介。 巡撫俞諫欲遺之金，指所衣藍衫，謂曰：「敝至此邪？」 徵明佯不喻，曰：「遭雨敝耳。」 諫竟不敢言遺金事。 寧王宸濠慕其名，貽書幣聘之，辭病不赴。
As a boy Zhengming was not quick; when he grew older, his talent suddenly blossomed. He studied literature with Wu Kuan, calligraphy with Li Yingzhen, and painting with Shen Zhou, all friends of his father. He also honed himself alongside Zhu Yunming, Tang Yin, Xu Zhenqing, and their circle, and his fame grew by the day. In character he was mild yet firm. Grand Coordinator Yu Jian wanted to give him gold. Pointing at the blue robe he wore, he said, "So worn as this? Zhengming feigned not to understand and said, "It is only worn from the rain." In the end Jian did not dare mention giving gold. Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao admired his reputation and sent letters and gifts to engage him; he pleaded illness and would not go.
5
正德末，巡撫李充嗣薦之，會徵明亦以歲貢生詣吏部試，奏授翰林院待詔。 世宗立，預修《武宗實錄》，侍經筵，歲時頒賜，與諸詞臣齒。 而是時專尚科目，徵明意不自得，連歲乞歸。
Late in the Zhengde reign, Grand Coordinator Li Chongsi recommended him; Zhengming had also gone to the Ministry of Personnel as a tribute student for examination and was appointed Hanlin Academy awaiting edicts. When Emperor Shizong acceded, he helped compile the Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong, attended the classics lecture, received seasonal gifts, and stood among the literary officials. But the age prized only the examination track; Zhengming was ill at ease and asked to retire year after year.
6
先是，林知溫州，識張璁諸生中。 璁既得勢，諷征明附之，辭不就。 楊一清召入輔政，徵明見獨後。 一清亟謂曰：「子不知乃翁與我友邪？」 徵明正色曰：「先君棄不肖三十餘年，苟以一字及者，弗敢忘，實不知相公與先君友也。」 一清有慚色，尋與璁謀，欲徙徵明官。 徵明乞歸益力，乃獲致仕。 四方乞詩文書畫者，接踵於道，而富貴人不易得片楮，尤不肯與王府及中人，曰：「此法所禁也。」 周、徽諸王以寶玩為贈，不啟封而還之。 外國使者道吳門，望里肅拜，以不獲見為恨。 文筆遍天下，門下士贗作者頗多，徵明亦不禁。 嘉靖三十八年卒，年九十矣。 長子彭，字壽承，國子博士。 次子嘉，字休承，和州學正。 並能詩，工書畫篆刻，世其家。 彭孫震孟，自有傳。
Earlier, when Lin was prefect of Wenzhou, he had known Zhang Cong among the students. Once Cong gained power, he hinted that Zhengming should join him; Zhengming declined. Yang Yiqing was summoned to assist in government; Zhengming alone came to see him last. Yiqing said urgently, "Do you not know your father and I were friends? Zhengming said sternly, "My late father left this unworthy son more than thirty years ago. If even one word of his had reached me, I would not dare forget it; I truly did not know you and my late father were friends." Yiqing looked ashamed; soon he and Cong plotted to transfer Zhengming's post. Zhengming pressed his request to retire all the harder and at last obtained leave to return home. Those from all quarters who begged for his poems, prose, calligraphy, and paintings crowded the road, yet the wealthy and noble could not easily obtain a single sheet; he especially would not give to princely establishments or eunuchs, saying, "The law forbids this. The princes of Zhou and Hui and others sent precious curios as gifts; he returned them unopened. Foreign envoys passing through Wu Gate bowed respectfully toward his lane and regretted that they could not see him. His writings spread through the realm; many among his followers forged his work, and Zhengming did not forbid it. He died in the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing, aged ninety. His eldest son Peng, style name Shoucheng, was a Doctor of the Imperial Academy. His second son Jia, style name Xiucheng, was Director of Studies in He Prefecture. Both could write poetry and were skilled in calligraphy, painting, and seal carving, carrying on the family tradition. Peng's grandson Zhenmeng has his own biography.
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吳中自吳寬、王鏊以文章領袖館閣，一時名士沈周、祝允明輩與並馳騁，文風極盛。 徵明及蔡羽、黃省曾、袁〈〉 、皇甫沖兄弟稍後出。 而徵明主風雅數十年，與之游者王寵、陸師道、陳道復、王谷祥、彭年、周天球、錢谷之屬，亦皆以詞翰名於世。
In Wu, from the time Wu Kuan and Wang Ao led the literary world in the Hanlin, famous men such as Shen Zhou and Zhu Yunming raced alongside them, and literary fashion was at its height. Zhengming, along with Cai Yu, Huang Shengzeng, and Yuan The brothers Huangfu Chong and others appeared somewhat later. Yet Zhengming presided over elegant letters for several decades; those who associated with him—Wang Chong, Lu Shidao, Chen Daofu, Wang Guxiang, Peng Nian, Zhou Tianqiu, Qian Gu, and the like—were also all famed in the world for belles-lettres.
8
蔡羽，字九逵，由國子生授南京翰林院孔目。 自號林屋山人，有《林屋》、《南館》二集。 自負甚高。 文法先秦、兩漢。 或謂其詩似李賀，羽曰：「吾詩求出魏、晉上，今乃為李賀邪！」 其不肯屈抑如此。
Cai Yu, style name Jiukui, entered the National University as a student and was appointed Registrar of the Nanjing Hanlin Academy. He styled himself the Recluse of Linwu and had two collections, Linwu and Nanguan. He thought very highly of himself. In prose he took the Qin and Han as his model. Some said his poetry resembled Li He's; Yu said, "My poetry seeks to rise above Wei and Jin; and now I am Li He! Such was his refusal to yield or restrain himself.
9
黃省曾，字勉之。 舉鄉試。 從王守仁、湛若水游，又學詩於李夢陽。 所著有《五嶽山人集》。 子姬水，字淳父，有文名，學書於祝允明。
Huang Shengzeng, style name Mianzhi. He passed the provincial examination. He studied under Wang Shouren and Zhan Ruoshui and also learned poetry from Li Mengyang. His writings include the Collected Works of the Mount Wuyue Man. His son Jishui, style name Chunfu, had a literary reputation and studied calligraphy under Zhu Yunming.
10
袁〈〉 ，字永之，七歲能詩。 舉嘉靖五年進士，改庶吉士。 張璁惡之，出為刑部主事，累遷廣西提學僉事。 兩廣自韓雍後，監司謁督府，率庭跪，〈〉 獨長揖。 無何，謝病歸。 子尊尼； 字魯望，亦官山東提學副使，有文名。
Yuan , style name Yongzhi; at seven he could write poetry. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of Jiajing and was made a Hanlin Bachelor. Zhang Cong disliked him and sent him out as a principal secretary in the Ministry of Punishments; he was promoted in time to Education Intendant of Guangxi. In the two Guang provinces, since Han Yong, when surveillance commissioners visited the governor-general's yamen they generally knelt in the courtyard, alone gave a long bow with hands clasped. Before long he resigned on grounds of illness and returned home. His son Zunni; style name Luwang, also served as Vice Education Intendant of Shandong and had a literary reputation.
11
王寵，字履吉，別號雅宜。 少學於蔡羽，居林屋者三年，既而讀書石湖。 由諸生貢入國子，僅四十而卒。 行楷得晉法，書無所不觀。
Wang Chong, style name Lüji, with the style name Yayi. In youth he studied under Cai Yu and lived at Linwu for three years; afterward he read books at Stone Lake. As a student he entered the National University by tribute; he died at only forty. His regular and running script attained Jin methods; in calligraphy there was nothing he did not study.
12
陸師道，字子傳。 由進士授工部主事，改禮部，以養母請告歸。 歸而游徵明門，稱弟子。 家居十四年，乃復起，累官尚寶少卿。 善詩文，工小楷古篆繪事。 人謂徵明四絕，不減趙孟頫，而師道並傳之，其風尚亦略相似。 平居不妄交游，長吏罕識其面。 女字卿子，適趙宦光，夫婦皆有聞於時。
Lu Shidao, style name Zichuan. As a jinshi he was appointed a principal secretary in the Ministry of Works, transferred to the Ministry of Rites, and asked leave to return home to support his mother. After returning he studied at Zhengming's gate and called himself his disciple. He lived at home fourteen years before taking office again and rose in time to Junior Chamberlain for Imperial Insignia. He was skilled in poetry and prose and adept at small regular script, ancient seal script, and painting. People said Zhengming's four excellences were not inferior to Zhao Mengfu's, and Shidao transmitted them as well; their fashion was also much the same. In ordinary life he did not associate lightly; senior officials rarely knew his face. His daughter, styled Qingzi, married Zhao Huangguang; husband and wife were both well known in their time.
13
陳道復，名淳，以字行。 祖璚，副都御史。 淳受業徵明，以文行著，善書畫，自號白陽山人。
Chen Daofu, personal name Chun, went by his courtesy name. His grandfather Qiong was Vice Censor-in-Chief. Chun studied under Zhengming, was noted for literary conduct, was skilled in calligraphy and painting, and styled himself the Recluse of Baiyang.
14
王谷祥，字祿之。 由進士改庶吉士，歷官吏部員外郎。 忤尚書汪鋐，左遷真定通判以歸。 與師道俱有清望。
Wang Guxiang, style name Luzhi. As a jinshi he was made a Hanlin Bachelor and served in turn as an outer-section secretary in the Ministry of Personnel. He offended Minister Wang Zhen and was demoted to Assistant Prefect of Zhending before returning home. He and Shidao both enjoyed a pure reputation.
