105-'] China lUuJifata. — On Simple and Complex IJeas. 



109 



who has the kaft portion of literary en- 

 thufiafm. As to (he value of the advan- 

 tages', he that deems tliern I'mall is wei- 

 come to his opinicn ; but he will pardon 

 tho.'c v.vho think difi'erjnily. 



" The praftice will be found to have all 

 tiie inconveniencies of novelty and pecu- 

 liarity." — Readily admitted ; and thofe 

 iiiconveniencits are very troubleforae.— 

 But, if Dr Warner's wi(h-s (l.ould ever 

 be, realized, this .iifficulty will ceafe. In 

 the mean time, it will b; tafy tonvaid fin- 

 gularity, by occafional compliance with 

 tl)e prevailing mode; and, with retired 

 fchol.irs, the cccaiions demanding fiich a 

 compliance ui-ili net very treqiicntly occur. 



Another worthy gentleman exclaims, 

 " I like the old, eftalliftied, and approved 

 me;hod. It pieafes and fatlsfies me; and 

 therefore I bsg' to be excufed being trou- 

 bled w th your new-fangled notions." — 

 This objeflion, I own, is unani'werable, 

 excepr by t'le quellions of the Roman ora- 

 tor : — " Qw^.T eft autem in hominibus 

 tanta perveriitas, ut, inventis fiugibus, 

 glande veicantur ? An vi6tus hominum 

 Athenienfium bcncficio excoli potuit ? 

 Oratio non potuit r" 



Allow me. Sir, to add, as a direfl an- 

 fwer to the inquiry of your Correfpnn- 

 dent O. E. I. that the reformed method of 

 pronunciation, for which I have attempted 

 to plead in this Paper, is adopted in the 

 Old Difftnting Acade :.yat Homerton. 

 I am, Sir, &c. 

 Homerton, J. P. Smith. 



"July 4, 1805. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



A CONSTANT Reader, in your 

 Magayine for March (p. 139), de- 

 <lefircs information concerning any books 

 that may aflift a Chinefe in the acquire- 

 ment of our language. The heft afTili- 

 ance that I know cf is to be fcund in the 

 " China Illnftrata'" (though written in 

 Latin), by Athanafnis Kircher, Amfielo- 

 dami, 17^7, in folio, a fplendid work, 

 publiflieci under the aufpices of the Em- 

 peror Leopold I. The engravings are 

 be.iuiitully e>;ecuttd, and ample Ipecimens 

 of the Chincie given, with the cenuine 



fironunciaiion in Latin chara6teis, as that 

 m^urige is pronoimctd by the French 



r^rl)apsi^l^oKa^mpfer'^ "Hiiloria Imperii 

 Japunici," transited intoEnglidi by J.G. 

 Scheuchzer, F.R.S.&c. London, 1728, inz 

 Vols. f(,|io, as It is iiluliralcd vvitii m.ny 

 •igravings, and contains ipccimcns of 



Chinefe and Japonefe characters, both 

 iim))lf and combined, miglu be ufeful.— . 

 Another work I beg leave to mention, 

 though perhap* it i? not eafily to bs 

 found in a p; ivate colltcli.n, and this is, 

 " Metnoires corcernant I'Hiifoires, les 

 Sciences, les Arts, &c. dcs Chinois ; par 

 Ics Miflionaires de Pekin ; en i 5 torn, en 

 4.to. a Paris, 1776." I fliall be h^ppy 

 to fee any works better caiciila'td to ac- 

 complifh theend defired Aigg-ffled by forae 

 other of your Correfpondcnts, and am. 

 Sir, your's, &c. J. G. 



C. H. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



I OBSERVE that-It is a difputed point 

 between your ingenious Coire!pon- 

 dents Mr. LofFt and the Inquirer, whe- 

 ther abftiaft ideas or ideas uf lisnlntion be 

 moft fimple. Perhaps the contioverfy 

 may be abridged if it be ftiewn, thit there 

 are no fuch tiiir.gs in exiftence as abftraifi 

 ideas ; as in this cafe, I imagine, neither 

 fimplicity nor complexity will be attri- 

 buted to them. 



By abflrafl ideas I mean the caramonlf 

 received opinion — the opinion which Mr. 

 Lofftfcems to have adopted, when he men- 

 tions his having an abltraft idea of white- 

 nef's : it is the ideal abftraflion of a quality 

 from its fubjcft, and not of a part from tiis 

 whole. 



I believe it is univerfally admitted, 

 that, when external obiels acl: upon the 

 organs of fenfe, the effefts are termsd 

 fenfations : thst, when we thii.k of, or 

 recall to mind, thefe fenfitioiis, tiicobjefts 

 that originally produced them being ab- 

 fenijVve are laid to pofTefs ideas. So that 

 ideas are mere recoUeftions of (enfatians. 

 Mr. LofTt himfeli has, too, taken a great 

 deal of iidins (more til ui the i'u'^jeit re- 

 quired) to prove that every feifitiun is 

 liniple : meaning by this, io fir as I un-' 

 derliand the fubjefl, that one fenlitioa 

 is not two fenl'ations. In<feed, to mc it 

 appears a folecifm in common ilsnie t) fdv, 

 that a ftnf.uion is either abftra^li, gcneiMl, 

 or complex. Every itnfati m is the etFeit 

 of a fuigle imjirefii n ; and how can a 

 fnigle impieffion be either abfli acl, gene- 

 ra), or ci^mplex ? Now if there be no ab- 

 flrafl, general, or complex fenfations, snd 

 it, as is allowed, ideas be the mcie iccol- 

 Icflions ot fenfations, how can ilicre be 

 any abltraff, general, or complex iileas ? 



The cnufe of the belief in io paradox- 

 ical an opinion as lh;it l.eie coir.bited, 



lies, 



