Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	faith_n	reason_n	true_a	3,392	5	5.0227	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49911	Memoirs and observations typographical, physical, mathematical, mechanical, natural, civil, and ecclesiastical, made in a late journey through the empire of China, and published in several letters particularly upon the Chinese pottery and varnishing, the silk and other manufactures, the pearl fishing, the history of plants and animals, description of their cities and publick works, number of people, their language, manners and commerce, their habits, oeconomy, and government, the philosophy of Confucius, the state of Christianity : with many other curious and useful remarks / by Louis Le Compte ... ; translated from the Paris edition, and illustrated with figures.	Le Comte, Louis, 1655-1728.	1697 (1697)	Wing L831; ESTC R15898	355,133	724

excuses for what they have done In truth say they we was a little too hasty as well as you was somewhat too long in your grant why should you bring this beating on your self Were it not better to have granted our Petition of your own free will rather than be forced to do it But what is done can't be now undone let us not therefore think of it any more if you will forget what is passed we will guild you over again A few years ago there happened a passage at Nankin which does very well discover what an Opinion the Chinese have of their Gods A Man whose only D●ughter was very ill tryed all the Physicians but without effect he thought it therefore his best way to betake himself to the assistance of his Gods Prayers Offerings Alms Sacrifices and all other means were used to obtain relief The Bonzes who were greased in the Fist promised that an Idol whose power they mightily boas●ed should grant her recovery For all this the Woman dyed the Father out of measure grieved resolved to revenge himself and to bring a formal accusation against the Idol He put in his complaint therefore to the Judge of the place in which after he had livelily shewed forth the deceitfulness of this unjust God he said that he deserved an exemplary punishment for having broke his word If this Spirit said he could cure my Daughter it is palpable cheating to take my mony and yet let her dye If he could not do it what does he signifie And how came he by his quality of Godship Do we Worship him and the whole Province offer him Sacrifice for nothing at all So that he concluded it to be either from the Malice or Weakness of the Idol that the cure was not performed wherefore his Temple he judged ought to be pulled down his Priests shamefully dismissed and the Idol punished in his own private Person The Business seemed of Consequence to the Judge wherefore he sent it to the Governour who desiring to have nothing to do with those of the other World desired the Vice-Roy to examine into it After he had heard the Bonzes who were extremely concerned at it took their part and advised him not to persist in the Cause any longer for said he to him you are not wise to concern your self with these sort of Spirits They are naturally ill tempered and I am afraid will play some ill trick Believe me you had better come to an agreement The Bonzes assure me that the Idol shall do what is reasonable on his part provided you on your part do not carry things too high But the Man who was almost mad for the death of his Daughter did constantly protest that he would sooner perish than relinquish his just rights The Sentence is given for me said he the Idol fancied that he might commit any sort of injustice without punishment because he thought no body would be bold enough to take him to task but he is not so safe as he thinks and a little time will shew which of us is the most wicked and the most a Devil of the two The Vice-Roy could not now go back and was fain therefore to grant a Tryal he sent the case to the Sovereign Council at Pekin who remitted the Tryal to him again he therefore Subpoena'd the parties The Devil who has but too many friends among all sorts of Men had also his share among the Lawyers and Proctors those of them to whom the Bonzes gave largely found their Cause good and spoke with so much concern and vehemence that the Idol itself could not have pleaded better its own Cause Yet they had to deal with a subtil Adversary who had been before hand with them and had cleared the Judges understanding by a large Bribe being thoroughly persuaded that the Devil must be very cunning indeed to withstand so clear an Argument as this last was to the Judges In short after a great many hearings the Man carried his point The Idol was condemned to a perpetual banishment as useless to the Kingdom and his Temple was to be plucked down and the Bonzes who represented him were severely chastised they might notwithstanding apply themselves to the service of other Spirits to make themselves amends for the damage they had received for loving this Can any one who has not lost his senses adore Gods of this Character weak fearful and whom one may affront safely But alas We may flatter our selves that we are never so wise yet how