Arh-Ckhih-Tsze-Teen-Se-Yin-Pe-Keaou; Being a Parallel Drawn Between the Two Intended Chinese Dictionaries (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1817 edition. Excerpt: ...of Europe cannot boast of any such intrinsecal ingenuity in the composition of their words, and cannot, therefore, excite in a Beginner that admiration, which the Chinese unquestionably does at first sight. ) I only quote f'oltaire as an epic and tragic Poet. common sense ever beheld them, without being struck with surprise and admiration.--When a vast Collection of Chinese ) books was entrusted to me for sale in 1&04, Persons of the first respectability, no less for their rank than their literary attainments, paid me a visit with an intention of spending only a quarter of an hour, to cast a vague glance on that singular collection of Asiatic Volumes. However, they never remained with me less than two hours, and left the room quite in raptures, at the simple elucidation of the plan of some Chinese Dictionary, or the analysis of a few Chinese Characters. Yet, they knew nothing of Chinese, and the librarian, who showed them those books, was scarcely acquainted with the first rudiments of that Language..The very methodical classification of so many Characters without any alphabet, the strong resemblance, which many of the primitive Groups bear to the object they represent, the compact descriptive energy of many of the most complicated Characters, the numberless combinations of figures formed by the simplest strokes of the pencil, ) Hie cuiious may see a compendious account of these books in the Gentleman s Magazine for February 1804. which, as a Missionary (Mem. des Mission. Tom. IX. Page 528) admirably described, Differemment mis les uns aupres les autres et differemment maries, assortis, divises et accouples, tantot en se suivant, tantot en se fuyant, la en s'entrecroisant, ici en s'entreterminant, quelquefois en se fondant les...