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schools, and the ground work of the literary examinations. The first business of a Chinese student is, to commit the whole of these books and classics to memory; without which, he cannot have the least chance of succeeding. The text of these nine works, is equal in bulk to that of the New Testament; and it is not hazarding too much to say, that were every copy annihilated to-day, there are a million of people who could restore the whole to-morrow. Having been composed at a very early period, and somewhat mutilated in the time of Che Hwang-te, it necessarily follows, that there are several indistinct passages, unintelligible to the people of the present day. Hence commentaries have been found necessary, and a very celebrated writer, who flourished in the twelfth century, called Choo-foo-tsze, has composed an extensive exposition of the whole. This commentary is likewise committed to memory by the student, and his mind must be familiar with whatever has been written on the subject. The number and variety of explanatory works, designed to elucidate the Chinese classics, shew, in what estimation these writings are held, and what an extensive influence they exert over the mind of China. A Chinese author says, that the expositors of the four books are more than one thousand in number. The style and sentiment of all the moderns is greatly conformed to this ancient model; and the essays and exhortations of the present day, are chiefly reiterations of the sentiments of their great master, and an incessant ringing of the changes on the five constant virtues, and the five human relations, which form the basis of moral philosophy in China. Even the Buddhist priests, and the followers of Taou, teach their disciples the