much is our Wisdom distant from Reason when it is distant from the true Faith Instead of coming hereby to a knowledge of the weakness of their Gods the People grow more and more blind every day The Bonzes are above all obliged to keep up their Credit and Reputation because of the advantage they make thereby To bring this about the better they make use of the following Maxims of Morality which they take great care to propagate We must not think say they that good and evil are as confused in the other World as they are in this there are there rewards for the good and punishments for the bad which has occasioned disterent places to be set apart for the souls of Men according to every ones Merit The God Fo was the Saviour of the World he was born to teach the way of Salvation and to make Expiation for all our sins He has lest us ten Commandments The first forbids the killing of any living Creature of what sort soever the second commands not to take another Mans Goods the third not to give up ones self to Impurity the fourth not to Lie and the fifth to drink no Wine Besides these they recommend to the Peoples practise several Works of Mercy Entertain and nourish up say they the Bonzes build them Monasteries and Temples that their Prayers and voluntary Penances may obtain for you exemption from that punishment which your sins have deserved Burn Paper gilt and washed with Silver Habits made of Stuff and Silk All these in the other World shall be turned into real Gold and Silver and into true and substantial Garments which shall be given to your Fathers faithfully who will make use of them as they have occasion If you do not regard these Commands you shall be after your death cruelly tormented and exposed to several Metempsycoses or transmigrations That is to say you shall be born in the shape of Rats Horses Mules and all other Creatures This last point makes a great impression upon their minds I remember that being in the Province of Chansi I was sent for to Christen a sick person It was an old Man of threescore and ten who lived upon a small Pension which the Emperor had given him When I came into his Chamber O my good Father says he how much am I obliged to you who are going to deliver me from a great deal of torment Baptism answered I does not only deliver from the torment of

an opportunity of improving our Acquaintance with the Mandarines Some sent us Presents others invited us to their Houses and all in general were very kind to us We indeavoured to make use of this opportunity in converting them from Idolatry but it is hard for Souls wholly buried in Flesh and Blood to savour the Things which are of God However the Governor of the City made one Step towards it which gave us great Hopes It was this They had for five Months time been afflicted with a continual Drought so that their Rivers and the Channels they cut out into their Land to water it were now quite dry and a Famine much apprehended The Priests had offered numberless Sacrifices and the Mandarines left nothing undone which they thought might Appease the Anger of the Gods They had often asked us what Methods we used in Europe in such Cases and being answered that by Humiliation Penitence and the Fervency of our Prayers we moved Heaven to Compassion they hoped by the like Means to procure their Idols Pity but alas they called upon Gods that have Ears and cannot hear So the Governor tired with Delays resolved to worship the only God whom all Nature obeys Having understood that in our House we had a pretty handsome Chappel in which we every day celebrated the Sacred Mysteries of our Religion he sent to us to know if we would permit him to come in State and joyn his Prayers with ours We answered we desired nothing more than that he should worship as we did and that all the City would follow his Example and assured him moreover that if he begged with Faith and Sincerity he should undoubtedly obtain We presently went to work to put our Chappel in order and make all things ready to Solemnize his coming when to our great surprize his Secretary came to tell us That his Lord would be with us the next day very early being necessitated to meet at Eight the same Morning at a neighbouring Hill where with some Mandarines he was to offer a Sacrifice to a Dragon In answer to this unexpected Message we ordered our Interpreter to wait on him and make him sensible that the Christian's God was a Iealous God who would not allow of his paying to any others the Honours due to Himself alone that his Gods were Statues or Creatures that had no Power to help themselves nor him and that we humbly craved him to despise those idle Fancies fit only to amuse a credulous sensless Mob but far beneath a Man of his Sence and Merit and to trust in the Only God of Heaven whom his Reason alone must convince him to be the True one I really believe he was almost perswaded but he had engaged himself to the Mandarines and for some worldly Respect durst not break his Promise so he worshipped his Idols whom doubtless he had no Faith in and withdrew from the Only True God of whose Being he was inwardly convinced Then My Lord