“Thomas Percy, China, and the Gothic” (Publication, 2007)
Year
2007
Text
Watt, James. Thomas Percy, China, and the Gothic. In : The eighteenth century ; vol. 48, no 2 (2007).
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ecy/summary/v048/48.2watt.html. (PerT5)
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ecy/summary/v048/48.2watt.html. (PerT5)
Type
Publication
Mentioned People (1)
Percy, Thomas
(Bridgnorth, Shropshire 1729-1811 Dromore) : Dichter, Erzbischof Church of England, Dromore
Subjects
Literature : Occident : Great Britain
/
References / Sources
Chronology Entries (2)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1761 |
Hau kiou choaan ; or, the pleasing history. [Hao qiu zhuan]. Transl. by James Wilkinson, an East India merchant ; ed. by Thomas Percy [ID D11073]. Quellen nach Thomas Percy : Du Halde, Jean-Baptiste. Description [ID D1819]. Du Halde, Jean-Baptiste. A description of the empire of China [ID D11819]. Semedo, Alvaro. The history of that great and renowned monarchy of China [ID D17593]. Magalhães, Gabriel de. A new history of China [ID D1713]. Le Comte, Louis. Nouveaux mémoires sur l'état de la Chine [ID D1771]. Ides, Evert Ysbrandszoon. Three years travels from Moscow over-land to China [ID D4572]. Martini, Martino. Novus atlas sinensis [ID D1698]. Martini, Martino. Sinicae historiae decas prima [ID D1703]. Lettres édifiantes et curieuses [ID D15044]. Lockman, John. Travels of the Jesuits [ID D26896]. Couplet, Philippe. Confucius sinarum philosophus [ID D1758]. Confucius. The morals of Confucius [ID D26897]. Nieuhof, Johan. L'ambassade de la Compagnie orientale [ID D1711]. Ogilby's China. (1669-1671). Nieuhoff, John. An embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emperor of China. Kircher, Athanasius. China illustrata [ID D1712]. Bayer, T.S. Mvsevm sinicvm [ID D407]. Fatinelli, Giovanni Giacomo. Historia cultus Sinensium [ID D1787]. The modern part of the universal history. Vol. 1-16. (London : Printed for T. Osborne, 1759-1765). Vol. 8. The religious ceremonies and customs of the several nations of the known world [D D26303]. Harris, John. Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca [ID D26900]. Kaempfer, Engelbert. The history of Japan ; together with a description of the Kindom of Siam. Transl. By J.G. Scheuchzer. Vol. 1-2 in 1. (London : The translator, 1727). Anson, George. A voyage round the world [ID D1897]. Dampier, William. Nouveau voyage autour du monde [ID D1778]. Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat de. De l'esprit des lois [ID D1829]. Fourmont, Etienne. Reflexions critiques sur les histoires des anciens peuples [ID D5529]. Histoire de l'Academie royale es inscriptions et belles lettres. The Preface. The following translation was found in manuscript, among the papers of a gentleman [whose name Percy disclosed as James Wilkinson in the "Advertisement" to the second issue of the book] who had large concerns in the East-India company and occasionally resided much at Canton. It is believed by his relations, that he had bestowed considerable attention on the Chinese language, and that this translation (or at least part of it) was unertaken by him as a kind of exercise while he was studying it : the many interlineations, &c., which it abounds with, shew it to be the work of a learner : and as the manuscript appears in many places to have been first written with a black-lead pencil, and afterwards more correctly over-written with ink, it should seem to have been drawn up under the direction of a Chinese master or tutor. The History is contained in four thin folio books or volumes of Chinese paper ; which after the manner of that country, are doubled in the fore-edge, and cut on the back. The three first of these volumes are in English ; the fourth in Portuguese ; and written in a very different hand from the former. This part of the Editor hath now translated into our own language. The missionaries have given abstracts and versions of several Chinese books, which may be seen in the curious collection of P. Du Halde. Among them are some few novels. As there are but short pieces, the Editor thought it would be no unacceptable present to the curious to afford them a specimen of a larger kind : that they might see how a Chinese Author would conduct himself through the windings of a large narration. Although the general character of a people should not be drawn from one or two individuals ; nor their literary excellence determined by the particular merit of one book ; yet it may be concluded that the following is a piece of considerable note amont the Chinese, otherwise a stranger would not have been tempted to translate it. That book would naturally be put first into the hands of a foreigner, which is in highest repute among the natives. Such as it is, the Editor here presents it to the Public. Examined by the laws of European criticism, he believes it