occasional nonsense and obscurity of the Four Books, our protest would
have taken a milder form; as it is, we think it right to condemn any
and all random assertions which tend to strengthen in the minds of
those who have no opportunity of judging, the belief that China is
possessed of a vast and valuable literature, in which, for aught any
one knows to the contrary, there may lie buried gems of purest ray
serene. Can it be supposed that, if true, nothing of all this has yet
been brought to light? There have been, and are now, foreigners
possessing a much wider knowledge of Chinese literature than many
natives of education, but, strange to say, such translations as have
hitherto been given to the world have been chiefly confined to plays
and novels! We hold that all those whom tastes or circumstances have
led to acquire a knowledge of the Chinese language have a great duty
to perform, and this is to contribute each something to the scanty
quota of translations from Chinese now existing. Let us see what the
poets, historians, and especially the scientific men of China have
produced to justify so many in speaking as they have done, and still
do speak, of her bulky literature. Many, we think, will be deterred by
the grave nonsense or childish superstitions which they dare not
submit to foreign judges as the result of their labours in this
fantastic field; but to withhold such is to leave the public where it
was before, at the mercy of unscrupulous or crazed enthusiasts.

We were led into this train of thought by an article in the _North
China Daily News_ of 10th July 1874, in which the writer speaks of
China as "a luxuriant mental oasis amidst the sterility of Eastern
Asia," and "possessing a literature in vastness and antiquarian value
surpassed by no other." He goes on to say that the translations
hitherto made "have conveyed to us a faint notion of the compass,
variety, solidity, and linguistic beauties of that literature." Such