moved with Indignation at their Blindness and the Devils Tyranny some of us thought of imitating what St. Francis Xavier had done on some like occasion by erecting a Cross in the City under these Conditions First that we would prevail with Heaven to grant the Rain they stood in such want of And secondly that if we did they should pull down their Idols and own That God who should have been so favourable as to grant them their Request Our Minds were different as was our Zeal Some full of Lively Faith which the miraculous and continual Support of Providence thro' the several Perils we had encounter'd had inspired them with could not question the Success of so Bold but Holy an Undertaking Others not so Zealous but perswaded that Prudence ought to be our Guide where the Inspiration is not Evident were of Opinion nothing should be hazarded which failing might Expose our Religion So we were content to mourn within our selves and beg of God not that he would give them Rain but that Celestial Fire which Our Saviour hath brought into the World and desires all Nations may be inflamed with While we were thus busied in promoting the Interest of our Religion the Viceroy was no less in thinking how to Execute the Orders he had received from Court He left our Journey as far as Hamt-chéou to the Governor's Care who provided Boats for us and commanded an inferiour Mandarine to attend us that we might lack for nothing We performed it in five days time without meeting with any of those Accidents which Strangers there are subject to when they are thought to carry things of value with them The Christians at Hamt-chéou were lavish in the Expressions of their Affection to us They came in Crouds to the River whence we were carried as in Triumph to their Church with more Kindness perhaps then Prudence For they had unknown to Father Intorcetta provided for each of us an Elbow-Chair borne by four Men and attended by as many into which we were obliged to suffer our selves to be set not knowing what they meant for our little skill in their Language did not permit us to learn it from themselves Having locked us in we were forced to make our Entry as they would have it which was in this manner A Musick of ten or twelve Hands with some Trumpets led the Van next came some Horse and Foot the former bearing several Standards and Flags and the latter armed with Launces and Pikes and next to these four Officers who supported a large Board varnished with Red on which these words were written in large Golden Characters Doctors of the Heavenly Law sent for to Court We came in the Rear surrounded by a throng of Christians and Gentiles whom the Novelty of the Show had drawn thither In this mortifying Pomp we went thro' the whole City being a long League in length vexed that we had not foreseen their Indiscretion and resolved to reprimand them for it Father Intorcetta waited for us in the Church-door whence he carried us to the Altar There having nine times bowed our selves to the Ground and returned Thanks to the Good God who thro' so many Hazards had in spight of our Enemies brought us to the Promised Land we returned to the Chief of the Christians These we desired the Father to acquaint that we were not unthankful of their Love nor ill satisfied with their Zeal for God's Glory but that the Splended Manner in which they had received us was no ways conformable to a Christian's Humility That the Heathen might indeed celebrate their Triumphs with such Earthly Pomps and Mundane Vanities but that a Christian's Glorying was in the Name of the Lord. These returned no Answer but all on their Knees implored our Blessing Their Fervency and a Meek and Devout Look in which the Chine●e do when they will exceed all other Nations wholly disarmed our Wrath we wept for Joy and Compassion and I protest My Lord that one Moment made us a large

true if the Europeans do not see so clearly as we they have at least one Eye apiece I have taken notice of some Frenchmen so moved at this ridiculous Vanity that they were not Masters of their Passion they would possibly have done better to have laught at it at least the Chineses deserve Excuse till that time they had seen none but Indians and Tartars and they beheld ●●e West at a distance as we at present behold the Terra Australis Incognita and Forests of Canada Now if at 300 Leagues distance from Quebec we found Iroquian Mathematicians or Learned Alkonkins that could discover to us a New Philosophy more clear comprehensive and more perfect than ours we should be no less blame-worthy than the Chineses for preferring our selves to that People and for having hitherto termed them Barbarians Abating this Pride you must confess that the Chinese Nation hath been endued with rare Qualities with a great deal of Politeness in practising the World with great Sense and Regularity in their Business with much Zeal for the Publick Good True and Just Idea's of Government with a Genius mean indeed as to Speculative Sciences but yet right and sure in Morality which they have always preserved very conformable to Reason The People principally applied themselves to the Education