1

1825.]

REVIEW-Morrison's Chinese Miscellany.

diligence in executing it, alike excite our astonishment.-If his salary* be equal to his labour, it will be a pretty thing enough." "For one copy presented to the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Exeter, by the advice of Bishop Fisher, whose assistance I requested for the proper distribution of my labour, the following was received:

"Rev. Sir,--I am directed by the Dean
and Chapter of this Cathedral, to present to
you their thanks for the very handsome do-
nation made by you to them of your System
of Divinity, in twenty-six volumes; which
they have ordered to be placed in their li-
brary.-I am, Rev. Sir, your most obedient
servant, GEO. SHORT, Chapter-Clerk.'"

A long extract then follows from
the Quarterly Review; for which,
and Mr. Davy's annotations on it, we
refer to vol. II. xxvi-xxxiii.
PP.

We shall conclude the present by
copying a letter from the munificent
Bishop of Durham, requesting a copy

of the work:

"Rev. Sir, I have lately met with a
copy of your late volume, entitled 'Divinity,
or Discourses on the Being of God, the Di-
vinity of Christ, and the Personality of the
Holy Ghost.' I have been much struck
with your piety and perseverance, in the
prosecution and completion of a work col-
lected and composed by you, and printed
with your own hand. I do not remember
to have had the pleasure of seeing your for-
mer numerous volumes, but you ask for in-
formation where and how you may direct the
copies of this impression of the last Volume
may be sent: I will gladly receive two co-
pics of the volume of this impression (leav-
ing the rest to your disposal) to be directed
to the Bishop of Durham, Cavendish-square,
London, for which you will do me the fa-
vour to accept the accompanying Bank-bill
of twenty pounds.

"Your own mind is, I have no doubt,
prepared to receive every real satisfaction
from the consciousness of having done so
much to the furtherance of that plan which
Lord Bacon said was likely to be productive
of the best system of divinity in the world.

"I cordially congratulate you on the conclusion of such a Work in your eightieth year. I am, Rev. Sir, with much regard, your well-wisher,

S. DUNELM."

Prefixed to the work is a pleasing portrait of the Author, ætatis suæ 82, 1825, very finely engraved by R. Cooper.

For the copies variously sent, we are informed, Mr. Davy has received some pleasing acknowledgments; and, thus

* Then 40l. per annum; now, by various applications, 601.

443

that

encouraged, it has been intimated,
a subscription, if opened by the great,
and publicly known as encouraged by
them, in some respectable place in
London and at the Universities, a
sufficiency would doubtless soon be
raised, for the due publication of this
worthy man's whole labours. In such
a plan we should cordially assist.

80. The Chinese Miscellany, consisting of original Extracts from Chinese Authors, in the native Character; with Translations and Philological Remarks. By Robert Morrison, D.D. F. R.S. M. R. A.S. &c. &c. 4to. pp. 52. Kingsbury, Parbury, and Allen.

His

THE author of this small Tract is a labourer in the department of philology of no ordinary eminence. Grammar of the Chinese Language was published at Serampore in 1815, and his Dictionary of the same lan

guage was commenced at Macao in in 1822. These works, it may be 1815, and completed at the same place fairly presumed, are imperishable monuments of his learning and industry; to which also the British public is indebted for several minor productions.

The design of the present publication appears to be, the initiation of the reader into some of the elementary principles of that very difficult lanprinciples in a manner not less enterguage the Chinese, by displaying those taining than useful.

The first section exhibits the 373 ancient symbols, from which it is stated the modern radicals or heads of classes in the Chinese were formed. These symbols represent numbers, celestial objects, terrestrial things, human beings, animals, plants, human productions, and miscellaneous subcribed to a learned Chinese named jects. The invention of them is asTsang-hee, of whom a very curious portrait is given in plate 5, which symbolizes the penetration of the sage, by representing him with four eyes, and his humility and contempt of worldly grandeur, by long straight hair, and a mantle of leaves. Many of these symbols are very rude pictures, faintly analogous to the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians; and their import is often comprehensive, including two, three, or more similar ideas, of which we will give only two examples:

No. 314

444

REVIEW. Tracts on Colonial Slavery.

