Ir is seldom that we have to look in vain for some topic of interest in our contemporary the Uhinese Itvcorder; and, therefore, in'reviewing a paper in the number for the present month, we need only say that the vest of the number keeps up its reputation, Although somewhat abstruse in its style, to suit the general reader, and although aflected in its philological ideas, the paper we refer to, by the Revd. J. Gulick, makes some sensible observations on the best system of orthography for representing, in Roman characters, the sounds of the Chinese language. So well worn subject needs, we might suppose, scarcely another exposition When we see how grievously Sino-have differed and continue to differ on this subject, we must hail any system which might conduce to unite into one the peculiarities of many. The main fault in all systems hitherto put forward is, that they have simply been attempts to reproduce, in Roman characters, the sounds which, to the often false, have been given to the Chinese word in the dialect to which he was most accustomed, From the time of Samedo and the earlier Portuguese Missionaries, who first made us acquainted with the Chinese language and sounds, down to the publication of the sil-erh-chi, this system has been too invariably followed; and in the last book we find it carried toan extreme so great as to overlie many of the undoubted excellencies of the work, and to reduce it to the level of amore dialectical vocabulary, in place of what it was announced to be—n help to the study of Chinese. The Revd. T. Edkins and Dr. Williams were, probably, in this respect the least obnoxious to blame; while the former has, with commendable every and in a philological spirit, striven to work out the early history of the language, and to deduce therefrom, not merely the causes of many apparent irregularities, but its general connection with the fundamental languages of the great Aryan family.
No visitor to China of a few weeks standing, can fail to observe the multiplicity of dialects spoken by those with whom he is brought in contact. He perhaps discovers his Southern servant forced for a time, on arriving ab a Northern port, to make use of the jat~ gon denominated pidgin English, to render himself understood by the uatives on the spot. Tke idea that the two speak different languages is therefore irresistible, and it is only after long study and persevering application of certain general rules, that he discovers that, although a local patois has succeeded in shrouding the similarity
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.