of Children in their Families they esteemed Agriculture above all other things they were Laborious to excess loving and understanding Commerce and Trading perfectly well Judges and Governors of Cities affected an outside Gravity Sobriety at their Tables Moderation in House-keeping and Equity in all their Judgments that gain'd the Love and Respect from all the People in general The Emperor placed his Happiness in nothing more than to procure it for his Subjects and lookt upon himself not so much a King of a Grand State as a Father of a Numerous Family This Character of China My Lord that I have given you is not flattering but faithfully deduced from its own History that furnishes us with an infinite number of Examples of the conspicuous Wisdom that hath been so long the Soul that informs its Government 'T is true indeed the Civil Wars the Weak or Wicked Kings and Foreign Dominion have from time to time disturbed this goodly Order But be it that the Fundamental Laws of the State were excellent or that the People from their Cradles were indued with happy Dispositions is not material but it is most certain these Fatal and Troublesom Intervals did not long continue if so be they were but never so little lest to their own disposal they took to their former Conduct again And we see at this very day in the midst of Corruption which the Domestick Troubles and Commerce with Tartars have introduced some Footsteps of their ancient Probity remaining I do not pretend My Lord to enlarge any further upon this Subject I know very well that it is a Letter that I have the honour to write to you and not a History besides they are about Translating into French that History which the Chineses themselves have left behind them and I am confident it will please by its Novelty and Extraordinary Matters it contains I content my self in this place to draw you out the Portraiture of the present State of China in relation to the Manners and Customs of its People I could decipher it in a few words by telling you that they live there as we do in Europe Avarice Ambition and Love bear a great stroke in all Transactions They Cozen and Cheat in Traffick Injustice reigns in Sovereign Courts Intrigues busie both Princes and Courtiers In the mean time Persons of Quality take so many measures to conceal Vice and the Out-works are so well guarded that if a Stranger be not careful to be instructed concerning Affairs to the bottom he imagines that every thing is perfectly well regulated That is the thing wherein the Chineses resemble the Europeans Now I will here shew you wherein they differ from them Their Countenance Air Language Disposition Civilities Manners and Behaviour are not only different from ours but also front those we may observe in all other Nations of the World Without doubt My Lord you may have taken notice that the Figures that are painted upon the Porcelain Dishes and Cabinets that come from China our Pictures in Europe do always flatter us but those of China make them maimed and ridiculous They are not so ill-favoured as they make themselves it is true they do not agree in the Idea that we frame to ourselves of real Beauty They would have a Man big tall and gross they would have him have a broad Forehead Eyes little and flat a short Nose great Ears a Mouth of a midling size a long Beard a black Hair That curious Feature that lively Aspect that stately and noble Gate and Deportment the French so much esteem does not at all please them That is an handsome Man that fills an Elbow-Chair that by his Gravity and healthful Constitution can make a good huffing Figure As for their Colour they are naturally as fair as we especially towards the North but being the Men take no care of themselves travel much wear upon their Head nothing but a little Bonnet not proper to defend their Face from the Sun-beams they are commonly as Tawny as the Portuguese in the Indies The People also of the Provinces of Canton and Iannon by reason of the excessive Heat working half naked are of a Dun Complexion As much as the Men neglect themselves in this particular so much do the Women take all the care imaginable to preserve themselves I am not sure if painting be usual with them but some body told me that they rub their Faces every Morning with a sort of white Meal more fit to ternish than to inhance their Beauty They have all of them little Eyes and short Noses excepting that they come nothing short of European Ladies but their Modesty so natural to them doth infinitely set off their Handsomness a little Collar of white Sattin fastened to a Vest keeps them light and covers their Neck all over Their Hands are always hid in long Sleeves they tread softly and gingerly with their Eyes upon the Ground their Head on one side and a Man would imagine to look on them that they were a Company of Nuns or Devotees by Profession set apart and sequestred from the World only taken up in the Service of God So that it is observable That Custom hath many times more power to perplex and trouble the fair Sex than the most austere and rigid Vertue Nay and it were a thing to be desired that Christianity were able to obtain from Christian Ladies here what the Practice of the World hath for so many Ages inspired into the Idolatrous Chineses This Modesty nevertheless does not hinder them from being possest with Womanish Whimseys the more they are confined the less they love Solitude they dress themselves gorgeously and spend all the Morning in

