Page:Essays on the Chinese Language (1889).djvu/34



the judgments of foreigners on the Chinese language we pass to the consideration of the treatment which the language has had at the hands of natives. To tell this with any fullness would be a work needing a great knowledge of Chinese literature, and it would not, perhaps, repay the labour. It will be enough here to attempt a slight sketch of the course which the cultivation of the language by its speakers and writers has taken since the time when its records begin. Even such an outline, however, must needs be meagre and imperfect, and, at best, of little interest except to a very small number. For the early part of the history, moreover, materials are few and doubtful, while for the latter part they are too many to be properly made use of in a slight sketch like the present. In this sketch all works are passed over which are exclusively on the art of writing and the various kinds of characters, as also those treatises which were only designed to be commentaries on the Confucianist canonical scriptures. Only those books or parts of books are noticed which are specially devoted to philology, and which show us the progress made by the Chinese in the intelligent use and cultivation of their language, written and spoken. Of such treatises also, it need scarcely be added, the following sketch pretends to describe or mention only a very small number, and in several cases the accounts of the books have to be given at second-hand, the originals being out of reach. Still, it is to be hoped that the imperfect outline here presented will help to give a right idea of the way in which the Chinese have studied and cultivated their language, and will serve to correct some wrong impressions on the subject. Let us begin with the introduction of the art of writing into literature.