University of Virginia Library

THE
PREFACE.

THE following translation was found
in manuscript, among the papers of
a gentleman who had large concerns in the
East-India Company, and occasionally resided
much at Canton[1] . It is believed by his
relations, that he had bestowed considerable
attention on the Chinese language, and that
this translation (or at least part of it)
was undertaken by him as a kind of exercise
while he was studying it: the many
interlineations, &c. which it abounds
with, shew it to be the work of a learner:
and as the manuscript appears in many

places to have been first written with a
black-lead pencil, and afterwards more
correctly over-written with ink, it should
seem to have been drawn up under the direction
of a Chinese master or tutor. The
History is contained in four thin folio
books or volumes of Chinese paper; which
after the manner of that country, are
doubled in the fore-edge, and cut on the
back. The three first of these volumes are
in English: the fourth in Portuguese; and
written in a different hand from the former.
This part the Editor hath now
translated into our own language.

The missionaries have given abstracts
and versions of several Chinese books,
which may be seen in the curious collection
of P. Du Halde. Among them are

some few novels. As these are but
short pieces, the Editor thought it would
be no unacceptable present to the curious to
afford them a specimen of a larger kind:
that they might see how a Chinese Author
would conduct himself through the windings
of a long narration.

Although the general character of a
people should not be drawn from one or two
individuals; nor their literary excellence
determined by the particular merit of one
book: yet it may be concluded that the following
is a piece of considerable note among
the Chinese, otherwise a stranger would
not have been tempted to translate it. That
book would naturally be put first into the
hands of a foreigner, which is in highest
repute among the natives.

Such as it is, the Editor here presents it
to the Public. Examined by the laws of
European criticism, he believes it liable to
many objections. It will doubtless be urged,
that the incidents are neither sufficiently numerous,
nor all of them ingeniously contrived;
that the imagery is often neither exact nor
lively; that the narrative is frequently dry
and tedious, and while it runs out into a minute
detail of unimportant circumstances,
is too deficient in what should interest the
passions or divert the imagination.

That there is a littleness and poverty of
genius in almost[2] all the works of taste of
the Chinese, must be acknowledged by capable
judges. This at least is evident in
their writings; and in a narrative like

the following, would make a writer creep
along through a minute relation of trifling
particulars, without daring to omit the
most inconsiderable. The abjectness of their
genius may easily be accounted for from
that servile submission, and dread of
novelty, which inslaves the minds of the
Chinese, and while it promotes the peace
and quiet of their empire, dulls their spirit
and cramps their imagination.

It ought, however, to be observed in
favour of the Chinese, that if they do
not take such bold and daring flights as
some of the other Eastern nations, neither
do they run into such extravagant absurdities.
Whether this be owing to the cause
now assigned, or to their having bestowed
more attention on literature, so it is

that they pay a greater regard to truth
and nature in their fictitious narratives,
than any other of the Asiatics. For it
must be allowed to our present work, that
the conduct of the story is more regular
and artful than is generally seen in
the compositions of the East; hath less of
the marvellous and more of the probable.
It contains an unity of design or fable, and
the incidents all tend to one end, in a regular
natural manner, with little interruption
or incoherence. After all, the Editor is
not concerned about the judgment that will
be passed on this performance, and neither
attempts to conceal nor extenuate its faults.
He gives it not as a piece to be admired for
the beauties of its composition, but as
a curious specimen of Chinese litera-
ture, and leaves to the critics to decide its
merit.

But he also begs it may be considered in
another light, as a faithful picture of
Chinese manners, wherein the domestic and
political oeconomy of that vast people is
displayed with an exactness and accuracy
to which none but a native could be capable
of attaining. To read in a Collection
of Voyages and Travels; in a portion
of Universal History; or in a Present
State of any Country, an elaborate
account of it, under the several heads
of its customs, laws, government, &c.
drawn up by a foreigner however well
acquainted with the subject, can convey
but a superficial knowledge to the
mind. Those accurate compilations have

certainly their merit, but the little distinguishing
peculiarities which chiefly compose
the true character of a living people
will hardly be learnt from them. Many
of these can come under no regular head
of methodical arrangement. Those writers
may give a dead resemblance, while
they are careful to trace out every feature,
but the life, the spirit, the expression will
be apt to escape them. To gain a true
notion of these we must see the object in
action. There is not a greater difference
between the man who is sitting for his
portrait, stiffened into a studied composure,
with every feature and limb under constraint;
and the same person unreserved,
acting in his common sphere of life, with
every passion in play, and every part of
him in motion: than there is between a
people methodically described in a formal
account, and painted out in the lively narrative
of some domestic history. A foreigner
will form a truer notion of the
genius and spirit of the English, from one
page of Fielding, and one or two writers
now alive, than from whole volumes of
Present States of England, or French
Letters concerning the English Nation.

But not to mention that many curious
customs and peculiarities of a nation are
better understood by example than by description:
many of these cannot easily be
known to foreigners at all. The whole system
of the manners of a people can only be
thoroughly known to themselves. The
missionaries are the only foreigners from
whom we can possibly expect compleat and

accurate accounts of China, for none besides
themselves were ever permitted to
range at large through the Chinese empire:
but let it be considered, that supposing
we had no reason to question their
veracity[3] , yet the very gravity of their
character[4] would prevent them from being
ocular witnesses (not only of the idolatrous
ceremonies, but) of many particulars
of the interiour conduct of the Chinese.
It is well known that this people affect
a privacy and reserve beyond all other
nations, which must prevent many of their
domestic customs from transpiring to strangers:
and therefore the intire manners of
the Chinese can only be thoroughly described
by themselves.

