1
王澍蔣衡徐用錫王文治梁巘梁同書
Wang Shu, Jiang Heng, Xu Yongxi, Wang Wenzhi, Liang Yan, and Liang Tongshu
2
鄧石如錢伯坰吳育楊沂孫吳熙載梅植之楊亮
Deng Shiru, Qian Bokan, Wu Yu, Yang Yisun, Wu Xizai, Mei Zhizhi, and Yang Liang
3
王澍，字若林，號虛舟，江南金壇人。 績學工文，尤以書名。 康熙五十一年進士，入翰林，累遷戶科給事中。 雍正初，詔以六科隸都察院。 澍謂科臣掌封駁，品卑任重，儻隸台臣，將廢科參，偕同官崔致遠、康五端抗疏力爭。 世宗怒。 立召詰之，從容奏對，上意稍解，遂改吏部員外郎。 越二年，告歸，益耽書，名播海內。 摹古名搨殆遍，四體並工。 於唐賢歐、褚兩家，致力尤深，輒跋尾自道所得。 後內閣學士翁方綱持論與異，謂其篆書得古法，行書次之，正書又次之。 所著題跋及淳化閣帖考正，並行於世。
Wang Shu, whose courtesy name was Ruolin and style name Xuzhou, came from Jintan in Jiangnan. He was deeply learned and accomplished as a writer, yet he was above all renowned for his calligraphy. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifty-first year of the Kangxi reign, entered the Hanlin Academy, and rose in due course to supervising censor of the Household Branch. Early in the Yongzheng reign, an imperial edict subordinated the Six Offices to the Censorate. Shu argued that the Office censors handled sealing and rebuttal of memorials—low in rank yet weighty in duty—and that subordinating them to the Censorate would effectively abolish Office participation. He joined his colleagues Cui Zhiyuan and Kang Wuduan in a forceful joint memorial of protest. The Yongzheng Emperor flew into a rage. The emperor summoned him at once for interrogation; Shu answered with composure, the sovereign's anger eased somewhat, and he was reassigned as a vice director in the Ministry of Personnel. Two years later he retired to his home district, threw himself ever more deeply into calligraphy, and his reputation spread throughout the empire. He traced nearly every celebrated ancient rubbing and mastered all four standard script forms. He devoted himself above all to the Tang masters Ouyang Xun and Chu Suiliang, and habitually added colophons explaining what he had learned from each work. Later the Grand Secretary Weng Fanggang took a different view, holding that Shu's seal script preserved the ancient manner, his running script came next, and his regular script ranked below both. His colophons and his Critical Study of the Chunhua Pavilion Rubbings both circulated widely.
4
自明、清之際，工書者，河北以王鐸、傅山為冠，繼則江左王鴻緒、姜宸英、何焯、汪士鋐、張照等，接踵而起，多見他傳。 大抵淵源出於明文徵明、董其昌兩家，鴻緒、照為董氏嫡派，焯及澍則於文氏為近。 澍論書尤詳，一時所宗。
From the Ming-Qing transition onward, the leading calligraphers of Hebei were Wang Duo and Fu Shan; in the lower Yangtze region Wang Hongxu, Jiang Chenying, He Chao, Wang Shihong, Zhang Zhao, and others followed in quick succession—most of whom are treated in other biographies. Their lineages for the most part traced back to the Ming masters Wen Zhengming and Dong Qichang: Hongxu and Zhao were direct heirs of Dong Qichang's tradition, while He Chao and Wang Shu stood closer to Wen Zhengming's. Shu's writings on calligraphy were especially thorough, and his age looked to him as an authority.
5
蔣衡，改名振生，字湘帆，晚號拙老人。 與澍同里。 鍵戶十二年，寫十三經。 乾隆中，進上，高宗命刻石國學，授衡國子監學正，終不出。 衡早歲好遊，足跡半海內，觀碑關中，獲晉、唐以來名跡，臨摹三百餘種，曰拙存堂臨古帖。 晚與澍相期斫勝，每臨一書，相從質證。 子驥，孫和，並以書世其家。
Jiang Heng, who later changed his name to Zhensheng, had the courtesy name Xiangfan and in his later years took the sobriquet Zhuolaoren, 'the Clumsy Old Man.' He came from the same home district as Wang Shu. He shut himself indoors for twelve years and copied out the entire Thirteen Classics in his own hand. During the Qianlong reign he presented his work to the throne; the Qianlong Emperor ordered it cut in stone at the Imperial Academy and appointed Heng director of studies at the Directorate of Education, yet he never left home to serve. In his youth Heng loved to travel and ranged over half the empire; in Guanzhong he studied steles and acquired celebrated works from the Jin and Tang dynasties onward, producing more than three hundred copies collected as the Zhuocuntang Copies of Ancient Rubbings. In later life he and Wang Shu made a practice of testing each other's skill: whenever one copied a classic work, the other would join him to critique and verify the result. His son Jiang Ji and grandson Jiang He both carried on the family's reputation in calligraphy.
6
驥尤精分隸，著漢隸譌體集、古帖字體、續書法論各一卷，兼工畫。 其言曰：「漢、魏字體不同，性情各異。 書須懸臂中鋒，而用力以和平為主。 作畫之提頓逆折，參差映帶，其理一爾。」 皆闡明其先說。
Ji was especially accomplished in clerical and official script; he wrote one fascicle each of Collected Errata in Han Clerical Script, Character Forms in Ancient Rubbings, and Continued Treatise on Calligraphy, and was also an accomplished painter. He wrote: 'The scripts of Han and Wei differ, and each bears a distinct temperament. Writing requires the suspended arm and a centered brush tip; force should above all be even and harmonious. The lift, pause, counter-turn, and staggered echoing that govern painting follow the very same principle. These remarks all elaborate the doctrines of his forebears.
