peas and beans on the leys; ploughs in the pea or bean stubble for wheat; and in some instances, follows his wheat crops by a course of winter tares and winter barley, which is eat off in the spring, before the land is sowed for turnips.'-p. 356.

Sir Humphry Davy approves of Mr. Bakewell's principles respecting the treatment of sheep, by increasing the natural quantity of yolk, where it is a principal object to make the wool fine; and he recommends for this purpose a little soap of potass, or soft soap, with excess of grease, as every way preferable to the composition employed by Mr. Bakewell.

From the very copious and valuable Appendix, we shall abstract a table, which will present our readers with the most important of its results.

Table of the Pounds of nutritive Matter afforded by an Acre of the most productive Grasses.

car adina d Cut in flower. Cut in seed. Latter math.

og Grasses.

Poa trivialis

Anthoxanthum odoratum

Poa pratensis

Avena elatior

Agrostis vulgaris

Festuca ovina

6

In a few instances, and but in a few, we are disposed to entertain opinions somewhat different from Sir Humphry Davy's. We should not have spoken so undecidedly respecting Dr. Thomson's use of silicated potass as a test of gum. p. 74. We have in vain attempted to precipitate a recent solution of gum with this substance, and we imagined that Sir Humphry Davy would have agreed with us in attributing the effect, when it takes place, to the accidental presence of some acid, whether produced by fermentation or otherwise. When we read of 37 proportions of hydrogen, 21 of charcoal, and one of oxygen, as constituting wax, p. 96; we cannot help thinking that all idea of symmetry as the foundation of the atomic system of combination, must be wholly lost, and that in cases so complicated, no advantage can be derived from referring in any manner to the appropriate or equivalent weights. The prussic acid has been lately obtained, not only in the state of a liquid, like the acetic and malic,' p. 106, but also in that of an elastic fluid. For vetches, vicia faba,' p. 116, we must read beans. It was not the acetate' or sugar of lead,' p. 133, but subacetate, that Mr. Brande employed for precipitating the colouring and acid matter of wines. We are somewhat surprised to find the turnip fly denominated, p. 217, an insect of the colyoptera genus,' instead of the coleopterous order. Some other similar errors of less importance we omit to mention; but we must observe that our author seems to be mistaken respecting the inference from the experiments of Montgolfier, when he says that they have shown, that water may be raised almost to an indefinite height by a very small force, provided its pressure be taken off by continued divisions in the column of fluid:' for in fact nothing more would be gained by such a subdivision, than by lessening the diameters of the columns concerned.

a

If any of our agricultural readers should deem our abstract of this interesting work too meagre to satisfy their curiosity, we trust that they will be induced by its deficiency to study with the more attention the original lectures, and the science to which they relate : at the same time we are willing to hope, that we have selected some facts, and some principles, which cannot fail of being practically useful, as far as their influence extends.

ART. V. 1. The Works of Confucius, containing the Original Text, with a Translation. By J. Marshman. Vol. I. Serampore, printed at the Mission-press. 1809.

2 Hora Sinica: Translations from the Popular Literature of the Chinese. By the Rev. Robert Morrison, Protestant Missionary at Canton. London, 1812.

T

M

HE remark of Sir William Jones that it is to our French neighbours we are indebted for almost every effort that has been made to elucidate the language and literature of China,' however just in his time, has at length, we think, ceased to be so. Within the last twenty years our own countrymen have paid off with interest to this 'neighbour' the literary debt of two centuries. Without meaning to speak lightly of the laborious attention which the Italian, the Portugueze, and the Spanish missionaries, as well as those from France, have bestowed on the history, customs, laws, and reputed ancient literature of China, we may be permitted to say that to few, if to any of them, can be assigned the merit of having directed their philological studies to any one point of practical utility. In giving us abundance of theories and ingenious speculations, they have taken good care not to overwhelm us with such lights as might enable us to pronounce a judgment on the justness of their conclusions. Indeed the authenticity of many of their communications has often been called in question-less perhaps from the matter of them than from an apparently studied concealment of the means that might enable the learned and studious of Europe to examine the originals. The ingenious dissertations of Messrs. De Guignes and Freret in the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, with all their plausible theories and conjectures, were calculated to perplex rather than to elucidate; and the copious contributions of the fathers Amiot and Cibot in the Mémoires sur les Chinois' are too diffuse, and their notions of every thing Chinese too refined, to afford any help towards the promotion of Chinese literature in Europe, or the attainment evenal of the Chinese language. Indeed, if we except the gleanings of Bayer in his Museum Sinicum, and the more systematic but stu diously obscure Meditationes Sinica of Fourmont, not one of our 'French neighbours' has favoured the world with any thing in the shape of an introductory or grammatical treatise on this singular

language, or with that indispensable help towards the attainment

of every foreign language, a dictionary. In short they have given us a profusion of the garnish of Chinese literature, but totally omitted the substantial and wholesome part of it which could alone contribute to the growth and nourishment of the intellectual faculties.

