he had the audacity to print the trivial names of Confucius, of the ancestors of the present dynasty, and of his imperial majesty himself! 3. That in the genealogy of his own family he had the impudence to assert that he was descended from Hoang-ti, through the dynasty of the Tcheou; and 4. That in some verses he again insinuates his pretended ancestry, using expressions highly reprehensible. Being called upon for his defence, he alleged, 1. That the Dictionary being very voluminous, and very incommodious, he had made an abridgment which costs little and is easy to handle. 2. That he had used the trivial names of the emperors of the reigning dynasty that the youth might know what those names were, and thus avoid the mention of them by any mistake; that, however, he had himself discovered his fault in this respect, and had corrected it by reprinting his Dictionary in which they were omitted. 3. That stating his descent from Hoang-ti was a thoughtless piece of vanity that came across him, arising out of a wish to make himself with the public a person of some consequence; and 4. That, as to his verses, being borne away by poetic fire, it never once occurred to him that the expressions made use of could be construed into a bad sense. The great princes, ministers, presidents of the tribunals, and mandarins of the first rank thought otherwise they pronounced Ouang-si-heou guilty of high treason, and that, according to the laws of the empire, the punishment due to the crime was, that the criminal be cut in pieces, his property confiscated, his relations above sixteen years of age put to death; his wives, his concubines, and his children under sixteen years, banished, and given to serve as slaves to some grandee of the empire. Upon which Kienlung, himself an author, a poet, and a patron of learning, issues this decree: 'I extend my mercy to Ouang-si-heou in so far as regards the nature of his punishment; he shall not be cut in pieces; his head only shall be cut off. I pardon his relations. As to his children, let them be reserved for the grand execution in autumn. Let the law be put in execution as to the other points. Such is my will-Respect it. Another person who availed himself of the usual privilege of presenting memorials, remonstrances, and representations, to the emperor, had the boldness to advise his majesty to nominate a successor; this being construed to imagine the death of the sovereign' was pronounced high treason, and the culprit was condemned to the same punishment as above, and the mercy of the emperor extended to him in the same manner. Another needy wretch, who, like Romeo's apothecary, lived by culling of simples,' thought of bettering his condition by turning author; in his book, which he presented to the emperor as the certain means of making his for, tune, he stated that the ghost of his grandfather Kang-hi had appeared to him, and presented to him a book in which the destiny of

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the reigning dynasty was pointed out, and that Kien-lung would cease to reign in a particular year. This poor creature, who was probably crazed, was also beheaded. These three instances of the merciful interposition of his imperial majesty Kien-lung happened in three consecutive years, and just after he had published to all China his anxious wish for the encouragement and dissemination of literature. But he is not the only despot of China who has affected to found the glory of his reign on the patronage afforded to men of letters. There is scarcely a dynasty since the invention of printing that has not caused new editions of all the books of standard merit, or such as have been stamped with the seal of public approbation, to be revised by the men of letters assembled for that purpose from all quarters, and reprinted at the imperial press. In 1774 Kien-lung signified, through the Pekin Gazette, his orders for such a collection to be made and examined. A multitude of inspectors general, of revisors, correctors, assessors, &c. were assembled at Pekin, among them two of the emperor's sons were included. On those who suffered any material error to escape unnoticed, certain punishments were inflicted by the tribunals; but the punishment of the two princes, for negligence in this respect, the emperor reserved to himself. In five years the number of volumes so reprinted amounted to upwards of 168,000, and it was expected that the whole collection would extend to 600,000 volumes.*

In making this collection a book was discovered, which not a little alarmed the mandarins to whom it was brought the title of it was Ninety-nine Methods by which the Mantchoos may be totally destroyed.' It was sent to Pekin, and ordered by the emperor to be strictly examined, without any regard to what might appear in it against the Mantchoos, whom the examiners were to consider in the light of enemies of the Chinese, as they actually were when the book was composed, and not as masters of China as they now were. The result of the examination of the grand doctors was communicated to the public through the medium of the Pekin Gazette; and we must do them the justice to say, that, of the fourteen or fifteen methods, out of the ninety-nine, which they examine as being the least stupid and absurd, the report contains so fair, so liberal, and so able a critique, that we should not be sorry to enlist into the service of the Quarterly Review a few such Chinese doctors as those who drew it up. They conclude by saying, that so far from the work being worthy of a place in the general collection, they deem it fit only for the fire. To which the emperor replies, "Let it be excluded, and all the copies burnt.'

* Mém. sur les Chinois, tom. xv. pp. 289-353.

Père Amiot observes that, in forming this collection, thousands and thousands of light ephemeral productions, such as tales, novels, dramas, poems, were never thought of; and yet these are, in our opinion, precisely what are wanted to enable us to form a true estimate of the genius of the people. The few translations we have obtained, and few, indeed, they are, after so long and so important an intercourse as we have maintained with this singular nation, are such as cannot fail to create a wish for more. If the boasted writings of Confucius fall far beneath the Proverbs of Solomon, or the moral maxims of Ecclesiastes the Preacher, which they most resemble, we can hardly refuse the Leu-lee, or Laws of China, precedence of the laws of Menu, or the Orphan of the House of Tchao a superior rank to the Sacontala; and the little pleasing novel, Hao kiou-tchuan, leaves us to regret that more of the same kind have not been given to European readers.