7
徐用錫，字壇長，宿遷人，佔籍大興。 登鄉舉，康熙四十八年進士，官翰林院編修。 從李光地遊，究心樂律、音韻、歷數、書法。 五十四年，分校會試，嚴絕請託，銜之者反嗾言官劾其把持闈事，聖祖原之，終以浮議罷歸。 乾隆初，起授翰林院侍讀，年已八十。 尋告歸，卒於家。 用錫鄉舉出姜宸英之門，與何焯同為光地客，論書多與二家相出入。 精於鑑別古人，言筆法亦多心得，著字學劄記二卷，載圭美堂集中。
Xu Yongxi, courtesy name Tanchang, was a native of Suqian who registered his domicile in Daxing. After passing the provincial examination he took the jinshi degree in the forty-eighth year of Kangxi and served as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy. He studied under Li Guangdi and devoted himself to music theory, phonology, calendrical science, and calligraphy. In the fifty-fourth year he served as an associate examiner for the metropolitan examination and refused patronage requests outright; his enemies stirred up censors to accuse him of manipulating the examination hall. Though the Kangxi Emperor excused him, he was eventually forced home by unsubstantiated gossip. Early in the Qianlong reign he was recalled and appointed a Hanlin reader at the age of eighty. He soon retired again and died at home. Yongxi had passed the provincial examination under Jiang Chenying; he and He Chao were both protégés of Li Guangdi, and his views on calligraphy largely aligned with, yet sometimes diverged from, those two masters. He was an expert appraiser of ancient calligraphy and had many original insights on brush technique; his two-fascicle Notes on Character Studies is preserved in the Guimeitang Collection.
8
王文治，字禹卿，江蘇丹徒人。 生有夙慧，十二歲能詩，即工書。 長游京師，從翰林院侍讀全魁使琉球，文字播於海外。 乾隆三十五年，成一甲三名進士，授翰林院編修。 逾三年，大考第一，擢侍讀。 出為雲南臨安知府，因事鐫級，乞病歸。 後當復官，厭吏事，遂不出，往來吳、越間，主講杭州、鎮江書院。 高宗南巡，至錢塘僧寺，見文治書碑，大賞愛之。 內廷有以告，招之出者，亦不應。
Wang Wenzhi, courtesy name Yuqing, was a native of Dantu in Jiangsu. He was gifted from childhood: at twelve he could write poetry and was already accomplished in calligraphy. As a young man he traveled to the capital and accompanied the Hanlin reader Quan Kui on a mission to Ryukyu, where his writing won renown overseas. In the thirty-fifth year of Qianlong he placed third in the first rank of jinshi graduates and was appointed a Hanlin compiler. Three years later he ranked first in the palace examination and was promoted to Hanlin reader. He was posted as prefect of Lin'an in Yunnan, but after an incident his rank was reduced; he pleaded illness and returned home. When he was later eligible for reinstatement he had grown weary of official business and declined to serve, traveling between the Wu and Yue regions while lecturing at academies in Hangzhou and Zhenjiang. On a southern tour the Qianlong Emperor visited a Buddhist temple in Qiantang, saw a stele inscribed by Wenzhi, and was deeply impressed. Word reached the inner court, and although he was summoned to serve, he would not answer the call.
9
喜聲伎，行輒以歌伶一部自隨，辨論音律，窮極幽渺。 客至張樂，窮朝暮不倦。 海內求書者，多有餽遺，率費於聲伎。 然客散，默然禪定，夜坐，肋未嘗至席。 持佛戒，自言吾詩與書皆禪理也。 卒，年七十三。
He loved music and the theater and always traveled with a company of singers; in discussions of pitch and mode he explored the subtlest refinements. When guests arrived he would hold forth with music from dawn to dusk without tiring. Patrons from across the empire who sought his calligraphy often sent him gifts, nearly all of which he spent on music and performers. Yet once his guests had left he would sit in silent Chan meditation through the night, never letting his ribs touch the mat. He observed the Buddhist precepts and declared, 'My poetry and my calligraphy are both expressions of Chan insight.' He died at the age of seventy-three.
10
所著詩集外有快雨堂題跋，略見論書之旨。 文治書名並時與劉墉相埒，人稱之曰「濃墨宰相，淡墨探花」。 與姚鼐交最深，論最契，當時書名，鼐不及文治之遠播； 後包世臣極推鼐書，與劉墉並列上品，名轉出文治上。
Besides his collected poems he left Kuaiyutang Colophons, which convey something of his views on calligraphy. Wenzhi's reputation in his day rivaled that of Liu Yong; people nicknamed them 'the thick-ink Chancellor and the light-ink Flower of the Court.' His closest friend and keenest intellectual companion was Yao Nai; at the time Yao's calligraphic fame did not travel as widely as Wenzhi's; later Bao Shichen championed Yao's calligraphy, ranking it with Liu Yong's among the finest, and Yao's reputation eventually eclipsed Wenzhi's.
11
梁巘，字聞山，安徽亳州人。 乾隆二十七年舉人，官四川巴縣知縣。 晚辭官，主講壽春書院，以工李北海書名於世。 初為咸安宮教習，至京師，聞欽天監正何國宗曾以事系刑部，時尚書張照亦以他事在系，得其筆法，因詣家就問。 國宗年已八十餘，病不能對客，遣一孫傳語。 巘質以所聞，國宗答曰：「君已得之矣。」 贈以所臨米、黃二帖。
Liang Yan, courtesy name Wenshan, was a native of Bozhou in Anhui. He passed the provincial examination in the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong and served as magistrate of Baxian in Sichuan. In later life he resigned his post, became head lecturer at the Shouchun Academy, and won fame for his mastery of the calligraphic manner of Li Yong of Beihai. He first served as an instructor at the Xian'an Palace; on reaching the capital he learned that the Director of the Astronomical Bureau He Guozong had once been held in the Ministry of Justice, and that the Minister Zhang Zhao had been detained at the same time and had learned He's brush technique—so Liang went to He's home to seek instruction. Guozong was already over eighty, too ill to receive visitors, and sent a grandson to speak for him. Liang questioned him about what he had learned; Guozong replied, 'You have already grasped it. He then presented him with his own copies of works after Mi Fu and Huang Tingjian.