liable to many objections. It will doubtless be urged, that the incidents are neither sufficiently numerous, nor all of them ingeniously contrived ; that the imagery is often neither exact nor lively ; that the narrative is frequently dry and tedious, and while it runs out into a minute detail of unimportant circumstances, is too deficient in what should interest the passions or divert the imagination. That there is a littleness and poverty of genius in almost all the works of taste of the Chinese, must be acknowledged by capable judges. This at least is evident in their writings ; and in a narrative like the following, would make a writer creep along through a minute relation of trifling particulars, without daring to omit the most inconsiderable. The objectness of their genius may easily be accounted for from that servile submission, and dread of novelty, which inslaves the minds of the Chinese, and while it promotes the peace and quiet of their empire, dulls their spirit and cramps their imagination. It ought, however, to be observed in favour of the Chinese, that if they do not take such bold and daring flights as some of the other Eastern nations, neither do they run into such extravagant absurdities. Whether this be owing to the cause now assigned, or to their having bestowed more attention on literature, so it is that they pay a greater regard to truth and nature in their fictious narratives, than any other of the Asiatics. For it must be allowed to our present work, that the conduct of the story is more regular and artful than is generally seen in the compositions of the East ; hath less of the marvellous and more of the probable. It contains an unity of design or fable, and the incidents all tend to one end, in a regular natural manner, with little interruption or incoberence. After all, the Editor is not concerned about the judgment that will be passed on this performance, and neither attempts to conceal nor extenuate its faults. He gives it not as a piece to be admired for the beauties of its composition, but as a curious specimen of Chinese literature, and leaves to the critics to decide its merit. But he also begs it may be considered in another light, as a faithful picture of Chinese manners, wherein the domestic and political economy of that vast people is displayed with an exactness and accuracy to which none but a native could be capable of attaining. To read in a Collection of Voyages and Travels ; in a portion of Universal History ; or in a Present State of any Country, an elaborate account of it, under the several heads of its customs, laws, government, &c. Drawn up by a foreigner however well acquainted with the subject, can convey but a superficial knowledge to the mind. Those accurate compilations have certainly their merit, but the little distinguishing pecularities which chiefly compose the true character of a living people will hardly be learnt from them. Many of these can come under no regular head of methodical arrangement. Those writers may give a dead resemblance, while they are careful to trace out every feature, but the life, the spirit, the expression will be apt to escape them. To gain a true notion of these we must see the object in action. There is no a greater difference between the man who is sitting for his portrait, stiffened into a studied composure, with every feature and limb under constraint ; and the same person unreserved, acting in his common sphere of life, with every passion in play, and every part of him in motion : then there is between a people methodically described in a formal account, and painted out in the lively narrative of some domestic history. A foreigner will form a truer notion of the genius and spirit of the English, from one page of Fielding, and one or two writers now alive, than from whole volumes of Present States of England, or French Letters concerning the English Nation. But not to mention that many curious customs and peculiarities of a nation are better understood by example than by description : many of these cannot easily be known to foreigners at all. The whole system of the manners of a people can only be thoroughly known to themselves. The missionaries are the only foreigners from whom we can possibly espect compleat and accurate accounts of China, for none besides themselves were ever permitted to range at large through the Chinese empire : but let it be considered, that supposing we had no reason to question their veracity, yet the very gravity of their character would prevent them from being ocular vitnesses (not only of the idolatrous ceremonies, but) of many particulars of the interiour conduct of the Chinese. It is well known that this people affect a privacy and reserve beyond all other nations ; which must prevent many of their domestic customs from transpiring to strangers : and therefore the intire manners of the Chinese can only be thoroughly described