perhaps the first historian who has fully indicated the ability of Cecil, and the position of Mary Stuart in England. Yet, on the whole, he is less philosophic than artistic; he is not very skilful in pointing out the operation of general causes, and he is not often judicial in his method, or always just in weighing evidence. We have noticed in what respects we believe his conclusions require some modification, and when he has leaned perhaps too heavily on the side, either of praise or of censure. But we close his pages with unfeigned regret, and we bid him good speed in his noble mission of exploring the sources of English history in one of its most remarkable periods. ART. II.-The Chinese Classics. With a Translation, Critical and By JAMES Vol. I. Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and the Vol. II. The Works of Mencius. Vol. III., Part I. Books of T'ang; 1861. The First Parts of the Shoo King, or the the Books of Yu; the Books of Hea; the and the Prolegomena. 1865. Vol. III., Part II. The Fifth Part of the Shoo King, or the Books of Chow; and the Indexes. 1865. THESE four volumes cannot fail to please the eye of the most fastidious book-hunter. They are admirably got up; the paper, the typography, the arrangement of matter, are all exceedingly prepossessing in appearance, and would not disgrace the best printing-presses in the Metropolis of the world, and yet they are issued from a press established in one of our most recently planted colonies whose name, five-and-twenty years ago, was unknown to anybody out of China. In 1842, Hong Kong was a collection of barren rocks, inhabited by a few fishermen ; now it is a cathedral city, and boasts many noble buildings, weekly and daily newspapers, and a mission press, capable of producing such a chef d'œuvre as the work now under review. Contrast this specimen of book-making with one of its lineal predecessors, now lying on our table, entitled a 'Retrospect of the First Ten Years of the Protestant Mission to China, accom'panied with Miscellaneous Remarks on the Literature, History, and Mythology of China. By William Milne. Malacca: 'Printed at the Anglo-Chinese Press, 1820;' or with a subsequent work, also by a predecessor of Dr. Legge, in his quondam office of Principal of the Anglo-Chinese College, Malacca, bearing the title, The Chinese Classical Work 'commonly called the Four Books, translated and illustrated 'with Notes by the late Rev. David Collie. Printed at the 'Mission Press, 1828.' And how astonishing the difference in the tout ensemble! We congratulate Dr. Legge on having been enabled thus immensely to surpass those who have gone before him. He need entertain no fear of the most inveterate laudator temporis acti assailing this work with the text, 'What 'is the cause that the former days were better than these?' the superiority of our own time, in this respect at least, is far too manifest to be for a moment gainsaid. The late Dr. Medhurst was not only a learned Sinologue, but practically familiar with the management of a press; yet not one of the multitudinous works he produced, either at Batavia or Shanghai, is, in point of artistic excellence, at all to be compared with these splendid volumes. One cause of the superiority is doubtless the munificence of British merchants in China; and to this, on opening the volume first published, we find Dr. Legge giving due and grateful prominence. The late Honourable Joseph 'Jardine, Esq.,' guaranteed the cost of the whole work; and the Honourable John Dent, Esq.,' as we ascertain from the 'advertisement to the second volume,' made such arrangements with_the_author as enable him to supply all missionaries, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic, with each volume, at half price. But it was the wellknown and admirable qualifications for such an arduous enterprise possessed by Dr. Legge, that induced these merchant-princes to be so liberal of their money; and we trust the general public will show that these gentlemen are by no means singular in their appreciation of a work to which only very rare talents and opportunities could have given birth. Dr. Legge describes himself on the title page, as of the 'London Missionary Society,' a body which may boast of having introduced to Mission-work in China, several very effective agents. Among these, Drs. Morrison and Milne are conspicuous. They were, as is well-known, the earliest missionaries sent out by any Protestant Society to China; and they deserve the character always given them, of having been energetic and successful pioneers in attacking the Chinese language,- -a fortress at one time thought almost impregnable. They published a great deal; but only the Dictionary of the NO. LXXXIX. D former, and a few Tracts by the latter, are now made use of by their successors in the field. Though the day has long gone by when a favourable opinion was entertained of their version of the Scriptures, yet they deserve, and we doubt not will always receive high praise for resolute devotedness to the best interests of the Chinese. Dr. Milne was succeeded, at Malacca, by the Rev. David Collie, author of the Translation spoken of above, and he, by the Rev. Samuel Kidd, who was subsequently Professor of Chinese in University College, London. Professor Kidd's attainments in the language were considerable; and Dr. Legge, in his preface to his first volume, speaks of having, before he left England, enjoyed the benefit of a few months' instruction from him. The name of the Rev. Samuel Dyer ought not to be passed by in any summary, however brief, of the more celebrated among the Chinese missionaries of the London Missionary Society; for, if less learned than many of them, he could readily account for that inferiority by referring to his lifelong labours in bringing into existence and operation, founts of Chinese metal type; and he would have regarded his most eager anticipations of usefulness in this field, as amply fulfilled, had he seen his handiwork employed in such productions as Dr. Legge's volumes, and in numberless beautiful editions of the Holy Scriptures and tracts. The late Dr. Medhurst's reputation, still stands high; and no Missionary Society has ever had a more diligent and laborious agent. He was active in missionary effort, and no less earnest and successful in study. He often regretted that he had been