Retrospect of French Literature--- History. 
the geographical charts, nor the me-. 
moirs relative to the state of each de- 
partment, were consumed by fire 5 
and,in fine, about a century before the 
Christian wra, anauthentic history was 
compiled from the remaining mate- 
rials, which is that of Se-Mai-Tsiene. 
From that epoch, the Chinese an- 
nals have not experienced any- inter- 
ruption, and the tribunal charged to 
compose them, has never been thwart- 
ed in its functions: similar tribunals 
had existed from the remotest anti- 
quity, and if some difficulties occurred 
at the period alluded to, let it be 
recollected, that some persons must 
still have been in existence, who were 
well acquainted with the principal 
facts, notwithstanding 450 were put to 
death in a single day by the emperor 
Tsin-Chi-Hoang, within the precincts 
_of one imperial eity. This mode must 
have appeared nearly infallible for the 
purpose of destroying all information, 
at a time when the imperfection of 
writing, and the size of the works pre- 
sented great difficulties to study. No 
persons have been better able to ap- 
preciate the authenticity of the Chinese 
history, than the missionaries, who are 
familiar with the language of the 
country, aud admitted into the confi- 
dence of the emperor ; now all of these 
agree as to the high antiquity of the 
empire, and only differ as’ to certain 
dates respecting the reigns of the ‘first 
sovereigns. None of these have ex. 
hibited more talents or zeal than P. 
Gaubil, who has made extracts froin 
the Chinese and Tartar languages, and 
to whom we are indebted for a trans- 
lation of the Chouking, one of the 
most ancient books appertaining to 
China, a treatise of chronology, a 
history of astronomy, &c. Such was 
his skill in languages, that he was no- 
minated interpreter to the court for 
the Tartar Menteheon, and refused the 
post of mandarin of the tribunal of 
mathematics. He carries back the reign 
of Yao 114 years further than Freret, 
who fixes it at the year 2261 before 
the Christian epoch. Anterior to this, 
ke allows that several emperors swayed 
the sceptre in succession; but he main- 
tains that the sum of their reigns can- 
not be estimated, althoughthe Chinese 
traditions valued the total at 250 years. 
“This calculation brings the epoch of 
the emperor Fouhi, the first in histo- 
rical record, according to Confucius, 
te the exact number of 2500 years be- 
089 | 
fore the epoch of Christianity, All 
beyond this is fabulous, according to 
Father Gaubil, who resided during 36 
vears at Pekin, under a variety of cir. 
“cumstances favourable to his means 
of acquiring knowledge. 
Some learned Europeans have presum- 
ed to accuse the missionaries of gross 
exaggeration, in respect to the anti- 
quity of the Chinese empire ; but their 
prejudices would naturally tend to- 
wards a different direction, for the co. 
incidence of these ancient epochs with 
that of the dispersion of the human 
race in Mesopotamia has not escaped 
their notice; they clearly saw that all 
this tended to the rejection of the /ul- 
gate, andeven carried back for some 
centuries the period of the deluge, as 
established by the holy writings. Their 
Conviction in respect to these points 
was so strong, thatFather AdamSchall,# 
president of the Tribunal of. Mathe- 
matics, transmitted to Rome a memo- 
rial in the name of his mission, re- 
questing to be permitted to teach the 
Septuagint translation alone, which is 
the only one that could possibly ae- 
-cord with the histerical traditions of 
the Chinese. ‘This was accordingly 
conceded to them. 
The author concludes his very im- 
portant work by alluding to the re. 
cent labours of the younger M.de 
Guignes. He remarks, ‘‘ that this gen- 
tleman could have made but few dis« 
coveries by travelling from Canton to 
Pekin under a guard, and by resid. 
ing in the latter city under the inspec- 
tion of the police. He remained ihere,”’ 
it is added, ‘* scarcely as many days as 
Father Gaubil did years, and was even 
shat out trom all correspondence with 
the missionaries.” : 
‘‘ Histoire Chevaleresque des Maures 
de Grenade,” &c. The Chivalrous His- 
tory of the Moors of Grenada, trans- 
lated from the Spanish of Ginés Perez 
de Hita ; preceded by a few reflections 
relative to the Mosiems of Spain, by 
M.M. Sané. 2 vols: 8vo. Paris. 
We ate assured in the preface, that 
* Pere Adam Schall has fixed ‘the 
epoch of Yao at the year 2357, which is 
96 years further back than Pere Gaubil. 
The latter supposes six emperors at least 
to have reigned before him; and’ asserts 
that the founders of the Chinese empire 
existed nearly at the time of Noah and his 
children. He evenallows that great dif- 
ficulties exist in reconeiling the chronology 
of the Bible with that of China, 
this 