15
彭年，字孔嘉，其人亦長者。 周天球，字公瑕； 錢谷，字叔寶。 天球以書，谷以畫，皆繼徵明表表吳中者也。 其後，華亭何良俊亦以歲貢生入國學。 當路知其名，用蔡羽例，特授南京翰林院孔目。 良俊，字元朗。 少篤學，二十年不下樓，與弟良傅並負俊才。 良傅舉進士，官南京禮部郎中，而良俊猶滯場屋，與上海張之象，同里徐獻忠、董宜陽友善，並有聲。 及官南京，趙貞吉、王維楨相繼掌院事，與相得甚歡。 良俊居久之，慨然嘆曰：「吾有清森閣在海上，藏書四萬卷，名畫百簽，古法帖彝鼎數十種，棄此不居，而僕僕牛馬走乎！」 遂移疾歸。 海上中倭，復居金陵者數年，更買宅居吳閶。 年七十始返故里。
Peng Nian, style name Kongjia, was also a man of mature character. Zhou Tianqiu, style name Gongxia; Qian Gu, style name Shubao. Tianqiu was famed for calligraphy and Gu for painting; both were eminent successors to Zhengming in Wu. After them, He Liangjun of Huating also entered the National University as a tribute student. Those in power knew his name; following Cai Yu's precedent, he was specially appointed Registrar of the Nanjing Hanlin Academy. Liangjun, style name Yuanlang. From youth he studied devotedly and for twenty years did not come downstairs; he and his younger brother Liangfu both possessed outstanding talent. Liangfu passed the jinshi and served as a director in the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, while Liangjun still languished in the examination halls; with Zhang Zhixiang of Shanghai and his fellow townsman Xu Xianzhong and Dong Yiyang he was friendly, and all had a reputation. When he took office in Nanjing, Zhao Zhenji and Wang Weizhen in succession headed the academy, and they got on very well together. After Liangjun had been there a long time, he sighed and said, "I have the Clear-Forest Pavilion on the sea with forty thousand volumes, a hundred famous paintings, and dozens of ancient model calligraphies, bronzes, and tripods—yet I abandon this and run about like a drudge! He then resigned on grounds of illness and returned home. When pirates struck on the coast he lived in Jinling again for several years, then bought a house and dwelt in Wu Gate. Only at seventy did he return to his native place.
16
徐獻忠，字伯臣。 嘉靖中，舉於鄉，官奉化知縣。 著書數百卷。 卒年七十七，王世貞私諡曰貞憲。
Xu Xianzhong, style name Bochen. In the Jiajing reign he passed the provincial examination and served as magistrate of Fenghua. He wrote several hundred juan of books. He died at seventy-seven; Wang Shizhen privately gave him the posthumous title Zhenxian.
17
董宜陽，字子元。
Dong Yiyang, style name Ziyuan.
18
張之象，字月鹿。 祖萱，湖廣參議。 父鳴謙，順天通判。 之象由諸生入國學，授浙江按察司知事，以吏隱自命。 歸益務撰著。 晚居秀林山，罕入城市。 卒年八十一。
Zhang Zhixiang, whose style name was Yuelu, His grandfather Xuan had served as a participant in administration in Huguang. His father Mingqian was assistant prefect of Shuntian. Zhixiang entered the National University as a student and was appointed an official in the Zhejiang Surveillance Commission, taking himself for a recluse among clerks. After returning home he devoted himself all the more to writing. In his later years he lived on Mount Xiulin and rarely went into town. He died at eighty-one.
19
黄佐附歐大任黎民表
Huang Zuo, with appendixes: Ou Daren and Li Minbiao
20
黃佐，字才伯，香山人。 祖瑜，長樂知縣，以學行聞。 正德中，佐舉鄉試第一。 世宗嗣位，始成進士，選庶吉士。 嘉靖初，授編修，陳初政要務，又請修舉新政，疏皆留中。 尋省親歸，便道謁王守仁，與論知行合一之旨，數相辨難，守仁亦稱其直諒。 還朝，會出諸翰林為外僚，除江西僉事。 旋改督廣西學校，聞母病，引疾乞休，不俟報竟去，下巡撫林富逮問。 富言佐誠有罪，第為親受過，於情可原，乃令致仕。 家居九年，簡宮僚，命以編修兼司諫，尋進侍讀，掌南京翰林院。 召為右諭德，擢南京國子祭酒。 母憂除服，起少詹事。 謁大學士夏言，與論河套事不合。 會吏部缺左侍郎，所司推禮部右侍郎崔桐及佐。 給事中徐霈、御史艾樸言：「桐與左侍郎許成名競進，至相詬詈； 而佐及同官王用賓亦爭覬望，惟恐或先之，宜皆止勿用。」 言從中主之，遂皆賜罷。
Huang Zuo, style name Caibo, was from Xiangshan. His grandfather Yu had been magistrate of Changle and was known for learning and conduct. In the Zhengde reign he took first place in the provincial examination. When Emperor Shizong succeeded, he at last became a jinshi and was selected as a Hanlin Bachelor. Early in Jiajing he was appointed Compiler, set forth essentials of the new reign's policies, and also asked to restore and promote the new policies; his memorials were all kept within the palace. Soon he went home to visit his parents and, taking a detour, called on Wang Shouren; they discussed the unity of knowledge and action and argued back and forth repeatedly; Shouren also praised his frank sincerity. When he returned to court, Hanlin scholars were being sent out as outer officials; he was appointed Jiangxi Surveillance Vice Commissioner. He was soon reassigned to supervise schools in Guangxi; when he heard his mother was ill, he pleaded illness and asked to retire, left without awaiting a reply, and Grand Coordinator Lin Fu had him seized and questioned. Fu said Zuo was indeed guilty, but that he had erred for his parent's sake and could be excused on human grounds; he was ordered to retire. After nine years at home, palace attendants were selected; he was ordered to serve as Compiler and concurrently Remonstrating Official, soon promoted to Reader-in-Waiting, and directed the Nanjing Hanlin Academy. He was summoned as Right Instructor of the Heir Apparent and promoted to Chancellor of the Nanjing National University. When mourning for his mother ended, he was raised to Junior Mentor of the Heir Apparent. He called on Grand Secretary Xia Yan and disagreed with him over the Ordos affair. It happened that the Ministry of Personnel lacked a Left Vice Minister; the responsible office recommended Right Vice Minister of Rites Cui Tong and Zuo. Supervising Secretary Xu Pei and Censor Ai Pu said, "Tong and Left Vice Minister Xu Chengming competed for advancement, even reviling each other; while Zuo and his colleague Wang Yongbin also strove for preferment, each fearing the other might get ahead; all should be stopped and not employed. Yan followed the court's ruling; all were dismissed by imperial gift.
21
佐學以程、硃為宗，惟理氣之說，獨持一論。 平生譔述至二百六十余卷。 所著《樂典》，自謂泄造化之秘。 年七十七卒。 穆宗詔贈禮部右侍郎，諡文裕。
Zuo's learning took Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi as its core; on the doctrine of principle and material force alone he held a single view. Over his lifetime his writings reached more than two hundred and sixty juan. In his Music Canon he claimed to disclose the secret of creation's transformations. He died at seventy-seven. Emperor Muzong ordered him posthumously made Right Vice Minister of Rites with the posthumous title Wenyü.
22
佐弟子多以行業自飭，而梁有譽、歐大任、黎民表詩名最著雲。 歐大任，字楨伯，順德人。 由歲貢生歷官南京工部郎中，年八十而終。 黎民表，字惟敬，從化人，御史貫子也。 舉鄉試，久不第，授翰林孔目，遷吏部司務。 執政知其能文，用為制敕房中書，供事內閣，加官至參議。
Many of Zuo's disciples disciplined themselves in conduct, while Liang Youyu, Ou Daren, and Li Minbiao were most famed in poetry. Ou Daren, style name Zhenbo, was from Shunde. From tribute student he served in turn as a director in the Nanjing Ministry of Works and died at eighty. Li Minbiao, style name Weijing, was from Conghua and son of the censor Guan. He passed the provincial examination but long failed the metropolitan; he was appointed Hanlin Registrar and transferred to a clerk in the Ministry of Personnel. Those in power knew he could write and used him as a drafter in the Edict Drafting Office, serving in the Grand Secretariat; he rose in rank to Participant.
23
柯維騏
Ke Weiji
24
柯維騏，字奇純，莆田人。 高祖潛，翰林學士。 父英，徽州知府。 維騏舉嘉靖二年進士，授南京戶部主事，未赴，輒引疾歸。 張孚敬用事，創新制，京朝官病滿三年者，概罷免，維騏亦在罷中。 自是謝賓客，專心讀書。 久之，門人日進，先後四百餘人，維騏引掖靡倦。 慨近世學者樂徑易而憚積累，竊二氏之說以文其固陋也，作左右二銘，訓學者務實。 以辨心術、端趨向為實志，以存敬畏、密操履為實功，而其極則以宰理人物、成能天地為實用，作講義二卷。 《宋史》與《遼》、《金》二《史》，舊分三書，維騏乃合之為一，以遼、金附之，而列二王於本紀。 褒貶去取，義例嚴整，閱二十年而始成，名之曰《宋史新編》。 又著《史記考要》、《續莆陽文獻志》，及所作詩文集並行於世。
Ke Weiji, style name Qichun, was from Putian. His great-grandfather Qian was a Hanlin Academician. His father Ying was prefect of Huizhou. Weiji passed the jinshi in the second year of Jiajing and was appointed a principal secretary in the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue; before taking up the post he at once pleaded illness and returned home. When Zhang Fuling was in power he created a new rule: capital officials who had been ill three full years were all dismissed, and Weiji was among those dismissed. From then on he declined guests and devoted himself to reading. After a long time his disciples increased daily; more than four hundred came in succession, and Weiji guided and supported them without weariness. Lamenting that scholars of recent times delighted in shortcuts and feared accumulated effort, borrowing the teachings of the two heterodox schools to adorn their obstinate ignorance, he wrote two inscriptions, left and right, instructing students to seek what is solid. He took discerning the mind's methods and rectifying one's orientation as solid purpose, preserving reverence and tightening conduct as solid effort, and at the utmost taking ordering human affairs and fulfilling heaven and earth's capacity as solid application, and wrote two juan of lecture notes. The History of Song and the two histories of Liao and Jin had formerly been divided into three books; Weiji combined them into one, attached Liao and Jin to it, and placed the two [Southern Song] emperors in the basic annals. In praise and blame, inclusion and exclusion, the principles and categories were strict and orderly; after twenty years it was completed and named New Compilation of the History of Song. He also wrote Investigations into the Records of the Grand Historian and Continued Gazetteer of Putian Literature, and his collected poetry and prose circulated together in the world.
25
維騏登第五十載，未嘗一日服官。 中更倭亂，故廬焚燬，家困甚，終不妄取。 世味無所嗜，惟嗜讀書。 撫按監司時有論薦，不復起。 隆慶初，廷臣復薦。 所司以維騏年高，但授承德郎致仕。 卒年七十有八。 孫茂竹，海陽知縣。 茂竹子昶，副都御史，巡撫山西。
Weiji passed the jinshi in the fiftieth year and never served in office a single day. In the midst of this came the pirate turmoil; his old house was burned and his family was very poor, yet in the end he took nothing he ought not. He cared for nothing in worldly taste and cared only for books. Grand coordinators, surveillance commissioners, and the like sometimes recommended him, but he did not take office again. Early in Longqing the court officials again recommended him. The responsible office, because Weiji was advanced in years, only granted him Gentleman for Promoting Virtue and retirement. He died at seventy-eight. His grandson Maozhu was magistrate of Haiyang. Maozhu's son Chang was Vice Censor-in-Chief and Grand Coordinator of Shanxi.
