Oriental Literature. 87 



to which answers were requested from themselves 

 and the missionaries. The communications made 

 in consequence of these queries were published in 

 the work above mentioned. In these communi- 

 cations, and especially in those which relate- to 

 the Chinese language, Fathers Amiot and Cibot 

 make the most respectable figure, and have given 

 the most valuable information/ Besides these, M. 

 Le Gentil, M. Sonnerat, and M. L ancles, of 

 France; and Sir William Jones, Sir George 

 Staunton, and others, of Great-Britain, have 

 given the public some instructive accounts relating 

 to the letters, arts, and philosophy of the Chinese 

 empire. 



The last conspicuous labourer in this field of in- 

 quiry is the Reverend Dr. Hagar, a learned Ger- 

 man, who resided a number of years in the east, 

 and gained an uncommon acquaintance with the 

 Chinese language. His knowledge enabled him 

 to present the public with a work on this language, 

 in which he entered into a more full and satisfac- 

 tory explanation of its elementary characters than 

 had been before attempted. This is the first sys- 

 tematic work that has been published in Europe 

 on Chinese writing and reading, and evinces great 

 industry and apparent skill in the author/ 



It is worthy of remark, that all the investiga- 

 tions in oriental literature by which the last age 

 was distinguished, furnished new and very im- 



* See Memoires Concernant I ' Histoire, le Sciences, Us Arts, &C. extend-* 

 ing to a number of volumes in 4to. 



y See An Explanation of the Elementary Characters of the Chinese Language, 

 ivith an Analysis of their Ancient Symbols and Hieroglyphics, &c. by Joseph 

 Hagar, D. D. Though this work was not actually published till the 

 beginning of January, 1801 ; yet as both the acquisition of Dr. Hagar's 

 Chinese learning, and the composition of this work belong to the eighteenth 

 century, they havs a place assigned them within that period. 