was present he behaved himself in such manner as the Emperor could scarcely bear with him He layed his Hands across and cryed out as loud as he could See here do but observe what these Fellows adore and what they would have 〈◊〉 worship too a Man who was hanged a person who was crucified let any one judge hereby of their understanding and good sense But all these Excursions served only to diminish his own Credit This wicked person more blameable for his Crimes than for his Ignorance lost his charge and was condemned to death Notwithstanding the Emperor suspended the Execution of the Sentence by reason of his extraordinary old Age but God himself executed his Sentence of Vengeance He smote him with an horrible Ulcer and by his sorrowful death delivered Religion from this Monster of Iniquity Then the care of the Mathematicks was committed to Father Verbiest the antient Missionaries were recalled to their old Churches but forbid to go about to build new ones or to labour in the Conversion of the Chinese Lastly to magnifie our happiness the memory of Father Adam was mightily respected even at Court He was publickly justified and cleared his Charges and Titles of honour were remanded him and his Ancestors made Nobility The Emperor himself appointed considerable sums of mony to build him a stately Mausoleum which at this present is to be seen in room of a Sepulchre adorned with Statues and several Marble Figures according to the Custom of the Country Thus it is that God by a continual Vicissitude proves the constancy of the Faithful by Persecution and encourages them again by punishing their Persecutors This happy Peace which the Church gained thro' Father Verbiests means encouraged the Missionaries to repair that damage which Hell had done Besides the Jesuits there were several Fathers of the Orders of St. Francis and St. Augustin who entered into the Lords Vineyard New establishments were gained every where and notwithstanding any Prohibition a great number of Heathens were Converted to the Faith being more afraid of eternal punishment than of that with which the Laws of Man seemed to threaten them So ardent and so hasty a Zeal will perhaps make you amazed but besides that Charity is always hazardous many things contributed to confirm those who might else be afraid of fatal consequences The first of these is the great Authority which the Missionaries have acquired at Court in a small time Especially the Emperor is satisfied that they despise Honours and that at home they lead an Austere life The Prince is inform'd of this such ways that it is impossible he should be deceived He had information from Spies of all that passed in their Houses even so nicely as to know their Mortifications and corporeal Penances He sends also to the Fathers Houses a young Tartar of good parts under pretence to learn Philosophy but in reality to discover the most secret things in their Families and to be himself I think an occasion of offence He stays there a year without knowing what the Princes intentions are who having sent for him into his presence commands him to tell him all the private disorders of these Fathers and especially how they have behaved themselves towards him And when these young Men constantly bear Testimony of the Fathers innocence I see very well says the Emperor they have stop'd your Mouth with Presents but I know a way to open it again Then he makes him be severely slashed at several times yet is not the pain enough to make the young Tartar speak against his Conscience Which pleases the Prince mightily who would be disturbed to find himself deceived in the Idea which he has formed to himself of these fervent Missionaries This obliges him afterward to take their part in an Assembly of the Mandarins some of which do not esteem the Missionaries because their outward carriage seems so good As for that Matter says the Emperor to them neither you nor I can find fault with them After all that I can do to get information I am persuaded that these People teach us nothing but what themselves practice and they are indeed as modest as they appear outwardly to be The second reason which engaged the Emperor to favour the Missionaries was the great understanding of Father Verbiest who in a small time was reckoned the learnedst Man in the Empire in all Faculties His Reputation is every where spread abroad and upon many occasions his Opinion has the repute of an Oracle Some Mandarins one day speaking of the Trinity and using it as a Fable one of them said I do not know what the Christians mean and am as much puzled as you but Father Verbiest is of that opinion what say you to that Can a Man of his sence and understanding mistake They all held their Tongues and seemed to yield to this reason So true is it that the use of humane