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side of Chinese life. Her chapters | resources of China, and the advanvery pleasantly supplement many of tages to herself and others, particuthose of her husband in his "Travels in North China." As is natural, Mrs. Williamson gives more of the domestic and the poetic, than do most of our books on China from masculine pens. The accompanying map is well executed, and the several illustrations are appropriate. We had hoped to have received a copy of Miss Fielde's Pagoda Shadows, or a notice of it from the only party in China who, so far as we are informed, has received a copy of it, but have failed in both hopes. We can only say that a hasty glance at the book, as we flitted through Swatow a few weeks since, excited a desire to read it more carefully. An introduction by Joseph Cook is in his own rhetorical style; while the substance of the volume consists of graphic biographical sketches of a number of native Christian women.

Our old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Arnold Bennett, of Yokohama, have kindly remembered us, in common with many others, by a printed letter of 23 pages narrating a short trip made into the country. They hope in this way to acknowledge and reciprocate their unanswered correspondence; but as they owed us nothing, we are their obliged debtors. Several pretty sketches from Japanese hands adorn the pamphlet, and none who know the authors will be surprised that many pages betray the poetic struc

With charac

ture of their minds.
teristic quaintness they
say:-
"Should it happen to fall under the
eye of any one to whom its items
may seem staler than the bread of
the Gibeonites, we trust that being
found more truthful than that
bread, they may secure no less
indulgence."

The Opening of China, by A. R. Colquhoun, is a reprint of six letters written to The Times of London during August last. They give in a condensed form much information of a recent date, regarding the

larly to England, of the introduction
of railroads. The burden of these
pages is found in the concluding
lines of the last letter, "The water-
ways of the country, called the
glory of China,' are altogether
insufficient. Railways are required.
A midland railway, driven from
North to South, is the pressing
We are not of
want of China.'
those who would oppose any step
in material progress; and railroads
are without doubt one of these
steps. A new day has evidently
begun to dawn, now that we learn
from the Peking Gazette that a
certain officer has recently been
degraded three degrees for memo-
rializing the throne against rail-
roads! Yet, on the other hand,
there are other things more impor-
tant than merely material advances,
and such advances will, without
those more important elements,
prove but drawbacks and disasters.
the moral-must, we opine, take
Both movements-the material and
place step by step nearly simultane
other to the benefit of each. Mr.
ously; the one reacting on
Colquhoun does not seem to measure
the force of the difficulty which
ereignty of the various viceroys of
comes from the independent sov-
the different provinces; a difficulty
which we learn from the North-
China Daily News is proving al-
China Daily News is proving al-
most insurmountable, and which is

the

delaying the prosecution of enterprises otherwise on the eve of being endorsed by the Peking Government. It needs no prophetic ken however to see that even this difficulty must ultimately give way which is so rapidly increasing. As under the pressure of circumstances well-wishers to China, we must hope that on the one hand the pressure will not become so great, nor on the other hand the readiness to yield be so tardy, as to throw such enterprises out of the hands of their own Government. The success of the Japanese in controlling their own railroads is an instructive

example, and it is hopeful Siam is following in the enterprising line of things.

that | Mr. Gring's Eclectic Dictionary* same is a very creditable production com

ing from one so young in Oriental studies. The introduction covers 167 pages, 66 of which are devoted to the Radicals. These are arranged so as to secure, it is hoped, the greatest variety and interest in their study and mastery. Sixty-seven more pages give a select list of the Primitives, calculated to assist the student in

ings of the most useful derivatives. The Dictionary itself consists of 650 pages of about 8,000 select characters, arranged as far as possible, in the order of their frequency under their radicals. The volume is a duodecimo, neat, and handy. There is nothing original about it, the author says, except the arrange. ment; and we cannot but think that the same idea might be worked out for beginners in China itself, in a way that would be more helpful than any one manual which we now call to mind. The English of the introduction is in several places very stiff, not to say, ungrammatical,-a defect that will no doubt be corrected in future editions. The work is evidently a labor of love, for the author speaks of "the many pleasant hours of study and labor in writing and arranging." He hopes it will not only assist foreign students in studying Japanese, but also Japanese in studying English.

The China Review for Sept.-Oct. 1884, gives us a first instalment of "The Life of Koxinga," which tells in a very readable style a number of interesting facts regarding the Kingly Pirate and his conquests, particularly of his taking Formosa, an island now remembering the sounds and meanagain looming on the horizon of history. "Scraps from Chinese Mythology" are heavy reading, though no doubt of interest to those who delve in such mines. Mr. Oxenham's article, still continued, is proving itself to be a good sized piece of timber, rather than "A Chip from Chinese History." The material of history is there, but it will require much labor to make it available to Western readers; and much the same may be said of Mr. Piton's article on "The Six Great Chancellors of Tsin." Mr. E. H. Parker, in discussing the Old Language of China, hopes "not to be betrayed into a display of that odium sinologicum which once disclosed the human frailties and detracted so much from the just fame of such distinguished orientalists as M. M. Julien and Panthier," but is not deterred thereby from criticising Dr. Edkins, and from expressing the hope that "a much sounder era is dawning upon sinology" than that of the past. Mr. Parker makes the quite original remark that "an ordinary telegram is usually purely ancient Chinese in form." The eight pages of Notes and Queries furnish several rich morsels, with a good deal that must be termed, literary saw-dust.

