calls it) of Mr. Titlingh happened to have only a faint impreffion on fome part of the pages where they were named, and fo he could not copy thote characters in a mechanical way (the only one in the power of thofe unacquainted, as he is, with the elementary conftruction of Chinele characters) by the means of tranfparent paper, and much lefs find them out in the dictionary; particularly as the very wrong definition we read of the Tu-chuen in the Mémoires (confuit the Index, vol. X, at the words Ta-tchoucn-tje) could not lead him to fufpect that fuch antient characters of the Japanese Encyclopædia hould be fo called. nope, however, that he will not pretend to fay, that he found the fpecimen of thete characters without a name! That I well know to be impoffible. " I Dr. Huger betrayed the fame ignorance concerning thefe characters in the publication of his famous Monument of Yu, though published at Paris, in the midft of moft invaluable refources: for, fpcaking in his Avant-propos of the Ta-chuen, we read thete words, "DONT NOUS AVONS DONNE UN SPECIMEN NO. 3." So they ought to be, according to the order of the originals in thirtwo volumes; but let us open the plates of his book-when, lo! we fall find quite a different fort of characters at No. 3, and the Tuchuen at No. 5!!! However, if Dr. Hager blunder away at Paris in Chinese literature, the Academy at least will be indebted to him for fome beautiful nev French words, as SPECIMEN !!! for inttance, inftead of Ejai. without affigning the age in which he flourished. Finally, I beg leave to submit to your readers, Mr. Editor, an intelligent decifion on this point of that learned monarch, lately deceased, Kien-lum, who, in the biftorical ilantient characters, in which he luftration of the thirty-two ftyles of publifhed his poem [fee Note f], chuen, after having quoted feveral at p. 136, fpeaking of the Siao-. authors in favour and againft my opinion, thus concludes :-" Ou 66 peut conclure de tout ce qui vient "d'être rapporté, que la figure, et "toute la compofition des lettres "Siao-chuen nous viennent des tems "les plus reculés. La tradition "les fit parvenir telles qu'elles "étoient dans leur primitive in"ftitution jufqu'a Li-fu. Li-fu y "fit quelque changement, et après "les avoir accomodées à fa façon, "il leur donna le nom de Pa-fuen 66 fiao-chuen, ce qui veut dire : "Caracteres qui contiennent huit parties des dix, qui entrent dans "la compofition des caractères "Siao-chuen. En effet en compa 66 rant avec foin les anciens carac"tères Siao-chuen avec ceux, que 66 compofa Li-fu, on voit qu'ils "font les mêmes à peu de chofe "près." (p). Towards the clofe of the reign of Xi-hoam-ti, who died 200 B.Č., the invention of paper took place in China, and likewife a much eafier ftyle of writing, called 書隸 Li-xu, of which the invention is attributed to Chim-mo. ,邈程 (p) In this quotation, and every other that may hereafter occur, the Chinese words will be found to correfpond in orthography to that invented by the Portuguete; and in my next Letter I thall give reafons for this ference. To jumble together French, English, and Portuguese orthography in writing Chinese founds, must be left to the fupereminent abilities of Dr. Hager! pre Laftly, the minifters of the tribunals under the next Emperor Ulh-xi-hoam-ti, about 206 B.C., improved the writing Li-xu, and gave it the prefent regular and elegant form, as now univerfally adopted in books and MSS., which is called 書楷 Kiai-ru, or moft perfect writing (q). This ftyle of characters, as the moft important and fufceptible of ufeful analyfis, will be the fubject of my obfervations in my next Letter; I fhall, therefore, forbear entering at prefent into any detailed account concerning them. Notwithstanding the perfection of thefe characters, they never obtained a strong preference over the Li-au and the Siao-chuen, during the dynafty of Han, who, as foon as they faw themfelves free from the inhuman race of the Çin, fought with great avidity all their facred books, as well as all the antient bells, vafes, porcelain veffels, mufical inftruments, metallic mirrors, &c., embellished with infcriptions, to recover their primitive fources of literature, ncarly expiring after fuch long neglect, and the barbarous command of Xi-hoam-ti. Far, therefore, from much attending to the establishing and improving the ftyle Kiai-xu, under the Emperor Cham ti, about eighty years A.C., they invented a fort of a fhort-hand of the Kiai-ru, which, although calculated to disfigure entirely the (4) Dr. Montucci, both in his account of the Chinese MS, in the British Mufeum [fee my firft Letter], and in his Anfwer to the Reviewers [fee the firft additional Note at the end of this Letter], calls thefe characters Him-ru, or elementary characters. I have only found this denomination in the Mémoires des Mithion.; while feveral pamphlets, which I poffefs, call them, with the Dict. Chim-çu-tum and F. Mailla, Kiai-ru; fo that I would not vouch the authenticity of the other name Himnon ego paucis offendur maru; but culis," &c. 