12
後巘以語金壇段玉裁曰：「執筆之法，指以運臂，臂以運身。 凡捉筆，以大指尖與食指尖相對，筆正直在兩指尖之間，兩指尖相接如環，兩指本以上平，可安酒杯。 平其肘，腕不附幾，肘圓而兩指與筆正當胸，令全身之力，行於臂而湊於兩指尖。 兩指尖不圓如環，或如環而不平，則捉之也不緊，臂之力尚不能出，而況於身？ 緊則身之力全湊於指尖，而何有於臂？ 古人知指之不能運臂也，故使指頂相接以固筆，筆管可斷，指鍥痛不可勝，而後字中有力。 其以大指與食指也，謂之單勾； 其以大指與食指中指也，謂之雙勾； 中指者，所以輔食指之力也，總謂之'撥鐙法'。 王獻之七、八歲時學書，右軍從旁掣其筆不得，即謂此法。 捨此法，皆旁門外道。 二王以後，至唐、宋、元、明諸大家，口口相傳如是，董宗伯以授王司農鴻緒，司農以授張文敏，吾聞而知之。 本朝但有一張文敏耳，他未為善。 王虛舟用筆祗得一半，蔣湘帆知握筆而少作字樂趣。 世人但言無火氣，不知火氣使盡，而後可言無火氣也。 如此捉筆，則筆心不偏，中心透紙，紙上颯颯有聲。 直畫粗者濃墨兩分，中如有絲界，筆心為之主也。 如此捉筆，則必堅紙作字，輭薄紙當之易破。 其橫、直、撇、捺皆與今人殊，筆鋒所指，方向迥異，筆心總在每筆之中，無少偏也。 古人所謂屋漏痕、折釵股、錐畫沙、印印泥者，於此可悟入。」 巘少著述，所傳緒論僅此。 當時與梁同書並稱，巘曰「北梁」，同書曰「南梁」。
Later Liang told Duan Yucai of Jintan: 'In holding the brush, the fingers set the arm in motion, and the arm sets the whole body in motion. When you grasp the brush, set the tip of the thumb against the tip of the forefinger with the brush shaft upright between them; the two tips should meet like a ring, and from the knuckles upward the hand should be level enough to balance a wine cup. Keep the elbow level and the wrist off the desk; with the elbow rounded and the two fingers and brush aligned before the chest, the body's full strength should pass through the arm and concentrate at the two fingertips. If the fingertips do not form a true ring, or form a ring but are not level, the grip is not tight—the arm's force cannot be released, much less the body's. When the grip is tight, the body's entire force gathers at the fingertips—what role remains for the arm alone? The ancients knew the fingers cannot move the arm by themselves, so they joined the finger-tips to secure the brush—the shaft might snap, but the fingers' gripping pain was unbearable, and only then did the characters gain true force. Using the thumb and forefinger alone is called the single hook; using the thumb with forefinger and middle finger is called the double hook; the middle finger assists the forefinger's force—the whole technique is called the stirrup-pressing method. When Wang Xianzhi was seven or eight and learning calligraphy, Wang Xizhi tried to pull the brush away from beside him and could not—this is that very method. Abandon this method and every other way is a heterodox bypath. From the Two Wangs down through the great masters of Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming it was handed down mouth to mouth in just this way: Dong Qichang taught Wang Hongxu, Wang Hongxu taught Zhang Zhao, and I learned it by hearing it passed on. In our dynasty there has been only one Zhang Zhao; no one else has mastered it properly. Wang Shu has mastered only half of this brush method; Jiang Heng knows how to hold the brush but takes little pleasure in writing. People talk only of doing away with fiery vigor, not realizing that one can speak of being free of it only after that vigor has been fully spent. Hold the brush in this way and the brush core stays true; the center penetrates the paper, and the paper rustles audibly under the stroke. In a thick vertical stroke the ink may divide into two dark bands with a fine line between them like a silk thread—the brush core governs that effect. With this grip one must write on stiff paper; soft, thin paper will tear under the pressure. Its horizontals, verticals, slants, and presses all differ from modern practice; the brush tip points in wholly different directions, and the brush core always stays at the center of each stroke without the slightest deviation. The ancient metaphors of roof-leak traces, folded hairpin shanks, awl marks in sand, and a seal pressed into mud can all be understood through this practice.' Liang Yan wrote little; this is virtually all that survives of his transmitted theory. In his day he and Liang Tongshu were paired in fame: Yan was called 'Northern Liang' and Tongshu 'Southern Liang.'