26
王慎中附屠應埈等
Wang Shenzhong, with appendix: Tu Yingjun and others
27
王慎中，字道思，晉江人。 四歲能誦詩，十八舉嘉靖五年進士，授戶部主事，尋改禮部祠祭司。 時四方名士唐順之、陳束、李開先、趙時春、任瀚、熊過、屠應埈、華察、陸銓、江以達、曾忭輩，咸在部曹。 慎中與之講習，學大進。 十二年，詔簡部郎為翰林，眾首擬慎中。 大學士張孚敬欲一見，辭不赴，乃稍移吏部，為考功員外郎，進驗封郎中。 忌者讒之孚敬，因覆議真人張衍慶請封疏，謫常州通判。 稍遷戶部主事、禮部員外郎，並在南京。 久之，擢山東提學僉事，改江西參議，進河南參政。 侍郎王杲奉命振荒，以其事委慎中，還朝，薦慎中可重用。 會二十年大計，吏部注慎中不及。 而大學士夏言先嘗為禮部尚書，慎中其屬吏也，與相忤，遂內批不謹，落其職。
Wang Shenzhong, style name Daosi, was from Jinjiang. At four he could recite poetry; at eighteen he passed the jinshi in the fifth year of Jiajing and was appointed a principal secretary in the Ministry of Revenue, soon transferred to the Sacrificial Rites Bureau of the Ministry of Rites. At that time famous men from all quarters—Tang Shunzhi, Chen Shu, Li Kaixian, Zhao Shichun, Ren Han, Xiong Guo, Tu Yingjun, Hua Cha, Lu Quan, Jiang Yida, Zeng Ning, and their circle—were all in the ministry bureaus. Shenzhong studied with them and his learning advanced greatly. In the twelfth year an edict selected ministry directors for the Hanlin; the multitude first proposed Shenzhong. Grand Secretary Zhang Fuling wished to see him once; he declined and did not go, and was then slightly transferred to the Ministry of Personnel as an outer-section secretary in the Bureau of Evaluations, advancing to director in the Bureau of Honors and Seals. Envious men slandered him to Fuling; because of a renewed discussion of the True Man Zhang Yanqing's request for enfeoffment memorial, he was demoted to Assistant Prefect of Changzhou. He was soon transferred to principal secretary in the Ministry of Revenue and outer-section secretary in the Ministry of Rites, both in Nanjing. After a long time he was promoted Education Intendant of Shandong, changed to Jiangxi Administrative Commissioner, and advanced to Administrative Commissioner of Henan. Vice Minister Wang Gao was ordered to relieve famine and entrusted the matter to Shenzhong; on returning to court he recommended Shenzhong as fit for heavy use. It happened to be the great evaluation of the twentieth year; the Ministry of Personnel did not list Shenzhong among those promoted. Grand Secretary Xia Yan had formerly been Minister of Rites; Shenzhong had been his subordinate and clashed with him, so an inner court note called him uncareful and he lost his post.
28
慎中為文，初主秦、漢，謂東京下無可取。 已悟歐、曾作文之法，乃盡焚舊作，一意師仿，尤得力於曾鞏。 順之初不服，久亦變而從之。 壯年廢棄，益肆力古文，演迤詳贍，卓然成家，與順之齊名，天下稱之曰王、唐，又曰晉江、毘陵。 家居，問業者踵至。 年五十一而終。 李攀龍、王世貞後起，力排之，卒不能掩。 攀龍，慎中提學山東時所賞拔者也。 慎中初號遵岩居士，後號南江。
In writing, Shenzhong at first upheld Qin and Han and said nothing after the Eastern Han was worth taking. When he understood the methods of Ouyang Xiu and Zeng Gong in composition, he burned all his old work and devoted himself to imitation, gaining special strength from Zeng Gong. Shunzhi at first did not approve; after a long time he too changed and followed. Cast aside in his prime, he all the more threw himself into ancient-style prose, expansive, detailed, and ample, and established a school of his own; he was famed alongside Shunzhi, and the realm called them Wang and Tang, also Jinjiang and Biling. Living at home, those who came to ask instruction crowded in succession. He died at fifty-one. Li Panlong and Wang Shizhen rose later and strove to exclude him, but in the end could not obscure him. Panlong was one Shenzhong had favored and promoted when he was Education Intendant of Shandong. Shenzhong's first style was Recluse of Zunyan; his later style was Nanjiang.
29
屠應埈，字文升，平湖人，刑部尚書勛子也。 舉嘉靖五年進士。 由郎中改翰林，官至右諭德。
Tu Yingjun, style name Wensheng, was from Pinghu and son of the Minister of Punishments Xun. He passed the jinshi in the fifth year of Jiajing. From director he was changed to the Hanlin and rose to Right Instructor of the Heir Apparent.
30
華察，字子潛，無錫人。 應埈同年進士。 累官侍講學士，掌南京翰林院。
Hua Cha, style name Ziqian, was from Wuxi. A fellow jinshi of the same year as Yingjun. He rose in time to Erudite Lecturer and directed the Nanjing Hanlin Academy.
31
陸銓，字選之，鄞人。 嘉靖二年進士。 與弟編修釴爭大禮，並系詔獄，被杖，後官廣西布政使。 釴終山東提學副使，兄弟皆能文。
Lu Quan, style name Xuanzhi, was from Yin. A jinshi in the second year of Jiajing. He and his younger brother, Compiler Yi, disputed the Great Rites; both were imprisoned by imperial order and beaten; he later served as Provincial Administration Commissioner of Guangxi. Yi ended as Vice Education Intendant of Shandong; both brothers could write.
32
江以達，字子順，貴溪人。 嘉靖五年進士。 累官福建提學僉事。
Jiang Yida, style name Zishun, was from Guixi. A jinshi in the fifth year of Jiajing. He rose in time to Education Intendant of Fujian.
33
高叔嗣附蔡汝楠
Gao Shusi, with appendix: Cai Runan
34
高叔嗣，字子業，祥符人。 年十六，作《申情賦》幾萬言，見者驚異。 十八舉於鄉，第嘉靖二年進士。 授工部主事，改吏部。 歷稽勛郎中。 出為山西左參政，斷疑獄十二事，人稱為神。 遷湖廣按察使，卒官，年三十有七。
Gao Shusi, style name Ziye, was from Xiangfu. At sixteen he wrote the Rhapsody on Declared Feeling of nearly ten thousand words; those who saw it were astonished. At eighteen he passed the provincial examination and ranked as jinshi in the second year of Jiajing. He was appointed a principal secretary in the Ministry of Works and transferred to the Ministry of Personnel. He served in turn as director in the Bureau of Honors and Seals. Sent out as Left Administrative Commissioner of Shanxi, he decided twelve doubtful legal cases; people called him divine. Promoted to Huguang Surveillance Commissioner, he died in that post at thirty-seven.
35
叔嗣少受知邑人李夢陽，及官吏部，與三原馬理、武城王道同署，以文藝相磨切。 其為詩，清新婉約，雖為夢陽所知，不宗其說。 陳束序其《蘇門集》，謂有應物之沖澹，兼曲江之沈雄，體王、孟之清適，具高、岑之悲壯。 王世貞則曰：「子業詩，如高山鼓琴，沈思忽往，木葉盡脫，石氣自青； 又如衛洗馬言愁，憔瘁婉篤，令人心折。」 而蔡汝楠至推為本朝第一雲。 兄仲嗣，官知府，亦有才名。
From youth Gao Shusi won the patronage of his townsman Li Mengyang; once he served in the Ministry of Personnel, he shared a desk with Ma Li of Sanyuan and Wang Daotong of Wucheng and they honed one another in literature. His poetry was fresh and graceful; though Mengyang knew him, he did not follow the Former Seven Masters. In his preface to the "Sumen Collection," Chen Shu wrote that the work had Wei Yingwu's serene simplicity and Zhang Ji's solemn power, the clarity of Wang Wei and Meng Haoran, and the tragic grandeur of Gao Shi and Cen Shen. Wang Shizhen remarked, "Ziye's verse is like playing the zither on a lofty peak—thought sinks deep and then soars; the leaves fall bare, and the very stone seems to breathe green; and again like Wei Jie speaking of grief—wan, tender, and piercing, until the heart cannot bear it;" Cai Runan went so far as to call him the finest poet of the dynasty. His elder brother Zhongsi, who became a prefect, was likewise famed for literary talent.
36
汝楠，字子木。 兒時隨父南京，聽祭酒湛若水講學，輒有解悟。 年十八，成嘉靖十一年進士，授行人。 從王慎中、唐順之及叔嗣輩學為詩。 尋進刑部員外郎，徙南京刑部。 善皇甫涍兄弟，尚書顧璘引為忘年友。 廷議改歸德州為府，擢汝楠知其府事。 以母憂歸，聚諸生石鼓書院，與說經。 治民有惠政，既去，士民祠祀之。 歷官江西左、右布政使，擢右副都御史，巡撫河南。 召為兵部右侍郎，從諸大僚祝釐西宮，世宗望見其貌寢，改南京工部右侍郎，未幾卒。
Cai Runan, courtesy name Zimu. As a boy he accompanied his father to Nanjing; listening to Rector Zhan Ruoshui lecture, he grasped the teaching at once. At eighteen he passed the jinshi examination in 1532 and was appointed a courier in the Court of Imperial Entertainments. He studied poetry with Wang Shenzhong, Tang Shunzhi, and Gao Shusi and his peers. He was soon promoted to Vice Director in the Ministry of Justice and then transferred to its Nanjing branch. He was close to the Huangfu Qin brothers, and Minister Gu Lin took him as a friend despite their difference in age. When the court debated elevating Guidezhou to a prefecture, Runan was appointed to govern it. After his mother's death he withdrew home, gathered students at Shigu Academy, and lectured on the classics. His rule brought real benefit to the people, and after he left office scholars and townsfolk set up a shrine in his honor. He served as left and right administration commissioner of Jiangxi, then was made Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and grand coordinator of Henan. Summoned as Vice Minister of War, he joined the senior ministers in blessing rites at the Western Palace; the emperor, struck by his sickly looks, reassigned him to Vice Minister of Works at Nanjing, where he soon died.