set to work too early in life, and that his training was so meagre, both as to quantity and quality. By unremitting application he did all he could to supply the deficiency; and he produced a large collection of works, both in Chinese and in English, many of them valuable, but all indicating, in one way or other, the want of early culture. Dr. Legge, in his preface to the Shoo King, refers to a translation of the same work by Dr. Medhurst, published in 1846. He allows' Dr. Medhurst's attainments in Chinese,' to have been prodigious;' but he thinks his work on the Shoo was done hastily.' Dr. Medhurst published, in the following year, a book on the Theology of the Chinese, which, though crowded to repletion with proofs of his familiarity with the classics of that language, is, by reason of its style and arrangement, utterly uninviting to the general reader; it shows no comprehensive view, or powerful grasp of thought, and leaves the impression on the fatigued student that much learning had Missionary Sinologues. 35 eucmbred the author's powers and affected him with its own ineffable dulness. Dr. Medhurst's principal claim to an enduring reputation will ever rest on the translation, into Chinese, of the Old and New Testaments, usually called the Delegates' version. His coadjutors in this great work were, the Rev. John Stronach and the Rev. W. Č. Milne, also agents of the London Missionary Society. To the excellence of this version, testimony has been borne in No. 65, of this Review, (January, 1861,) Art. 5, entitled 'Chinese Characteristics,' (p. 164); and it continues to be extensively circulated, both by the British and Foreign Bible Society,' and by the American Bible Societies. Even those missionaries, who, from controversial or national motives, persist in using a far inferior version, acknowledge that the translation made by the agents of the London Missionary Society is characterized by high Chinese scholarship, and by a strict compliance with the requirements of an elegant and classical style. The Rev. Joseph Edkins, now of Peking, deserves mention here as the distinguished author of several valuable Treatises on the Grammar of the Shanghai and Mandarin dialects of the Chinese language, and on the 'Religious Condition of the Chinese,'books deservedly held in good repute by competent judges. The Rev. Griffith John, who commenced the Mission at Hankow, is worthy of note as being the author of what Dr. Legge, in his second volume, justly describes as a comprehensive and 'able sketch of the Ethics of the Chinese, with special reference to the Doctrine of Human nature and Sin;' read before the North China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and published separately. Doctors Hobson and Lockhart have acquired a high reputation, both for active efforts as medical missionaries, and for their literary labours. Nor will the Rev. John Chalmers, A.M., be forgotten, so long as Dr. Legge's third volume continues to be read; the assistance he has contributed to the elucidation of very abstruse questions, connected with Chinese Astronomy and History, proves him to be a scholar of vast attainments.* There are many other labourers sent out by the London Missionary Society, whose names, in connection with literary efforts, are less before the public, but who have all attained to at least as high a standard as that reached by the agents of other Societies. But none of these zealous co-operators in the cause of missions, however efficient, would hesitate for an instant in according to Dr. Legge a position far above that occupied either by his predecessors or by his contem* Vol. iii. p. 90, poraries. Indeed, all his fellow-missionaries, to whatever society they belong, delight to crown him as facile princeps in the missionary community in China, and we feel no hesitation in making public what it is so pleasant to all his fellowlabourers to acknowledge. The work now before us is not Dr. Legge's first literary effort. He published, in 1852, a thin volume, with the somewhat unattractive title of The Notions of the Chinese concerning God and Spirits, with the Examination of the Defence of an Essay on the proper rendering of the words Elohim and Theos into Chinese, by Wm. J. Boone, D.D., Missionary Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America in 'China.' The circulation of the book did not extend much beyond those to whom it was chiefly addressed-the missionaries in China and the Directors of the Bible Societies; nor was it noticed, so far as we are aware, in any review of influence; but it was full of intellectual vigour, and gave evidence of much philosophical culture and searching analysis. It was never answered, nor attempted to be answered. It contained too many hard arguments for any opponent of the terminology it advocated to hope to grapple with successfully, and showed an extensive acquaintance with logic, comparative philology, and Chinese literature, such as no missionary pledged to the other side of the question could entertain any idea of emulating, far less of excelling. But we all know that converts are not made by argument alone, and that the silence of defeat is not necessarily followed by the submission of the vanquished. We believe, however, that Dr. Legge did good in an important controversy by the publication of this treatise, and his services ought not to be forgotten. He maintained that the words God, Elohim, and Theos are relative terms, and ought to be translated into Chinese by a relative term; and he brought forward abundant proof, from the Chinese classics and other standard books-such as the Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty'-that the Chinese believed in one Great and Glorious Being, to whom kar' oxy, the title of Shang Te, Supreme Ruler,' or 'God,' was given. Many of the quotations adduced are from the ancient classical work called the Shoo King,' which forms the third volume (in two parts) of the work we are now to bring before our readers. The 'Shoo King,' or 'Book Classic,' is a collection of historical documents, said to have been arranged by Confucius. There is a narrative portion prefixed to most of the books of which it is composed; but this generally consists of only a few words, rarely of more than a single sentence, and Dr. Legge thinks these short prefatory notices may have been the work of the |