A SCRAP CONCERNING THE CHINESE. 555 



can come into no comparifon with our mode of writing. 

 With thefe ligns they proceeded farther : for lignifying 

 ab ftra 61 ideas, as we do at times with the fyllables of 

 our words, they made a felection of 214 of thefe ligns, 

 confining of feveral ftrokes, looking on each as a limple 

 one, which had its own peculiar name, and reprefented 

 a tingle matter, comprehending feveral objects in it. 

 Hence arofe a real catalogue confifting of as many 

 main-divifions as they thought they could properly 

 comprize the ligns of all their ideas in. And, in order 

 by this means to obtain a ftock of ligns for all poffible 

 ideas, they fet two, three, and fometimes more of thefe 

 lingle characters together. Thefe now loft their ufual 

 names and main-lignifications in this connection ; but 

 Itill lay as the ground of the compound characters, ac- 

 cording to which they were arranged in the 214 clalTes, 

 either by the natural relation of their lignifications, or 

 the limilarity of the metaphors under which the Chinefe 

 thought of the matter. In this manner the lexicon 

 formed in the reign of the emperor Cang-hi is compofed, 

 which confifts of forty volumes. 



Such a mode of writing may have this ufe, that it will 

 be underftood by nations of quite different languages : 

 only it mould conlift of eafier ligns, nearly of fuch as 

 bifhop Wilkins made an attempt with. 



The Mand {hours who are mailers of the empire, in 

 their polyfyllabic language, make ufe of a fyllabic- 

 writing formed from the old-fyriac, with which they 

 could even write well the Chinefe, if the ligns of the 

 tones were added. In both modes of writing, the 

 words Confrantinus dux Saxoniae, would found thus : 

 Co-no-fo~tan-ti~nu-fu du-ku-fu Sa-ko-fo-ni-je. 



BIANCA. 



) . 