37
汝楠始好為詩，有重名。 中年好經學，及官江西，與鄒守一、羅洪先游，學益進，然詩由此不工去。
Runan began as a poet of considerable renown. In midlife he turned to classical learning; in Jiangxi he studied with Zou Shouyi and Luo Hongxian and made great progress, but his poetry suffered for it.
38
陳束附任瀚熊過李開先
Chen Shu, with appendixes on Ren Han, Xiong Guo, and Li Kaixian
39
陳束，字約之，鄞人。 生而聰慧絕倫，好讀古書。 會稽侍郎董官翰林時，聞束才，召視之。 東垂髫而前，試詞賦立就，遂字以女，攜至京，文譽益起。 嘉靖八年廷對，世宗親擢羅洪先、程文德、楊名為一甲，而置唐順之及束、任瀚於二甲，皆手批其卷。 無何，考庶吉士，得胡經等二十人，以束及順之、瀚曾奉御批，列經等首。 座主張璁、霍韜以前此館選悉改他曹，引嫌，亦議改，乃寢前令，束授禮部主事。 時有「嘉靖八才子」之稱，謂束及王慎中、唐順之、趙時春、熊過、任瀚、李開先、呂高也。 四郊改建，都御史汪鋐請徙近郊居民墳墓，束疏諫，不報。 遷員外郎，改編修。
Chen Shu, courtesy name Yuezhi, was from Yin in Ningbo. He was prodigiously clever from childhood and devoted himself to ancient texts. While Dong Zhi of Kuaiji was serving in the Hanlin Academy as a vice minister, he heard of Chen's gifts and called the boy in to meet him. The boy came forward with his hair still in childhood locks, wrote a fu on command at once, and Dong betrothed his daughter to him and took him to the capital, where Chen's literary fame soared. At the 1529 palace examination the Jiajing Emperor personally ranked Luo Hongxian, Cheng Wende, and Yang Ming first class, placing Tang Shunzhi, Chen Shu, and Ren Han in the second class, each paper bearing the emperor's own marginal comments. Soon afterward, in the Hanlin examination, Hu Jing and twenty others passed; because Chen, Tang, and Ren had received the emperor's marginal notes, they were placed ahead of the rest. The chief examiners Zhang Cong and Huo Tao, citing the precedent that prior Hanlin picks had been reassigned to other agencies, debated overturning the list; the earlier ranking was set aside, and Chen was made a director in the Ministry of Rites. They were known as the "Eight Talents of the Jiajing reign": Chen Shu, Wang Shenzhong, Tang Shunzhi, Zhao Shichun, Xiong Guo, Ren Han, Li Kaixian, and Lü Gao. During the rebuilding of the suburban altars, Grand Coordinator Wang Zhen proposed moving nearby graves; Chen submitted a memorial in protest, but it went unanswered. He was promoted to vice director and later made a Hanlin compiler.
40
束出璁、韜門，不肯親附。 歲時上壽，望門投刺，輒馳馬過之。 為所惡，出為湖廣僉事。 分巡辰、沅，治有聲。 稍遷福建參議，改河南提學副使。 束故有嘔血疾，會科試期近，試八郡之士，三月而畢，疾增劇，竟不起，年才三十有三。 妻董，亦能詩，束卒未幾亦卒，束竟無後。
Though Chen had studied under Zhang Cong and Huo Tao, he refused to court them. On their birthdays he would ride up, toss in a calling card, and gallop away without stopping. They turned on him, and he was posted out as a vice commissioner in Huguang. As inspector of Chen and Yuan prefectures, he earned a strong reputation for good government. He rose to administration commissioner of Fujian and was later transferred to education vice commissioner of Henan. Chen had long suffered hemoptysis; as the provincial exams approached he examined candidates from eight prefectures in three exhausting months, his illness worsened, and he died at thirty-three. His wife, née Dong, was also a poet; she died soon after he did, and Chen left no heirs.
41
當嘉靖初，稱詩者多宗何、李，束與順之輩厭而矯之。 束早世，且藁多散逸，今所傳《後岡集》，僅十之一二雲。
In the early Jiajing period most poets followed the He-Li school; Chen Shu and Tang Shunzhi's circle rebelled against that fashion. Chen died young and most of his manuscripts were lost; the "Hougang Collection" that survives represents perhaps a tenth of his work.
42
任瀚，字少海，南充人。 嘉靖八年進士。 改庶吉士，未上，授吏部主事。 屢遷考功郎中。 十八年，簡宮僚，改左春坊左司直兼翰林院檢討。 明年，拜疏引疾，出郭戒行，疏再上，不報，復自引還。 給事中周來劾瀚舉動任情，蔑視官守。 帝令自陳，瀚語侵掌詹事霍韜。 帝怒，勒為民。 久之，遇赦，復官致仕。 終世宗朝，中外屢薦，不復用。 神宗嗣位，四川巡撫劉思潔、曾省吾先後疏薦，優旨報聞而已。 瀚少懷用世志，百家二氏之書，罔不搜討。 被廢，益反求《六經》，闡明聖學。 晚又潛心於《易》，深有所得。 文亦高簡。 卒年九十三。
Ren Han, courtesy name Shaohai, was from Nanchong in Sichuan. He passed the jinshi examination in 1529. He was selected for the Hanlin Academy but, before entering, was appointed a director in the Ministry of Personnel. He rose to serve as director in the Bureau of Evaluation. In 1539 he was chosen as a palace tutor and made left subeditor of the heir apparent's left secretariat, with a concurrent post as Hanlin compiler. The following year he memorialized illness, went beyond the city walls to take leave of his departure, submitted again without reply, and came back on his own. The supervising secretary Zhou Lai accused Han of acting on whim and scorning his official obligations. The emperor ordered a written defense; Han's reply insulted Huo Tao, chief tutor of the heir apparent. Enraged, the emperor reduced him to commoner status. Years later an amnesty restored his rank and he retired. Throughout the Jiajing reign he was recommended repeatedly from within and outside the government, but was never reappointed. After Shenzong took the throne, the Sichuan grand coordinators Liu Sijie and Zeng Shengwu recommended him in turn, but the court merely acknowledged the memorials without acting. From youth Han aspired to serve his times and read widely across the hundred schools and the teachings of Buddhism and Daoism. Stripped of office, he turned inward to the Six Classics and expounded the teachings of the sages. In old age he studied the Book of Changes and arrived at profound insight. His prose was likewise elevated and spare. He died at ninety-three.
43
熊過，字叔仁，富順人。 瀚同年進士。 累官祠祭郎中，坐事貶秩，復除名為民。
Xiong Guo, courtesy name Shuren, was from Fushun. He became a jinshi in the same year as Ren Han. He rose to director of sacrifices, was demoted for an offense, and was finally reduced to commoner status.
44
李開先，字伯華，章丘人。 束同年進士。 官至太常少卿。 性好蓄書，李氏藏書之名聞天下。
Li Kaixian, courtesy name Bohua, was from Zhangqiu. He passed the jinshi examination in the same year as Chen Shu. He eventually became vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He loved books passionately, and the Li family library was renowned throughout the empire.
45
呂高，字山甫，丹徒人。 亦束同年進士。 歷官山東提學副使。 鄉試錄文，舊多出學使者手，巡按御史葉經乞順之文。 高心憾，寓書京師友人言經紕繆。 嚴嵩惡經，遂置之死。 及後大計，諸御史謂經禍由高，乃斥歸，於八子中，名最下。
Lü Gao, courtesy name Shanfu, was from Dantu. He too graduated as a jinshi alongside Chen Shu. He served as education vice commissioner of Shandong. Provincial examination essays were traditionally drafted by the education intendant; the touring censor Ye Jing asked Tang Shunzhi to write the report instead. Lü Gao took offense and wrote to a friend in the capital accusing Ye Jing of misconduct. Yan Song, who hated Ye Jing, had him executed. At the next grand evaluation the censors blamed Ye Jing's death on Lü Gao, who was dismissed; of the Eight Talents his reputation sank lowest.
46
田汝成子藝蘅
Tian Rucheng, with his son Yiheng
47
田汝成，字叔禾，錢塘人。 嘉靖五年進士。 授南京刑部主事，尋召改禮部。 十年十二月上言：「陛下以青宮久虛，祈天建醮，復普放生之仁，凡羈蹄釒殺羽禁在上林者，咸獲縱釋。 顧使囹圄之徒久纏徽纆，衣冠之侶流竄窮荒，父子長離，魂魄永喪，此獨非陛下之赤子乎！ 望大廣皇仁，悉加寬宥。」 忤旨，切責，停俸二月。 屢遷祠祭郎中，廣東僉事，謫知滁州。 復擢貴州僉事，改廣西右參議，分守右江。 龍州土酋趙楷、憑祥州土酋李寰皆弒主自立，與副使翁萬達密討誅之。 努灘賊侯公丁為亂，斷藤峽群賊與相應。 汝成復偕萬達設策誘擒公丁，而進兵討峽賊，大破之，又與萬達建善後七事，一方遂靖，有銀幣之賜。 遷福建提學副使。 歲當大比，預定諸生甲乙。 比榜發，一如所定。
Tian Rucheng, courtesy name Shuhe, was from Qiantang. He passed the jinshi examination in 1526. He was made a principal secretary in the Nanjing Ministry of Justice and was soon transferred to the Ministry of Rites. In the twelfth month of 1531 he submitted a memorial: "Your Majesty, because the heir apparent's quarters have long stood empty, has prayed to Heaven and held ritual fasts, and again shown mercy by releasing living creatures—every hobbled beast and every bird and beast penned in Shanglin has been set free. Yet prisoners remain shackled for years, and officials in exile wander the wilderness, fathers and sons torn apart and souls lost forever—are they not also Your Majesty's children? I beg Your Majesty to extend this mercy and grant a broad amnesty. The memorial angered the emperor, who rebuked him sharply and suspended his salary for two months. He rose to director of sacrifices and Guangdong vice commissioner, then was demoted to magistrate of Chuzhou. He was restored as Guizhou vice commissioner, then made right administration commissioner of Guangxi with charge of the Right River circuit. Zhao Kai of Longzhou and Li Huan of Pingxiang both murdered their chiefs and seized power; Rucheng and Vice Commissioner Weng Wanda secretly plotted to kill them. Hou Gongding of Nutan rebelled, and the bandits of Broken Vine Gorge rose with him. Rucheng and Weng Wanda lured Hou Gongding into capture, then marched against the gorge rebels and routed them; their seven-point pacification plan quieted the region, and the court rewarded them with silver and silk. He was promoted to education vice commissioner of Fujian. When the provincial examinations came, he ranked the candidates in advance. When the results were posted, the list matched his predictions exactly.
