Since the time when Napoleon Bonaparte made his famous declaration that when China awoke she would astonish the world, the French have furnished a succession of able interpreters of igs Chit ere.
MIN. Hovelaque fills a worthy in this series and his book na" is interesting, not only because of its interpretation of China, nut because it throws light on the: Jattitude of France.
The most striking characteristic [of the book is its style. It is clever with no attempt to "conceal cleverness, but it leaves the reader grateful for innumerable carefull elaborated verdicts. Dealing the Summer Palace at Peking, instance, M. Hovelaque—wri "The general effect is as gay and sumptuous asa piece of porcelain, vigorous, fresh and precious in hue like old cloisonné"—a brilliant piece of description, clever and terse in its use of words, and revealing much of the elusive beauty of the Summer palace and of Chinese art.
The book opens with some 80 pages of description on this high and suggestive level. Then some Interpretation is attempted of the civilization, religion and art of China. With a basis thus securely Inid, the history and present political nation of China are rapidly sketched. Finally, M. Hovelaque returns to his general view of China, which he has outlined in his introduction.
East is East and West is West" we ave often told to-day. M. Hove-plaque has very suggestive material on this topic. While recognizing the fundamental human character-istles, he yet paints the difference of Orient and Occident in vivid and unforgettable phrases.
To the European everything in there lands is astonishing and perplexing.. This world is indeed another world, so remote from ours, subject to unknown influences so numerous, so all-pervading, so completely alien, that we find it hard to believe it real, and finally despair of ever being able to guess its baffling secret.
"And in truth the secret remains impenetrable to us. The essence of these civilizations, the mystery of the life of these countries is hidden from xs; familiarity only reveals more clearly the irreducible differences. The opinion of those who have lived longest in the Far East ig unanimous on this point, and study only confirms it, This world will never be as completely understood by us as Greece, Rome, Tudea, Persia, even India. We mu: resign ourselves to ignorance and admit that all the ideals we can form about these countries are orly 'a fection of the mind.'
This position is one which Friends will not readily ought to be famil ith have reasons for a different po: tion.
Another topic which will arrest the attention of Friends is the writer's view of Chinese mysticism, illustrated as it is by a most ila-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.