Page:Essays on the Chinese Language (1889).djvu/100

86 other doctrines of Ku have been disputed by later authors, and he has been rather severely criticised for some of his statements by men who were under great obligations to his labours.

Another great writer on the language in the seventeenth century was Shao Chang-hêng (卲長蘅) al. Tzŭ-hsiang (子相), a native of Wu-chin (武進) in Kiangsu. His principal work on this subject is the "Ku-chin-yun-liao" (古今韻略) a phonetic thesaurus of ancient and modern words. This treatise was completed about 1660 but not published until thirty years afterwards. In the introduction the author gives a good historical and critical account of the chief among his predecessors. Then follows the work proper, in which the characters selected are arranged under four tone's according to the 106 finals, beginning with tung. At the end of each class are added (1st) the old words which were commonly regarded as of like ending, and (2nd) those characters which, according to Wu Yü and Yang Shên, in old times took the same ending for rhyme purposes though their proper sounds were different. So the book is, as the title indicates, a compendium of old and modern rhyming words. As has been stated above, the "Ku-chin-yun-liao" is based on P‘an Ên's treatise, but Shao made changes and important additions. The latter are generally taken from the "Kuang-yun" or one of the editions of "Li-pu-yun-liao." Those which he made himself are given at the end of each section, and they have not received universal approbation.

Contemporary with Shao Tzŭ-hsiang was Mao Ch‘i-ling (毛奇齡) al. Ta-k‘o (大可) al. Hsi-ho (西河). This latter lived from 1623 to 1713 and was one of the most illustrious scholars of the seventeenth century. He was a man of great learning, of original views and independent research, and he had a clear and direct way of expressing himself in writing. Of his many contributions to learning and philology the only one we notice here is that known generally by its short title "Ku-chin