From the present prolific state of the Chinese press we are induced to consider the "Clavis Sinica' of Doctor Marshman, and the Dictionary' of Mr. Morrison, as two of the most acceptable volumes that the study of Asiatic literature has yet produced. They have completely torn away the veil that so long enveloped the symbolic writing of the Chinese, and removed the difficulty that has hitherto impeded the study of that singular language of a people equally singular; their literary treasures are now laid open to every person of common capacity, who may choose to give his attention to the subject; and it is certainly no trifling encouragement to know, that almost every European, who has made the least progress in the knowledge of the written character, has become enraptured with its beauties. Dr. Marshman, speaking of the study of the Chinese written character, says, it is a study, the pleasure resulting from which is so great, (now first difficulties are surmounted,) and the field of research it opens so interesting, as scarcely to permit its being extinguished but with life itself." Mr. Morrison's opinion, who knows it well, is strongly in its favour.

To convey ideas to the mind, by the eye, the Chinese language an swers all the purposes of a written medium, as well as the alphabetic system of the west, and perhaps, in some respects, better. As sight is quicker than hearing, so ideas reaching the mind by the eye, are quicker, more striking, and vivid, than those which reach the mind by the slower progress of sound. The character forms a feature which really is, or by early associations is considered beautiful and impressive, The Chinese fine writing darts upon the mind with a vivid flash; a force and a beauty of which alphabetic language is incapable. Chinese writing is also more permanent than the alphabetic system, which is ever varying its spelling with the continually changing pronunciation of the living voice. Perhaps the Chinese written language has contributed in some degree to the unity of the Chinese nation.'-Introd. P. xi.

We have given so full, and we trust so correct, an account of the construction and use of the written language of China, in our several reviews of Sir George Staunton's Leu-lee. Marshman's Dissertation, and De Guigne's Dictionary,* that we now shall con fine our remarks to the additions in the Clavis Sinica' which the author has made to his former publication, and to a few observations on what he is pleased to call the Elements of Chinese Grammar.'

The first addition, after explaining the nature of the Chinese characters, is their division into six classes, towards which part of the subject his attention,' he says, ' was first turned by the Quar terly Review for May, 1811;' and this led him to consult Chinese books in order to examine and explain their nature and origin. This proves how very little read Doctor Marshman then was in Chinese literature, as almost all their philologists treat of the Lieou-ye, or division of characters into six classes, a detailed account of which may be found in an Essay on the Chinese Language, by Père Cibot, in the ninth volume of the Mémoires sur les Chi nois, and also in the Lettre de Pekin of Père Amiot.

The next addition consists of nearly fifty pages, and embraces a discovery which we are rather inclined to consider as important; it is, at any rate, curious, and we are not aware that it has ever been noticed either by Chinese or Europeans. Having observed that of the thirty thousand significant characters composing the language, the 214 elements, and all those formed by the union of two elements, would not consist of a sixth part of that number, he had long suspected that the great mass of characters, like the Greek primi tives and Sanscrit dhatoos, was made up of certain roots or primitives, associated with the several radicals or elements: this idea was strengthened by observing in a manuscript dictionary, in numerous instances, that one particular character was employed as a root of ten or twelve other characters, each of them formed by an union of this root with one of the 214 elements; for instance, the element expressing hand placed with this root formed one character; head with the same root another; fire with the same a third, and so on. This struck him so forcibly, that he examined the Dictionary, which contained about nine thousand characters, from beginning to end, and found that the whole of them were formed from eight hundred and sixty-two characters by the addition of only one element to each of them. He then, with the help of his Chinese assistants, set about examining the whole of Kang-hi's Imperial Dictionary, and after fifteen months labour, had the satisfaction of seeing every character in the Dictionary derived from another.

Nos. VI. X. and XXV.

classed under its proper primitive. The result of this laborious examination was as follows.

Exclusive of the 214 elements, the number of characters from which another is formed amounts to 3867. From these, by the addition of a single element to each, is formed the great body of the language, in nearly the same manner as the great mass of the Greek language is formed from about 3500 primitives, and that of the Sanscrit language from about 1700 dhatoos or roots. The greatest number of derivatives, which spring from any one of these, is 74, and the least 1. The addition of a single element to the primitive forms each derivative, which in general expresses an idea in some measure distinct from that of the primitive character, but still bearing some relation thereto. It is, however, proper to observe, that the term 'primitive' is not applied to them on account of their origin, but merely with reference to their use.”— p. 34.

It is further stated that, by excluding the barren primitives, or such as give but one and two shoots, the number of efficient primitives is reduced from 3867 to 1689, which, with the elements, produce 22,370 characters: if this number be divided by the number of primitives, we have about 134 derivatives from each primitive, which is fewer than a Greek primitive in general produces some of which, he observes, as sy for example, produce more than 200 derivatives. Considering the 214 elements to be included among the efficient primitives, we have 1903 characters which, in fact, constitute all the materials of the language, which is thus simplified, and rendered infinitely more easy of attainment, than by committing to the memory each individual character separately, without regard to these constituent parts which enter more or less into the composition of every character.

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We shall not follow Dr. Marshman through the various classes of the primitives which he has thus discovered, but proceed to. show the nature and construction of the derivatives produced by their means, in composition with the 214 elements, which, when so employed, are called by him, formatives; and which,' he says, 'like prepositions and other formatives, both in the Greek and Sanscrit languages, though not precisely in the same way, combine themselves with the primitives, to form nearly the whole of the Chinese language. The element or formative, he seems to think, is employed to express the thing which modifies or connects itself with the idea suggested by the primitive; and it is particularly mentioned in the Introduction to the Imperial Dictionary, that one great object was so to class the characters as to prevent the incongruity of placing the character fire, for instance, with that of water, or an animal in union with inanimate bodies. This observation with great submission, has nothing whatever to do with his newly

VOL. XV. NO. XXX