Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 610

THE

CHINESE REPOSITORY.

VOL. X.-NOVEMBER, 1841.- No. 11.

ART. I. Ta Tsing hwang te Shing Heun, or Sacred Instructions

of the emperors of the Ta Tsing dynasty. By Philosinensis. THE Central Einpire has its classics; and if there are any books in the world, which are read and commented upon, these works cer- tainly receive that honor: nor is this attention entirely limited to the Chinese. By way of imitation, the whole list of sinologues is most ardently attached to these works, discussing and praising the merits of the Four Books and Five Classics. Many pages have been filled with their wonderful remarks, and their still more extraordinary deductions. By way of compliment, some modern philosophers have most magnanimously reduced the origin of the creation and conti- nuation of all things to the yin and yang principles, and most learn- edly argued the matter. What would Confucius say, if, rising from his

grave, he should hear these disciples of Plato, Aristotle, and Kant, discussing those absurdities, which he really never meant to inculcate?

Having ourselves once been caught and deceived by the attractive naine of classics, we warn the reader not to fall into a similar error when attempting to learn' Chinese. In our acceptation of the word, classic means everything elegant, excellent, and correct in diction. The very quintessence of the language is contained in classical works; and by mastering them, one has entered into the spirit of the litera- ture of a country. Now as far as thought is concerned, all this ap- plies to the Chinese classics; but whosoever hopes to find the beauties of language in the said books, will be sadly disappointed. Though Mencius is eminent on account of his perspicuity, yet by some he is stigmatized as a babbler, because he is, according to their view, too

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