The Life of Buddha, from Tibetan sources, by Mr. Rockhill,† is a very painstaking volume. It assays to supplement the studies of Alexander Csoma de Körös in the Buddhist literature of Tibet. The body of the work consists, as stated in the preface, of "a substantial

Eclectic Chinese-Japanese-English Dictionary of Eight Thousand selected Chinese Characters, including an Introduction to the study of these characters as used in Japan, and an Appendix of useful Tables; compiled and arranged by Rev. Ambrose D. Gring. Published under the auspices of the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions of the (German) Reformed Church in the United States. Yokohama: Kelly & Walsh. 1884. [Price $7.00.]

The Life of Buddha and the Early History of his Order, derived from Tibetan Works. Translated by W. Woodville Rockhill, Second Secretary, U.S. Legation in China. London: Trübner & Co. 1884; post 8vo, pp. X.-274.

and connected analysis, and frequently literal translations, of the greater part of the historical or legendary texts contained in the Tibetan Dulva, or Vinaya-pitaka, which is unquestionably the most trustworthy and probably the oldest portion of the Bkah-hgyur." Attention is drawn to the fact that all Buddhist authors, of all schools, narrate the history of Buddha down to his visit to Kapilavastu in the early part of his ministry, and that of the last years of his life, in about the same terms. The authority of the Tibetan Vinaya supports the authenticity of the early council of Rajagriha, soon after Gautama's death, and the council of Vaisali one hundred and ten years after. The last three chapters of the volume give, from Tibetan sources, a history of the schools of Buddhism, and the early histories of Tibet and Khoten. The patient diligence which can sustain the solitary student in wading as the author of this volume has done, through deserts as arid as that of Gobi, is worthy of all admiration. It must have been down-right enthusiasm which carried a Secretary of Legation into such recondite studies. Such accurate and enterprising power should in due time give us other and more original productions regarding those comparatively unknown regions. The present attempts to open Tibet to travel and trade lend new interest to all that pertains to the little known sections of Central Asia.

Among the many books appearing on Buddhism, is to be noted Lillie's Life of Buddha,* a work however which it is dangerous for any but an expert in Buddhistic studies to handle. His main contention is that a great mistake has been made in calling the Buddhists of Ceylon and the South, the disciples of the Little Vehicle, and the truest repre

sentatives of the original teachings of Buddha. He supports his position by a great array of confused and confusing learning, and with such a spirit of bitter antagonism to Mr Rhys David, that it renders one very cautious of accepting any of his statements. It is certainly an interesting question which Lillie has raised, and it is evident from the studies of Oldenberg and Turnour that the original Cingalese chronicles were at an early date manipu lated and falsified; but whether the investigations of calm scholarship will sustain such sweeping revolu tions is probably more than doubtful. Many of our author's statements must be wide of the mark. Dr Gordon of Japan directs attention, in a note to his lecture on "The Insufficiencies of Buddhism," to the fact that Mr. Lillie's "Buddha and early Buddhism" contradicts almost every scholar of note, and says “To the student of Japanese Buddhism, the utter untrustworthiness of his book is settled by the following two sentences:-'Under the title Niyorai a loftier and more abstract divinity still (than Amitaba) is known to the Japanese. It must be remembered that Japan derived its Buddhism from Ceylon.'-It is true that Mr. Lillie apparently makes Mr. Pfoundes his authority-a very hazardous thing for any author to do-for these astounding statements, and we may perhaps excuse the ignorance which takes Niyorai (Tathagata) an epithet of every Buddha, and makes a lofty divinity out of it; but the geographical relations of the two countries ought to have kept him from the last statement, unless enforced by the clearest proof. It is hardly necessary to say that if there is one event in Japanese history clearly established, it is that its Buddhism came from Corea and China."

The Popular Life of Buddha, containing an answer to the Hibbert Lectures of 1881. By Arthur Lillie. London: Kegan, Paul & Co., 1883.

CHINESE LITERATURE.

The Rev. C. A. Stanley of Tientsin sends us a work on The Prophecies, in Mandarin.* It is a volume of some fifty-four pages, containing as many chapters, each of which takes up some prophecy concerning Christ. The author has first treated, in an easy yet interesting manner, the prophecies of Christ found in the Pentateuch. But when we pass to those chapters which deal with the prophetical Psalms, and the Prophecies from Isaiah and Daniel and Malachi, the author not only knows his subject, but handles it in a most interesting and edifying way. The whole of the work is good and not only furnishes us with direct evidence of the Christian religion, but tends to strengthen the religious life. We would recommend our Missionary brethren to encourage the use of this book among all native Christians; assured are that it will make them more eager to know the reason for the hope that is in them, and more earnest in making known to men the King who is the Saviour.

as we

found in the Moh-loh. We were anxious to find a character, and some time would have been saved had the list of Radicals been attached. We would call attention to the fifth column of characters on page 52 Moh-loh; the sixth character from the top of the page we fail to find on page 9 of the dictionary.

