in which, for aught any one knows to the contrary, there may lie buried gems of purest ray serene.  Can it be supposed that, if true, nothing of all this has yet been brought to light?  There have been, and are now, foreigners possessing a much wider knowledge of Chinese literature than many natives of education, but, strange to say, such translations as have hitherto been given to the world have been chiefly confined to plays and novels!  We hold that all those whom tastes or circumstances have led to acquire a knowledge of the Chinese language have a great duty to perform, and this is to contribute each something to the scanty quota of translations from Chinese now existing.  Let us see what the poets, historians, and especially the scientific men of China have produced to justify so many in speaking as they have done, and still do speak, of her bulky literature.  Many, we think, will be deterred by the grave nonsense or childish superstitions which they dare not submit to foreign judges as the result of their labours in this fantastic field; but to withhold such is to leave the public where it was before, at the mercy of unscrupulous or crazed enthusiasts.

We were led into this train of thought by an article in the North China Daily News of 10th July 1874, in which the writer speaks of China as “a luxuriant mental oasis amidst the sterility of Eastern Asia,” and “possessing a literature in vastness and antiquarian value surpassed by no other.”  He goes on to say that the translations hitherto made “have conveyed to us a faint notion of the compass, variety, solidity, and linguistic beauties of that literature.”  Such statements as these admit, unfortunately, of rhetorical support, sufficient to convince outsiders that at any rate there are two sides to the question, a conviction which could only be effectually dispelled by placing before them a few thousand volumes translated into English, and chosen by the writer of the article himself.[*] When, however, our enthusiast deals with more realisable facts, and says that in China “there is no organised book trade, nor publishers’ circulars, nor Quaritch’s Catalogues, nor any other catalogues whether of old or new books for sale,” we can assure him he knows nothing at all about the matter; that there is now lying on our table a very comprehensive list of new editions of standard works lately published at a large book-shop in Wu-chang Fu, with the price of each work attached; and that Mr Wylie, in his “Notes on Chinese Literature,” devotes five entire pages to the enumeration of some thirty well-known and voluminous catalogues of ancient and modern works.

    [*] Baron Johannes von Gumpach.  Died at Shanghai, 31st July 1875.

EDUCATIONAL LITERATURE