48
汝成博學工古文，尤善敘述。 歷官西南，諳曉先朝遺事，撰《炎徼紀聞》。 歸田後，般桓湖山，窮浙西諸名勝，撰《西湖遊覽志》，並見稱於時。 他所論著甚多，時推其博洽。 子藝蘅，字子。 十歲從父過採石，賦詩有警句。 性放誕不羈，嗜酒任俠。 以歲貢生為徽州訓導，罷歸。 作詩有才調，為人所稱。
Rucheng was learned and a master of ancient prose, especially narrative writing. Serving in the southwest, he mastered Ming frontier history and wrote the "Records of the Southern March." In retirement he wandered the lakes and hills of western Zhejiang and wrote the "Gazetteer of West Lake Sightseeing"; both works won contemporary praise. He wrote prolifically on many subjects, and his contemporaries admired his erudition. His son Tian Yiheng, courtesy name Ziqian. At ten he traveled with his father past Ma'anshan and wrote a poem with memorable lines. He was wild and unconventional, devoted to wine and the ways of the knight-errant. Qualified by tribute student status, he became director of studies at Huizhou, was dismissed, and went home. His poetry showed real talent and was widely admired.
49
皇甫涍弟沖汸濂
Huangfu Qin, with his brothers Chong, Fang, and Lian
50
皇甫涍，字子安，長洲人。 父錄，弘治九年進士。 任重慶知府。 生四子，沖、涍、汸、濂。 沖、汸同登嘉靖七年鄉薦，明年，汸第進士。 又三年，涍第進士。 又十三年，濂亦第進士。 而沖尚為舉子。 兄弟並好學工詩，稱「皇甫四傑」。
Huangfu Qin, courtesy name Zian, was from Changzhou. His father Huangfu Lu graduated as a jinshi in 1496. He was made prefect of Chongqing. Four sons were born to him—Chong, Xiao, Fang, and Lian. Chong and Fang both won provincial honors in 1528; the following year Fang passed the metropolitan examination. Three years on, Xiao too became a jinshi. Another thirteen years passed before Lian likewise took his jinshi degree. Chong alone never rose beyond the provincial degree. All four brothers were devoted scholars and poets, famed as the "Four Huangfu Champions."
51
沖，字子浚，善騎射，好談兵。 遇南北內訌，譔《幾策》、《兵統》、《枕戈雜言》三書，凡數十萬言。 涍，初授工部主事，改禮部。 歷儀制員外郎，主客郎中。 在儀制時，夏言為尚書，連疏請建儲，皆涍起草，故言深知涍才。 比簡宮僚，遂用為春坊司直兼翰林檢討。 言者論涍改官有私，謫廣平通判，量移南京刑部主事，進員外郎，遷浙江僉事。 大計京官，以南曹事論罷，邑邑發病卒。 涍沈靜寡與，自負高俊，稍不當意，終日相對無一言。 居官砥廉隅，然頗操切，多忤物，故數被讒謗雲。
Chong, courtesy name Zijun, rode and shot well and delighted in talk of war. Amid the north–south turmoil he wrote three books—"Several Stratagems," "Military System," and "Pillow-Spear Miscellany"—running to hundreds of thousands of words. Xiao began as a director in the Ministry of Works and was later moved to Rites. He rose through the Ceremonies Bureau to head the Bureau of Receptions. During his Ceremonies posting, Minister Xia Yan kept submitting memorials on the succession; Xiao drafted them all, and Yan learned to value his ability. Chosen for the palace staff, he was appointed Eastern Palace director and Hanlin reviser. Accused of favoritism in his promotion, he was sent down to Guangping as assistant prefect, later served in the Nanjing Ministry of Justice, became an outside director, and was posted to Zhejiang as an assistant surveillance commissioner. When capital officials were reviewed he was removed over a southern ministry matter; heartsick, he took ill and died. Xiao was quiet and aloof, sure of his own brilliance; the slightest offense could leave him speechless before a guest for an entire day. He governed with scrupulous honesty but was harsh and often crossed others, and so drew repeated calumny.
52
汸，字子循，七歲能詩。 官工部主事，名動公卿，沾沾自喜，用是貶秩為黃州推官。 屢遷南京稽勛郎中，再貶開州同知，量移處州府同知。 擢雲南僉事，以計典論黜。 汸和易，近聲色，好狎游。 於兄弟中最老壽，年八十乃卒。
Fang, courtesy name Zixun, was writing verse at seven. Serving in Works, he became the talk of the court; his self-satisfaction cost him a demotion to magistrate of Huangzhou. He rose to director in Nanjing's Merit Office, was demoted once more to assistant prefect of Kaizhou, and was then moved to Chuzhou. Promoted to Yunnan as an assistant surveillance commissioner, he was removed at the triennial review. Fang was genial, loved pleasure and company, and wandered freely. Of the four brothers he lived longest, reaching eighty.
53
濂，字子約，初授工部主事，母喪除，起故官，典惜薪廠。 賈人偽增數罔利，濂按其罪。 賈人女為尚書文明妾，明召濂切責之。 濂抗言曰：「公掌邦政，縱奸人干紀，又欲奪郎官法守邪？」 明為斂容謝。 大計，謫河南布政司理問，終興化同知。
Lian, courtesy name Ziyue, began in the Ministry of Works; when his mourning ended he resumed office and oversaw the fuel-wood depot. When a merchant padded the books for illicit gain, Lian pressed the case against him. The merchant's daughter had become a concubine of Minister Wang Wenming, who called Lian in and scolded him harshly. Lian stood his ground: "You govern the realm—will you shelter a lawbreaker and rob an officer of his charge to enforce the law? Wenming collected himself and apologized. Reviewed and demoted to registrar in Henan, he finished his career as assistant prefect of Xinghua.
54
濂兄弟與黃魯曾、省曾為中表兄弟，文藻亦相似。 其後，裡人張鳳翼、燕翼、獻翼並負才名。 吳人語曰：「前有四皇，後有三張。」 鳳翼、燕翼終舉人。 而獻翼為太學生，名日益高，年老矣，狂甚，為讎家所殺。
The Lians were cousins and literary kin to Huang Lueng and Huang Shengeng, and their style was much the same. Later three Zhangs of the same hamlet—Fengyi, Yanyi, and Xianyi—won names for literary talent. People in Wu said: "First the four Huangfus, then the three Zhangs. Fengyi and Yanyi never rose above the provincial degree. Xianyi studied at the National University and grew ever more celebrated; in his last years his madness provoked a foe who murdered him.
55
茅坤子維
Mao Kun; his son Wei
56
茅坤，字順甫，歸安人。 嘉靖十七年進士。 歷知青陽、丹徒二縣。 母憂，服闋，遷禮部主事，移吏部稽勛司，坐累，謫廣平通判。 屢遷廣西兵備僉事，轄府江道。 坤雅好談兵。 瑤賊據鬼子諸砦，殺陽朔令。 朝議大征，總督應檟以問坤。 坤曰：「大征非兵十萬不可，餉稱之，今猝不能集，而賊已據險為備。 計莫若雕剿。 條入殲其魁，他部必襲，謀自全，此便計也。」 檟善之，悉以兵事委坤。 連破十七砦，晉秩二等。 民立祠祀之。 遷大名兵備副使，總督楊博嘆為奇才，特薦於朝。 為忌者所中，追論其先任貪污狀，落職歸。 時倭事方急，胡宗憲延之幕中，與籌兵事，奏請為福建副使。 吏部持之，乃已。 家人橫於里，為巡按龐尚鵬所劾，遂褫冠帶。 坤既廢，用心計治生，家大起。 年九十，卒於萬曆二十九年。
Mao Kun, courtesy name Shunfu, came from Gui'an. He took his jinshi degree in 1538. He governed Qingyang and Dantu in turn. When his mourning ended he returned as a Rites director, shifted to Personnel's Merit Office, and was demoted to Guangping for guilt by association. He rose to Guangxi assistant surveillance commissioner for military affairs, overseeing the Fujiang route. Kun delighted in military talk. Yao rebels seized the Guizi forts and slew the magistrate of Yangshuo. The court planned a great expedition; Grand Coordinator Ying Song sought Kun's counsel. Kun replied, "A full campaign needs a hundred thousand men and matching provisions—we cannot muster them overnight, and the rebels already hold the heights. Better to pick them off one by one. Cut down the leaders in turn; the rest will turn on one another to survive—that is the shrewd course. Song agreed and gave him full command. Seventeen forts fell in succession, and he was raised two grades in rank. The people built a shrine in his honor. Promoted to vice commissioner at Daming, Yang Bo called him a wonder and sent a special recommendation to court. A rival brought him down with retroactive charges of graft in his former post, and he retired home. As the coastal raids intensified, Hu Zongxian took him onto his staff for military planning and recommended him for Fujian vice commissioner. The Ministry of Personnel blocked the appointment, and nothing came of it. His servants tyrannized the countryside; Pang Shangpeng impeached him, and he lost his rank and insignia. Out of office, Kun threw himself into trade and speculation until his family grew very rich. He died at ninety in 1601.
57
坤善古文，最心折唐順之。 順之喜唐、宋諸大家文，所著文編，唐、宋人自韓、柳、歐、三蘇、曾、王八家外，無所取，故坤選《八大家文鈔》。 其書盛行海內，鄉里小生無不知茅鹿門者。 鹿門，坤別號也。 少子維，字孝若，能詩，與同郡臧懋循、吳稼竳、吳夢陽，並稱四子。 嘗詣闕上書，希得召見，陳當世大事，不報。
Kun wrote classical prose in the ancient manner and revered Tang Shunzhi. Shunzhi favored Tang and Song masters; his own anthology admitted only Han, Liu, Ouyang, the three Sus, Zeng, and Wang—the Eight Great Masters—so Kun edited the "Anthology of the Eight Great Masters." The work swept the realm; even village boys knew Deer Gate. Deer Gate was Kun's style name. His son Wei, courtesy name Xiaoru, was a poet; with Zang Maoxun, Wu Jiaqiao, and Wu Mengyang of the same district he formed the Four Masters. He once petitioned at court, hoping for an audience to speak on the great issues of the day, but was ignored.