The missionaries, however, may, for aught we know to the contrary, be entitled to the merit of good intentions, and it is certain that persons were not wanting in France to follow up those intentions. Fourmont had prepared, at a considerable expense of money and time, a collection of types or dies, and arranged them in proper order for printing a Chinese dictionary. These types at his death were transferred to De Guignes and Deshauterayes, with a view to the publication of the projected work; but either from the want of sufficient knowledge of the subject, or, which is most likely, of sufficient funds, the work made little or no progress. The task then devolved on M. Langlés, but, as far as we know, with no better success, though ostensibly patronized by the late French ruler.

A German quack, of the name of Hager, having, by impudence or adulation, obtained the more effectual support of Bonaparte, figured for a time in what, in Paris, passed for Chinese literature. With a very limited knowledge of the rudiments even of that language, he contrived to print two very expensive works, the one on the Mythology of China, and the other on its Numismatics. These two volumes were compilations from the writings of Europeans, interspersed with wild theories and fanciful conjectures of his own. They may be deemed by some as curious, but can be of no possible use to the student of Chinese literature.

In Berlin the zealous and enthusiastic Montucci appears to have added largely to his stock of Chinese literature since his publications in England, as well as considerably to have improved his taste. He has not only printed a Latin dissertation De Studiis Sinicis, and Remarques Philologiques, &c.' but has made, as it would seem, some progress in preparing for the press a Chinese dictionary, consisting of eight or ten thousand of such characters as are most commonly in use. If, as we have understood, he is in possession of the manuscript copy of a Chinese dictionary belonging to the late Cardinal Antonelli, of the College De Propagande Fide at Naples, and which was lent to Lord Macartney on his em bassy to China, we believe he could not possibly perform a more useful service to all those who have any desire to study the language, than by printing a fac simile of that excellent compilation; and his familiar dialogues in Chinese, Latin, and French, for a copy of which he is indebted to our countryman Mr. Raper, will be found to be equally useful to the Chinese scholar.goo

At Halle the ingenious Julius Von Klaproth has taken up the study of the Chinese language; but for want of a proper guide we observe with regret, that he has, unfortunately for himself and the advancement of philology, plunged at once into the maze of Chinese metaphysics, and completely bewildered himself in at

tempting to explain the meaning, if they ever had any, which we much doubt, of the kua or digrams or trigrams, or by whatever name we may be pleased to call them, ascribed to the first of their kings, Fo-shee. Something of the same kind has befallen a modern French author of the name of Abel Rémusat, as we perceive from his Essai sur la Langue et la Littérature Chinoise,' a book from which it is utterly impossible to derive the most distant notion either of their language or literature. It is, indeed, peculiarly unfortunate that the mysticism, if we may so call it, of the squares, circles, and polygons of the venerable Fo-shee's teapots should have formed, in the very threshold, the great stumbling-block of almost every one who has attempted to enter on the study of Chi.nese philology. Indeed we are quite persuaded that those lines never had the least relation to the language, but were mere devices for ornamental purposes; and we would recommend to those, who may hereafter be tempted to employ themselves in Chinese litera ture to rest satisfied with the explanation which one of Mr. Marshman's Chinese assistants gave to him concerning them that those who could understand them would always be able to detect thieves, and recover stolen goods.'

In England we have reason to believe the Chinese language and literature have already made much greater progress than on the continent. They now form a part of the acquirements of the students in the East India College at Hertford, where there is a regular Chinese professor. In the College of Fort William a very considerable advance has been made; and, though late, we are pleased to find that several of the young gentlemen in the Company's service at Canton, have, since the censure we were reluctantly compelled to pass on them, turned their attention to this subject. The language of China had, in fact, long been considered so abstruse and difficult as to be wholly unattainable by foreigners; but this idea has been completely exploded by the extensive knowledge which several English gentlemen have acquired of it. Of these we believe Sir George Staunton may fairly claim the first place; his knowledge of this singular language is not only demonstrated by every day's practical use of it there, in written and colloquial communications with the natives, but still more clearly by his translation of the Leu-lee, or fundamental laws and statutes of the empire, a work which, though it cannot be placed in comparison with Blackstone's Commentaries, may at least be considered of equal merit, as it certainly is of equal importance to the Chinese, with our Burn's Justice in England.

We have already had occasion to notice the labours of Mr. Stephen Weston in Chinese literature; and though we could not conscientiously say much in praise of his imperial poetry, or think