OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND PROFESSOR OF CHINESE AT PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION LONDON. SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE; AND 48, PICCADILLY. NEW YORK: POTT, YOUNG, & CO. PREFACE. THE present volume contains a new survey of wide subjects for inquiry. The number of native authors whose writings it would be necessary to master in the preparation of a work de novo on Confucianism and Taouism is so great that it renders the accomplishment of such a task by any one author next to impossible. It has been necessary therefore for me to take advantage of the labours of preceding European workers in the separate fields, as well as of Chinese writers not previously consulted. In the first category I have to acknowledge the very material assistance I have derived from Legge's "Chinese Classics," Faber's "Systematic Digest of the Doctrines of Confucius," translated from the German by P. G. Von Moellendorf; Johnson's "Oriental Religious China"; Watters' "Lao-tzu"; "The Speculations of 'the old Philosopher,' Lau-tsze," by Chalmers; Julien's "Le Livre de la Voie et de la Vertu"; and "Le Livre des Récompenses et des Peines," by the same Author. References to the native works above alluded to will be found in the foot-notes. ROBERT K. DOUGLAS. |