On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
upon the fair , calm faee of its fields , like successive clouds of locusts ; eat their life ' s meal , and die , without one thought concerning * the rights or destinies of humanity .
The most * finished' Reformer scarcely knows how tolook China in the face . Its expression , the condensed NO of ineffectual ages , puts him out of all his 4 < dazzling fence . " Confucius holds up his Scriptures ; and " what he hath writ , he hath writ ! " It seems no use to speak or think . China is continuing China ; and thus revolving entirely within itself , as by a particular law , it has no spare energies to devise fresh international orbits ; nor can a single change occur , that is not almost immediately merged in the operation of its eternal machinery . For all this , there is of course a cause . We consider it to be one of equal profundity and simplicity , to the clear develooement of which this article will be chiefly directed .
JL w A concise , yet at the same time an accurate and elaborate history of China , has long been a serious desideratum in our literature . It is now supplied by these comprehensive volumes , which must soon take their stand in every library in town and country , that pretends to works of permanent value and historical research .
The vast extent of the empire of China—its antiquity—ite immense population , and the singular characteristics by which that population is distinguished , all contribute to render its history a highly interesting study . The two works before us are of unequal merit , but will perhaps be equally popular with different classes of readers . The three volumes of the
" Edinburgh Cabinet Library , " give a very clear detail of the anttals of Chinese history , —a true , literal , and proportionably valuable description of the face of the country , the splendor of its cities , and the customs and manners of its inhabitants ; while the chapters devoted to natural history are elaborately and ably executed . Nor could this have been otherwise , when the talents of so many established writers on those
subjects have been engaged on the production . But those who are profound enquirers into the character and habits of a people , —their social and moral condition , and the nature of their institutions , so as to trace effects to their proximate or remote causes , will appreciate the superiority for their purpose , of the more philosophical work of Mr . Davis .
Mr . Davis is known for his acquaintance with the Chinese language and literature , and has translated many of their worka . He says in his Introduction .
Ci A residence of more than twenty years ( which terminate *! in the author succeeding , lor some months previous to his final retirement , tHe late amiable and unfortunate Lord Napier as hi * Majegty't chief authority in China ) has perhaps been calculated to mature mid correct those opinion * of the < onntry and people which he hail formed , ut * a
Untitled Article
41 / 0 Hitione * of Chin * .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1836, page 410, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2659/page/18/
-