字草 letters of grafs; having all the appearance of fo many blades of grafs twisted and folded in various ways (r). The celebrated dictionary of Hiu-xin, above mentioned, had also given fuch a high repute to the Siaochuen, that thefe characters became popular among a great portion of the literati. Men of fuperior talents, however, were not wanting, during the Han, who wrote in the ftyle Kiai-ru, and enriched it with a variety of new characters; while the choice taste of their writings made the learned feek with avidity their perform ances. Thus various ftyles continued in vogue till towards the close of the dynafty Han, when the collections made of all forts of antient infcriptions, and thofe utenfils mentioned above; which from time immemorial was, and ftill is, customary with the Chinese, to embellish with apophthegms, fhort poems, &c.; were very confiderable: nor was it an eafy matter to select from them thofe that most deserved to be perpetuated by general use. All the miffionaries agree in relating, that the remains are still extant of no lefs than feventy-two (r) Dr. Hager, with his wonted accuracy, in his Analyfès, p. xlix, tranflates the words Çao-çu for rude or im perfect letters; but Cao means grass, and is perfectly fynonymous with the elementury character 140. Thefe letters are far from deferving the blame given to them by Dr. Hager; they difplay a moft maflerly command and freedom of the pencil: the difficulty of execution, and of reducing them to certain primitive component elements, fo as to prefcribe rules and compile dictionaries, is the only judicious reafon why the Chinefe have not adopted them in their claffical works. infcriptions upon large marble monuments, all different in their styles, which were erected by the various petty princes of the dynafty Cheu; and of thefe, as has been above obferved, the late Emperor Kienlum has revived thirty-two in his celebrated poem; of which elegant fpecimens have been publifhed at Paris by Dr. Hager (s). In contemplating thefe mafterly executions of French artists, fo well imitating the originals, I was ftruck with that miraculous power of analogy which thefe various ftyles bore to one another, notwithftanding the eminent power of the Chinese brush of diverfifying their writings with all objects in nature. It was indeed juftly obferved by a miffionary Mém., Vol. IX, p. 327, of these antient characters, "il fem"ble qu'on leur* entende dire "comme Jupiter: Quod genus figure eft quod ego non habuerim? "Oifeau, dragon, ferpent, ver, tortue, plante, couteau, étoile, "plume, goutte de pluie, &c. nous 66 (s) Let thofe who would wonder at fo great a variety in the hand-writings of the Chinese read the Note to the SECOND ADDITIONAL NOTE at the end of this Letter, where it will be oblerved, that we with our alphabetical fcanty elements could diverify the writings of any word no lefs than Kientum did his poem; while I maintain that the judicious unprejudiced infpećtor would find ftronger traces of analogy between thofe thirty-two fpecimens of Chinefe caligraphy, than between moft of our alphabetical ftyles. It is a pity, however, that Dr. Hager's profound ignorance of the Chinese has digraced thefe fpecimens, by confufing the order of the plates, fo that the hiftorical accounts of them, publifhed by De Guignes, as was faid in Note f, caunot be applied to thofe fpecimens [fee Note o, at the end]; yet this magnificent volume has been defiled with far more defpicable pages, as will be noticed in my review of that work. *The context of this letter has compelled me to alter this quotation from the fingular number into plural: such words are in Italic. 66 caprices de mode, et on fait grace aux fiècles qui les adopta." This is precifely my opinion concerning the admirable analogy of thefe antient characters; and my readers will be convinced of it, if they will attentively and judicioufly obferve the few fpecimens with which my fcanty means have enabled me to accompany this Letter. If other miffionaries, and F. Mailla in particular, obferve that, of the feventy-two infcriptions above mentioned, whoever might be able to understand one, could not poffibly decipher any of the others; it muft be underflood not on account of the want of analogy between the various ftyles, but becaufe no one infeription can be fuppofed to have contained the fame identical characters of all others; in which cafe, indeed, the obfervation may be true. But the fagacious eye, who will examine the thirty-two plates of the Monument of Yu, prelenting each the beginning, or the fame part, of Kin-lum poem, will, I flatter myself, fenfibly feel bly feel that power of analogy which has fo forcibly ftruck me, [See Note o.] [To be continued.] To the Editor of the Univerfal Mag. SIR, I HAVE lately, with much pleafure, read Lord Dundonald's Treatife on the Connection between Chemistry and Agriculture, and confider it a valuable prefent to the lovers of rural economy. I have, however, in one or two inftances, obferved, with fome furprife, that his Lordfhip has not informed his readers of the method of preparing fome fubftances which he thinks of great importance. I am at a lofs to give a reafon for this omiffion, unlefs the manufacture of them is intended to be kept a fecret in a few hands; but this, from the known efficacious as manures, and in the deftruction of infects." Page 140. What are the articles here alluded to, and the preparation of them? In page 102, his Lordship mentions an "Effay on the Purification of Salt, and the Neceffity of an Alteration in the Salt Laws." This work, I fuppofe, is by Lord Dundonald, and publifhed about ten years tince: I have enquired for it of his Lordship's book feller, but it is not known to him, I quote from the third edition of Lord Dundonald's Treatife. I am, Sir, Your obedient fervant, character of his Lordship as a philo- April 10, 1804. PUBLICUS. fopher, I cannot confider a fufficient reafon. I have, therefore, extracted the paffages alluded to, and requeft the favour, through the medium of your valuable