Elements of Chinese Grammar, to advance nothing which he could not support by unexceptionable authorities. Hence, instead of translating into Chinese a paradigm of an active and passive verb, even in the English form, he has preferred the labour of selecting such examples from the best authors, as, in his opinion, tended to illustrate the verb in all its various modes of expression. These at least give the reader an opportunity of forming his own judgment; and if they do not communicate to him every idea he could wish, they will not greatly mislead him in studying the authors from whom they are selected.

How inadequate indeed, a paradigm of a verb from another language is fully to represent a Chinese verb, the reader may easily judge by referring to the varieties given under most of the moods and tenses. But the evil arising from this mode does not arise so much from what is omitted, as from the necessity of forming expressions foreign to the Chinese language. That the Passive voice, though occasionally used by the Chinese, is far from being equally common with the active, must be evident to those who recollect, that, of the two modes which the Chinese employ to express the passive voice, one, and that esteemed the legitimate passive, causes, in reality, an active verb which denotes receiving, as peè, shyeù, fling, &c. to govern as a verbal noun the verb intended to be made passive. If this mode in certain verbs has its peculiar force, yet in multitudes of others, as, 'to know,' 'to hear,' 'to seek,' &c. it must be evident that, 'to receive his knowing,' 'his hearing,' 'his seeking,' cannot be precisely the same thing as, 'being known,'' seen,' 'sought, by him.' When to this we add

that it loads the sentence with an additional verb and an agent, it must be evident, that when it was also necessary to introduce characters expressive of the present or future tenses, or of the oblique moods, the superaddition of this verb and agent would render the sentence so unwieldy, that Confucius, or Mung, or Chyu-hee, or any one who wished to express his ideas in a concise and nervous manner, could scarcely avoid preferring the active form to the passive. Even in English, 'let men know him,' would generally be preferred to, let him receive the knowing of men,' if the adoption of either were perfectly optional: The fact is indeed, that an instance of the Imperative in the Passive voice, scarcely occurs in whole volumes; and it is doubtful whether all the standard works of the Chinese taken together, will furnish a complete example of a verb in the Passive voice running parallel with every mood and tense, even in an English verb. It is on this account therefore, that the author has rejected wholly the plan of Fourmont, and preferred the laborious but safe method of substantiating every mood and tense adduced, by quotations from standard works; except in those instances which, though peculiar to the Colloquial style, are still worthy of notice, and which are therefore substantiated by examples from correct conversation.*

• It will be obvious to the intelligent reader, that a work wherein it is necessary so to substantiate every position by examples from the standard works of the Chinese, as fully to satisfy those who wish to enter deeply into the nature of the language, must be too large for the use of those who, in younger years, may enter on the study of it; while a mere practical introduction, suited to them, could not fully lay open the nature of the language. To accommodate the young students of Chinese therefore, the author intends shortly to publish a concise Abridgment of this work in octavo.

Of the PARTICLES.

We now enter on the last division of the Parts of speech in Chinese; and this happily not the most difficult. The Particles may all be included under one general head, which for the sake of distinctness we may subdivide into four sections, including Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections. Respecting the Particles however, much of our labour has been anticipated. In treating of the Degrees of Comparison, many of the adverbs of Quantity have been considered; and, in examining the Substantives, all the Prepositions which serve to form the cases. It is therefore needless to treat anew of what has been already explained.

Of Adverbs.

The various kinds of adverbs may be included in five general divisions, Adverbs of Likeness; Adverbs of Quantity and Comparison; of Number and Order; of Time and Place; and Adverbs implying Doubt, Interrogation, Affirmation, and Negation. Among these the most important are Adverbs of Likeness, which are formed in English by adding the termination ly to an adjective; and which in general bear the same relation to an action, that an adjective bears to a thing,

Adverbs of Likeness.-As the Chinese admit of no addition to a character, it becomes matter of enquiry, how they supply the want of this addition in the case of adverbs. This will be found to be done several ways.

1. The character cé added to a substantive, has, in many instances, the force of an adverb; thus eé eè, 'with equity,' is tantamount to 'equitably;'eé-king, with reverence,' is equivalent to reverentially;' and Iée shee, with time,' to 'seasonably.' This however is the case only when describes a mere adjunct to an action; when it marks the instrument by which a thing is done, it cannot be understood adverbially.

2 The character

yen, which originally means to burn or consume,'

is often added to a character in order to form an adverb. Thus in the com

ment on a sentence describing Hooi's mode of attending to the Chinese

ed,

receives.

His thing

聽

hearing

"Hooi silently hearing imbibes

my doctrine." Comment on Lun-yu, vol. i.

In this sentence yen being added to the adjective muh, silent,' forms the adverb, 'silently.' In the same manner from p'han, 'distinct,' is formplan-yen, distinctly;' from huun, dark, obscure,' is formhwùn-yen, obscurely,'' confusedly;' from kkin, joyful,' is formed khin-yen, joyfully;' and from tse, 'self,' is formed tsè-yen, 'spontaneously,' 'naturally,' &c. and thus of many others.

ed

3. There are instances to be found wherein a single character forms an adverb of itself, without the addition of any other. Confucius thus describes a certain man:

"Yen-p'hing-choong religiously regarded the ties of friendship."

Lun-yu, vol. i.

In this sentence shyèn, 'virtuous,' is used adverbially, to describe the manner in which the duties of friendship were regarded by the person in question. Thus also yang, humble, condescending,' is used in the sense of humbly,' &c. king, venerable,' occurs in the sense of the adverb 'venerably; and fjkyén, 'to chuse,' is used to signify, slightly, 'negligently:' and thus with many others.

4. In certain cases, the repetition of a character forms an adverb. Thus shin, straight, direct,' when repeated, shin shin, forms the adverb, 'chearfully,' and yao, pleasant,' when repeated, ✯✯ yao yao, forms the adverb, 'pleasantly,' &c.

5. In a few instances yen is added to the two characters thus repeated. Thus we find*kin kin yen, joyfully;'tmang mang yen, 'foolishly;' and in like manner'‡ suon suon yen, ‘gradually.’ Such then are the Chinese adverbs of likeness.

• Mung, vol. i.

+ Ibid.

Ggg

Lun-ya, vol. i.