13
梁同書，字元穎，晚號山舟，浙江錢塘人，大學士詩正子。 乾隆十七年，會試未第，高宗特賜與殿試，入翰林，大考，擢侍講。 淡於榮利，未老，因疾不出。 晚年重宴鹿鳴，加侍講學士銜。 卒，年九十三。 好書出天性，十二歲能為擘窠大字。 初法顏、柳，中年用米法，七十後乃變化。 名滿天下，求書者紙日數束，日本、琉球皆重之。
Liang Tongshu, courtesy name Yuanying, who in later life took the sobriquet Shanzhou, was a native of Qiantang in Zhejiang and the son of the Grand Secretary Liang Shizheng. In the seventeenth year of Qianlong he failed the metropolitan examination, but the Qianlong Emperor specially allowed him to take the palace examination; he entered the Hanlin Academy and, after the grand examination, was promoted to expositor. Indifferent to rank and gain, he withdrew from office while still comparatively young, pleading illness. In his later years he was again honored at the Luming banquet for senior graduates and granted the additional title of Hanlin expositor. He died at the age of ninety-three. His love of calligraphy was inborn; at twelve he could write large decorative characters. He began by studying Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan; in midlife he adopted Mi Fu's manner; only after seventy did his style fully mature into something his own. His fame filled the world; patrons sent him several bundles of paper each day seeking his writing, and collectors in Japan and Ryukyu prized his work highly.
14
嘗與張燕昌論書，略曰：「古人云『筆力直透紙背』，當與天馬行空參看。 今人誤認透紙，便如藥山所云『看穿牛皮』，終無是處。 蓋透紙者，狀其精氣結撰墨光浮溢耳，彼用筆如游絲者，何嘗不透紙背耶？ 用腕力使極輭之筆自見，譬如人持一彊者，使之直，則無所用力； 持一弱者，慾不使之偃，則全腕之力，自然集於兩指端。 其實書者只知指運，而不知有腕力也。 藏鋒之說，非筆如鈍錐之謂，自來書家從無不出鋒者，只是處處留得筆住，不使直走。 筆耍輭，輭則遒； 筆要長，長則靈； 筆耍飽，飽則腴； 落筆耍快，快則意出。 書家燥鋒曰渴筆，畫家亦有枯筆，二字判然不同。 渴則不潤，枯則死矣。 今人喜用硬筆故枯。 帖教人看，不教人摹。 今人只是刻舟求劍，將古人書摹畫如小兒寫仿本，就便形似，豈復有我？ 字耍有氣，氣須從熟得來。 有氣則有勢，大小、長短、高下、欹整，隨筆所至，自然貫注，成一片段，卻著不得絲毫擺佈，熟後自知。 中鋒之法，筆提得起，自然中，亦未嘗無兼用側鋒處，總為我一縷筆尖所使，雖不中亦中。 亂頭粗服非字也，求逸則野，求舊則拙，此處不可有半點名心在。」 同書平生書旨，與梁巘之異同，具見於此。
He once discussed calligraphy with Zhang Yanchang and remarked in part: 'The ancients said that brush force penetrates straight through the back of the paper—this should be read together with the image of heavenly horses roaming free. People today mistake penetrating the paper for what Master Yaoshan called 'seeing through ox-hide'—a notion that leads nowhere. Penetrating the paper describes how vital spirit gathers and ink-light seems to overflow the surface; those who wield the brush like gossamer—have they not also penetrated the back of the paper? Wrist force makes an extremely soft brush effective on its own; it is like holding something stiff—if you try to keep it straight, you have nowhere to apply force; but hold something weak and, because you do not want it to bend, the full force of the wrist naturally gathers at the two fingertips. In truth most calligraphers know only how the fingers move and are unaware of the wrist's role. The doctrine of hidden tip does not mean writing with a blunt awl; calligraphers have never failed to bring out the tip—they simply keep the brush dwelling at every turn rather than letting it run straight through. The brush should be supple; suppleness yields vigor; it should be long; length gives life; it must be well loaded with ink; fullness gives richness; the stroke must fall swiftly; speed brings the idea forth. Calligraphers speak of a 'thirsty brush' when the tip runs dry; painters also speak of a 'withered brush'—the two terms are by no means the same. Thirst means lack of moisture; withering means lifelessness. People today favor hard brushes, and that is why their writing looks lifeless. Model books are meant to be studied with the eye, not traced like exercises. People today merely chase fixed forms, copying ancient masters like schoolchildren tracing models; even when the likeness is there, where is the writer's own presence? Writing must have breath and spirit, and that spirit can come only from long practice. Where there is breath there is momentum: size, length, height, tilt, and alignment follow the brush naturally and cohere into a single passage, yet not the slightest artificial arrangement is allowed—only after long practice does one understand this for oneself. In the centered-tip method, if the brush can be lifted freely it is naturally centered; there are also moments when the side of the tip is used, yet all are governed by a single thread of intention at the brush point—even when not literally centered, it is centered in effect. Sloppy, unkempt strokes are not true writing; pursue ease and you become rustic, pursue antiquity and you become clumsy—at this level not the slightest craving for reputation should remain.' Liang Tongshu's lifelong views on calligraphy, and how they agreed with or differed from Liang Yan's, are fully visible here.
15
鄧石如，初名避仁宗諱，遂以字行，改字頑伯，安徽懷寧人。 居皖公山下，又號完白山人。 少產僻鄉，鮮聞見，獨好刻石，仿漢人印篆甚工。 弱冠孤貧，遊壽州，梁巘見其篆書，驚為筆勢渾鷙，而未盡得古法。 介謁江寧梅鏐，都御史成子也。 家多L3藏金石善本，盡出示之，為具衣食楮墨，使專肄習。
Deng Shiru, whose original given name violated the Jiaqing Emperor's taboo and who therefore went by his style name, later took the style Wanbo; he came from Huaining in Anhui. He lived beneath Mount Wan Gong and also took the sobriquet Hermit of Mount Wanbai. Raised in an isolated countryside with little exposure to the world, he devoted himself to stone carving and became highly skilled at imitating Han seal script for seals. Orphaned and poor by twenty, he traveled to Shouzhou; Liang Yan saw his seal script and marveled at its bold, fierce brushwork, though he felt Deng had not yet fully mastered the ancient manner. He was introduced to Mei Liu of Jiangning, son of the Censor-in-chief Mei Cheng. The Mei household owned many fine bronze and stone rubbings; Mei showed him the entire collection, supplied his food, clothing, paper, and ink, and had him devote himself entirely to practice.
