times among the governing classes, is an argument in its favour. The more southern dialects have the same essential characteristics, but are in their sounds far more vulgar and uncouth than the bold and scholar-like mandarin of the north, or the plaintive and polite style of the central districts. These southern dialects contain indications also of early departure from the ruling tongue of the more civilized and cultivated regions; and have words and phrases connected with them which bear evidence of a local and later origin. Still, in either case, the date is very ancient, and all the dialects are offsprings of the same common stock, which have retained their peculiarities for many centuries.

As to the length of time that may be required to learn the language, it varies of course in different individuals. In about a year some make considerable progress, so that they can converse in a general way with their teachers, and are intelligible on a number of ordinary topics. It requires a much longer period, however, to be able to speak with freedom and fulness on the various subjects that come up. There are those who never attain the desired facility, and this may arise from a natural incapacity on their part, while there are others who in their particular spheres can converse and preach with the greatest fluency. It appeared to them at first as if it were well nigh impossible to frame their tongues, so as to give

utterance to their ideas in a rhythmical and orderly style, like the Chinese, but they are a wonder to many from the interesting and intelligent manner in which they talk and preach. We have known foreigners who have been mistaken by the natives as belonging to themselves, from their accurate and ready command of the language; and it is gratifying that such a facility is more or less within the. reach of all, in a Missionary point of view. Some may deny it from the meagre acquisitions of persons whom they have heard, or from their own shortcomings in the matter, yet the facts of the case remain as have been stated. The truth is that the Word of Life is being communicated in the language of China to myriads and millions of the people, by means of foreign Missionaries, in a style that they can readily understand, and in many instances warmly appreciate.

The literature of the country now comes before us for consideration. It requires to be attentively examined, in order to convey a right idea of its character and bearing on the work of Christian missions. As a whole it is of colossal size and enormous difficulty. The classic department lies at the bottom of all the culture and civilization of China. Its study is diligently prosecuted by the scholars or teachers of the country; it gives tone and bias to their modes of thought, and to all the other literature that has succeeded it in the lapse of ages. After the foreign Missionary has acquired

a measure of acquaintance with the colloquial medium, it is a duty on his part to enter on the study of these classic books. There are a few elementary works, which are put into the hands of the Chinese youth, to familiarize them with a number of the native characters. These may or may not be gone into by the foreign missionary, but the classics are proposed to him with all gravity and solemnity by the Chinese teacher.

The first in order is the Ta-yioh or the Great Learning. It begins thus:-"What the Great Learning teaches is to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people, and rest in the highest excellence. The point where to rest being known, the object of pursuit is then determined; and that being determined, a calm imperturbedness may be attained. To that calmness there will succeed a tranquil repose. In that repose there may be careful deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed by the attainment of the desired end. Things have their root and their completion. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning." These ideas are illustrated in a variety of ways bearing on personal virtue, on through a course of world-wide influence, until the whole country is thereby brought into circumstances of peace and order. The second book is the Chung-yung or the Doctrine of the Mean, wherein the laws of

harmony are detailed in the life and character, especially of the perfect man-the sage for example, with the teachings of his moral nature and the supreme will of Heaven. The Lun-yu, or the Confucian analects, recounts the sayings of the master with his disciples and others, in which his views and opinions on a number of subjects are brought forward. The books of Mencius contain the writings of one of China's greatest men. He is, however, only a philosopher, not a sage in the proper sense of the term. He is looked upon as subordinate, in moral and literary rank, to Confucius, whom he succeeded in time, and whose sentiments he adopted in the fullest manner. The above series forms in all four books, and following them are the five classics. The first of these is the Shu-king, or the Book of History, which narrates the chief events of Chinese History from the dawn of empire to 721 B.C. The second is the She-king, or the Book of Poetry, which also gives the earliest extant pieces of poetical writing contained in the language. The Yih-king, or the Book of Changes, professes to furnish an account of the changes that take place in physical nature, according to certain figures or diagrams, that were determined in ancient Chinese philosophy. The Le-ke, or the Record of Rites and Ceremonies, gives us information as to the ancient forms, to which Confucius was greatly attached, and which he inculcated upon his disciples. The Chun-tsew,

or the Book of Spring and Autumn, is a history by Confucius of his native state Loo, from 722 to 484 B.C.

These various classic books reaching back in some instances to three or four thousand years ago, have been commented on in after days by most distinguished men, whose commentaries under imperial sanction are bound up with the original, and studied in common with it. They give tone and colour to the ancient text, and without them it would be of very doubtful interpretation in many parts. They are not universally accepted yet as they have received the royal imprimateur for about seven hundred years, and furnish the authorized standard explanation of the text, they are officially adhered to. A lamentable feature of these commentaries is the irreligious spirit pervading them. They are atheistic or materialistic in their character and tendency-an element that does not accord with the ideas of the more ancient classic books, but such are the views now everywhere prevailing in consequence, and we find in them a chief difficulty in the way of Christianity. We shall have occasion to allude to this subject again.

In addition to these classic writings and the commentaries attached to them, there is a vast amount of native literature, and in great variety. The student may proceed far in his researches into this field, and doubtless he will find much that is