No. 314 Threads cut asunder; to cut off; decision.

No. 339-Separate from selfishness; public; just.

On page 17, Dr. Morrison has given a table of the order of the 411 syllables, of which, exclusive of tones and accents, the Chinese language consists.

This is followed by a table exhibit ing the pronunciation and meaning of 214 radicals.

The author has appended to these tables, free and verbal translations of a few Chinese sentiments and detached phrases, with specimens of Chinese verse; some brief historical remarks on the literature of the Chinese; a summary of the Chinese ancient books called Woo-king" and Sze-Shoo," or Chinese Chronicles;" and notices of European intercourse with China, and of books concerning it, arranged in chronological order.

The work is ornamented with twelve lithographic plates, of which the last contains the author's autograph.

We have seldom met with so much amusement and instruction combined in so small a compass in any work, and especially in a work professedly philological, as in that now before us. We came to the perusal of it with an apprehension that we should have to wade through a dry detail of forms and sounds with scarcely any interesting ideas, and were most agreeably disappointed in finding ourselves in a few minutes almost in the very arcana of

Chinese intellect.

We have been informed that Dr. Morrison, who holds an appointment in the service of the East India Company at Canton, is expected to return to China early in the next year.

81. Account of a Shooting Excursion on the
Mountains near Dromilly Estate, in the
Parish of Trelawny, and Island of Ja-
maica, in the Month of October, 1824 !!!
8vo. pp. 15. Darton and Harvey.
82. Authentic Report of the Debate in the

House of Commons, June the 23d, 1825,
on Mr. Buxton's Motion relative to the

Demolition of the Methodist Chapel and Mission House in Barbadoes, and the Expulsion of Mr. Shrewsbury, a Wesleyan Missionary, from that Island. 8vo. pp. 119. Hatchard and Son. 83. The Slave Colonies of Great Britain; or a Picture of Negro Slavery drawn by the Colonists themselves; being an Abstract of the various Papers recently laid before

[Nov.

Parliament on that subject; with a Postscript. 8vo. pp. 164. Hatchard and Son. 84. Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter. 8vo. Nos. 1 to 5.

85. Extracts from the Royal Jamaica Gazette, June the 11th to June the 18th, 1825. 8vo.

THE appearance of these Tracts, which are for the most part published under the patronage and circulated at the expense of the Anti-Slavery Society, is understood to be preliminary to the revival in Parliament of discussions respecting Colonial Slavery.

The first article contains the details of an attack which was made by some planters in the Island of Jamaica upon a colony of runaway slaves, who had without observation established themselves, and during many years resided peaceably, in the centre of a wood in the parish of Trelawny. When attacked, their defence was both for skill and courage worthy of a better fate, if not of a better cause; and their final discomfiture will very probably be considered by some as having been marked by excessive severity. Upon this subject we forbear to offer an opinion. It is so interwoven with the question of original proprietory right, upon which the most decided as well as the more candid partizans are compelled to agree to differ, that we hold it prudent in an article designed rather to extend information, than to determine doubtful points, to leave the arguments which are contained in this short tract as we find them, that our readers, after having perused them, may form their own individual opi nion.

The second article professes to be an Authentic Report of the Debate in the House of Commons upon Mr. Buxton's Motion on the 23d of June last; and we see no reason to believe that it falls short of its pretensions.

The third article is full of interest

ing matter, to which we must advert,
although briefly. It contains a digest

rather than an abstract of some volu-
minous papers
relative to captured
Slaves, and to the condition of Slaves
in the British West Indies, which
have been transmitted from the Colo-
nies, and laid upon the table of the
House of Commons, in obedience to
its orders. These returns are far from
being perfect or even satisfactory upon
all the points at issue; but so far as
they go, they appear to be favourable

to

1825.]