16
好石鼓文，李斯嶧山碑、泰山刻石，漢開母石闕，燉煌太守碑，吳蘇建國山碑，皇像天發神讖碑，唐李陽冰城隍廟碑、三墳記，每種臨摹各百本。 又苦篆體不備，寫說文解字二十本。 帝搜三代鐘鼎，秦、漢瓦當、碑額。 五年，篆書成。 乃學漢分，臨史晨前、後碑，華山碑，白石神君，張遷，潘校官，孔羨，受禪，大饗諸碑，各五十本。 三年，分書成。 石如篆法以二李為宗，縱橫闢闔，得之史籀，稍參隸意，殺鋒以取勁折，字體微方，與秦、漢當額為近。 分書結體嚴重，約嶧山、國山之法而為之。 自謂：「吾篆未及陽冰，而分不減梁鵠。」
He studied the Stone Drum Inscriptions, Li Si's Mount Yi and Mount Tai inscriptions, the Han Kaimu stone que, the Dunhuang prefect stele, Wu Su Jian's Guoshan stele, the Huangxiang Tianfa Shenchen stele, and Li Yangbing's City God Temple stele and Record of the Three Tombs—making a hundred copies of each. Finding seal forms still incomplete, he copied out the Shuowen Jiezi twenty times. The Qianlong Emperor was then gathering bells and tripods of the Three Dynasties along with Qin and Han tile-ends and stele crowns. After five years he had mastered seal script. He then turned to Han clerical script, copying the front and back Shi Chen steles, the Mount Hua stele, the White Stone Spirit Lord, Zhang Qian, Pan the Commandant, Kong Xian, the Accession to the Throne, the Grand Sacrifice, and other classics—fifty copies apiece. Three years later he had mastered clerical script. Shiru's seal script took the two Li masters as its models; in its sweeping expansiveness it drew on Shi Zhou, with a touch of clerical influence; he pared the brush tip to achieve sharp turns, and his forms were slightly square, close to Qin and Han stele crowns. His clerical script was grave in structure, broadly following the manners of the Mount Yi and Mount Guo inscriptions. He said of himself, 'My seal script has not yet matched Li Yangbing, but my clerical script is no worse than Liang He's.'
17
客梅氏八年，學既成，遍遊名山水，以書刻自給。 遊黃山，至歙，鬻篆於賈肆。 編修張惠言故深究秦篆，時館修撰金榜家，偶見石如書，語榜曰：「今日得見上蔡真跡。」 乃冒雨同訪於荒寺，榜備禮客之於家。 薦於尚書曹文埴，偕至京師，大學士劉墉、副都御史陸錫熊皆驚異曰：「千數百年無此作矣！」 時京師論篆、分者，多宗內閣學士翁方綱，方綱以石如不至其門，力詆之。 石如乃去，客兩湖總督畢沅，沅故好客，吳中名士多集節署，裘馬都麗，石如獨布衣徒步。 居三年，辭歸，沅為置田宅，俾終老。 瀕行，觴之，曰：「山人，吾幕府一服清涼散也！」 石如年四十六始娶，常往來江、淮間，卒，年六十三。
After eight years with the Mei family he completed his training, traveled famous landscapes throughout the empire, and supported himself by calligraphy and seal carving. On a journey to Mount Huang he reached She county and sold seal-script works in the marketplace. The compiler Zhang Huiyan was a deep student of Qin seal script; staying at the home of the compiler Jin Bang, he chanced upon Shiru's writing and told Jin, 'Today I have seen the authentic manner of Li Si of Shang Cai.' They braved the rain to visit him at a deserted temple, and Jin Bang received him at home with full courtesy. He was recommended to the Minister Cao Wenzhuan and accompanied him to the capital; the Grand Secretary Liu Yong and the Vice Censor-in-chief Lu Xixiong both exclaimed in wonder, 'For a thousand years there has been nothing like this work!' At the time most Beijing critics of seal and clerical script followed the Grand Secretary Weng Fanggang, who attacked Shiru fiercely because he had not paid court to him. Shiru then left for the Huguang governor Bi Yuan, a renowned host at whose headquarters Wu literati gathered in splendid style while Shiru alone went in plain dress on foot. After three years he took his leave; Bi Yuan provided him with land and a house so that he could live out his old age in comfort. As he was about to leave, Bi offered him wine and said, 'Hermit, you are a single dose of cooling medicine for my entire staff!' Shiru did not marry until he was forty-six; he traveled frequently between the Yangtze and Huai regions and died at sixty-three.
18
子傳密，初名廷璽，字守之。 從李兆洛學，晚客曾國籓幕。 能以篆書世其家。
His son Deng Chuanmi, originally named Tingxi, had the courtesy name Shouzhi. He studied under Li Zhaoluo and in later life served as a guest in Zeng Guofan's secretariat. He carried on the family's reputation in seal script.
19
當乾、嘉之間，嘉定錢坫、陽湖錢伯坰，皆以書名。 坫自負其篆直接陽冰，嘗遊焦山，見壁間篆書心經，嘆為陽冰之亞。 既而知為石如所作，摭其不合六書者以為詆。 伯坰故服石如篆、分為絕業，及見其行、草，歎曰：「此楊少師神境也！」 復與論筆法不合，遂助坫詆之尤力。 坫見儒林傳。
During the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns, Qian Dian of Jiading and Qian Bokan of Yanghu were both renowned for calligraphy. Dian prided himself on a seal script that descended directly from Li Yangbing; visiting Mount Jiao he saw a wall inscription of the Heart Sutra in seal script and declared it second only to Yangbing's own work. Learning it was Shiru's work, he collected instances that violated the Six Scripts to use as grounds for attack. Bokan had long admired Shiru's seal and clerical script as supreme achievements; when he saw his running and cursive hand he exclaimed, 'This is the divine realm of Yang Ningshi!' Yet when they debated brush technique and fell out, he joined Dian in attacking Shiru with redoubled vigor. Qian Dian has his own entry in the Biographies of Confucian Scholars.
