"(His) steeds, fat and high-spirited, sport in the wide champaign." Shee-king, vol iv.

In this sentence, myeu in the second line from the right, being prefixed to má, the generic name for a horse, denotes the male.

In another passage of the Shee, the Female is described by adding the character pin, already mentioned, to the character lai, a general name for a horse of high stature; but which by having the term pin prefixed thereto is here made to signify a mare. The instance occurs in a poem written in praise of Wun koong, the sovereign of Wy, who, by removing his court to Chyeu-kyeu, another part of the province, diffused a general joy among the

inhabitants there. On this occasion, one of them celebrated his magnificence in a short poem, wherein he is described as possessing,

In this sentence pin, the second character from the right, being added to lai, the general name for a stately horse, signifies a mare.

To distinguish the male and female of Birds, other characters are often used; the character kyoong, is generally used to denote the male, and

té, to denote the female. They both occur in the following question addressed by the poet to certain around him, in the third volume of the Shee, with the view of ridiculing their pretensions to extensive knowledge.

"Who knows the male and female of the raven ?" Shee-king, vol. iii.

Of Number.

Number seems more necessary to a language than gender; and many nations which make no change in the substantive to indicate the latter, admit without hesitation those variations which distinguish the former. This is the case even in the English language, which, while it excludes from the noun itself every variation expressive of gender, has few substantives which do not admit the change necessary to distinguish the plural number from the singular. There are in India, however, certain languages springing from the Sungskrit, in which a great part of the substantives, and indeed all of the neuter gender, are destitute of any inflection to denote number. Such is the case with the Bengalee, and the Orissa languages; and, in a certain degree, with the Hindee.

nouns.

But it seems reserved for the Chinese alone, which admits no change whatever in the substantive, to exclude every thing relative to number from all its Yet this perhaps is not so far distant from the real nature of things as we may at first sight imagine. In English there are many substantives. which by their very nature exclude the plural number; and if we consider many others as constantly expressing a collective if not a plural idea, when not limited by some other word, or by the connexion of the sentence, we

shall not greatly mistake; as, without such addition, many English substantives cannot be made to express a single individual. Why is the article a or

an added to so many substantives in order to express the singular number, as, a man, a horse, &c. but because the idea of a single individual would not otherwise be conveyed by the term?* If we extend this principle to the utmost degree of which it is capable, we have a language formed on the principle of the Chinese, in which nearly every substantive capable of suggesting a plural idea may be supposed to do so, unless restricted by the connection, or the addition of another character.

The following examples will however shew, that when an addition expressive of number is made, the sense is sufficiently clear although the substantive suffers no change. In book iv. of Lun-yu, Confucius speaking of Wun-wang already mentioned, the father both of Woo-wang who founded the Tehyeu dynasty, and of the great Tchyeu whom the sage professes to have taken for his own model, extols him because he persevered in supporting on the throne the last prince of the Shyang dynasty, notwithstanding his evil conduct; when, possessing as he did, the affections of nearly the whole empire, he could have dethroned the weak tyrant with ease. In praising this faithful minister he thus describes the extent of his power;

* In most of the dialects derived from the Sungskrit which admit a variation to express Number, this varia. tion is omitted when a numeral is used, or an adjective signifying many. Thus in Bengalee “Manoosa” the singular number for a man, is united to a numeral without any alteration; as, "Dus manoosa," ten men; “unek manoosa,” many men: the addition of the variation expressive of number being deemed quite superfluous when the number is thus determined by a numeral.

"Of three parts of the empire he really possessed two." Lun-yu, book iv.

Here the numeral san, three, the first character in the first line on the right hand, renders plural the substantive foun, part, without any change in the substantive itself.

Another example may be selected from the same book. Confucius, in the course of his voluntary exile from his own country, in the latter part of his life, coming into the province of Ts'hee, heard the music, (or musical piece) termed shyao, invented by the emperor Shun, the adopted son and successor of the great Yao, which is described by the Chinese writers as peculiarly suited to raise in the mind grand and noble ideas.

made on the sage's mind, his disciple describes thus ;

The impression it

"Tsee, being in the province of Ts'hee, heard the Shao; nor for three months did

he know the taste of his meat." Lun-yu, book iii.

In this sentence, the numeral san, three, in the third line, added to yuěh,

month, causes it to be understood in the plural number.

In the two instances already given, we find a numeral applied to neuter nouns; but in another passage occurring in the same book, we find the numerals applied to a substantive of the masculine gender. The passage relates

to Shun just mentioned, and thus particularizes the number of his chief ministers, one of whom, Ee, on account of his virtues, was afterwards elevated to the imperial dignity:*

治 cheè 天thyen人yin 臣

irr

舜 Shun 下hyi 而 五ngo 有 有yéu

shun

"Shun had for ministers five men; and the earth, (the empire,) was wisely regulated." Lun-yu, book iii.

In this passage the numeral ngoó, five, in the second line from the right, being prefixed to the substantive yin, man, renders it plural.

An instance occurs in the same book in which the substantive yin, man, is rendered plural by the connection: Tse-koong, a disciple who accompanied the sage in his travels, when in the province of Wy, felt a desire to know his master's opinion of the conduct of the reigning prince, who, expelled by his father, had returned after his death and taken possession of the throne. To obtain this, he puts to him a question respecting Puh-yee and Shooh ts' hee, two worthies, the sons of a petty sovereign of a province, who lived about six hundred years before Confucius, and whose father preferring the youngest of these brothers to the eldest, he willingly complied

According to Du Halde, Ee, the founder of the Hya dynasty, was raised to the throne, Ante Ch. 2912.