REVIEW. Watts's Literary Souvenir.

to the views of the Abolitionists. Among the points established by them are the continued existence of a Slave Trade in the Mauritius: also the indisposition of the Colonists in general to the adoption of those ameliorations in the condition of the Slaves in the West Indies, which have been repeatedly and earnestly recommended from the Mother Country; and the cruelty and injustice which the slaves continue to experience at the hands of their overseers.

With such details before us as those which are quoted and referred to in this pamphlet, we confess that we should be happy to see the whole system abolished to-morrow; provided its abolition were accompanied by the introduction of a system of legal government by moral motives, and no injury done to vested interests. It is obviously an effect of slavery to degrade the whites equally with the blacks. Where ever it exists, the passions prevail over reason and all those better motives to action which ought to influence mankind.

The postscript is an abstract of the most interesting document in the series, viz. the official Minutes of the Fiscal of Berbice. This Colony contains little more than 20,000 slaves, and the Fiscal's Report embraces a period of not more than five years, viz. from 1819 to 1823 inclusive; yet it must be acknowledged, that so great a mass of cruelty as is here exhibited, could scarcely be imagined to have existed in so limited a population, and so short a space of time.

To enumerate in the briefest manner all the flagrant cases of cruelty which are brought to light by these Minutes, would swell out our Review to too great a length, we shall confine ourselves to the following:

"Minkie, a young female, cruelly flogged, and had her mouth broken, by order of her owner one Jones, for no other reason than because he wished to part with her, and money enough had not been offered.-1819. "Felix, compelled to allow his wife to prostitute herself to the manager, and upon expressing dissatisfaction, he and his wife subjected to severe and repeated floggings.

"Brutus, a watchman, flogged for not allowing his daughter Peggy to be deflowered by the manager, the poor man considering her to be too young.-1819.

Rosa, a pregnant woman, flogged by order of Mr. Grade severely with the whip doubled. She was flogged on Friday; and on Sunday,

445

after a severe labour, was delivered of a dead
child, its arm broken, and one eye bruised
and sunk in the head. This female was one
of a gang who were all ordered to be flogged
together. The driver remonstrated against
flogging the pregnant woman, but in vain.
The manager exclaimed, Never mind, flog

her till the blood comes.'-1819.

"David, a poor infirm dropsical negro,
to have suffered dreadful persecution
appears
from Mrs. Sanders, his owner, between 1819
On the latter date he was
and 1823.
flogged for alleged idleness not only in the
usual way, but with tamarind rods under the
soles of his feet; because he bore the marks
of former punishments so very evidently, his
back being cut up."

These are some of the instances of
cruelty of peculiar turpitude; but the
whole collection, which in the origi-
nal document extends to 82 folio pages,
We repeat
closely printed, is a mass of oppression
and consequent misery.
that we should be most happy to see
the system annihilated,-persuaded that
while human nature continues as it is,
there is little prospect of any really
beneficial modification of a system of
slavery.

The fourth article contains some interesting Tracts.-The fifth gives a discouraging picture of West Indian society.

So far as these Pamphlets are calculated to promote a mild and moderate feeling of dislike to Colonial Slavery, not, as we have observed, incompatible with vested rights, we have no objection to promote their circulation and success.

REVIEW.-Watt's Literary Souvenir.

REVIEW.-Forget Me Not.

May be certain he'll ne'er be accepted by Addressed to the Writer of the preceding either!

87. Forget Me Not, a Christmas or New Year's Present for 1826. Ackerman. MR. ACKERMAN may be styled (as our Gallic neighbours would say) the principal bijoutier of his day; and the exquisite bijou, which he has now presented to the public entitles him to our highest commendation. This is the fourth annual offering, intended as a tribute of esteem and friendship to the fair sex, and we may safely affirm that it even surpasses, in the richness of its designs, and the elegance of its tout-ensemble, all its predecessors. The Engravings are fourteen in number, executed, in the first style, by Heath, Courbould, Le Keux, Finden, &c., and designed by Westall, Pugin, and other eminent artists. The figure of