58
謝榛附盧柟
Xie Zhen; appended: Lu Kan
59
謝榛，字茂秦，臨清人。 眇一目。 年十六，作樂府商調，少年爭歌之。 已，折節讀書，刻意為歌詩。 西游彰德，為趙康王所賓禮。 入京師，脫盧柟於獄。
Xie Zhen, courtesy name Maoqin, came from Linqing. One eye was sightless. At sixteen he wrote shang-mode ballads that youths raced to sing. Later he disciplined himself in books and strove at poetry and song. Going west to Zhangde, he became a honored guest of Prince Kang of Zhao. In the capital he won Lu Kan's freedom from jail.
60
當七子結社之始，尚論有唐諸家，各有所重。 榛曰：「取李、杜十四家最勝者，熟讀之以會神氣，歌詠之以求聲調，玩味之以裒精華。 得經三要，則浩乎渾淪，不必塑謫仙而畫少陵也。」 諸人心師其言，厥後雖合力擯榛，其稱詩指要，實自榛發也。
When the Seven Masters first formed their league, they still disputed which Tang poets to esteem. Zhen said, "Choose the best of Li Bai's and Du Fu's fourteen modes, read until their spirit enters you, chant until you catch their music, taste until you distill their marrow. Master the three essentials of the canon and your work will roll like the flood—there is no need to carve Li Bai or paint Du Fu. All took him as teacher; though they later drove him out together, their poetic creed truly began with Zhen.
61
盧柟，字少楩，浚縣人。 家素封，輸貲為國學生。 博聞強記，落筆數千言。 為人跅馳，好使酒罵座。 常為具召邑令，日晏不至，柟大怒，徹席滅炬而臥。 令至，柟已大醉，不具賓主禮。 會柟役夫被榜，他日牆壓死，令即捕柟，論死，系獄，破其家。 里中兒為獄卒，恨柟，笞之數百，謀以土囊壓殺之，為他卒救解。 柟居獄中，益讀所攜書，作《幽鞫》、《放招》二賦，詞旨沈郁。
Lu Kan, courtesy name Shaoqian, came from Jun County. Born to a rich house, he bought his way into the National University. His learning was wide and his memory keen; thousands of words flowed from his brush at once. He was wild, loved wine, and often abused his dinner guests. He once set a banquet for the county magistrate; when dusk passed with no guest, Kan raged, swept away the dishes, put out the lights, and lay down. The magistrate came at last to find Kan drunk past courtesy. When a servant of Kan's was beaten and later crushed by a falling wall, the magistrate seized Kan, condemned him to death, threw him in prison, and beggared his house. A local boy in the jail hated him, lashed him hundreds of times, and tried to smother him with a sandbag until a fellow guard intervened. In his cell he read on and composed "Dark Inquiry" and "Released Summons," works of deep, mournful power.
62
謝榛入京師，見諸貴人，泣訴其冤狀曰：「生有一盧柟不能救，乃從千古哀沅而吊湘乎！」 平湖陸光祖遷得浚令，因榛言平反其獄。 柟出，走謁榛。 榛方客趙康王所，王立召見柟，禮為上賓。 諸宗人以王故爭客柟，柟酒酣罵座如故。 及光祖為南京禮部郎，柟往訪之，遍游吳會無所遇，還益落魄嗜酒，病三日卒。 柟騷賦最為王世貞所稱，詩亦豪放如其為人。
Xie Zhen came to the capital, sought the mighty, and wept: "If I cannot save Lu Kan, shall I only mourn Yuan and Xiang across the ages? Lu Guangzu of Pinghu, newly appointed magistrate of Jun, cleared the verdict on Zhen's appeal. Released, Kan rushed to thank Zhen. Zhen was staying with Prince Kang, who at once received Kan and treated him as a principal guest. Kinsmen fought to entertain him for the prince's sake; drunk, he abused the table as ever. After Guangzu took a post in Nanjing Rites, Kan sought him out, wandered through the lower Yangtze without success, came home more broken and drunken than ever, and died after three days' sickness. Wang Shizhen prized Kan's sao and fu above all; his verse was as fierce as his character.
63
李攀龍附梁有譽等
Li Panlong; appended: Liang Youyu and others
64
李攀龍，字於鱗，歷城人。 九歲而孤，家貧，自奮於學。 稍長為諸生，與友人許邦才、殷士儋學為詩歌。 已，益厭訓詁學，日讀古書，裡人共目為狂生。 舉嘉靖二十三年進士，授刑部主事。 歷員外郎、郎中，稍遷順德知府，有善政。 上官交薦，擢陝西提學副使。 鄉人殷學為巡撫，檄令屬文，攀龍怫然曰：「文可檄致邪？」 拒不應。 會其地數震，攀龍心悸，念母思歸，遂謝病。 故事，外官謝病不再起，吏部重其才，用何景明便，特予告歸。 予告者，例得再起。
Li Panlong, courtesy name Yuqin, came from Licheng. His father died when he was nine; though poor, he drove himself through his books. As a student he joined Xu Bangcai and Yin Shidan in learning poetry. He soon tired of philology, devoured the ancients each day, and neighbors called him mad. He became a jinshi in 1544 and entered the Ministry of Justice as a director. Rising through the ministry ranks, he became prefect of Shunde and governed with real kindness. Recommended by his superiors, he was made Shaanxi vice education intendant. When his fellow townsman Yin Xue, now grand coordinator, demanded an essay by official letter, Panlong snapped, "Is literature to be ordered up like a clerk? He refused outright. Earthquakes shook the region; his nerves failed, he longed for his mother, and he asked leave on account of illness. Custom held that an outside officer who quit for illness never returned; the ministry, cherishing his gifts, followed He Jingming's case and allowed him home on special leave. Such leave normally carried the right of recall.
65
攀龍既歸，構白雪樓，名日益高。 賓客造門，率謝不見，大吏至，亦然，以是得簡傲聲。 獨故交殷、許輩過從靡間。 時徐中行亦家居，坐客恆滿，二人聞之，交相得也。 歸田將十年，隆慶改元，薦起浙江副使，改參政，擢河南按察使。 攀龍至是摧亢為和，賓客亦稍稍進。。 無何，奔母喪歸，哀毀得疾，疾少間，一日心痛卒。
Back home he raised the White Snow Tower, and his renown mounted day by day. Visitors were usually turned away—even grandees—and he won a name for haughtiness. Only old companions like Yin and Xu still passed freely through his gate. Xu Zhongxing also lived in retirement with a house always full; hearing of each other, the two men became fast friends. Near ten years at home, he was recalled at the Longqing accession as Zhejiang vice commissioner, then administration commissioner, then Henan surveillance commissioner. By then he had softened his bearing, and visitors slowly came back. Soon his mother died; mourning broke his health, and when he seemed to mend, sudden heart pain killed him in a day.
66
攀龍之始官刑曹也，與濮州李先芳、臨清謝榛、孝豐吳維岳輩倡詩社。 王世貞初釋褐，先芳引入社，遂與攀龍定交。 明年，先芳出為外吏。 又二年，宗臣、梁有譽入，是為五子。 未幾，徐中行、吳國倫亦至，乃改稱七子。 諸人多少年，才高氣銳，互相標榜，視當世無人，七才子之名播天下。 擯先芳、維岳不與，已而榛亦被擯，攀龍遂為之魁。 其持論謂文自西京，詩自天寶而下，俱無足觀，於本朝獨推李夢陽。 諸子翕然和之，非是，則詆為宋學。 攀龍才思勁鷙，名最高，獨心重世貞，天下亦並稱王、李。 又與李夢陽、何景明並稱何、李、王、李。 其為詩，務以聲調勝，所擬樂府，或更古數字為己作，文則聱牙戟口，讀者至不能終篇。 好之者推為一代宗匠，亦多受世抉摘雲。 自號滄溟。
Panlong's first post in Justice brought him together with Li Xianfang, Xie Zhen, and Wu Weiyue in a poetry club. Wang Shizhen had just entered office; Xianfang introduced him to the club, and he and Panlong became intimate friends. The following year Xianfang left for a provincial post. Two years on, Zongchen and Liang Youyu joined—the Five Masters. Soon Xu Zhongxing and Wu Guolun came as well, and the group became the Seven Masters. Young, brilliant, and fierce, they hailed one another and disdained their contemporaries until the Seven Talents were known everywhere. Xianfang and Weiyue were pushed aside; Zhen followed; Panlong stood at their head. They taught that prose after the Western Han and poetry after the Tianbao reign were worthless, and in the Ming they upheld Li Mengyang alone. The rest echoed him; dissent was mocked as Song learning. Panlong's genius was savage and his fame supreme; he prized Shizhen above all, and the age spoke of Wang and Li in one breath. With Mengyang and He Jingming he formed the quartet He, Li, Wang, and Li. His verse aimed at sound; in ballads he sometimes rewrote a few archaic words as his own; his prose bit and stuck in the throat until readers could not finish a line. Followers called him master of the age; critics found much to fault, it is said. He took the sobriquet Cangming.
67
梁有譽、宗臣、徐中行、吳國倫，皆嘉靖二十九年進士。 有譽除刑部主事，居三年，以念母告歸，杜門讀書。 大吏至，辭不見。 卒年三十六。
Liang Youyu, Zongchen, Xu Zhongxing, and Wu Guolun all became jinshi in 1550. Youyu served three years in Justice, then left to mourn his mother and read behind closed doors. He would not receive visiting grandees. He died at thirty-six.
68
宗臣，字子相，揚州興化人。 由刑部主事調考功，謝病歸，築室百花洲上，讀書其中。 起故官，移文選。 進稽勛員外郎，嚴嵩惡之，出為福建參議。 倭薄城，臣守西門，納鄉人避難者萬人。 或言賊且迫，曰：「我在，不憂賊也。」 與主者共擊退之。 尋遷提學副使，卒官，士民皆哭。
Zongchen, courtesy name Zixiang, came from Xinghua in Yangzhou. Moved from Justice to Merit, he quit for illness, built a study on Baihua Islet, and lived among his books. Called back, he was shifted to Appointments. Raised in the Merit Office, he earned Yan Song's enmity and was posted to Fujian as administration commissioner. As raiders neared the walls he held the west gate and sheltered ten thousand refugees. When others warned the enemy was upon them, he said, "While I stand here, the pirates will not enter. He and the commander drove them off. He was made vice education intendant, died in post, and gentry and people wept together.
