It was in 1625 that the existences attracted the attention jo missionaries in the Far East, who then made it known to the Christian world in Europe, The text of the Insctiption was first published by a men ber of the Society of Jesus in the seme year, Tu 1628 an anonymous and _incomplete French translation from the Latin appeared.
Tu 1631 a complete Italian translation was first made from Porta: guese probably by Semedo, whose Portuguese translation with notes appeared afterwards in 1638, Dr. Alexander Wylie, the great English sinologue, published a translation of the' Inscription ab Shanghai in 1854, and his translation is pronounced to be one of the Tam, ete,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.