A useful little book to students of the Mandarin has just reached a second edition. The author is a

Japanese scholar, who has spent of Chinese at Peking. There is some time in the successful study an introduction, much of which seems to us needless. The book is

contains

arranged in four parts, each part has a number of chapters, each of which and useful sentences. It is doubtsome simple but good less a good book for beginners, but the Southern student must not forget that it is in Northern Mandarin, and, as is to be expected, contains phrases peculiar to it. We usual plan of marking the tones of can see no reason for altering the characters. Why the author should wish to mark Shang-p'ing by a circle at the upper corner of the right side of the character, and Ch'ü sheng, by a circle at the lower corner of the right side, we fail to see.

We are glad to see an English and Chinese Dictionary of the Ningpo Colloquial, prepared by Miss M. Laurence.+ It is a volume of two hundred and twenty pages; much time and labour must have been An interesting book, written in a spent upon it. It has been prepared literary style, has been published as a help to members of the Ningpo by the Rev. Timothy Richard, Churches, so that they may under- Shan-si.§ Such a book has long stand the Scriptures, also as a help been needed. We could wish that to those natives who wish to increase this work, which is well written, their knowledge of the English and fairly attractive, may be widely language. Another reason for its distributed among the officials and publication is that foreigners may literati of the various provinces. be assisted in acquiring the Ningpo Those who read it will see at once, Colloquial. The book is well adapted that the object of this "Great to both these purposes, having the Doctrine," as the author calls it, is Character, Colloquial, and Transla- the good of the people who receive. tion, arranged in one column. One it. Such works as this will help to thing strikes us as being needed to lessen the prejudice which exists make the book popular;-a page of against the missionary and his reliRadicals with the number of the gion. page on which each radical is to be

* 豫言基督
†甯音列韻字彙

‡官話指南
§民数治安之策

T. P.

Editorial Notes and Missionary News.

Editorial.

IN assuming the editorship of The Recorder we need only say that we will do our best to realize the objects had in view when the periodical was commenced sixteen years ago, and which have been so steadily and successfully pursued by those who have preceded us.

There will be no restrictions as to the subjects which may be discussed in these pages, save those which the judgment of the Editor may from time to time decide will best secure the highest prosperity of what is so comprehensively called The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal. The Editor will not feel responsible for the different opinions, theological, philosophical, or practical, of the various contributors. His own opinions, so far as he may think best to express them, will be given in these "Editorial" columns, or elsewhere over his own signature. It is hoped that The Recorder will be a fair representative of all Protestant Missionaries in China.

It is proposed, after the present number, to make this Journal a Monthly, of half its present size, but with the same number of pages for the year, and without changing its very moderate subscription price. The Presbyterian Press, under its new Superintendent, the Rev. Dr. Farnham, is showing its purpose to keep abreast of the times, by the new and attractive dress in which The Recorder appears. These changes will, it is hoped, tend to make it a better and more acceptable vehicle of Missionary News.

In common with all who have gone before us in this office, we must call upon our friends to remember that The Recorder will be what they may help us to make it.

HISTORY OF THE RECORDER.

A brief sketch of the history of The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal may not be uninteresting to those but recently arrived in China. The now celebrated, and invaluable Chinese Repository, edited by Dr. S. Wells Williams, having been discontinued in 1851, after covering a period of twenty years, The Missionary Recorder was commenced March, 1867, by the Rev. L. N. Wheeler of the Methodist Episcopal Mission, Foochow. This publication held its way for nine months when it was discontinued, for reasons not on record. very few copies of this thin volume of 142 pages are now in existence.

But

In May, 1868, the Rev. S. L. Baldwin of Foochow commenced The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, as a monthly of 264 pages at $2.00 a year, and it was printed at the Methodist Press of Foochow. The Rev. Justus Doolittle was its editor, from February, 1870 to May 1872, when it was suspended, for want of sufficient support. It was not again issued till January, 1874, when Mr. A. Wylie, Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, became its editor. The Presbyterian Mission Press of Shanghai assumed the publishing responsibility, and it was issued bi-monthly, at $3.00 a year, forming a volume of about 480 pages; which size and price it has since retained.

The Rev. S. L. Baldwin, D.D., of Foochow, again became its editor in January, 1878, on the return of Mr. Wylie to England, but the Presbyterian Press at Shanghai still published it. In May, 1880, Rev. A. P. Happer, D.D., of Canton, assumed its editorship, which he retained till December, 1884, when ill health obliged him to return to America, followed by the well wishes of many.

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