20
伯坰，字魯斯，自號僕射山人，尚書維城從子。 少孤，力學，工詩嗜酒，廣交遊，以國子監生終。 書學顏平原、李北海，嘗曰：「古人用兔毫，故書有中線，今用羊毫，其精者乃成雙鉤。 吾躭此五十年，才十得三四。」 論者謂自劉墉歿，正、行書以伯坰為第一。 其執筆，虛小指，以三指包管外，與大指相拒，側毫入紙，助怒張之勢。 指腕皆不動，以肘來去，斥古今相承撥鐙之說。 石如作書，則懸腕雙鉤，管隨指轉，兩家法大殊。
Qian Bokan, courtesy name Lusi, who styled himself the Hermit of Pushe, was a nephew of the Minister Qian Weicheng. Orphaned in youth, he studied diligently, wrote fine poetry, loved wine, cultivated a wide circle of friends, and ended his days as a student of the Imperial Academy. He studied the manners of Yan Zhenqing and Li Yong of Beihai and once remarked, 'The ancients used rabbit-hair brushes, so their writing showed a central line; today we use goat hair, and only the finest work achieves the double hook. I have pursued this for fifty years and have mastered only three or four parts in ten.' Critics held that after Liu Yong's death, Bokan ranked first in regular and running script. He held the brush with the little finger free, wrapped three fingers around the shaft against the thumb, entered the paper with the side of the tip, and thereby reinforced a bold, expansive stroke. His fingers and wrist did not move; he used the elbow alone, and rejected the stirrup-pressing doctrine handed down through the ages. Shiru wrote with suspended wrist and double hook, the shaft turning with the fingers—the two men's methods were utterly opposed.
21
吳育，字山子，江蘇吳江人。 與包世臣、李兆洛遊，能文，工書。 謂：「下筆須使筆毫平鋪紙上，乃四面圓足，此陽冰篆法，書家真秘密語。」 世臣取其說。 育篆書尤工，法與石如差近。
Wu Yu, courtesy name Shanzi, was a native of Wujiang in Jiangsu. He associated with Bao Shichen and Li Zhaoluo, wrote well, and was accomplished in calligraphy. He said, 'When you set down the brush the hairs must lie flat on the paper so that all four sides are rounded and full—this is Li Yangbing's seal-script secret, the calligrapher's true inner teaching.' Bao Shichen adopted this doctrine. Wu Yu was especially accomplished in seal script, his manner close to Shiru's.
22
楊沂孫，字詠春，江蘇常熟人。 道光二十三年舉人，官安徽鳳陽知府。 父憂歸，遂不出，自號濠叟，少學於李兆洛，治週、秦諸子。 耽書法，尤致力於篆、籀，著文字解說問譌，欲補苴段玉裁、王筠所未備。 又考上古逮史籀、李斯，折衷於許慎，作在昔篇。 篆、隸宗石如，而多自得。 嘗曰：「吾書篆、籀，頡頏鄧氏，得意處或過之； 分、隸則不能及也。」 光緒七年，卒，年六十九。 沂孫同時工篆、籀者，又推吳大澂，自有傳。
Yang Yisun, courtesy name Yongchun, was a native of Changshu in Jiangsu. He passed the provincial examination in the twenty-third year of Daoguang and served as prefect of Fengyang in Anhui. After retiring for his father's mourning he never returned to office, took the sobriquet Haosou, studied under Li Zhaoluo in his youth, and devoted himself to the Zhou and Qin philosophers. He devoted himself to calligraphy, above all seal and large-seal script, and wrote Corrections to Explanations of Characters, seeking to fill gaps left by Duan Yucai and Wang Yun. He also traced writing from high antiquity through Shi Zhou and Li Si, reconciling them with Xu Shen's tradition, and composed the Zaixi Pian. In seal and clerical script he followed Shiru yet achieved much on his own. He once said, 'In seal and large-seal script I can match the Deng school, and in my best passages may even surpass it; but in clerical script I cannot equal him.' He died in the seventh year of Guangxu at the age of sixty-nine. Among contemporaries skilled in seal and large-seal script, Wu Dacheng was also highly regarded and has his own biography.
23
吳熙載，初名廷颺，以字行，後又字讓之，江蘇儀徵人。 先世居江寧，父明煌，始遊揚州，善相人術。 熙載為諸生，博學多能，從包世臣學書。 世臣創明北朝書派，溯源窮流，為一家之學。 其筆法兼採同時黃乙生、王良士、吳育、硃昂之、鄧石如諸人之說。 執筆，食指高鉤，大指加食指、中指之間，中指內鉤，小指貼名指外拒，管向左迤，後稍偃，若指鼻準。 運鋒，使筆毫平鋪紙上，筆筆斷而後起。 結字計白當黑，使左右牝牡相得，自謂合古人八法、九宮之旨。 熙載恪守師法，世臣真、行、藁草無不工，嗜篆、分而未致力，熙載篆、分功力尤深。 复縱筆作畫，亦有士氣。 咸豐中，卒。
Wu Xizai, originally named Tingyang, went by his style name and later also took the style Rangzhi; he came from Yizheng in Jiangsu. His family had long lived in Jiangning; his father Minghuang first traveled to Yangzhou and was skilled in physiognomy. Xizai was a licentiate, broadly learned and accomplished in many arts, and studied calligraphy under Bao Shichen. Shichen clarified the Northern Dynasties calligraphic school, tracing its sources to their limits and founding a school of his own. His brush method drew on the teachings of his contemporaries Huang Yisheng, Wang Liangshi, Wu Yu, Zhu Angzhi, Deng Shiru, and others. He held the brush with the forefinger hooked high, the thumb between forefinger and middle finger, the middle finger hooked inward, the little finger braced against the ring finger, the shaft angled left and then tilted slightly back as if pointing at the nose. In moving the tip he spread the hairs flat on the paper, each stroke lifting only after a distinct break. In structuring characters he balanced white space against ink, pairing complementary forms left and right, and held that this fulfilled the ancients' Eight Methods and Nine Palaces. Xizai adhered strictly to his teacher's method; Shichen excelled in regular, running, and draft-cursive script but, though fond of seal and clerical script, had not devoted himself to them—whereas Xizai's mastery of seal and clerical script was especially profound. He also painted freely with the brush, and his paintings likewise had a literati air. He died during the Xianfeng reign.
