THE END.
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FOOTNOTES
[1] Monsieur (I beg his pardon) Citoyen Charpentier Cossigny.
[2] This expression alludes to the ancient opinion that China was surrounded by the sea, and that the rest of the world was made up of islands. Yet though they now possess a tolerable notion of geography, such is their inveterate adherence to ancient opinion, that they prefer retaining the most absurd errors, rather than change one single sentiment or expression that Confucius has written.
[3] The expence occasioned to the court of China by the British embassy, will be stated in a subsequent chapter.
[4] In the very next page (202) he however corrects himself, by observing that either the Chinese or Malays navigated as far as Madagascar.
[5] If any argument were wanting to prove the originality of the magnetic needle as used in China, the circumstance of their having ingrafted upon it their most ancient and favourite mythology, their cycles, constellations, elements, and, in short, an abstract of all their astronomical or astrological science, is quite sufficient to settle that point. Those who are acquainted with the Chinese character will not readily admit that their long established superstitions should be found incorporated on an instrument of barbarian invention.
[6] Plin. lib. xvii. cap. 3.
[7] I should not have taken notice of this odious vice, had not the truth of its existence in China been doubted by some, and attributed by others to a wrong cause. Professing to describe the people as I found them, I must endeavour to draw a faithful picture, neither attempting to palliate their vices, nor to exaggerate their virtues.