therefore, in addition to the examples given, only allude to a few of the most remarkable. An axe next to a tree expresses the act of cutting wood; a man with a whip, the act of driving, or leading. To express the idea of a married woman, that important symbol of household authority the broom, accompanied by a hand, is used, placed beside the figure of a female; and her exalted position of cleanser of the house, like the vexogos of the Greek temples, was thus fully expressed.

The general perfected system of Chinese writing may be divided into several distinct classes of characters, similar to the figurative, the symbolic, and symbolico-figurative signs of the Egyptian system; but I have not space to enter upon such a classification; and it must suffice therefore to state, that the Chinese have classes of signs corresponding to all these, and that they have also supplemental signs, equally found in the Egyptian system, which may be termed inverse or backward signs, as they convey the sense of retrogression to the objects to which they are applied. They have also indicative signs, relating to number, quantity, quality, &c.

Of the inverse signs, an example may be given by the sign used for expressing the idea of returning, or coming back, which is well represented by a man walking, in the opposite direction to that of the other figures in the writing. With the aid of many such contrivances, carried out with the greatest ingenuity, the Chinese method formed the most perfect system of pure iconography of which we have any monument; for the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing cannot be called purely iconographic, like the Chinese, on account of its large admission of phonetic elements even in the very earliest periods, of which examples exist in the most ancient temples of Thebes, inscribed a thousand years anterior to the earliest pretensions of China to the possession of the art.

But an immense step in advance of the Chinese system above described, or even of the far superior Egyptian, is required before books can be written and read, as we understand the terms reading and writing in modern Europe. Before this important consummation can be achieved, it becomes necessary to supersede the purely graphic system by one formed exclusively of phonetic characters; that is to say, characters conveying the idea of certain fixed sound, and not pictures conveying mere ideas of certain objects.

This phonetic principle the Egyptians had already developed, to a certain extent, at a period to which the earliest existing specimens of their writing belong. That is to say, they had set aside the delineations of particular objects for the expression of certain simple and fixed sounds; which figures, when used in combination, could be made to express the sounds of the most complicated words. The Egyptians had thus, in addition to their iconographic and symbolic characters, a subsidiary class of characters, used in connexion with them, which served to express such foreign names, or other things, as it was found difficult to describe by mere figures and symbols, these phonetic signs being the earliest known approach to a true alphabet.

The Chinese language, like that of the Egyptians, and like almost all primitive languages, was monosyllabic; and, as M. Champollion observes, the Egyptians might, by this similarity of character in the language, have been led to the same imperfect expedient as the Chinese, writing, for instance, the word RO-MI (a man) with the characters" a mouth," which in the spoken language is ro, and with a lioness, which in the spoken language is mie. Such a method would have been subject to the inconvenience, that the same characters must be employed with a totally different signification in other places-a difficulty which the Egyptians avoided by a better-conceived system; while the Chinese, following a plan involving the very defect just urged, never advanced beyond it; and even of these syllabic sounds their system contains only a very limited number,—these, with almost inappreciable distinctions of accent, being frequently made to express the same thing: in other words, homophonous characters, express, in their system, many distinct things. This difficulty was, to some extent, overcome by the following process:-The phonetic characters of the Chinese were first obtained in the following manner: such a syllable as li, for instance, which in different circumstances means many different things, might be secured to its intended meaning by means of what is called a determinative sign; that is to say, a purely pictorial one, which would determine the precise meaning of the phonetic combination. Thus, as in the Egyptian method, after phonetic signs expressing the name of a quadruped, a picture of the hinder half of the skin of an ox would be placed, shewing at once that the name phonetically expressed referred to an animal. After the name of a bird, the figure of a goose was placed,—after the name of a reptile, a serpent,after the names of trees, the figure of a tree.

In the Chinese system the character assigned to express the syllable li, either in its initial or final sound, represents, when followed by the figure of a tree, a pear-tree; the phonetic ki combined with a tree, means a willow; the phonetic pei and a tree, express a wooden cup; the phonetic pa and tree, a wooden handle; ken and tree, a root; ki, followed by the figure of a bird, represents a duck; ya, followed by a bird, is a raven.* The phonetics, it is seen, were formed by figures, the names of which, in the spoken language, contained the sound required; the determinative signs being mere iconographs, or portraits, signifying simply the kind or class of things described.

жа

Duck, formed of the sound ki and a bird.

