Page:Essays on the Chinese Language (1889).djvu/106

92 was also one of the three scholars who prepared the Imperial reprint of the "Fang-yen" with the commentary of Kuo Po which appeared in 1779.

Then the "Urh-ya" was edited carefully by Lu Wên-chao (盧文弨), who devoted to it two treatises. This old thesaurus was studied also by P‘u T‘ang (浦鏜), who published an edition with many changes in the text. His treatise did not find much favour and his corrections of the current readings are not generally accepted. A better edition is that by Shao Chin-han (卲晉涵), a very learned official who lived in the second half of the eighteenth century. Shao gave to his treatise, which was published in 1775, the title "Urh-ya-chêng-i." In preparing it he adopted the text which he thought the best, and Kuo Po's commentary. To the latter he added illustrations and references drawn from other commentaries and from classical literature generally. It is stated that this edition of the "Urh-ya" has superseded all others with students. Further, in 1815 appeared the edition brought out by Yuan Yuan in his thirteen Ching, which gives the commentaries of Kuo Po and Hsing Chi with comparisons of texts and other useful information. As a sort of supplement to the "Urh-ya," Hung Liang-chi (洪亮吉), who lived from 1746 to 1809, compiled the "Pi-ya" (比雅), a work which follows the divisions of the "Urh-ya." But most of the terms and phrases which it gives and for which it supplies references are not in the "Urh-ya."

The "Yü-pien" and the "Kuang-yun" were reprinted and published together in 1704. Great care was taken in the editing of these works, and the veteran philologist Chu I-tsun (朱彝尊) contributed prefaces. It is this edition of the "Yü-pien" and "Kuang-yen" which seems to be the popular one among students of the present time. The "Chi-yun" also found an editor and was reprinted in 1814.

But none of the other ancient treatises on the language has received so much attention as the "Shuo-wên." This book had