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present day. Much, therefore, that we admire in descriptive writers of other nations who have copied from nature, may be discovered in the effusions of Chinese bards, in a different garb."

Dramatic writings.-The Chinese possess a collection of plays in about two hundred volumes, from which one hundred pieces have been selected for general use, as the flower of the whole. These plays chiefly relate to facts in history and domestic manners. Since the Tartar conquest, they have much degenerated in their character.

Works of fiction.-There is a numerous class of works of fiction in the Chinese language, all of which are either written in the conversational style, or in detached verses. Among them, some have become very popular, and a few are ranked under the title of Tsae-tsze, or "works of genius." Their character is two-fold. While some have a peculiar value, inasmuch as they paint Chinese society as it really exists; others are composed of the most improbable and extravagant stories. Some, indeed, cannot be read without horrifying the mind of the reader, whence the government prohibits their publication. But their contents are so agreeable to the depraved appetite of man, that this prohibition is defied. They are still sold, and their possessors read them with the greatest avidity.

It will be seen by the foregoing, that the Chinese, although they possess a bulky literature, have very little that is really practical and useful. Their sacred works are mere political essays on the art of government, and contain much that is fallacious; their moral and didactic works are incapable of giving a right impulse to

human action; their histories are mere skeletons, conveying no really useful knowledge beyond the data of events; their works on the criminal code do nothing more than teach by the bastinadoe; their volumes on the sciences are miserably deficient in true information; while their belles lettres are, to a considerable extent, calculated to work mischief among the deluded and semi-barbarous multitude.

The mass of thought contained in their volumes, indeed, presents a hideous picture of the human intellect. And on these productions the minds of the millions of China are compelled to feed. They are their guides through life, and their stay in the hour of death. This is a fearful consideration, when it is remembered that the Chinese form a third part of the whole human race; and it should arouse the slumbering zeal of Christians on their behalf. That great and ancient nation requires renovating, for the whole head of it is sick, and the whole heart faint with its iniquities. And how can this be effected, but by spreading the knowledge of the truth, as it is in Jesus, throughout the length and breadth of the whole land? The words of our blessed Lord are encouraging to all his disciples: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me," John xii. 32.

He has been lifted up on the cross a sacrifice for the sin of the world, nor will the Chinese possess true knowledge till they know him, whom to know is life eternal.

Past experience teaches that the efforts of pagan philosophers are utterly vain. Confucius and his disciples wrought to that end, both by their

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personal efforts and their writings, but human nature laughed them to scorn. It showed itself, despite all their labours, corrupted still. And thus will it show itself, even unto the end of the world, unless the glorious gospel is made known unto them. That alone can renovate China, so long paralyzed by superstition, custom, and despotism. When that is published among the Chinese, they will burst the fetters with which they have long been bound. A new era will then dawn upon them in the world of letters and science; for whilst the gospel is all-sufficient to eradicate error, and to renovate the hearts of a people, it conduces to render human society happy, by giving an impulse and a right direction to the intellect. It has thus worked for good in our own beloved country, and having experienced its saving and benign influence, duty bids us publish it to all the nations around, that they may likewise thus be blessed.

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It appears that the art of printing, the composition of gunpowder, and the magnetic compass, had each their origin in China, and were imported into Europe through the channels of oriental commerce by the way of Asia Minor, or the Red Sea. Europeans, however, have far outstripped the Chinese in their use and application.

The art of printing was practised in China during the tenth century of our era. History

relates that the first essay in the art was to transfer the pages from stone blocks, on which the writing had been engraved. By this process the ground of the paper was black, and the letters white. This, however, in the course of time gave way to wooden blocks, on which the characters were cut in relief, and the effect thereby reversed. The paper remained white, and the characters were impressed in ink. This is the Chinese mode of printing at the present day, and perhaps it is better suited to the Chinese characters than that in use among ourselves. It would, indeed, be difficult for a printer to pick out the various characters required for the printing of a single book, as our compositors do the twenty-six letters of our alphabet from the little cells in which they are arranged before him. Besides, the plan of printing from blocks is much better for the Chinese, inasmuch as copies of their "sacred works" are required in great numbers for the use of the whole population.

The material used for printing in China is pear-tree wood. A block of this wood is finely planed and squared to the shape and dimensions of two pages. After this the surface is rubbed over with a paste, sometimes made from boiled rice, which renders it smooth. While yet wet, the future pages firmly transcribed on their transparent paper, are laid upon it in an inverted position, and this paper being subsequently rubbed off, a clear impression in ink of the inverted writing remains on the wood. The workman then, with a sharp graver, cuts away that portion of the wooden surface not covered by ink, and leaves the characters in relief. Any error may be

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