聖廟祀典圖考, 'Sacrificial Canon of the Sage's Temples, with Plates.' This Work, published in 1826, by Ku Yuan, styled Hsiang-chau (顧沅, 字湘舟), is a very painstaking account of all the Names sacrificed to in the temples of Confucius, the dates of their attaining to that honour, &c. There are appended to it Memoirs of Confucius and Mencius, which are not of so much value.
十子全書, 'The Complete Works of the Ten Tsze.' See Morrison's Dictionary, under the character 子. I have only had occasion, in connexion with this Work, to refer to the writings of Chwang-tsze (莊子) and Lieh-tsze (列子). My copy is an edition of 1804.
歷代名賢列女氏姓譜, 'A Cyclop�¦dia of Surnames, or Biographical Dictionary, of the Famous Men and Virtuous Women of the Successive Dynasties.' This is a very notable work of its class; published in 1793, by 蕭 智漢, and extending through 157 chapters or Books.
文獻通考, 'General Examination of Records and Scholars.' This astonishing Work, which cost its author, Ma Twan-lin (馬端臨), twenty years' labour, was first published in 1321. R�©musat says,-- 'This excellent Work is a library in itself, and if Chinese literature possessed no other, the language would be worth learning for the sake of reading this alone.' It does indeed display all but incredible research into every subject connected with the Government, History, Literature, Religion, &c., of the empire of China. The author's researches are digested in 348 Books. I have had occasion to consult principally those on the Literary Monuments, embraced in seventy-six Books, from the 174th to the 249th.
朱彝尊經義考, 'An Examination of the Commentaries on the Classics,' by Chu I-tsun. The author was a member of the Han-lin college, and the work was first published with an imperial preface by the Ch'ien-lung emperor. It is an exhaustive work on the literature of the Classics, in 300 chapters or Books.'
續文獻通考, 'A Continuation of the General Examination of Records and Scholars.' This Work, which is in 254 Books, and nearly as extensive as the former, was the production of Wang Ch'i (王圻), who dates his preface in 1586, the fourteenth year of Wan-li, the style of the reign of the fourteenth emperor of the Ming dynasty. Wang Ch'i brings down the Work of his predecessor to his own times. He also frequently goes over the same ground, and puts things in a clearer light. I have found this to be the case in the chapters on the classical and other Books.
二十四史, 'The Twenty-four Histories.' These are the imperially- authorized records of the empire, commencing with the 'Historical Records,' the work of Sze-ma Ch'ien, and ending with the History of the Ming dynasty, which appeared in 1742, the result of the joint labours of 145 officers and scholars of the present dynasty. The extent of the collection may be understood from this, that my copy, bound in English fashion, makes sixty-three volumes, each one larger than this. No nation has a history so thoroughly digested; and on the whole it is trustworthy. In pre-
paring this volume, my necessities have been confined mostly to the Works of Sze-ma Ch'ien, and his successor, Pan Ku (班固), the Historian of the first Han dynasty.
歷代統記表, 'The Annals of the Nation.' Published by imperial authority in 1803, the eighth year of Ch'ia-ch'ing. This Work is invaluable to a student, being, indeed, a collection of chronological tables, where every year, from the rise of the Chau dynasty, B.C. 1121, has a distinct column to itself, in which, in different compartments, the most important events are noted. Beyond that date, it ascends to nearly the commencement of the cycles in the sixty-first year of Hwang-ti, giving -- not every year, but the years of which anything has been mentioned in history. From Hwang-ti also, it ascends through the dateless ages up to P'an-ku, the first of mortal sovereigns.
歷代疆域表, 'The Boundaries of the Nation in the successive Dynasties.' This Work by the same author, and published in 1817, does for the boundaries of the empire the same service which the preceding renders to its chronology.