Learning is so far from being as some think opposite to the Spirit of the Gospel that it sometimes serves to establish it and to render the most obscure mysteries therein credible The third Reason is that hearty love which the Emperor believes the Missionaries have for him It is true the Missionaries omit nothing which they think will please him and as they are the most inflexible and resolute against doing any thing contrary to their Religion so are they the most complaisant and ready to comply with all the reasonable requests of the Emperor A Rebellion which happened at this time put it into Father Verbiests power to do the Crown a considerable piece of Service Ousang●ei that famous Chinese General who had brought the Tartars into the Empire thought he had then a good opportunity to drive them out again He was naturally courageous and in Chensi commanded the best of the Chinese Soldiery and had got together a vast deal of mony This made him set up to be Emperor and made him believe he could easily compass his design And indeed he so ordered his matters that he made himself presently Master of the three great Provinces Yunnam Soutçhouen and Gueit çheou afterwards a great part of the Province of Houquam acknowledged him So that these possessions and Chensi which he had in possession a good while before made him Master of almost a third of China These Conquests seemed to be the more secure to him because at the same time the Vice-Roys of Quantoum and Fokien followed his example and gave the Emperor on that side a mighty diversion and beside a powerful Pirate with a great Fleet attacked and in few days took the Island Formosa at the same time Less than this would have ruined the Tartars if they had all concerted their business together but jealousie which does oft overthrow the firmest Leagues ruined their Projects The King of Fokien fell out with that of Formosa and to preserve himself from being damaged by his Fleet made his Peace with the Emperor who gave him such

see at one Glance of your Eyes comprised in one single Page a Language so ancient so famous and I may say so eloquent as this is These few words would not be sufficient to express a Man's self roundly upon all Subjects to supply words to Arts and Sciences to maintain Eloquence in a Discourse or in a Work which is very different among the Chineses if he had not found out the Art to multiply the Sense without multiplying the Words This Art chiefly consists in the Accents they give them the same word pronounced with a stronger or weaker inflexion of the voice hath divers significations so that the Chinese Language when it is spoken exactly is a kind of Musick and contains a real Harmony which composeth the Essence and particular Character of it There are five Tones that are apply'd to each word according to the Sense one means to give it The first is an uniform Pronunciation without lightning or falling the Voice as if one should continue for some time the first Note of our Musick the second raiseth the Voice notably higher the third is very acute in the fourth you descend all on the sudden to a grave Tone in the fifth you pass to a more deep Note if I may presume so to express my self by hollowing and framing a kind of Base A Man cannot make himself be understood in this Matter but by the Language it self However you already see My Lord that by this diversity of Pronounciation of 333 words are made 1665. besides that one may pronounce smoothly or asperate each word which is very usual and does still increase the Language by half Sometimes these Monosyllables are joyned together as we put our Letters together thereby to compose different words Nay they do more then all that for sometimes a whole Phrase according as it follows or goes before another hath a quite different sense so it plainly appears that this Tongue so poor so seemingly succinct yet for all that is in effect very rich and extensive to express a Man's self But these Riches cost Foreigners dear to come by them and I cannot tell whether some Missionaries had not better have labour'd in the Mines than to have apply'd themselves for several years to this Labour one of the hardest and most discouraging that one can experience in matter of study I cannot apprehend how any one can have other thoughts and I must confess I admired to read the new Relation of Father Magalben that the Chinese Language is easier than the Greek Latin and all the Languages in Europe He adds one cannot doubt of it if it be considered that the difficulty in Tongues proceeds from the Memory now one hath no trouble at all in this that hath but very few words in comparison of others nay and may be learnt in a days time To argue as this Father does Musick must cost us but an hours time seven Words and seven Tones do 〈◊〉 much burthen the memory and if one have but a Voice never so little flexible one would think it were no hard matter to learn them nevertheless we see by daily experience whoso begins at thirty or forty years unless he have a more than ordinary inclination for Musick scarce ever learns it to purpose nay and after much application and long