Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/557

Rh E I C - B I C 537 Jesuits in naming God Almighty, such as Tien, "Heaven," and Shang-ti, "Supreme Ruler" or "Emperor," instead of Tien-Chu, "Lord of Heaven," and in particular the erection of inscribed tablets in the churches, on which these terms were made use of; 1 (2) in respect to the ceremonial offerings made in honour of Confucius, and of personal ancestors, which Ricci had recognized as merely "civil" observances; (3) the erection of tablets in honour of ancestors in private houses ; and (4), more generally, sanction and favour accorded to ancient Chinese sacred books and philosophical doctrine, as not really trespassing on Christian faith. Probably no European name of past centuries is so well known in China as that of Li-ma-teu, the form in which the name of our missionary (Ei-cci Mat-tco) was adapted to Chinese usage, and by which he appears in Chinese records. 2 The works which he composed in Chinese are numerous ; a list of them (apparently by no means complete, however) will be found in Kircher's Chiiia Illustrata, and also in Abel Remusat's Nouveaux Melanges Asiatiques (ii. pp. 213-215). They are said to display an aptitude for clothing ideas in a Chinese dress very rare and remarkable in a foreigner. One of the first which attracted attention and re- putation among Chinese readers was a Treatise upon Friendship, in the form of a dialogue containing short and pithy paragraphs ; this is stated in the De Expcditione to have been suggested during Ricci's stay at Nan-chang by a conversation with the prince of Kien-ngan, who asked questions regarding the laws of friendship in the West. In the early part of his residence at Peking, when enjoying con- stant intercourse with scholars of high position, Ricci brought out the T'ien-chu shih-i, or " Veritable doctrine of the Lord of Heaven," which deals with the divine character and attributes under eight heads. "This work," says Mr A. Wylie, "contains some acute reasoning in support of the propositions laid down, but the doctrine of faith in Christ is very slightly touched upon. The teachings of Buddhism are vigorously attacked, whilst the author tries to draw a parallel between Christianity and the teachings of the Chinese literati." In 1604 Ricci completed the Erh-shih-wu yen, a series of short articles of moral bearing, but exhibiting little of the essential doctrines of Christianity. Chi- j in sliih pien is another of his pro- ductions, completed in 1608, and consisting of a record of ten con- versations held with Chinese of high position. The subjects are : (1) Years past no longer ours ; (2) Man a sojourner on earth ; (3) Advantage of frequent contemplation of eternity ; (4) Prepara- tion for judgment by such contemplation ; (5) The good man not desirous of talking ; (6) Abstinence, and its distinction from the prohibition to take life ; (7) Self-examination and self-reproof inconsistent with inaction ; (8) Future reward and punishment ; (9) Prying into futurity hastens calamity ; (10) Wealth with covetousness more wretched than poverty with contentment. To this work is appended a translation of eight European hymns, with elucidations, written in 1609. Some of the characteristics briefly indicated here may have suggested, though probably they are far from justifying, the bitterness of attacks made upon Ricci's theology, long after he had been in his grave, by some of the opponents of the Jesuits in the controversies to which we have referred. An example of these is found in the work called Anecdotes sur I'fitat de Religion dans let Chine, Paris, 1733-35, the author of which (Abbe Villers) speaks of the T'ien-chu shih-i in this fashion " The Jesuit was also so ill versed in the particulars of the faith that, as the holy bishop of Conon, Monsgr. Maigrot, says of him, one need merely read his book on the true religion to convince oneself that he had never imbibed the first elements of theology". . . . The writer goes on to say other things even much more bitter. Ricci's pointed attacks on Buddhism, and the wide circulation of his books, called forth the opposition of the Buddhist clergy. 1 Compare Browning, The Riny and the Book, x., The Pope, 1589-1603. 2 The name conies forward prominently in the mouth of the emperor Kang-hi, in a dialogue which took place between him and Monsgr. Maigrot, the leader of the anti-Jesuit movement (mentioned in Browning's lines referred to above), at the summer residence in Tar- tary, August 1706, a dialogue which the Jesuits have reported with not a little malice : "Emperor, 'Tell me why do the people call me Van-sui (10,000 years).' The Most Reverend {i.e., Maigrot), ' To express their desire for your Majesty's long life.' Emp. ' Good. You see, then, Chinese words are not always to be taken literally. We pay cult to Confucius and to the dead to express our respect for them. How is that inconsistent with your religion ? When did it begin to be so? Is it since Ly-Mattheu's time? Hast