24
與熙載同受包氏法者，江都梅植之蘊生，甘泉楊亮季子，高涼黃洵修存，餘姚毛長齡仰蘇，旌德姚配中仲虞，松桃楊承汪挹之。 配中詳儒林傳。
Others who studied under the Bao school alongside Xizai included Mei Zhizhi of Jiangdu, Yang Liang of Ganquan, Huang Xun of Gaoliang, Mao Changling of Yuyao, Yao Peizhong of Jingde, and Yang Cheng of Songtao. Yao Peizhong is treated at length in the Biographies of Confucian Scholars.
25
植之，道光十九年舉人。 通經，以詩鳴，世臣尤稱其書。 謂其跌宕遒麗，段煉舊搨，血脈精氣，奔赴腕下，熙載未之敢先。 又得琴法於吳思伯之女弟子顏夫人，獨具神解。 糾正思伯傳譜，於古操製曲之故，輒能知之。 自署所居曰嵇庵。 配中與有同嗜，著琴學二卷。 植之五十而卒，琴法未有傳書。
Mei Zhizhi passed the provincial examination in the nineteenth year of Daoguang. He was versed in the classics, won fame as a poet, and Shichen especially praised his calligraphy. He called it bold and graceful, refined stroke by stroke from old rubbings, with vital energy pouring through the wrist—Xizai himself did not dare claim precedence. He also learned the qin from Lady Yan, a female disciple of Wu Sibo, and attained a singular spiritual understanding of the instrument. Correcting Sibo's transmitted scores, he could explain the origins of ancient pieces and how they were composed. He named his residence the Ji Hermitage. Yao Peizhong shared his passion and wrote two fascicles of Qin Studies. Mei Zhizhi died at fifty, and his qin method was never set down in writing.
26
亮，世為將家，襲騎都尉世職。 篤學敦行，江、淮間士大夫多稱之。 書亞於熙載。
Yang Liang came from a long line of military families and inherited the hereditary post of Cavalry Commandant. He was deeply learned and upright in conduct, and literati between the Yangtze and Huai spoke highly of him. His calligraphy ranked just below Xizai's.
27
合肥沈用熙最後出，至光緒末始卒，年近八十。 畢生守師法，最為包門老弟子。
Shen Yongxi of Hefei was the latest of the group; he did not die until the end of the Guangxu reign, at nearly eighty. He observed his teacher's method to the end of his life and was the senior surviving disciple of the Bao school.
28
世臣敘次清一代書人為五品，分九等：「平和簡靜，遒麗天成，曰神品； 醖釀無跡，橫直相安，曰妙品； 逐跡尋源，思力交至，曰能品； 楚調自歌，不謬風雅，曰逸品； 墨守跡象，雅有門庭，曰佳品。 神品一人，鄧石如隸及篆書。 妙品上一人，鄧石如分及真書； 妙品下二人，劉墉小真書，姚鼐行草書。 能品上七人，釋邱山真及行書，宋玨分榜書，傅山草書，姜宸英行書，鄧石如草書，劉墉榜書，黃乙生行榜書； 能品下二十三人，王鐸草書，周亮工草書，笪重光行書，吳大來草書，趙潤草榜書，張照行書，劉紹庭草榜書，吳襄行書，翟賜履草書，王澍行書，週於禮行書，梁巘真及行書，翁方綱行書，於令行書，巴慰祖分書，顧光旭行書，張惠言篆書，王文治方寸真書，劉墉行書，汪庭桂分書，錢伯坰行及榜書，陳希祖行書，黃乙生小真行書。 逸品上十五人，顧炎武正書，蕭雲從行書，釋雪浪行書，鄭簠分及行書，高其佩行書，陳洪綬行書，程邃行書，紀映鍾行書，金農分書，張鵬翀行書，袁枚行書，硃筠藁書，硃珪真書，鄧石如行書，宋鎔行書； 逸品下十六人，王時敏行及分書，硃彝尊分及行書，程京萼行書，釋道濟行書，趙青藜真及行書，錢載行書，程瑤田小真書，巴慰祖行書，汪中行書，畢涵行書，陳淮行書，姚鼐小真書，程世淳行書，李天澂行書，伊秉綬行書，張桂岩行書。 佳品上二十二人，沈荃真書，王鴻緒行書，先著行書，查士標行書，汪士鋐真書，何焯小真書，陳奕禧行書，陳鵬年行書，徐良行書，蔣衡真書，於振行書，趙知希草書，孔繼涑行書，稽璜真書，錢澧行書，桂馥分書，翁方綱小真書，張燕昌小真書，康基田行書，錢坫篆書，谷際岐行書，洪梧小真書； 佳品下十人，鄭來行書，林佶小真書，方觀承行書，董邦達行書，華嵒行書，秦大士行書，高方小真書，金榜真書，吳俊行書，陳崇本小真書。」 九品共九十七人，重見者六人，實九十一人。 復增能品上一人，張琦真、行及分書； 能品下三人，於書佃行書，段玉立小真及草書，吳德旋行書。 佳品上六人，吳育篆及行書，方履籛分書，梅植之行書，硃昂之行書，李兆洛行書，徐準宜真書。
Shichen ranked Qing calligraphers in five grades subdivided into nine ranks: 'Even, peaceful, simple, and still; forceful and beautiful as if heaven-made—this is the divine grade; brewed without visible effort, horizontal and vertical strokes at peace—this is the marvelous grade; tracing forms back to their sources with thought and force united—this is the capable grade; singing Chu airs in one's own voice without betraying the classical tradition—this is the transcendent grade; clinging to outward forms yet maintaining a distinct school—this is the fine grade. Divine grade, one artist: Deng Shiru in clerical and seal script. Marvelous grade, upper rank, one artist: Deng Shiru in clerical and regular script; marvelous grade, lower rank, two artists: Liu Yong in small regular script and Yao Nai in running-cursive script. Capable grade, upper rank, seven artists: the monk Qiushan in regular and running script, Song Jue in clerical plaque script, Fu Shan in cursive script, Jiang Chenying in running script, Deng Shiru in cursive script, Liu Yong in plaque script, and Huang Yisheng in running plaque script; capable grade, lower rank, twenty-three artists: Wang Duo in cursive script, Zhou Lianggong in cursive script, Da Chongguang in running script, Wu Dalai in cursive script, Zhao Run in cursive