Thus much in favour of the present,
which the Editor here makes to the Public.
It behoves him now to mention the share

he hath had in preparing it for their acceptance.
As the version was the work
of a gentleman whose province was trade,
and who probably never designed it for the
Public, nothing could be expected from him
but fidelity to the original: and this, if
one may judge from the erasures and corrections
that abound in the manuscript,
was not neglected; which the general prevalence
of the Chinese idiom will serve to
confirm. The Editor therefore hath been
so far obliged to revise the whole, as to
render the language somewhat more grammatical
and correct. Yet as the principal
merit of such a piece, as this, must consist
in the peculiarities of its style and manner,
he hath been careful to make no other alterations
than what grammar and common
sense merely required. He is desirous to
conceal none of its faults, and he hopes
he hath obscured none of its beauties. He
hath been particularly exact in retaining
the imagery, the allusions, the reflections,
the proverbial sayings, any uncommon sentiment
or mode of expression, and as much
of the Chinese idiom in general as was
not utterly inconsistent with the purity of
our own: and when he could not retain
this in the text; he hath frequently been
careful to preserve it in the margin[5] .
Sometimes where the narrative was insupportably
diffuse and languid, interrupted
by short questions and answers of no conse-
quence, or retarded by dull and unmeaning
repetitions: in these cases he could not
help somewhat shortening and contracting
it; and probably the most rigid admirer
of Chinese literature, would have pardoned
him, if he had done this oftener.
As the great fault of the original was its
prolixity, it was generally more requisite
to prune away than to add; yet as the
Editor hath been sometimes tempted to
throw in a few words, it may be proper
to inform the Reader that these will generally
be found included in brackets. Once
or twice where the incidents were inartificially
conducted, a discovery which seemed
rather premature, hath been postponed for
a few pages, but never without notice to
the reader. Some few inconsistencies and
contradictions have been removed by the
Editor, but generally such as the Transla-
tor himself had corrected in some other
place: and where he had rendered a Chinese
title improperly, it hath been set right
from better authorities: two or three instances
have occurred of this kind, wherein
it was thought unnecessary to detain the
Reader with particular information. But
even this liberty hath never been assumed,
where there could be the least doubt of its
propriety. In short, as the grand merit of
such a piece as this must consist in its peculiarities
and authenticity; the reader may
be assured that nothing hath been done to
lessen the one or impair the other.

This close attachment to the original
may perhaps be blamed, as it hath prevented
the style from being more lively and
flowing; but the Editor had in view
rather to satisfy the curious than to

amuse the idle. It may have rendered the
book less entertaining, but he believes more
valuable. It was his intention, however,
to have removed all such expressions, as
were quite barbarous and ungrammatical,
yet he cannot be sure but instances of both
will be found to have escaped him. If any
thing faulty of this kind should occur, he
hopes the candid will pardon it as one of those
oversights, which will sometimes elude the
most vigilant attention.

It remains that something be said concerning
the Notes, if it be only to apologize
for their frequency and length. It was at
first intended to have incumbered the page
with as few of these as possible: but it
was soon found necessary to depart from
this plan. The manners and customs of the
Chinese, their peculiar ways of thinking,

and modes of expression are so remote from
our own, that they frequently require a
large detail to render them intelligible.
The Editor quickly saw that he should have
occasion to touch upon most things remarkable
among the Chinese: this tempted him
to introduce a short account of others. He
was desirous that the History and Notes
taken together might be considered as forming
a concise, and not altogether defective
account of the Chinese, such as might be
sufficient to gratify the curiosity of most
readers, and to refresh the memory of
others. This he hopes will serve as an apology
for such of the Notes as appear impertinent
or digressive. Where the narrative
can interest or entertain the Reader, he will
not suffer them to take off his attention:
and where it is dull and tedious, they may
possibly prove no unwelcome relief. The
Editor was the less sparing of them, in
hopes they might procure the book a second
perusal: he can truly affirm, that they
are extracted from the best and most authentic
writers on the subject, many of
which are scarce and curious: and that
they will be frequently found to supply
omissions in more celebrated and more voluminous
accounts of China.

The Editor wishes he could as easily apologize
for some of the Notes which he
is afraid will be thought unimportant
and trifling: but, after the labour of inquiry
many things will appear more deserving
of attention than they really are;
and such is the weakness of the human
mind, that it is apt to estimate things not
so much by their intrinsic worth, as by
the difficulty and pains with which they

were acquired. After all, 'tis hoped there
will not be found many instances of this
kind, and that these will be pardoned for
the sake of others more curious and important.

The Editor ought not to conclude without
returning thanks to that Gentleman, to
whose friendship he is indebted for the use of
the manuscript here printed: who not only
gave him leave to commit this piece to the
press, but in the most obliging manner indulged
him with the free use of all the
Translator's papers, many of which contributed
to throw light upon it.

His thanks are also due to those Gentlemen
of distinction, who so obligingly gave
him access to their libraries, and thereby
enabled him to prefix to his Notes a list of

Authors, that would do honour to a much
more considerable publication. The assistance
received from the Earl of Sussex's
library deserves particularly to be acknowledged;
the treasures of literature contained
in that large and valuable collection
are so well known to the learned world[6] :
that it will perhaps be some disadvantage
to our little work to mention it here, as it
will be apt to raise expectations in the
reader, which nothing that follows may be
able to answer.