thou ever read Ly-Mattheu?' The Most Reverend, turning to P. Parenin, whispers, "Who's he?" and learning that it was P. Matteo Ricci, . . . answered the emperor: 'I have not read that book.' Emp. ' Ly-Mattheu and his fellows came hither some two centuries iigo; and before their time China never heard anything of the Incarnation, any- thing of Tien-chu, who had not become incarnate in this part of the world. Why then, if it was lawful to c ill God Tien before Ly-Mattheu's time, should it be improper now?" Epistola de Erentu Apoftolicx Legationis, fcripta a PP. Missionariis ... ad Prieposilum Generalem S. J., An. 1706, 1 Novembris. One of the ablest who took their part was Chu-hang, a priest of Hang-chau, who had abandoned the literary status for the Bud- dhist cloister. He wrote three articles against the doctrine of the missionaries. These were brought to Ricci's notice in an ostensible tone of candour by Yu-chun-he, a high mandarin at the capital. This letter, with Ricci's reply, the three Buddhist declamations, and Ricci's confutation, were published in a collected form by the Christian Sen-Kwang-K'e. Another work of Ricci's which attracted attention was the Hsi-kuofa, or "Art of Memory as practised in the West." Ricci was himself a great, expert in memoria technica, and astonished the Chinese by his performances in this line. He also wrote or edited various Chinese works on geography, the celestial and terrestrial spheres, geometry, and arithmetic. 3 And the detailed history of the mission was drawn out by him, which after his death was brought home by P. Nicolas Triganlt, and published at Augsburg, and in a complete form at Lyons a year later under the name DC Expcditione Christiana apud Sinas Suscepta, ab Soc. Jesu, Ex P. Mat. Ricci ejusdem Societatis Commentariis, in which Tri- gault himself added a large amount of interesting matter respecting China and the Chinese. Among the scientific works of his time which Ricci took with him into China, there was a fine set of maps, which at first created great interest, but disgust afterwards when the Chinese came to perceive the insignificant place assigned therein to the "Middle Kingdom," thrust, as it seemed, into a corner, instead of being set in the centre of the world like the gem in a ring. Ricci, seeing their dissatisfaction, set about constructing a map of the hemisphere on a great scale, so adjusted that China, with its subject states, filled the central area, and, without deviating from truth of projection, occupied a large space in proportion to the other kingdoms gathered round it. All the names were then entered in Chinese calligraphy. This map obtained immense favour, and was immediately engraved at the expense of the viceroy, and widely circulated. In the accompanying cut we have endeavoured to realize this Jesuitical map, as we fear it must be called. The projection we have adopted is a perspective of the hemisphere, as viewed from a point at the distance of one diameter from the surface, and situated on the production of the radius which passes through the intersec- tion of 115 E. long. (Green- wich) with 30 N. lat. Some- thing pretty near this must have been Li- ma-ten's projec- tion. With a vertex much more distant the desired effect would be impaired, and with one nearer neither of the poles would be seen, whilst the exaggeration of China would have been too gross for a professed representation of the hemisphere. The chief facts of Ricci's career are derived from Trigault ; some contemporary works on the rites controversy have also been consulted ; in the notice of Ricci's Chinese writings valuable matter lias been derived from Notes on Chinese Litera- ture by Mr A. Wylie, 4 an indefatigable scholar, and perhaps our only contem- porary who can speak of these from actual examination. The projection of the sphere by the present writer appeared in the (now defunct) Geographical Magazine for July 1874. A number of Ricci's letters are extant in the possession of the family, and access to them was afforded to Giuseppe La Farina, author of the work called La China, considerata nella sua Storia, <fcc., Florence, 1843, by the Murchese Amico Ricci of Macerata, livfng at Bologna (see vol. i. p. 112 sq.). La Farina's quotations contain nothing of interest. There is a curious Chinese account of Ricci published by Dr Breitschneider in the China Review, iv. 391 sq. (H. Y.) RICCIARELLI, DANIELE (1509-1566), Italian artist, generally called, from the place of his birth, DANIELE DA 3 In the catalogue of the London Mission Library, Shanghai, 1857, we find the following entries : "197. Chi'ho yuan pen, Elements of Geometry (MS.). This is the first six books of Euclid, translated by Matthew Ricci and his disciple Sen-Kwang-K'e, 1607." "198. Fung-wen suan-chih. Guide to Arithmetic, 9 vols. incomplete ; this treatise was drawn up by Ricci, with the aid of his disciple Le-Che- tsaou, and published in 1613." "199. Chi-jen shih pien" (see above). 4 Shanghai and London, 1867. XX. 68