REVIEWS OF RECENT ROOKS 283 



himself chiefly indebted to Johnston, and he could hardly have a 

 better dependence. But he consults all the important authors, and 

 maintains his own independence of judgment. It is impossible to 

 tell, however, where his independence begins and where it ends ; in 

 particular, his knowledge of Chinese, and the extent to which he 

 bases his judgment on original investigation of the Chinese canon, 

 remains a mystery, so that in praising the work, we are not sure 

 just what sort of credit to assign to the author. But of the excellence 

 of his product there can be no question. The account, within the 

 limits of its space is complete and well-balanced. The special student 

 will find it an excellent summary ; the general student a reliable 

 guide. 



In conclusion we are furnished with an essay on the "Mutual 

 Influence of Eastern and Western Religions." The author treats of 

 Christianity in India, Indian Influence in the West, Persian Influence 

 in India, and Mohammedanism in India. Naturally the part which 

 most interests us is the discussion of Indian influence in the West, 

 in which he examines the Buddhist and Christian parallels which 

 different scholars have collected, and makes an estimate of possible 

 Christian dependence on Buddhism. His conclusions are again 

 marked with essential sanity ; for example he says that the majority 

 of parallels collected by Edmunds and Anesaki are fairly obvious 

 thoughts which occurred to two writers in different times and countries 

 and suggested similar expressions. In no case will Sir Charles's ex- 

 planations be found necessarily repugnant to Christian scholars, and 

 the conjecture that two of the parallels are pieces of folk-lore which 

 circulated in Asia and Eastern Europe is especially attractive. In 

 short this concluding essay is marked with the virtues which are 

 prominent throughout the work. With the trifling exceptions noted 

 earlier, the whole is admirable beyond words ; such a combination of 

 scholarship and wise judgment in assigning values is rare enough in 

 the world of students. We trust that it may be found possible, in 

 ;i future edition, to include the three chapters on Japan which diplo- 

 matic necessities have excluded from the present work. 



H. K. W. 