by themselves. Thus much in favour of the present, which the Editor here makes to the Public. It behoves him now to mention the share he hath bad in preparing it for their acceptance. As the version was the work of a gentleman whose province was trade, and who probably never designed it for the Public, nothing could be expected from him but fidelity to the original : and this, if one may judge from the erasures and corrections that abound in the manuscript, was not neglected ; which the general prevalence of the Chinese idiom will serve to confirm. The Editor therefore hath been so far obliged to revise the whole, as to render the language somewhat more grammatical and correct. Yet as the principal merit of such a piece, as this, must consist in the pecularities of its style and manner, he hath been careful to make no other alterations than what grammer and common sense merely required. He is desirous to conceal none of its faults, and he hopes he hath obscured none of its beauties. He hath been particularly exact in retaining the imagery, the allusions, the reflections, the proverbial sayings, any uncommon sentiment or mode of expression, and as much of the Chinese idiom in general as was not utterly inconsistent with the purity of our own : and when he could not retain this in the text ; he hath frequently been careful to preserve it in the margin. Sometimes where the narrative was insupportably diffuse and languid, interrupted by short questions and answers of no consequence, or retarded by dull und unmeaning repetitions : in these cases he could not help somewhat shortening and contracting it ; and probably the most rigid admirer of Chinese literature, would have pardoned him, if he had done this oftener. As the great fault of the original was its prolixity, it was generally more requisite to prune away than to add ; yet as the Editor hath been sometimes tempted to throw in a few words, it may be proper to inform the Reader that these will generally be found included in brackets. Once or twice where the incidents were inartificially conducted, a discovery which seemed rather premature, hath been postponed for a few pages, but never without notice to the reader. Some few inconsistencies and contradictions have been removed by the Editor, but generally such as the Translator himself had corrected in some other place : and where he had rendered a Chinese title improperly, it hath been set right from better authorities : two or three instances have occurred of this kind, wherein it was thought unnecessary to detain the Reader with particular information. But ever this liberty hath never been assumed, where there could be the least doubt of its propriety. In short, as the grand merit of such a piece as this must consist in its peculiarities and authenticity ; the reader may be assured that nothing hath been done to lessen the one or impair the other. This close attachment to the original may perhaps be blamed, as it hath prevented the style from being more lively and flowing ; but the Editor had in view rather to satisfy the curious than to amuse the idle. It may have rendered the book less entertaining, but he believes more valuable. It was his intention, however, to have removed all such expressions, as were quite barbarous and ungrammatical, yet be cannot be sure but instances of both will be found to have escaped him. If any thing faulty of this kind should occur, he hopes the candid will pardon it as one of those oversights, which will sometimes elude the most vigilant attention. It remains that something be said concerning the Notes, if it be only to apologize for their frequency and lenth. It was at first intended to have incumbered the page with as few of these as possible : but it was soon found necessary to depart from this plan. The manners and customs of the Chinese, their peculiar ways of thinking, and modes of expression are do remote from our own, that tey frequently require a large detail to render them intelligible. The Editor quickly saw that be should have occasion to touch upon most things remarkable among the Chinese : this tempted him to introduce a short account of others. He was desirous that the History and Notes taken together might be considered as forming a concise, and not altogether defective account of the Chinese, such as might be sufficient to gratify the curiosity of most readers, and to refresh the memory of others. This he hopes will serve as an apology for such of the Notes as appear impertinent or digressive. Where the narrative can interest or entertain the Reader, he will not suffer them to take off his attention : and where it is dull and tedious, they may possibly prove no unwelcome relief. The Editor was the less sparing of them, in hopes they might procure the book a second perusal : he can truly affirm, that they are extracted from the best and most authentic writers on the subject, many