("The ancients) exemplified their words before they uttered them."

Lun-yu, vol. i,

Which if translated literally, would be before they had not uttered them :"

it however means no more than, 'prior to their uttering them.'

It has been

37. Relative to Prepositions, little requires to be added. already said, that they all render the character a substantive with which they are joined, although it be used in other instances as a verb. Nor does the verb thus rendered a substantive, always become a verbal noun: chee, 'to know,' preceded by a preposition, is not the verbal 'a knowing;' but the substantive 'knowledge.' Of the Postpositions, it has been already said, that they are affixed to substantives, both simple and compound, by the genitive particle either expressed or understood; more commonly the former, but often the latter, in writings where conciseness is studied.

38. Conjunctions.-Of Conjunctions it may be observed, that the Copulatives are sparingly used in connecting single words, whether adjectives or substantives. In the example quoted page 530, the reader will find that the three names, Mung-suen, Shooh-suen, and Kee-suen, have no copulative to connect them, as in English, not even in the last member. Of this omission of the Copulative, numerous examples might be adduced.

39. Enclitic Particles.-At the end of a sentence the conjunction

irr, and,' is often followed by the character cé, really the verb to cease." This phrase, if literally translated, would therefore mean, and cease;' but it generally communicates to the sentence the force of the adverb alone.' On a saying of Woo-wang's, already quoted,* that he had ten men able ministers, the Chinese sage, remarking that the former dynasties were fruitful

in great men, still adds respecting Woo-wang's ten able men, that,

In which sentence the force of the adverb 'only,' is communicated by the phrase irr ce, at the end of the sentence.

40. There are besides, certain particles placed at the end and occasionally in the midst of a sentence. Such are eé, yea, the pronoun Tirr, and I irr, the ear. But these, like certain of the Greek particles, though they impart to the sentence a degree of force, and even of elegance, are yet scarcely capable of being translated by any English word.

These comprize the chief remarks on Syntax which have occurred to the author. In them the reader will find the Chinese language recognizing, in a way peculiar to itself indeed, but still recognizing, the same principles which pervade the syntax of other languages; nor will the peculiarity of the Chinese written character be found to involve any essential variation, when it shall become familiar to the student.

* See p. 204.

Of Punctuation.

The Chinese are not wholly ignorant of Punctuation; but they practise it to a much less extent than Europeans, and indeed treat it in a different manner. It is evident from the examples already given, that they express Admiration and Interrogation by the use of characters: their Punctuative Marks are therefore of two kinds; such as express Interrogation and Admiration, which are characters coeval with the written language; and certain punctuative marks more modern, and held in less estimation.

The

tyeù, the smallest of their stops, is either an opake or an open dot, to which it is essential, that it be placed in the mid space underneath the character. It has nearly the force of our Comma; greater it can scarcely have, when it is often placed between the agent and the verb.

The

kyu (literally a clause,') is an open dot, placed on the right edge of the line. It distinguishes the various clauses of a sentence; but these are often such as we should mark with a comma: the Chinese, however, have no other means of marking those which we should mark by a Semicolon, or a Colon. To the conclusion of a sentence, no point is deemed necessary like our Period; this the Chinese deem sufficiently evident from the structure of the sentence. The following example exhibits these two points as

accurately placed as we find them in general:

"Tsee says, If the mind be toward virtue, it retains no evil."

On these however, the Chinese lay a much less stress than on the characters which express Interrogation and Admiration; the latter are never omitted, while the former are, often. In the prefaces to their works, &c. they are seldom added: the present copies of their standard works are thus pointed; but with no great accuracy.

To mark a new Section, and sometimes a Paragraph, the Chinese employ a small circle agreeing with the size of the type.

Although the Chinese have no Capitals, they have methods by which they sufficiently distinguish Names. To mark the name of a Person, they draw a stroke to the right of all the characters which form the name: to mark the name of a Country, Province, &c. they enclose the characters expressing it within a circular mark, which becomes oblong if it include two or three characters. In the Imperial Dictionary, the authorities, &c. quoted are thus inclosed.

To mark that eminence in a sentence, which we express by Italics, the Chinese place opake dots to the right of all the characters which compose it. If a very great degree of eminence be intended, they place the open dots; which may therefore be deemed equivalent to our Small Capitals.

The Comment on any work the Chinese sufficiently distinguish from the Text, by printing it in characters about half the size of those in which they print the latter.

Of Prosody.

After a grammatical examination of the Chinese language, some enquiry into the nature of its Prosody may not be wholly uninteresting. As it is well known, that most of the nations of antiquity made some attempts at poetry, we may naturally suppose that the Chinese do not form an exception; and that they are not without monuments of this kind, the Shee, selected by Confucius from a multitude of odes, furnishes a sufficient proof; some of the poems contained in which, possibly exceed in antiquity any thing either of Ilomer or Hesiod.

The genius of the Chinese language, notwithstanding its monosyllabic form, is not wholly unfavourable to poetry. Its monosyllables can be reduc ed to measure with nearly as much ease as the polysyllables of the west; they are also capable of harmonizing with each other; while the alternate position of the direct or natural, and the oblique, or acute, grave, and short, tones, afford much room for variety in forming the verse. How far these have been successfully applied to the great purposes of poetry, it is not so much our present business to enquire, as to examine the nature of Chinese Prosody.

In Prosody as cultivated among the Chinese, there are three things to be considered, the Measure of the verse, or the number of syllables contained in each line; the Rhyme, where it exists; and the Quantity, or the alternate position of the direct and oblique tones in each couplet; which last

Qq q