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Article REVIEW OP NEW PUBLICATIONS. Page 1 of 8 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Op New Publications.
REVIEW OP NEW PUBLICATIONS .
An authentic Account of an Embassy from the King , of Great Britain to the Emperor of China-Taken chiefyjrem ibe Papers of his Excellency the Earl of Macartney , K . B . His Majesty ' s Embassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary lo a the Emperor of China , & c . By Sir S 5 eorge Staunton , Bart . L . L . D . F .. K . S .. & V . ' zvolt : i < to . villi Engravings , besides c folio Volume of Plates . 4 / . j ^ s . in boards . Nicol . FEW subjects could be more interesting to the scientific world than a British Embassy to China . Of " this country lit tie , comparatively speaking ,
has been hitherto known . Our principal obligations are to die Roman Catholic missionaries , for- our knowledge either of its history or of its geography . But even in their accounts we fail in meeting with satisfaction . Much or the marvellous is blended with the truth , in their narratives . At the present period , therefore , a diplomatic visit thither , -on tlie part of the first commercial and the first literary people in the world , promised to supply , in a great degree , this important desideratum in literature .
The work before us , which lias long been most anxiously demanded by the public , will be found highly informing , though in many respetts we cannot think it reaches quite to the extent of expectation which has been formed concerning it . In a short advertisement prefixed , Sir George Staunton informs its , that bis narrative is given rather in obediencetoauthority , than to gratifyhis own inclination . This declaration does no credit to him as a man of letters , and as a lover of science . The opportunity which he had of seeing the interior of a country so little known , and of possessing himself of information which is denied to
most other men , ought to have excited in hi- ; m ' md the generous sentiment of communicating to others , as liberally as possible , what he had acquired . He who makes such a voyage as-this should regard himself as anenquirer not for his own amusement or advantage merely , but for mankind , and especially as a delegate of the world of letters . But though we could not in justice omit this obvious remark , yet truth compels us also to add , that our author has acquitted himself of the task
imposed upon him , in a manner that is honourable to his abilities and his modesty . A great part of the first volume is taken up in superfluous accounts of places with which the world is well acquainted . The first chapter accounts , historically and commercially , for the ' occasion of the embassy . ' The second chapter is filled up with relating the ' preparations for the embassy . * Great difficulty , it seems , occurred in obtaining a proper person to . aft as
Chinese interpreter and translator . ' No man capable of that employment then existed throughout the British dominions . ' Accoidingly Sir George Staunton was deputed to go abroad , in quest of such a person , and having made a fiuitless search at Paris , he went to Italy , where he succeeded in obtaining two young men of China , in the College of Chinese , at Naples , well qualified to interpret between their native language and the Latin or Italian . Chap . III . describes the passage to Madeira , and gives a long account of that island ; hut nothing particularly interesting to deserve an extract , VOL . ix . A a
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Op New Publications.
REVIEW OP NEW PUBLICATIONS .
An authentic Account of an Embassy from the King , of Great Britain to the Emperor of China-Taken chiefyjrem ibe Papers of his Excellency the Earl of Macartney , K . B . His Majesty ' s Embassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary lo a the Emperor of China , & c . By Sir S 5 eorge Staunton , Bart . L . L . D . F .. K . S .. & V . ' zvolt : i < to . villi Engravings , besides c folio Volume of Plates . 4 / . j ^ s . in boards . Nicol . FEW subjects could be more interesting to the scientific world than a British Embassy to China . Of " this country lit tie , comparatively speaking ,
has been hitherto known . Our principal obligations are to die Roman Catholic missionaries , for- our knowledge either of its history or of its geography . But even in their accounts we fail in meeting with satisfaction . Much or the marvellous is blended with the truth , in their narratives . At the present period , therefore , a diplomatic visit thither , -on tlie part of the first commercial and the first literary people in the world , promised to supply , in a great degree , this important desideratum in literature .
The work before us , which lias long been most anxiously demanded by the public , will be found highly informing , though in many respetts we cannot think it reaches quite to the extent of expectation which has been formed concerning it . In a short advertisement prefixed , Sir George Staunton informs its , that bis narrative is given rather in obediencetoauthority , than to gratifyhis own inclination . This declaration does no credit to him as a man of letters , and as a lover of science . The opportunity which he had of seeing the interior of a country so little known , and of possessing himself of information which is denied to
most other men , ought to have excited in hi- ; m ' md the generous sentiment of communicating to others , as liberally as possible , what he had acquired . He who makes such a voyage as-this should regard himself as anenquirer not for his own amusement or advantage merely , but for mankind , and especially as a delegate of the world of letters . But though we could not in justice omit this obvious remark , yet truth compels us also to add , that our author has acquitted himself of the task
imposed upon him , in a manner that is honourable to his abilities and his modesty . A great part of the first volume is taken up in superfluous accounts of places with which the world is well acquainted . The first chapter accounts , historically and commercially , for the ' occasion of the embassy . ' The second chapter is filled up with relating the ' preparations for the embassy . * Great difficulty , it seems , occurred in obtaining a proper person to . aft as
Chinese interpreter and translator . ' No man capable of that employment then existed throughout the British dominions . ' Accoidingly Sir George Staunton was deputed to go abroad , in quest of such a person , and having made a fiuitless search at Paris , he went to Italy , where he succeeded in obtaining two young men of China , in the College of Chinese , at Naples , well qualified to interpret between their native language and the Latin or Italian . Chap . III . describes the passage to Madeira , and gives a long account of that island ; hut nothing particularly interesting to deserve an extract , VOL . ix . A a