IMITATIVE AND SYMBOLICAL. 



283 



sources is perpetually increasing ; and have also hinted, that from this natural 

 tendency, the language must at length become an intolerable burden even to 

 the most assiduous Chinese scholar. Thus, while all the characters that 

 occur in Confucius, in Mung, and the five Kings, or sacred books, forming 

 together more than tvi^enty volumes, fall considerably short of six thousand, 

 including the numerous unusual words, found in the four volumes of the Shu 

 (and I may add, that the scope is much the same in the celebrated ethical com- 

 ment of Tung-tsee, the favourite disciple of Confucius, denominated Ta-hyoh, 

 " The Great Sublime or Momentous Doctrine," as also in the Choong-yoong, 

 Zun-zu, and Mun, constituting, conjointly, the four books most revered next 

 to the Kings) ; — such has been the accession of new terms invented by sub- 

 sequent writers, and often with a forgetfulness of the old, which have hereby, 



I. Ima.o£s: a name given to characters which, in their antiquated form, show very clearly a rough repre- 

 sentation of the material objects they denote : as, 



Ancient Form. ModernForm 



Jo 



Youei 



the Sun, - - « - now writt«n ^ 



^ the Moon, ^ 



Chin ^VV^ a Hill, - - . . - . . |Jj 



Mo« ^ a Tree, ^ 



Khiouan ^jfi-y, a Dog, 



Ja ^ a Fish, 1^ 



Ma iT^i^ * Horse, ........ 



Mou ^ 



Tchedu ^ a Boat, 



Kia a Cart, ^ 



Choili Water, '^l^ 



Efil ^ the Ear, ^^gf 



Jin a Man, - - • • • • • 



Kheoa Mouth, 



Choai ^ Water, . ^ 

 Of this sort there are about 200 characters, 

 n. AssociA-TES : meaning words formed by a combination of two or more Images : as, 



Ming gJ) Brightness, now written Sun and Moon united. 



Si*» a Hermit, . - ' Jj Man and Hill. 



Ming Note of a Bird, - - q Mouth and Bird. 



W6n ^ to Hear, - . . Door and Ear. 



Lo^i Tears, ... ^ Water and Eye. 



Their number is very great. 

 Koo-kin « Eloquence," « Fluency of Speech," literally " Golden-mouth the mark for mouth,whicli 



t^:^ (two lips), being united with the mark for gold, which is the remainder of the character. In Greek 

 XpuffdffT ojjius, aurea verba ore fundeas. 



