preposition in. In the third book of Lun-yu, one enquires of the sage respecting the virtue of Chyen wun-tse, who through hatred to the murderer of his sovereign, had left his own province; and in narrating his conduct

after that catastrophe, describes him as,

In this sentence the character yu, although rendered by the preposition in, in reality expresses the same idea as in the foregoing sentences, since, as already observed, to arrive in a province, and at a town, are actions of the same nature; the preposition being varied merely to suit the place of arrival, not to describe a different action. The sentence might without any great violence be rendered, "going into another province."

There are, indeed, some instances wherein this character may even be rendered by the preposition from. Such is the case with it in that sentence relative to the proof of filial piety, which has been alledged by the present emperor of China, as his reason for bearing three years with an evil minister of his grandfather's.*

* See No. viii, in the Appendix to Sir George Staunton's valuable translation of the laws of China

"In three years not swerving from his father's way." Lun-yu, book i.

The

Still in this sentence it is easy to see the same idea preserved. sentence might indeed be translated "if in three years he change not his course (previouly directed) toward his father's way." Motion toward some place or thing, therefore, either in its progressive state, or as completed, seems evidently the primary idea conveyed by this prepositive character, although it is modified in a variety of ways by the nature of the object towards which it is directed, particularly when applied in a figurative sense.

It may not be improper to add further, that in certain instances, the character yú performs the office of the preposition than in forming the Comparative Degree; but as several examples of this application of it, will be given in treating of the Comparison of Adjectives, for the sake of brevity the reader is referred to these.

2. The character tchyu, which in certain cases denotes "divers, all,” and at the end of a sentence is either an interrogative or a dubitative, is sometimes used, like the character yu, to signify to, toward, at, &c. If it be used at all as a verb, it is in the sense of resting, or reposing; but this use of it is by no means frequent. That it occurs however as a prepositive particle, the following examples will sufficiently shew. In the Tà-hyŏh of Confucius, Tsung-tse, the favourite disciple of the sage, describing the detestation in which a wicked though able servant is held by a good prince, says relative to him, that his sovereign, banishing,

In this sentence, chyu the second character from the right, may evidently be rendered by the preposition to or toward; but like the other Chinese particles erroneously termed dative, it is preceded by a verb of motion.

An example occurs in the Choong-yoong, or the Golden Mean, wherein it is used precisely in the sense of the prepositive character Ayu. Tse-se the celebrated grandson of Confucius, who is said to have compiled the Choong-yoong, discoursing relative to the ease with which the path of virtue may be discerned by the superior man, describes this as one of the rules of virtuous conduct,

"Applying to myself what I dislike, let me forbear doing that to men.”

Choong-yoong.

In this sentence chyu, in the first line from the right, denotes to, and seems exactly of the same import as yu in the fifth line.

* The character yee in general denotes the nations without China to the East; but being here joined with se, four, it means the nations in general which border on China.

1

In the second volume of Mung, that philosopher uses the character tchyu, in the sense of on or upon. Describing the conduct of the great

Yao towards Shun, whom he took from the plough, and married to his own

daughter, Mung adds, that at length,

"Advancing, he placed him on a superior seat." Mung, vol. ii.

Here the character tchyu, in the second line may without violence be translated on or upon. It is evident therefore, that when it precedes a substantive to which it is not the adjunct, chyu has almost constantly the force of the prepositions to, unto, or toward; and nearly harmonizes with the prepositive character yu, before described.

3. The character hoo, which at the end of a sentence is often used by way of interrogation or of admiration, when it precedes a substantive, has the force of the preposition at or in. In the second volume of his work, Mung, comparing the famous Wun-wang with the emperor Shun, who lived above a thousand years before him, says that at the distance of a thousand years, from each other, these two kindred minds,

“

-Successfully cultivated virtue in China, as though they had been the

correspondent parts of a divided seal. * Mung, vol. ii.

In this sentence the hoo prefixed to Choong-kwoh, the term used to denote China, has the force of the prepositions in or throughout.

In the same book however, a sentence occurs which furnishes several examples of the use of this prepositive character in the sense of to or toward. Mung, extolling the conduct of Shun, just mentioned, who so regarded his father, a cruel and brutish man, indifferent almost to his son's existence, that, compared with his parental smile, the growing attachment of the

whole empire to him, scemed as nothing; adds,

* "A divided seal." An allusion to a custom said formerly to exist in China. When a prince formerly sent a confidential servant on an embassy, he is said to have divided a large seal in two, and to have given one part to his minister: when his minister sent any dispatches to him, they were sealed with this half seal, to which the prince applying the counterpart in his own possession, convinced himself of the authenticity of the communication.