Willow, formed of the sound ki
and a tree.

Root, formed of the sound ken and a tree.

It will be noticed that in the few examples here given, the word ki occurs twice; when followed by a bird, it signifies duck, but if followed by a tree, it

These are the examples furnished to M. Champollion by the Chinese scholar Stanislaus Julien.

represents a willow; thus affording a striking example of the necessity of the determinative signs. In these characters it will be perceived that modifications of the formation of the characters occur, and the sound ki is more simply written in willow than in duck.

There is some doubt whether the introduction of the phonetic character in Chinese writing was a native improvement. Morrison, in the essay which serves as the introduction to his Lexicon, appears to think that at this period of its development, the Chinese calligraphy was indebted to the Sanscrit for the new feature. But no monuments of Sanscrit character, of a corresponding age, are in existence to prove or disprove the theory.

It would be impossible to trace, even if space allowed, all the gradual degradations through which the portrait-letters of the Chinese became eventually arbitrary signs, which, after they had lost all traces of their pictorial origin, still preserved their first characteristic of expressing objects or ideas, instead of sound; with the exception of the imperfect phonetic element just described. The nature of the transformation may, however, be illustrated by a few examples, in which the degree of departure from the original forms is very unequal.

Jih, "the sun," is now written, in which a resemblance may be traced to the square manner of writing it in the early periods. Yue, "the moon," is now written, almost exactly like sun, only with the first line slightly curved out, probably, with the intention of still representing the form of the crescent. M Shan, "a hill," is now written H, three simple lines being substituted for the points. Ma, "a horse," in which the flowing mane and the four legs are so plainly indicated, is now written; in order to form a neat square character, it is so changed, that the original symbol entirely disappears, except in the four touches under the lower line, which still represent the legs of the quadruped. Still more removed from the original form is the eye; and in or Chay, "a cart" or "carriage,” the indication of the wheels, which is seen in the first figure, has totally disappeared in the second period. Shwuy, "water," is now written; a still wider departure from the original character than any of the former examples.

The following are additional examples of two epochs; one shewing the linear or outline stage of delineation, the other its reduction to a more scriptographic style, better suited to rapid execution.

Ф

Sign for the middle of anything.

#

A later or written form of the same sign.

Partridges or pheasants are represented by a bird, and an arrow placed near, to indicate that they are slain by the hunter with that weapon.

Morning was expressed by the image of the sun shedding dew.

To examine with care was expressed by means of two eyes.

The idea of white, or whiteness, was expressed by an eye, looking so much to one side as to expose great part of the white.

The figure of an eye, when simply indicating that feature, has the pupil in the centre in the early linear form of writing it, and in the later form two straight lines, representing the pupil, are placed inside, instead of one outside, as in the later form of "white," represented above.

The following are several other examples of the mode of delineating characters in two periods; the first being of what may be termed a pictorial, and the later of a scriptorial character. The objects are accompanied by their Chinese names.

In the last figure, the idea of a man vowed to solitude and prayer, expressed by images of a mountain, and a person prostrated in prayer, is very ingenious.

The next selection of signs exhibits the gradual transition from the picture to the written character of the present day, through some of the most marked periods of the Chinese calligraphic progress, accompanied by the Chinese denomination of these different classes of writing.

From these examples it will be perceived that the later styles possess but slight resemblance to the original figures on which they are founded. It is indeed curious that any traceable relation should still exist between the modern Chinese writing and the figurative process in which it originated; as the Chinese, when once in firm possession of the art, as far as they ever advanced in it, were continually, in their active idleness, and aimless ingenuity, making changes of a perfectly arbitrary nature. The changes effected in this manner have been the means of preventing the discovery of the original forms of many of the phonetico-figurative groups of which the Chinese written language is now principally composed; the continual additions of new signs having swelled the number of these groups of written ideas to upwards of one hundred thousand.

The silhouette, or solid figure style, is supposed to have prevailed, with some modifications, from the earliest period of Chinese pictographic writing to about 800 B.C. The linear characters are supposed to have prevailed, in their complete form, from the seventh to the third century previous to our era; after which the abridgments began.

The celestial minister, Li-see, is supposed to have invented the style, of which the following is an example, about 210 B.C.:

蔔

The style invented by Li-see.

嘗

The same word in modern characters.

The Li-see character was merely a modification, in which, in an attempt to reduce the forms of all the signs to symmetrical regularity, nearly all their original character was lost.