69
徐中行，字子輿，長興人。 美姿容，善飲酒。 由刑部主事歷員外郎、郎中，稍遷汀州知府。 廣東賊蕭五來犯，御之，有功。 策其且走，俾武平令徐甫宰邀擊之，讓功甫宰，甫宰得優擢。 尋以父憂歸，補汝寧，坐大計，貶長蘆鹽運判官。 行湖廣僉事，掩捕湖盜柯彩鳳，得其積貯，活饑民萬余。 累官江西左布政使，萬曆六年卒官。 中行性好客，無賢愚貴賤，應之不倦，故其死也，人多哀之。
Xu Zhongxing, courtesy name Ziyu, came from Changxing. He was fine-looking and a great drinker. Starting in Justice, he rose to outside director and director and became prefect of Tingzhou. When the Guangdong rebel Xiao Wu attacked, he repelled them with credit. Seeing they would run, he set Magistrate Xu Fu of Wuping to ambush them and gave Fu the glory; Fu won a fine promotion. After his father's death he served at Runan, then was demoted at review to salt transport judge at Changlu. As Huguang assistant surveillance commissioner he seized the lake pirate Ke Caifeng, took his stores, and fed more than ten thousand hungry people. He ended as left administration commissioner of Jiangxi and died in office in 1578. Zhongxing welcomed all comers without weariness, noble or mean, wise or dull, and many grieved when he died.
70
吳國倫，字明卿，興國人。 由中書舍人擢兵科給事中。 楊繼盛死，倡眾賻送，忤嚴嵩，假他事謫江西按察司知事。 量移南康推官，調歸德，居二歲棄去。 嵩敗，起建寧同知，累遷河南左參政，大計罷歸。 國倫才氣橫放，好客輕財。 歸田後聲名籍甚，求名之士，不東走太倉，則西走興國。 萬曆時，世貞既沒，國倫猶無恙，在七子中最為老壽。
Wu Guolun, courtesy name Mingqing, came from Xingguo. Raised from the Secretariat, he became a war bureau supervising secretary. After Yang Jisheng's death he organized public mourning gifts, angered Yan Song, and was banished to a Jiangxi surveillance registrar's post on a trumped-up charge. Moved to Nankang magistrate and then Guide, he abandoned office after two years. After Song's fall he returned as Jianning assistant prefect, rose to left Henan administration commissioner, and went home dismissed at review. Guolun was brimming with talent, hospitable, and careless of money. In retirement his name thundered; ambitious youths went east to Taicang or west to Xingguo. In Wanli times, after Shizhen was gone, Guolun alone survived—the longest-lived of the Seven.
71
王世貞附汪道昆胡應麟弟世懋
Wang Shizhen; appended: Wang Daokun, Hu Yinglin, and his brother Shimao
72
王世貞，字元美，太倉人，右都御史忬子也。 生有異稟，書過目，終身不忘。 年十九，舉嘉靖二十六年進士。 授刑部主事。 世貞好為詩古文，官京師，入王宗沐、李先芳、吳維岳等詩社，又與李攀龍、宗臣、梁有譽、徐中行、吳國倫輩相倡和，紹述何、李，名日益盛。 屢遷員外郎、郎中。
Wang Shizhen, courtesy name Yuanmei, came from Taicang, son of Right Censor-in-Chief Wang Shi. He was born with a prodigious memory: a book once seen was never forgotten. At nineteen he took the jinshi in 1547. He entered the Ministry of Justice as a director. In the capital he joined the poetry clubs of Wang Zongmu, Li Xianfang, and Wu Weiyue, allied with Panlong and the Seven Masters, carried on He and Li, and grew ever more famous. He rose to outside director and director.
73
奸人閻姓者犯法，匿錦衣都督陸炳家，世貞搜得之。 炳介嚴嵩以請，不許。 楊繼盛下吏，時進湯藥。 其妻訟夫冤，為代草。 既死，復棺殮之。 嵩大恨。 吏部兩擬提學皆不用，用為青州兵備副使。 父忬以濼河失事，嵩構之，論死系獄。 世貞解官奔赴，與弟世懋日蒲伏嵩門，涕泣求貸。 嵩陰持忬獄，而時為謾語以寬之。 兩人又日囚服跽道旁，遮諸貴人輿，搏顙乞救。 諸貴人畏嵩不敢言，忬竟死西市。 兄弟哀號欲絕，持喪歸，蔬食三年，不入內寢。 既除服，猶卻冠帶，苴履葛巾，不赴宴會。 隆慶元年八月，兄弟伏闕訟父冤，言為嵩所害，大學士徐階左右之，復忬官。 世貞意不欲出，會詔求直言，疏陳法祖宗、正殿名、慶恩義、寬禁例、修典章、推德意、昭爵賞、練兵實八事，以應詔。 無何，吏部用言官薦，令以副使涖大名。 遷浙江右參政，山西按察使。 母憂歸，服除，補湖廣，旋改廣西右布政使，入為太僕卿。
A criminal named Yan took refuge with Guard Commander Lu Bing; Shizhen found and arrested him. Bing pleaded through Yan Song, but Shizhen would not yield. While Yang Jisheng lay in prison, Shizhen sent him food and medicine. He wrote the memorial for Yang's wife when she sued for her husband's innocence. After Yang's execution he saw to a proper coffining and burial. Song hated him bitterly. Twice the ministry proposed him for education intendant and was refused; he was sent to Qingzhou as vice commissioner for military affairs. His father Wang Shi was framed by Song over the Luo River affair, condemned to death, and jailed. Shizhen quit office and ran to the capital; he and Shimao knelt daily at Song's gate in tears, begging for their father's life. Song kept the case hanging while murmuring words of comfort. Daily they wore prison dress and knelt by the road, halting nobles' carriages and kowtowing for help. The great men feared Song and were silent; Shi died at the western market. The brothers' grief nearly killed them; they bore the body home, ate plain food for three years, and never entered the women's quarters. Even after mourning they shunned official dress, wore hemp sandals and plain cloth, and avoided feasts. In Longqing's first year they knelt at the gate to accuse Song of murdering their father; Xu Jie aided them, and Shi's honor was restored. Reluctant to serve, he answered the call for frank counsel with eight reforms touching law, ritual, grace, prohibitions, statutes, virtue, honors, and military strength. Soon the ministry, on censors' advice, sent him to Daming as vice commissioner. He became right administration commissioner in Zhejiang and surveillance commissioner in Shanxi. After his mother's death he served in Huguang, moved to right Guangxi administration commissioner, and entered the capital as Vice Minister of the Imperial Stud.
74
萬曆二年九月以右副都御史撫治鄖陽，數條奏屯田、戍守、兵食事宜，咸切大計。 有奸僧偽稱樂平王次子，奉高皇帝御容、金牒，行游天下。 世貞曰：「宗籓不得出城，而訁壽張如此，必偽也。」 捕訊之，服辜。 張居正枋國，以世貞同年生，有意引之，世貞不甚親附。 所部荊州地震，引京房占，謂臣道太盛，坤維不寧，用以諷居正。 居正婦弟辱江陵令，世貞論奏不少貸。 居正積不能堪，會遷南京大理卿，為給事中楊節所劾，即取旨罷之。 後起應天府尹，復被劾罷。 居正歿，起南京刑部右侍郎，辭疾不赴。 久之，所善王錫爵秉政，起南京兵部右侍郎。 先是，世貞為副都御史及大理卿、應天尹與侍郎，品皆正三。 世貞通理前俸，得考滿陰子。 比擢南京刑部尚書，御史黃仁榮言世貞先被劾，不當計俸，據故事力爭。 世貞乃三疏移疾歸。 二十一年卒於家。
In Wanli 2 he became Right Vice Censor-in-Chief for Yunyang and sent memorial after memorial on farming garrisons, defense, and rations, each striking the heart of policy. A false monk posed as the Prince of Leping's second son, bearing the Hongwu emperor's image and a golden warrant, and wandered the empire. Shizhen said, "Imperial clansmen may not leave their cities; to seek long life at Shouzhang in this way must be imposture. He seized and interrogated the man, who confessed. Zhang Juzheng ruled the realm; though they had taken the jinshi together, Shizhen kept his distance. When Jingzhou shook, he cited Jing Fang to say that excessive ministerial power disturbed the southwest of the earth—a pointed warning to Juzheng. When Juzheng's brother-in-law abused the magistrate of Jiangling, Shizhen impeached him without mercy. Juzheng's resentment mounted; when Shizhen moved to Nanjing as Grand Court president, Yang Jie impeached him and the throne dismissed him at once. Recalled as Yingtian prefect, he was impeached and removed again. When Juzheng died he was offered Nanjing Vice Minister of Justice but pleaded illness and stayed away. Years later his ally Wang Xizhe governed and called him back as Nanjing Vice Minister of War. Before this, as vice censor-in-chief, Grand Court president, Yingtian prefect, and vice minister, he had held regular third rank. He counted his earlier salaries and at review qualified to enfeoff a son by yin privilege. Promoted to Nanjing Minister of Justice, Censor Huang Renrong argued that prior impeachment barred counting service; he fought by precedent. Shizhen sent three memorials pleading illness and went home. He died at home in 1593.
75
世貞始與李攀龍狎主文盟，攀龍歿，獨操柄二十年。 才最高，地望最顯，聲華意氣籠蓋海內。 一時士大夫及山人、詞客、衲子、羽流，莫不奔走門下。 片言褒賞，聲價驟起。 其持論，文必西漢，詩必盛唐，大歷以後書勿讀，而藻飾太甚。 晚年，攻者漸起，世貞顧漸造平淡。 病亟時，劉鳳往視，見其手蘇子瞻集，諷玩不置也。
He first shared literary rule with Panlong; after Panlong's death he alone led the field for twenty years. His gifts, rank, and aura overshadowed the realm. Scholars, recluses, poets, monks, and Daoists all flocked to his door. A single word of praise from him could make a reputation overnight. He held that prose must be Western Han and poetry High Tang, scorned post-Dali work, yet gilded his own writing too heavily. Late in life critics multiplied, and he moved toward a plainer style. On his deathbed Liu Feng found him clutching Su Dongpo's collected works, unable to stop reading.