Magazine, of information on these points from fome of your correfpondents. "The difengagement and feparation of this acid (the muriatic) from the alkaline bafes with which it is united, in fea or rock falt, may be accomplished by various methods: one only has yet been difcovered and effected, at an expence which can admit a manufactory of alkaline falts being eftablished on an extensive scale. The accomplishment of this moft defirable object by a cheap and cafy procefs muft appear, with refpect to certain ufeful arts as well as the application of it to agriculture, to be one of the most important difcoveries to which chemistry could have lent its aid." Page 60. What is the method here alluded to? "But as the quantity of coal tar that is now capable of being made in Britain would be infufficient for the purposes of agriculture, it has led to the difcovery of a cheap method of preparing other fubitances, which moft probably will be found equally if not more THE INSPECTOR. NO. IV. Be niggards of advice on no pretence, For the worst avarice is that of senje. "Does the ftudy of the fine arts, and especially of poetry, tend to the improvement of practical morality?" FROM our early days, the couplet of Ovid has pafied as an axiom in our fyftem of moral fcience : "Ingenuas didiciffe fideliter artes Emollit mores, nec finit effe feros." And were it not true in a certain degree, it would fcarcely have been fo long and fo generally current. There is an analogy, too, between the pleafurable and painful emotions which we experience from the contemplation of moral excellence and depravity, and those which are excited by the view of phyfical excellence and defects, which has induced fome moralifts to conjecture that the terms beauty and deformity were originally applied to moral fubjects, and thence transferred metaphorically to the phyfical world. And it cannot be queftioned, that the fame fenfibility of mind which is prone to acts of humanity, and delights in the contemplation of virtue, is generally connected with a taste for the beauties of nature and of art: and the converfe of the propofition is, perhaps, no lefs generally true. Shakfpeare was decidedly of this opinion; and his acutenefs in the obfervation of human nature lays fome claim to our deference on thefe fubjects. The man "who is not moved by concord of fweet founds," is pronounced by him to be "Fit for treafons, ftratagems, and His difpofitions are as dull as night, And in another place he speaks of mufic and the drama in the fame terms: "I hate that spare Caffius; Ile fees no plays, he hears no mufic."-But poetry affords a ftill more obvious illuftration of the propofition. For, as its principal reprefentations. confift in picturing man in various fituations that excite our intereft, agitated by various paffions and emotions, and perplexed amid hopes and fears, amid the fuggeftions of defire and the demands of duty, while obftacles and difficulties call forth the exertions of magnanimity and virtue; an admiration of poetry, employed in delineations of this n2ture, feems to be the refult of the fame conftitution of mind which would lead us to fympathize with the realities of misfortune, and which produces "An eye for pity, and a hand Open as day to melting charity." It would, therefore, appear to be an obvious and an undeniable inference, that the cultivation of the fine arts, and of poetry more particularly, muft tend to add fenfibility to our mental frame, and to quicken and refine the fympathies of our nature. The emotions which we delight to cherith, when excited by imaginary objects, will be equally gratifying to the heart, it fhould feem, when called forth by the exiftence of real objects, and when calculated to ftimulate us to active and ufeful exertions in the caufe of fuffering humanity. Benevolence, thus foftered in the clofet, muft ftrengthen and increafe in its practical tendency. Habituated to fympathy in theory, we fhall almoft involuntarily yield to the calls of occafion, and become beneficent in practice. This reafoning naturally enough arifes from the firft cafual view of the fubject. But when we look around us in the world, and when we reflect upon the operations of ourown minds, although we must still admit the truth of thefe conclufions to a certain degree, yet fome doubts will fuggeft themfelves as to their validity on the whole. The mind that is capable of deriving pleasure from thofe delineations of must be predifpofed to the enjoy poetry which we have alluded to, ment by its fympathetic difpofition; benevolence, and fenfible to the it muft already be pregnant with impreffions of external joy and woe. Poetry cannot give the fellow-feeling, confined to a little probable increase nor be its firft mover: its power is of that fympathetic tendency by by the aid of imagination it is enthe frequency and force with which abled to call it forth. Education and natural temperament produce, in the firft inftance the genuine moral fentiment, and model the character, before the fine effufions of the poet arreft the attention and engage the feelings of the individual. Hence we obferve that many men of benevolence and virtue país on in life in the performance of many fervices to their fellowcreatures from the pureft motives of humanity, who have, neverthelefs, a very flight knowledge of the fine arts, and derive very little gratification from that knowledge. For though the feeds of tafte be in their minds, thefe will not germinate without attention, and without culture will produce no fruit. Private |