such immense compass, in which order and method constitute the first pledge of the progress of studies and the advancement of knowledge. M. Rémusat goes on to show that the Chinese have not derived the advantage which they might to their science from this happy constitution of their language; and that their naturalists have not made the progress which they should have done in the course traced out for them by the lexicographers. For it must be remembered that this systematic arrangement was a mere classification of written signs, brought together by the dictionary-makers, and distributed by them according to the component and elementary parts, with a view solely to facilitating the search for them. Persons who could avail themselves of signs so judiciously contrived and arranged, and including within themselves a principle of order and the elements of analysis, might have been expected to perfect in their scientific labours what the mere etymology of the characters suggested to them but without denying the decided superiority of the Chinese, in this respect, to the other people of Asia, they must be confessed to have made but an imperfect use of their opportunities and means. The whole essay of M. Rémusat on this curious subject is deserving of perusal.

The highly artificial and philosophic structure of so singular a language entitles it to the attention of intelligent persons, as a part of the history of the human mind. But it has now other powerful claims to notice from being the medium through which at least four hundred millions of mankind, occupying countries which exceed the united extent of all Europe, communicate their ideas. With the growth of our commerce, and of our Protestant missions, the value and importance of its acquisition may no doubt increase in estimation. By only knowing how to write a few hundred Chinese words, a man can make himself

understood over an extent of 2000 miles of latitude, from Japan in the north to Cochin-China in the south. As a portion of general literature alone, and without one half of the practical importance which attaches to it among ourselves, the French have long since thought it worthy of the endowment of a professor's chair: and that nothing of the kind should as yet have existed in England is remarkable.*

The uniformity in the written character has not prevented the existence of very considerable diversities in the oral languages of the different provinces of China, and especially the province of Fokien. These diversities. are analogous to the different pronunciation given to the same numerals in the various countries of Europe. To adduce the example with which we set out, the number 22, which an Italian calls venti-due, a Frenchman pronounces vingt-deux; and, in like manner, the Chinese numerals expressive of the same amount are read urhshe-urh by the native of Peking, while the Canton man calls them ee-shap-ee, although both write them exactly alike. It is in this way that the universality of the Chinese language extends only to the written character, and that the natives of the two extremities of the empire, who read the same books, and understand each other perfectly on paper, are all but mutually unintelligible in speech.

There is, however, one mode of pronouncing the written language, that of Peking, or of the court, which is universally adopted in official translations, and in the intercourse of the higher orders all over the empire. This has been termed by Europeans the Mandarin dialect, and is called in Chinese Kuân-hua, which has the same

* Since the above was written, a Chinese professorship has been instituted at the London University, and one at King's College.

meaning; and this of course is the proper dialect for strangers to learn, as being of most extensive use. The total number of different syllables does not much exceed four hundred, but these are varied by intonations sufficiently distinct to the ear of a native, so as to treble or quadruple that amount. The danger of misunderstanding in speech (for there can be none in writing) is obviated by joining two words together to express any particular object, thus making in fact a word of two syllables. For instance, in the oral language, foo means "father," but it also means "an axe," and the possibility of the equivoque is prevented by saying, in the first instance, foo-tsin (father-relation), and, in the second, foo-tow (axe-head), which circumstance tends to render the written language much more brief and concise than the spoken, as it has no need of such expletives.

The Chinese attach much consideration to the graphic beauty of their written character, and make use of inscriptions for ornamental purposes, as may be often seen on the specimens of porcelain brought to this country. The advantage of simplicity (and a very great advantage it is) constitutes the merit of our alphabetic writing; but that of variety and picturesque effect may fairly be claimed by the Chinese.* The importance of caligraphy as an accomplishment is naturally esteemed more highly among them than it is in Europe; and large ornamental inscriptions, or labels, are frequently exchanged as remembrances among friends, or used as pictures are among us, for purposes of taste and decoration. The two most usual forms of their character are, first, that in

* "The almost infinite variety of forms which the Chinese symbolical character is capable of receiving is certainly favourable to the beauty, and, it may almost be said, picturesque effect, of such inscriptions."-Staunton.

which books are commonly printed,* and which, being stiff and inelegant, lays claim only to clearness and accuracy; secondly, that in which all papers of consequence are written, and which combines correctness with elegance. The last is at once the most useful and the most studied form of the Chinese character. To attain skill in writing it is more or less the aim of every educated Chinese; and to impart that skill is the object of a work whose rules have been translated by the author of these pages, and its examples given in a series of lithographic plates in the Royal Asiatic Transactions.+

Nothing can exceed the neatness and beauty of Chinese notes and letters, which are generally written on ornamental paper of various colours, called by them "flowered leaves." They sign with a cipher, which every man adopts for himself, being a few characters combined in a complicated manner into one. Another mode of attestation is by affixing the stamp of a seal, not in wax, but in red ink. It would be an error to suppose that the language, however calculated from its structure for durability, has not changed to a certain degree in the course of time. Some characters or words have become obsolete; others have been gradually adopted; and, above all, the whole is much more copious than in ancient times. In their earlier works (as in the sacred Classics noticed in our twelfth chapter) there is a much greater economy of words than in more modern literature. portion of the difficulty or obscurity of ancient authors arises from the same word being used, for example, in different senses, or as a different part of speech,—a defect which time, and the multiplication of the symbols of

* Analogous to our roman type.

+ Vol. i. p. 304.

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ideas, have tended to supply. A great increase especially has taken place in those particles of speech which become the more necessary in a language in proportion as there is less inflexion, and which therefore abound more in the modern tongues of Europe than in the ancient sources whence they are derived. In Chinese there is no inflexion whatever, and therefore these particles become the more indispensable; indeed, native writers call them by the express term of tsoo-yu, “assistants of speech."

As we cannot go far into this subject in a work of the present description, it may suffice to observe, generally, that the grammar of the language is extremely limited. In the absence of all inflexion, the relation of words to each other in a sentence can only be marked by their position. The verb, for instance, must always precede its object, and follow its agent. The plural number is denoted by the affix of mun to nouns,―jin-mun, men, t'ha-mun, they; or by repeating the noun, as jin jin, men. Either of these is rendered unnecessary when a specific number is prefixed, as san jin, three men. The genitive or possessive case is generally denoted by the affix che succeeding the noun like our 's, as Thien che gen, "Heaven's favour." The comparison of adjectives is marked by affixes, as haou, "good," keng haou, "more good," ting haou, "most good." The structure of Chinese phrases is often discoverable in the broken English of Canton, which is a Chinese idiom in English words. The tenses of verbs are denoted by auxiliaries or expletives, as t'ha lae, "he comes," t'ha yaou lae, "he shall come.' The cases of nouns and pronouns are determined by prepositions, as yu ne, "to thee," which sometimes become postpositions, as ty-hea, "the earth below "under the earth. They have a species of numeral