76
世貞自號鳳洲，又號弇州山人。 其所與游者，大抵見其集中，各為標目。 曰前五子者，攀龍、中行、有譽、國倫、臣也。 後五子則南昌余曰德、蒲圻魏裳、歙汪道昆、銅梁張佳胤、新蔡張九一也。 廣五子則昆山俞允文、浚盧柟、濮州李先芳、孝豐吳維岳、順德歐大任也。 續五子則陽曲王道行、東明石星、從化黎民表、南昌硃多火煃、常熟趙用賢也。 末五子則京山李維楨、鄞屠隆、南樂魏允中、蘭溪胡應麟，而用賢復與焉。 其所去取，頗以好惡為高下。
He called himself Lord of Phoenix Islet and the Mountain Man of Yanzhou. His companions are catalogued in his collected works under set titles. The Former Five were Panlong, Zhongxing, Youyu, Guolun, and Zongchen. The Latter Five were Yu Yuede of Nanchang, Wei Shang of Puqi, Wang Daokun of She, Zhang Jiayin of Tongliang, and Zhang Jiuyi of Xincai. The Broad Five were Yu Yunwen of Kunshan, Lu Kan of Jun, Li Xianfang of Puzhou, Wu Weiyue of Xiaofeng, and Ou Daren of Shunde. The Continued Five were Wang Daoxing of Yangqu, Shi Xing of Dongming, Li Minbiao of Conghua, Zhu Duohuo of Nanchang, and Zhao Yongxian of Changshu. The Final Five were Li Weizhen of Jingshan, Tu Long of Yin, Wei Yunzhong of Nanle, Hu Yinglin of Lanxi, with Yongxian listed twice. His lists rose and fell largely with his personal favor.
77
余曰德，字德甫，張佳胤，字肖甫，張九一，字助甫，世貞詩所謂「吾黨有三甫」也。 魏裳，字順甫，與曰德俱嘉靖二十九年進士。 曰德終福建副使，裳終濟南知府。 九一，嘉靖三十二年進士，終巡撫寧夏僉都御史。 佳胤自有傳。
Yu Yuede (Defu), Zhang Jiayin (Xiaofu), and Zhang Jiuyi (Zhufu) were the "three fus" of his circle. Wei Shang, courtesy name Shunfu, and Yuede both took the jinshi in 1550. Yuede finished as Fujian vice commissioner; Shang as Jinan prefect. Jiuyi became a jinshi in 1553 and died as censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Ningxia. Zhang Jiayin has a separate biography.
78
汪道昆，字伯玉，世貞同年進士。 大學士張居正亦其同年生也，父七十壽，道昆文當其意，居正亟稱之。 世貞筆之《藝苑卮》曰：「文繁而有法者於鱗，簡而有法者伯玉。」 道昆由是名大起。 晚年官兵部左侍郎，世貞亦嘗貳兵部，天下稱「兩司馬」。 世貞頗不樂，嘗自悔獎道昆為違心之論雲。
Wang Daokun, courtesy name Boyu, took the jinshi the same year as Shizhen. Zhang Juzheng was their classmate; Daokun's piece for Juzheng's father's seventieth birthday delighted him and won repeated praise. Shizhen wrote in the "Art Garden Goblet": "Elaborate but disciplined—Yuqin; plain but disciplined—Boyu. Daokun's fame soared. Late in life he became Left Vice Minister of War; Shizhen too had served in War, and people called them the "Two Marshals." Shizhen resented the pairing and reportedly regretted praising Daokun as flattery against his conscience.
79
胡應麟，幼能詩。 萬曆四年舉於鄉，久不第，築室山中，構書四萬余卷，手自編次，多所撰著。 攜詩謁世貞，世貞喜而激賞之，歸益自負。 所著《詩藪》二十卷，大抵奉世貞《卮言》為律令，而敷衍其說，謂詩家之有世貞，集大成之尼父也。 其貢諛如此。
Hu Yinglin wrote poetry from childhood. He won the provincial degree in 1576 but never passed the metropolitan; he built a mountain studio, gathered forty thousand books, catalogued them himself, and wrote abundantly. Presenting his verse to Shizhen, he was warmly praised and came home prouder than ever. His twenty-juan "Forest of Poetry" treated Shizhen's "Goblet Words" as canon and declared him the Confucius who summed up all poetic schools. His adulation went that far.
80
世貞弟世懋，字敬美。 嘉靖三十八年成進士，即遭父憂。 父雪，始選南京禮部主事。 歷陝西、福建提學副使，再遷太常少卿，先世貞三年卒。 好學，善詩文，名亞其兄。 世貞力推引之，以為勝己，攀龍、道昆輩因稱為「少美」。
Shizhen's brother Shimao, courtesy name Jingmei. He took the jinshi in 1559 and immediately entered mourning for his father. After his father's name was cleared he entered the Nanjing Ministry of Rites as a director. He was vice education intendant in Shaanxi and Fujian, rose twice to Vice Minister of Sacrifices, and died three years before his brother. He loved learning and wrote well; his fame stood just below his brother's. Shizhen pushed him forward as better than himself; Panlong and Daokun called him "Young Mei."
81
世貞子士騏，字冏伯，舉鄉試第一，登萬曆十七年進士，終吏部員外郎，亦能文。
His son Shiqi, courtesy name Jiongbai, topped the provincial lists, became a jinshi in 1589, rose to an outside director in Personnel, and wrote ably.
82
歸有光子子慕附胡友信
Gui Youguang; his son Zimu; appended: Hu Youxin
83
歸有光，字熙甫，昆山人。 九歲能屬文，弱冠盡通《五經》、《三史》諸書，師事同邑魏校。 嘉靖十九年舉鄉試，八上春官不第。 徙居嘉定安亭江上，讀書談道。 學徒常數百人，稱為震川先生。 四十四年始成進士，授長興知縣。 用古教化為治。 每聽訟，引婦女兒童案前，刺刺作吳語，斷訖遣去，不具獄。 大吏令不便，輒寢閣不行。 有所擊斷，直行己意。 大吏多惡之，調順德通判，專轄馬政。 明世，進士為令無遷卒者，名為遷，實重抑之也。 隆慶四年，大學士高拱、趙貞吉雅知有光，引為南京太僕丞，留掌內閣制敕房，修《世宗實錄》，卒官。
Gui Youguang, courtesy name Xifu, came from Kunshan. At nine he wrote prose; in youth he mastered the Five Classics, the Three Histories, and more, studying under Wei Jiao of his district. He won the provincial degree in 1540 and failed the metropolitan examination eight times. He moved to Jiading on the Anting River to read and teach. Hundreds of students gathered; they called him Master Zhenchuan. He finally passed the jinshi in 1565 and was made magistrate of Changxing. He ruled through ritual and moral example in the ancient manner. At trial he called women and children forward, questioned them in plain Wu dialect, ruled, and dismissed them without formal writs. Orders from superiors that struck him as wrong he often left unexecuted in his desk. When he did act, he acted on his own judgment. Superiors resented him; he was moved to Shunde as assistant prefect in charge of horse administration only. No Ming jinshi magistrate had ever been promoted or dismissed at term's end; though termed a transfer, it was real disgrace. In 1570 Gao Gong and Zhao Zhenji, who knew him, made him Nanjing Vice Director of the Imperial Stud, kept him in the Secretariat drafting edicts, and set him to the Shizong Veritable Records; he died in post.
84
有光為古文，原本經術，好《太史公書》，得其神理。 時王世貞主盟文壇，有光力相觸排，目為妄庸巨子。 世貞大憾，其後亦心折有光，為之贊曰：「千載有公，繼韓、歐陽。 余豈異趨，久而自傷。」 其推重如此。
His prose grew from the classics; he loved Sima Qian and caught his spirit. Wang Shizhen then ruled the literary world; Youguang openly fought him and called him a vain, second-rate pontiff. Shizhen was stung, yet later bowed to Youguang and wrote, "For a thousand years there has been such a man—heir to Han Yu and Ouyang Xiu. Was I not of his way? Long have I hurt for it alone. He honored him to that degree.
85
有光少子子慕，字季思。 舉萬曆十九年鄉試，再被放，即屏居江村，與無錫高攀龍最善。 其歿也，巡按御史祁彪佳請於朝，贈翰林待詔。
Youguang's son Zimu, courtesy name Jisi. He won the provincial degree in 1591, failed the metropolitan exam twice, retired to the river village, and was closest to Gao Panlong of Wuxi. After his death Qi Bujia memorialized the throne and he was posthumously made Hanlin awaiting edicts.
86
有光制舉義，湛深經術，卓然成大家。 後德清胡友信與齊名，世並稱歸、胡。
Youguang's civil-examination prose was deeply classical and made him a master. Later Hu Youxin of Deqing shared his fame; the age spoke of Gui and Hu together.
87
友信，字成之，隆慶二年進士。 授順德知縣。 歲賦率奸胥攬輸，稍以所入啖長吏，謂之月錢。 友信與民約，歲為三限，多寡皆自輸，不取贏，閭里無妄費，而公賦以充。 海寇竊發，官軍往討，民間驛騷。 部內烏洲、大洲，賊所巢穴，諸惡少為賊耳目。 友信悉勾得之，捕誅其魁，余黨解散。 鄉立四應社，一鄉有警，三鄉鼓而援之，不援者罪同賊，賊不敢發。 歲大凶，民飢死無敢為惡者。
Youxin, courtesy name Chengzhi, became a jinshi in 1568. He was made magistrate of Shunde. Yearly taxes were usually cornered by venal clerks who delivered the grain and slipped a portion to their superiors as "monthly money." He agreed with the people on three annual installments, direct payment without padding; villages wasted nothing and the treasury was filled. Coastal pirates rose; official campaigns threw the district into turmoil. Wuzhou and Dazhou in his county were pirate lairs, and local toughs spied for them. Youxin traced every informer, executed the chiefs, and the gangs broke up. He organized Four Responses societies—one village's alarm brought three villages drumming to the rescue; refusal equaled treason, and pirates dared not strike. In a terrible famine people died of hunger, yet none turned to crime.
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初，友信慮民輕法，涖以嚴，後令行禁止，更為寬大，或旬日不笞一人。 其治縣如家，弊修墮舉，學校城池，咸為更新。 督課邑子弟，教化興起。 卒官，士民立祠奉祀。
At first he ruled sternly lest the people despise the law; when order held he softened, sometimes passing ten days without a flogging. He ran the county like a home—repairing what was ruined, renewing schools and walls alike. He drilled the local youth and lifted them through teaching. He died in post; gentry and people built a shrine in his memory.
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友信博通經史，學有根柢。 明代舉子業最擅名者，前則王鏊、唐順之，後則震川、思泉。 思泉，友信別號也。
Youxin knew classics and histories thoroughly and his scholarship ran deep. Of Ming writers famed in the examination tradition, Wang Ao and Tang Shunzhi came first; Zhenchuan and Siquan followed. Siquan was Youxin's style name.