These elements enter into the composition of all the characters of the Chinese Language; every other character is said to contain at least one of these, and most of them are formed by the union of several, proceeding from one to seven or eight. Some of them, it is true, are abbreviated for the sake of facilitating their union with others, (specimens of which may be seen at the foot of the page in the foregoing Synopsis of Elements,) and in some of the compounds, a part of certain characters alone appears: but in the greater number, every character may be distinctly traced, either in its proper or abbreviated form.

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE CHARACTERS.

Relative to the Origin of the elements and the other characters, we are left almost entirely to conjecture. The invention of twenty-four elements which, void of meaning themselves, should yet constitute words, signifying, by compact, distinct ideas according to Harris,* has been esteemed so extraordinary, as almost to transcend the powers of the human mind. It is not easy to determine whether this mode of expressing ideas, or the Imitative adopted by the Chinese, be the most ancient, but the latter seems more simple and obvious, and hence more within the reach of the human mind. However difficult it might be to invent and combine letters so as to form words which might convey ideas, that, when men wished to retain or convey to each other the idea of an object, it would be natural for them to trace in some rude' manner an imitation or character, which might in their opinion serve to represent it, is evident, not only from the practice of travellers and others unacquainted with the principles of drawing, but even from that of children, who, in their juvenile frolics, often amuse themselves in thus attempting to portray objects which forcibly strike their attention.

The Chinese in general ascribe the invention of the characters to Fo-khee, to whom they also attribute the institution of marriage, the introduction of

"A WORD may be defined, a voice articulate, an l significant by Compact." Hermes, page 328. page 314 of the same work: "The Peripatetics (and with just reason), in all their definitions as well of Words a See also of Sentences, made it a part of their characters to be significant, by Compact."

clothing, &c. Some however, give the honor of the invention to Ts'hangkih; while others say that he merely improved the characters invented by Fokhee. Still, respecting Ts hang-kih they are divided in opinion; some esteem him one of Fo-khee's ministers, while others place him in the reign of Hwangtee,* the inventor of the cycle (of sixty years) and of certain useful arts. Ts'hang kih is said to have resided in Yang woo, and to be buried in Leehyang. Relative to this subject, the following extracts from the Annals of China, in forty-four thin volumes, are laid before the reader, not as worthy of unlimited credit, but as probably furnishing the best account the Chinese can give, or which we therefore, at this distance of time, are likely to procure. "Fo-khee formed the written characters, and introduced them instead of the knotted cords before in use." A Chinese annotator adds, that he cut them in wood, in order to give stability to the invention. But in another part of that volume the invention of them is ascribed to Ts hang-kih, in the following Ts hang-kih was a man of extraordinary capacity: he was acquainted with the art of writing even from his birth. When grown up he "resided near the mountain Yang-hyu, to the north of the river Lo shovi, "which is in Yin-woh.

words: 66

There meeting one day with a tortoise, and ob

It is well known, that the pretensions of the Chinese monarchy to antiquity extend somewhat beyond the flood, according to the generally received computation of time since that event; for which reason the Catholic Missionaries are said to have applied to the Pope for leave to use the chronology of the Septuagint. Some future opportunity of taking up the subject of the Chinese chronology may perhaps offer; but at present I would only observe, that this emperor Hwang-tee, who is by some esteemed the real founder of the Chinese monarchy, died according to the Chinese Annals 253 years before the flood, as the common computation of that event stands; but according to Dr. Hales's computation, lately published, 558 years after it. Three emperors are said to have intervened between him and the great Yao. Whatever may be thought of the Chinese chronology, however, the account of Hwang-tee is not very credible. He is said to have reigned a hundred years, and to have died at the age of a hundred and eleven. Granting that he did reign a hundred years, still it is not very probable that govern ment should be intrusted to a boy of eleven years old in that early age of the world.

+ See Kang-kyen, Vol. 1st.