plaque script, Zhang Zhao in running script, Liu Shaoting in cursive plaque script, Wu Xiang in running script, Zhai Cilü in cursive script, Wang Shu in running script, Zhou Yuli in running script, Liang Yan in regular and running script, Weng Fanggang in running script, Yu Ling in running script, Ba Weizu in clerical script, Gu Guangxu in running script, Zhang Huiyan in seal script, Wang Wenzhi in small regular script, Liu Yong in running script, Wang Tinggui in clerical script, Qian Bokan in running and plaque script, Chen Xizu in running script, and Huang Yisheng in small regular and running script. Transcendent grade, upper rank, fifteen artists: Gu Yanwu in regular script, Xiao Yuncong in running script, the monk Xuelang in running script, Zheng Fu in clerical and running script, Gao Qipei in running script, Chen Hongshou in running script, Cheng Sui in running script, Ji Yingzhong in running script, Jin Nong in clerical script, Zhang Pengchong in running script, Yuan Mei in running script, Zhu Yun in draft script, Zhu Gui in regular script, Deng Shiru in running script, and Song Rong in running script; transcendent grade, lower rank, sixteen artists: Wang Shimin in running and clerical script, Zhu Yizun in clerical and running script, Cheng Jing'e in running script, the monk Daoji in running script, Zhao Qingli in regular and running script, Qian Zai in running script, Cheng Yaotian in small regular script, Ba Weizu in running script, Wang Zhong in running script, Bi Han in running script, Chen Huai in running script, Yao Nai in small regular script, Cheng Shichun in running script, Li Tiancheng in running script, Yi Bingshou in running script, and Zhang Guiyan in running script. Fine grade, upper rank, twenty-two artists: Shen Quan in regular script, Wang Hongxu in running script, Xian Zhu in running script, Zha Shibiao in running script, Wang Shihong in regular script, He Chao in small regular script, Chen Yixi in running script, Chen Pengnian in running script, Xu Liang in running script, Jiang Heng in regular script, Yu Zhen in running script, Zhao Zhixi in cursive script, Kong Jisu in running script, Ji Huang in regular script, Qian Li in running script, Gui Fu in clerical script, Weng Fanggang in small regular script, Zhang Yanchang in small regular script, Kang Jitian in running script, Qian Dian in seal script, Gu Jiqiao in running script, and Hong Wu in small regular script; fine grade, lower rank, ten artists: Zheng Lai in running script, Lin Ji in small regular script, Fang Guancheng in running script, Dong Bangda in running script, Hua Yan in running script, Qin Dashi in running script, Gao Fang in small regular script, Jin Bang in regular script, Wu Jun in running script, and Chen Chongben in small regular script.' The nine ranks listed ninety-seven entries; six artists appeared twice, making ninety-one individuals in all. He later added to the capable grade, upper rank, one artist: Zhang Qi in regular, running, and clerical script; capable grade, lower rank, three artists: Yu Shudian in running script, Duan Yuli in small regular and cursive script, and Wu Dexuan in running script. Fine grade, upper rank, six artists: Wu Yu in seal and running script, Fang Lüqian in clerical script, Mei Zhizhi in running script, Zhu Angzhi in running script, Li Zhaoluo in running script, and Xu Zhunyi in regular script.
29
其後包氏之學盛行，咸、同以來，以書名者，何紹基、張裕釗、翁同龢三家最著，並見他傳。 紹基宗顏平原法，晚復出入漢分； 裕釗源出於包氏； 同龢規模閎變，不為諸家所囿，為一代後勁雲。
Later the Bao school flourished widely; from the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns onward, the most celebrated calligraphers were He Shaoji, Zhang Yuzhao, and Weng Tonghe—all treated in other biographies. He Shaoji followed the manner of Yan Zhenqing and in later life moved freely between regular script and Han clerical forms; Zhang Yuzhao's lineage came from the Bao school; Weng Tonghe worked on a grand and ever-changing scale, unbound by earlier schools, and stood as the great sustaining force of his generation.