of which are scarce and curious : and that they will be frequently found to supply omission in more celebrated and more voluminous accounts of China. The Editor wishes he could as easily apologize for some of the Notes which he is afraid will be thought unimportant and trifling : but, after the labour of inquiry many things will appear more deserving of attention than they really are ; and such is the weakness of the human mind, that it is apt to estimage things not so much by their intrinsic worth, as by the difficulty and pains with which they were acquired. After all, 'tis hoped there will not be found many instances of this kind, and that these will be pardoned for the sake of others more curious and important. The Editor ought not to conclude without returning thanks to that Gentleman, to whose friendship he is indebted for the use of the manuscript here printed : who not only gave him leave to commit this piece to the press, but in the most obliging manner indulged him with the free use of all the Translator's papers, many of which contributed to throw light upon it. His thanks are also due to those Gentlemen of distinction, who so obligingly gave him acess to their libraries, and thereby enabled him to prefix to his Notes a list of Authors, that would do honour to a much more considerable publication. The assistance received from the Earl of Sussex's library deserves particularly to be acknowledged ; the reasures of literature contained in that large and valuable collection are so well known to the learned world : that it will perhaps be some disadvantage to our little work to mention it here, as it will be apt to raise expectations in the reader, which nothing that follows may be able to answer. Fussnoten "The manuscript is dated 1719, which was the last year he [James Wilkinson] spent in China. He died in 1736." [Vorwort]. "Now these accounts have been taxed, as partial and defective, especially so far as they describe the religious ceremonies of the Chinese. For the reader is to be informed that the Jesuites have beecn accused by the missionaries of other orders, of making very improper concessions to their Chinese converts, and of so modelling christianity, as to allow an occasional conformity to many pagan superstitions, under a pretence that they are only of a civil nature. How far this charge was true, we will not pretend to determine, but probably it was not altogether grundless, as sentence was given against them by their superiors. These disputes have subsisted near a century ; and in all the descriptions of China, published by the Jesuites during this period, it may be expected they would give such an account of the Chinese ceremonies, as would best favour their cause." [Vorwort]. "In a blank page of the Translator's MS. Of the Chinese History is the following list [of celebrated Chinese poets and painters], dated Canton, 1720." "... most of the modern Literati understand the word 'Tien' in their ancient books in a low material sense, and are down-right atheists-" "It is very remarkable that the Chinese have no particular terms in all their language that expressly denotes the Supreme Being, or answers to our word GOD. Hence they have been branded with the characters of professed atheists. But whatever their Literati may be at present, it is certain that the Chinese have had from the earliest antiquity various forms of expression, and a multitude of religious rites, which prove their belief of a Divine Providence." "We are not to wonder among a People so avaricious as the Chinese and who have so little notion of a future reckoning, that Power and Office are often productive of Tyranny and Oppression. Where there is no principle of conscience, it is not in the power of human laws to prevent injustice. If we examine the Chinese Government in Theory, nothing seems better calculated for the good and happiness of the people ; if in Practice, we shall nowhere find them more pillaged by the great." "... as their magistrates are generally raised by personal merit and application, and that even from the lowest ranks, so that they come poor to their governments, they lie under strong temptations to be rapacious and greedy." "It is the business of their Laws to check and correct this evil tendendy : and many fine Regulations to this end will be found among those of the Chinese. But after all, as the Chinese Laws are merely political institutions, and are backed by no sanctions of future rewards and punishments, though they may influence the exterior, they will not affect the heart, and therefore will rather create an appearance of virtue, than the reality." "... the ancient Chinese lawgivers, although they inculcated pretty just notions of Providence, seem to have paid little or no attention to those of a Future State. Confucius himself hath scarce dropt a hint on this subject. What opinions of this kind prevail have been chiefly