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serving its shell distinctly and beautifully spotted, he took it home, and "thence formed the idea of representing things around him. Looking upward, he carefully observed the figures presented by the stars and the hea"venly bodies: he then attentively considered the beautifully variegated shell "of the tortoise, the wings of birds, the form of mountains, rivers, &c. and at

length formed the written characters." It is added, in the genuine oriental stile, that when the characters were formed, heaven poured down food in abundance, and the evil spirits filled the night with howlings.

The reader will judge for himself relative to the degree of credit due to this ancient tradition; but the first efforts of this kind were probably attempts to delineate the objects of sense around. Whether such imitations would bear any likeness to the thing represented, is another question: that this would be intended, seems more than probable; but that the resemblance should be in many cases so exact as of itself to demonstrate the object represented, is scarcely to be expected.* Nor is any thing of this kind intended to be

* It may not be amiss, however, to subjoin here, the opinion of Sir Wm. Jones on the subject of the Chinese characters, a name deservedly dear to every lover of literature: "We have ocular proof that the few radical characters of the Chinese were originally (like our astronomical and chymical symbols), the PICTURES or outlines of visible objects, or figurative signs for simple ideas, which they have multiplied by the most ingenious combinations, and the liveliest metaphors." Asiatic Researches, Vol. ii. page 371.

To this may be added the opinion of a Chinese writer on this subject, as quoted by Sir Wm. Jones: "According to a Chinese writer, named Li Yang Ping, the ancient characters used in his country were the outlines of visible objects, earthly and celestial; but as things merely intellectual could not be expressed by those fi gures, the grammarians of China contrived to represent the various operations of the mind by metaphors drawn from the productions of nature: thus the idea of roughness and of rotundity, of motion and rest, were conveyed to the eye by signs representing a mountain, the sky, a river, and the earth; the figures of the sun, the moon, and the stars, differently combined, stood for smoothness and splendor, for any thing artfully wrought, or woven with delicate workmanship; extension, growth, increase, and many other qualities, were painted in characters taken from clouds, from the firmament, and from the vegetable part of the creation; the different ways of moving, agility and slowness, idleness and diligence, were expressed by various insects, birds, fish and quadrupeds.

affirmed respecting the elements. They are laid before the reader simply as Elements; and every man will judge for himself respecting any real or imaginary resemblance between the head, the hand, the heart, the mouth, and the characters by which these are represented.*

To some it may be interesting if we enquire what objects among those of sense have been selected, for the sake of forming the basis of this medium of communication: and though we can scarcely imagine, that, while most of the languages formed on the Alphabetic plan bear evident marks of being formed rather by accident than design, a number of Chinese sages should have sat "in deep divan" in order to select certain objects as the basis of the Imitative system, we shall yet find these elements include most of those objects of sense which are remarkably obvious; few being omitted, which from their form or frequent use might be likely to attract notice. They include the most remarkable objects of nature, as the sun, the moon, a river, a mountain, fire, water, earth, wood, stone, &c.; the chief parts of the human body, as the head, the heart, the hand, the foot, the eye, the ear, &c. ; the principal parts of a house, as the roof, the door, &c. as well as those utensils most frequently in use, a knife, a spoon, (or chop-stick,) a seat, a box, a staff, &c. Domestic animals also find a place here, as the goat, the cow, the horse, the dog, &c. Nor are the grand

rupeds. In this manner passions and sentiments were traced by the pencil, and ideas not subject to any sense were exhibited to the sight, until by degrees new combinations were invented, new expressions added; the characters deviated imperceptibly from their primitive shape, and the Chinese language became not only clear and forcible, but rich and elegant in the highest degree." Asiatic Researches, Vol. ii, page 195.

* The intelligent reader will easily see that the likeness of these Imitations to the objects they were intended to represent, enters but little into the principle on which the Chinese language is formed: had the likeness existed wholly in imagination, the principle would have been the same, namely that of uniting two (or more) SIGNIFICANT characters in order to form a third.