80 REV. PROFESSOR JAMES LEGGE, M.A., ON 
were acquainted with God, as I am in the habit of using the word— 
but in defiance of a supreme Being whose will they believed it to 
be their duty to obey ; and I think the most interesting considera- 
tion, although it is outside this immediate question, which presents 
itself to any student of that ancient history, and I might say of 
the modern history almost of our own time, is this: that through- 
out, more particularly in the ancient books, the object of the 
historiographers appears to have been not so much to recall the 
facts, but to impress on small Chinese communities that were 
increasing, that these facts were recorded for a moral purpose, 
partly to impress on governors their duty to the people, and on 
governors and governed that Heaven was in it all, that their 
success and prosperity were accorded to them in proportion as they 
obeyed the will of Heaven, and that misfortunes and evil were due 
to their departure from what they knew to be the will of Heaven. 
J think we find this lesson, with a certain continuity, throughout 
the ancient books to the days of Confucius; and with the days of 
Confucius we have this sentiment put forward in the very few 
treatises that are supposed to have come from his hand, and con- 
tinually occurring in the utterances of members of that school that 
has existed to the days in which we live. 1am very sorry to be 
unable to add more. 
Dr. C. Conninawoop.—On Chinese subjects we know Professor 
Legge is facile princeps, and perhaps there is no one who is so well 
able to write so interesting and instructive a paper as we haye 
heard; I am anxious to make an inguiry, the reply to which 
would, doubtless, gratify others who, like myself, feel an interest 
in the matter. I have been very desirous to know what is the 
earliest date of authentic chronology in China. It appears that 
up to about 842 B.c. is tolerably well authenticated, and that 
there is good reason for believing, to a certain extent, in history 
which was written up to 2000 or 2200 years B.c.; but one can 
easily believe that beyond that there is nothing but a shadow of 
history, and that it then verges into fable, as do all historical 
records except, perhaps, those of the Bible; but I would ask 
Professor Legge what is the earliest known MS. in which these 
histories are found, and whether in those very early MSS. the 
characters employed are the same, or nearly the same, as those 
which are used at the present day. Of course we are all aware 
that in a spoken language there are a vast number of dialects— 