exercise is still to his dying day but a pitiful Musician How will it fare with a Person who hath six Tones to combine with above 300 Words that he does not know by the writing which he must call to mind ex tempore when he would speak fluen●ly or when he is to distinguish in another person that precipates his words and who scarce observes the Accent and particular Tone of each word It is not the Memory that is put to a stress upon this occasion but the Imagination and Ear which in some certain Persons never distinguish one Tone from another the turn of the Tongue also conduces infinitely thereto and there are certain Persons that have Memory sufficient to learn a Book in few days who will tug at it for a Month together to pronounce only one word and all to no purpose How happens it that let him take what care he will a Man has never a good Accent in our Language when he is born in certain Provinces and when he departs from them when he is well stricken in years Nevertheless to make your self understood in Chinese you must give to each word its peculiar Accent vary but never so little and you fall into another Tone that makes a ridiculous Counter-sense so that one would call Him a Beast whom he intends to call Sir because the word that is common to them both hath not a different Sense but only by the different Tone they give it So that it is properly in this Language that one may say the Tone is all in all This is that also that makes the Chinese Tongue more difficult than others When a Stranger that hath but a smattering intends to speak French if he pronounce some words but never so little well we easily guess at those he speaks ill and we know his meaning but in China one single word badly pronounced is enough to render the whole Phrase unintelligible and one Phrase at the beginning that is not well heard and understood hinders the understanding of what follows So when one chances to come into a Congregation where they have already begun to speak about some Business he stares about a good while without understanding till such time as by degrees they put him in the way and till he gets hold of the thread of the Discourse Besides what I have been saying this Tongue hath particular Characters that distinguish it from all others First of all they do not speak as they write and the most quaint Discourse is barbarous harsh and unpleasant when printed It is necessary to write well to make use of more select Terms more noble Expressions more particular Turns that do occur in common practice which are proper to the composing of Books the stile of which is more different from the common Elocution then our obscurest Latin Poets are from the smoothest and most natural Prose Secondly Eloquence does not consist in a certain disposition of Periods such as Orators affect who to impose upon the Auditors stuff it sometimes with a parcel of words because they have but few things to tell them The Chineses are eloquent by their lively Expressions noble Metaphors bold and succinct Comparisons and above all by abundance of Sentences and Passages taken from the Ancients which amongst them are of great moment they deliver a great many things in a few words their Stile is close and mysterious obscure and not continued they seldome make use of all those Particles that illustrate and connect our Discourse They seem sometimes to speak not to be understood or as tho' they pretend that a Body may understand them even when they do not speak so much sense and

thought do they inclose in a few words It is true this obscurity almost quite vanishes in respect of those who have a perfect knowledge in the Characters and a Learned Man that reads a Work is seldom mistaken in it but in speaking one is often at a stand And I have converst with some Doctors who to understand one another in familiar Discourses were obliged to describe with their Finger in the Air the particular Letter that exprest their words whose Sense could not be determined by the Pronunciation Thirdly The Sound of the words is pretty pleasing to the Ear especially in the Province of Nankin where the Accent is more correct than in any other part for there many pronounce the different Tones so fine and delicately that a Stranger hath much ado to perceive it Besides they never use R which contributes not a little to mollifie that Language yet must it be allowed that most part of the Chineses that pretend to speak correctly have something of unpleasant in the Language they drawl out their words in length intollerably and tho' they be all Monsyllables yet by meer extending them they make words infinite and like to intire Phrases They have moreover a Termination which often occurs which we express commonly by a double ll the sound comes from the bottom of the aspera arteria so uncouth and unnatural that it alone is capable of spoiling a Language But as certain forc'd Aspirations in the Castillian Tongue do notwithstanding please the Spaniards so the Chineses are perswaded that these same Gutturals that displease us are a real grace and that these more Masculine and stronger Tones gives a body to their Language