■ [ SOI ] 
ture to fay, that the edition which has prevailed has 
not many miftaken charadters ? and let it be even the 
bell, learned men, who have laboured fince in the 
analyfis of the charaders, are not agreed amongft 
themfelves j and they bring each reafons capable of 
fufpending the judgement of critiques. This variety 
of opinion hath caufed much variety in the orthogr'ii- 
phy^ if one may fo call the manner of writing a cha- 
racter with fuch or fuch a Pou, The manner ac- 
cordingly has been floating and uncertain, for very- 
many charaaers, until the great didionary Kang-hi~ 
tfe -iie72y which has fixed it. 
The author winds up this curious detail with the 
following remark, which he fays is eflential. All 
that has been faid of the various readings and abbre- 
viations of the charaders is independent of the five 
forts of writing ordinarily counted by lettered men. 
The firfl: is called Kou-cuen (fee plates the 5th, 6th, 
7th, and 8th, and part of the 9th, Tab. XXIV— 
XXVllI.) This is the mofl; ancient form of writ- 
ing ; and there remains now hardly any more traces 
of it. The fecond, T choang-tfee, (alfo read Pchoiien-tfee^ 
vid. plate i. Tab. XIX.) has fucceeded the Kou- 
ouen ; and has lafted even to the end of the Dynaftie 
of the Tcheou. It was this which was in ufe from 
the time of Confucius, and of which the abbreviations 
and various readings have been mofl; fatal. The 
third, Li-tfeCy (fee plate 2. Tab. XXL) began un- 
der the reign of Cht-hoang~tij the founder of the Dy- 
naftie of the Tfin, and the great enemy of letters 
and of lettered men. The fourth, Plmg-chou, is 
deftined for impreftion, as with us the Roman and 
Italic. (See plate 3. Tab. XXil.) 
The 