adopted from... Bonzes who propose a thousand ways to compound for iniquity... in short by being any thing else rather than Good and Virtuous." "Where the women are held so cheap, we must not wonder that the men should be backward to acknowledge a soft and respectable passion for any one of them : or that a nation in other respects civilized and refined, should in this resemble the most savage and unpolished... Among some of the wild Nations of North America." "... notwithstanding their boasted purity, evidently fall short of the Christian, since they know not how to inspire that open and ingenious simplicity void of all guile, which more elevated principles of morality propose to our esteem and admiration." "The Morality of the Chinese Author... appears in a very contemptible light compared with the Christian, which so strongly recommends the forgiveness of injuries and the return of good for evil." "... that even his great Philosopher doth not insist upon this, as a duty : and hath neither backed it with any Sanction nor recommended it upon adequate motives. But indeed where is this divine maxim taught with that precision ; urged with that glowing benevolence ; or enforced from those sublime and affecting motives, which it is in the mouth of the SAVIOUR of the world ?" "Power and Riches... are the sole objects of attention in China, because Power and Riches produce every thing which can render this life desirable, and a Chinese seldom looks beyond it. And where only principles of this kind prevail, and there is no check from conscience, we must not wonder that general dishonesty and corruption prevail too." Sekundärliteratur 1719 James Wilkinson translated Hau kiou choaan [Hao qiu zhuan] in 1719 probably as a form of language exercise while he was resident as a merchant in Canton. 1758 Thomas Percy borrowed a manuscript translation of Hau kiou choaan [Hao qiu zhuan]. 1758-1762 Briefe von James Grainger und William Shenstone an Thomas Percy über Hau kiou choaan. James Grainger (ca. 1721-1766) : Schottischer Arzt, Dichter, Übersetzer. Robert Didsley (1704-1764) : Englischer Autor, Buchändler. William Shenstone (Halesowen 1714-1763 Halesowen) : Dichter Febr. : Grainger schreibt : "I gave G. [Ralph Griffith] that part of your letter to me, which related to Shui-ping-Sin. He did not seem to approve of the manner in which you propose to treat that fair foreigner. He wants a pleasing romance, and you talk of a faithful copy ; but he is to write to you, and till then I would not have you begin your rifacciamento." "I have talked with Ralph Griffith about the Chinese novel. He tells me there is no occasion for any formal bargain ; you are to translate it into good reading English, and he is to pay you fifty guineas for your pains. You are to add notes to explain the more uncommon customs, and are to introduce the whole with a prefactory discourse upon the manner of writing in China. For this supernumerary labour he promises to let you have some copies for yourself and friends. I should really have been much pleased if Griffiths would have remitted you, at present, part of the price, but I find, from the best authority, that this is deldom if ever done. I therefore told Griffiths it would be obliging me to let you have part in hand, to animate you in your drudgery. But he replied, “Should any accident happen to your friend, before the version is finished, my money would be lost, as none but Mr. Percy can perform our agreement”. In short, after much pro-ing and con-ing, he at last told me that as soon as the whole MS. was sent him he would remit you the fifty guineas, whereas the custom was never to pay the whole till the last sheet was sent to the press ; and, indeed, I myself know this to be true ; you must therefore set about Shui-pin-Sin as soon as possible, and when you have finished the first two books dispatch them up. He shall then pay you the half, because the work may be given to the printer." L.F. Powell : Percy adopted Griffiths' suggestion as to the explanatory notes, but apparently did not feel equal to a discourse on Chinese writing. 20. Juli : Grainger an Percy : "Griffith has sent me back the Chinese Lady, and I assure you I like her in her new English garb." 1. Aug. : "As to Shui-ping-Syn, I have mentioned her to Dr. Hawksworth, who desires to be introduced to her ; which I have the more readily complied with, as he is intimate with Payne the bookseller, and I know he will be pleased with this Chinese naturalization." 17. Febr. 1759 : Grainger schreibt : "Dodsley thinks well of the Novel, and I hope I shall bring him to bargain with your for it ; next week I shall show him the specimen. Let me know what you expect for your labor." 5. Aug. : Percy sent Dodsley the first packet. 11. Aug. : William Shenstone was able to tell Percy that Dodsley "seems to enterain no doubt, that your Chinese novel will excite curiosity". 