without which it would be apt to degenerate into a Puerile delicateness which would at best have no grace but in the Mouth of Women and Children Fourthly They want abundance of Sounds which we express by our Letters for Example they do not pronounce A b d o r x z after the same manner as we do in France and when any one forces them to pronounce them they always make some alteration and use sounds that in their Language comes the nearest to them never being able almost to express them exactly That formerly was a great difficulty for the Chinese Priests in Consecrating the Host who could not say Mass in Latin without falling into a ridiculous jargon Yet there was so much pains taken to frame their Tongue that at length they have succeeded to admiration So that the Latin in their mouth is not much more different from that of the Portuguese than that of the Portuguese is from ours All that I have been saying My Lord is to be understood of the Mandarin Language that is currant all over the Empire which is universally understood every where for the common People at Fokien besides that speak a particular Tongue that hath no affinity with the same who look upon it in China as we do upon the Biscay Language or B●sbreton in France What relates to the China Character is no less singular than their Tongue they have not any Alphabet as we have that contains the Elements and as it were the P●inciples of Words nay they cannot so much as comprehend how we are able with so small a number of Fig●●e● each of which signifies nothing to express upon a piece of Paper all our Conceptions to compose such an infinite number of Books as to stock whole Libraries This Art of putting Letters together to compose words of them to combine them both into a prodigious number of Senses is to them an hidden Mystery and that which is so common amongst other Nations never obtained amongst them either thro' the little Converse they have had with other neighbour Nations or thro' the small account they made of Foreign Inventions Instead of Characters at the beginning of their Monarchy they used Hieroglyphicks they painted instead of writing and by the natural Images of things which they drew upon Paper they endeavoured to express and convey their Idea's to others so that to write a Bird they painted its Figure and to signifie a Forest they represented a great company of Trees a Circle signified the Sun and a Crescent the Moon This sort of writing was not only imperfect but very inconvenient for besides that one exprest his Thoughts but by halves even those few that were exprest were never perfectly conceived and it was besides utterly impossible not to be mistaken Moreover there needed whole Volumes to express a few things because the painting took up a great deal of room Insomuch that the Chineses by little and little changed their writing and composed more simple Figures tho' less natural they likewise invented many to express some things that painting could not represent as the Voice Smell the Senses Conceptions Passions and a thousand other Objects that have neither Body nor Figure of several simple Draughts they after made compound ones and at this rate they multiplied their Characters ad infinitum because they destined one or more of them for each particular word This abundance of Letters is in my opinion the source of the Chineses ignorance because they imploy all their days in this study and have not leisure so much as to think of other Sciences phansying themselves learned enough if they can but read However they are far from understanding all their Letters It is very much if after several years of indefatigable study they be able to understand fifteen or twenty thousand The vulgar sort of the Learned content themselves with less and I cannot believe that there was ever any Doctor that understood the third part for they reckon upward of Twenty four thousand As for Strangers it is scarce credible how much this study disgusts them it is an heavy Cross to be forc'd all a Man's life long for commonly it is not too long for it to stuff his Head with this horrible multitude of Figures and to be always occupied in deciphering imperfect Hieroglyphicks that have in a manner no analogy with the things they signifie there is not the least Charm in this as in the Sciences of Europe which in fatiguing do not cease to captivate the Spirit with Delight It is necessary in China that a Man may not be discouraged to seek out more sublime Motives in defect of natural Inclination to make a Vertue of a Necessity and to please ones self to think that this study how crabbed and ingrateful soever it seems is not sterile because it is a sure way to bring Men to the Knowledge of Jesus Christ. It is that way whereby we make our selves understood by great ones whereby we insinuate our selves into their Spirits and thereby prepare them for the grand Truths of Christian Religion there is not that Person to whom this hope of preaching the Gospel successfully does not incourage and inspirit We cannot also doubt but that our blessed Lord may accompany the Effects of our good Will with a particular Blessing