Page:The Spirit of the Chinese People.djvu/164

118 a relatively timeless race could either compose or read such histories: none but the Chinese memory could store them away in its capacious abdomen!"

Now let us hear Dr. Legge on the same subject. Dr. Legge, speaking of the 23 standard dynastic histories of China, says:—

"No nation has a history so thoroughly digested; and on the whole it is trustworthy."

Speaking of another great Chinese literary collection, Dr. Legge says:—

"The work was not published, as I once supposed by Imperial authority, but under the superintendence and at the expense (aided by other officers) of Yuen Yun, Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangse, in the 9th year of the last reign, of Kien-lung 1820. The publication of so extensive a work shows a public spirit and zeal for literature among the high officials of China which should keep foreigners from thinking meanly them."

The above then is what I mean when I say that there is a great deal of difference not only between the East and West but also between the West of Dr. Legge, the scholar who can appreciate and admire zeal for literature, and the West of the Rev. Arthur Smith who is the beloved of John Smith in China.