glyphical, or significant in themselves. As for instance, the word that stood for a ship was composed of one character in the form of a bark, and of another which signified eight men, alluding to the first ship and the history of the deluge. The characters for the word man include the doctrine of the incarnation; and those for the word virtue signify that Christianity is the most perfect system of morality.

The characters for the latter are as in the two following columns:

The first of these characters signifies a cross; the second, an eye; the third, a square, or rule; the fourth, a heart; and the fifth, man and all put together in their natural order compose the following sen

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tence: "La croix devant les yeux regle le cœur des hommes;" or, "the observation of the christian doctrines is the best regulation for the mind of man." Even the learned among the Chinese now do not understand these implicated meanings: they know there were such included in the old characters; but they do not know how to interpret them. Though the characters have been so much changed, they know too that the first is a cross, the second stands for an eye, and so on; but they do not know how to put them together into a sentence.-Fauquet.

When I signified my surprise at their characters for the name of man including the doctrine of the incarnation, the bishop said that my surprise would be much greater if I could read their sacred books; and that he was very much surprised himself to find how exactly they agreed with ours, even in the highest mysteries. I have since seen the copy of a letter which was sent to the good bishop from a brother missionary of his, that had lived two

and thirty years in China, which turned wholly on this subject. It says that the YKING is the oldest of these sacred writings; that in it are contained most of the great truths and mysteries of the christian religion; and that the YKING and the rest of them teach in particular the doctrine of the fallen angels; the creation of the world; the state in Paradise; the fall from thence; the incarnation of the great hero; his birth by a virgin; his low estate; his teaching for three years; his suffering for the sins of the whole world; his resurrection, ascent into heaven, and coming in judgment; the eternal happiness of the good, and the eternal misery of the wicked. He supposes all this knowledge to have come by tradition from Adam to the antediluvian patriarchs, and by Noah to his children, in whose time some of these books were written.

I intend to publish all these most select and sacred books of the Chinese in one volume, which will not be so much as the Pentateuch:-A Latin translation of their

family ritual (Ritualis domestici Sinencium Traductio Latina, are the words of the title :) with a dissertation on their fu nerals prefixed to it ;-A treatise to prove that the character Tao signifies the great God. In this I shall show, 1st, that their Tao is one and three; 2d, that he created the material world; 3d, that he created all intelligent beings; 4th, that he was incarnated; and 5th, that though he has the attributes of whatever is excellent, yet he is but one (they call him Ching Gin, or the Holy One); the temple of the most ancient wisdom (templum veteris sapientia): in which I shall show, 1. That Adam was informed of the doctrine of the Trinity, and that of the future redemption; 2. that this knowledge was delivered down to Moses, and revived by him; 3. that it was preserved in other mystic books; and 4. that several of those books are still preserved in China*.

*I I got this list of what the good bishop designed to publish by the desire of his great friend Chevalier

I intend too to republish my Chronological Table, with an account how to manage it. In that Table Confucius is set down as born 551 years before our Saviour, but the time is disputed.-The same.

I brought away near 4000 of their books with me out of China into Europe, though I lost almost half of the collection I had made in the hurry of our coming away.The same.

There are three sorts of idolatry among the Chinese. They worship the heavens, as chief governor of all things; Confucius, as their great teacher; and their ancestors in each particular family, as the Romans did their Lares and Manes.-The same.

The Chinese have a vast number of characters, about 40,000. They write in columns from the top to the bottom of the page, and begin on the right hand of the page, as we do on the left. Printing is

Ramsay; and when I sent it to the latter, said in my letter that his lordship was working on so many designs together, that I feared he would never finish any one of them; which, I believe, proved to be the case.