ast what
he said was "evidence in favour of the Gospels," being nothing less than
a prophecy of Christ's coming hidden in the Chinese character [lai]
"to come." He pointed out that this was composed of [Illustration] "a
cross," with two [ren][ren] "men," one on each side, and a "greater man"
[ren] in the middle.

That analysis is all very well for the character as it stands now; but
before the Christian era this same character was written [Illustration]
and was a picture, not of men and of a cross, but of a sheaf of corn. It
came to mean "come," says the Chinese etymologist, "because corn _comes"
from heaven."

Such is the written language of China, and such indeed it was, already
under the dominion of the phonetic system, by which endless new
combinations may still be formed, at the very earliest point to which
history, as distinguished from legend, will carry us,--some eight or nine
centuries B.C. There are no genuine remains of pure picture-writing, to
enable us to judge how far the Chinese had got before the phonetic
system was invented, though many attempts have been made to palm off
gross forgeries as such.

The great majority of characters, as I have said, are capable of being
easily resolved into the two important parts which I have attempted to
describe--the original phonetic portion, which guides toward
pronunciation, and the added indicator, which guides toward the sense.

Even the practical student, who desires to learn to read and write
Chinese for purely business purposes, will find himself constrained to
follow out this analysis, if he wishes to commit to memory a serviceable
number of characters. With no other hold upon them beyond their mere
outlines, he will find the characters so bewildering, so elusive, as to
present almost insuperable difficulties.

But under the influence of systematic study, coupled with a fair amount
of perseverance, these difficulties disappear, and leave the triumphant
student amply rewarded for his pains.

LECTURE II

A CHINESE LIBRARY

A CHINESE LIBRARY

The endowment of a Chinese chair at Columbia University naturally
suggests the acquisition of a good Chinese library. At the University of
Cambridge, England, there is what I can only characterise as an ideal
Chinese library. It was not bought off-hand in the market,--such a
collection indeed would never come into the market,--but the books were
patiently and carefully brought together by my pr