20. Juni. : Percy an Shenstone : "Mr. Dodsley has promised to get up a set of our Chinese History for you as soon as possible". 5. Juli : Shenstone an Percy : "I have received your Chinese novel, but have not yet had time to read it. Tis a neat edition, I see, and I wish you all success." Sept. Shenstone an Percy : "The novel, tho' in some parts not void of Merit, must certain.ly draw its chief support from its value as a Curiosity, or perhaps as an agreeable means of conveying to the generality all they wish or want to know of the Chinese manners and constitution." September 1761 William Shenstone, who had received an advance copy of the novel, wrote to Percy : "Your annotations have great merit". July 25, 1762 James Grainger wrote to Percy : "You have been at great pains in collecting your notes to the Chinese history. They throw much light upon it ; and, to deal frankly with you, I think they constitute the most valuable part of your book". 1774 Francis Douce (1757-1834) : Englischer Antiquar. Francis Douce schreibt über Hau kiou choaan von Thomas Percy : "The authenticity of this work has been doubted, and an 'Extract of a letter from Canton, July 9th, 1763, to James Garland, Esq., of Burlington Street”, inserted, to countenance it, at the end of the 2nd edition of Reliques of Ancient English poetry, 1767, pronounced a forgery." Advertisement : "When this little work was first published, it was apprehended that the peculiarities of the composition would so clearly prove it to be a genuine translation from the Chinese language, as to render it unnecessary to metnion either the names of the translator, or the editor. But in order to remove any doubt or suspicious arising from that circumstance, the editor has now subscribed his name to the dedication ; and he no longer conceals that of the translator, who as Mr. James Wilkinson, an English merchant, equally respected for his ability and his probity. This gentleman's residence at Canton may be ascertained from the records of the East India Company ; and his respectable character is not yet forgotten. His own manuscript was lent to the editor by his nephew, the late Captain Wilkinson, of Bugbroke, near Northampton, to whom it was returned, and it is doubtless at this time in possession of his widow, a very amiable lady." 1803 Miller, Samuel. Brief retrospect of the eighteenth century [ID D26887]. Er schreibt : "In 1761 a very singular and curious performance made its appearance in Great-Britain. This was a translation of a Chinese novel, under the title of Hau kiou choan, or the Pleasing history, in four volumes. The translation had been made a number of years before by Mr. James Wilkinson, a British merchant, who had resided for dome time at Canton, where he studied the Chinese language. The editor was Dr. Thomas Percy, who accompanied the publication with extensive and learned notes, which have a tendency not only to illustrate the composition immediately connected with them, but also to throw new light on the character of Chinese literature in general." In a footnote, Miller indicates that the Scottish critic Hugh Blair "once remarked in conversation, that the Pleasing history contained a more authentic and interesting account of the internal state of China, than all the other publications on that subject that he had ever seen." [Hugh Blair : (1718-1800) : Schottischer Geistlicher, Schriftsteller, Rhetoriker]. 1810 John Barrow schreibt eine Rezension über Ta Tsing leu lee [ID D1911] in Quarterly review (May 1810). Affirming that Percy's text was "the most faithful" rendition of any Chinese work in a Western language." In his opinion, it was also "the best selected work for conveying just descriptions of the manners, habits, and sentiments of the people, as far at least as regards the state of social and domestic intercourse". 1821 Tulisen. Narrative of the Chinese embassy to the Khan of the tourgouth tartars [ID D1958]. In his introduction, George Thomas Staunton repeats his favorable opinion of Hau kiou choaan, affirming that "even under the disadvantage, in part of a double translation, and the Editor's want of acquaintance with the language of the original", the novel "conveys a juster and more lively picture of the actual state of manners and society in China, than any other work which we possess in the English language". 1822 Davis, John Francis. Chinese novels, translated from the originals [ID D1962]. Er schreibt : "It is nearly seventy years since Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, edited from a manuscript, partly English and partly Portuguese, a sort of skeleton or abstract, rather than a translation of this romance, and without the poetical passages, under the title of The pleasing history, which is not the meaning of the original name. Although it abounded in both errors and omissions, this work, at the time when it appeared, was by far the best picture of Chinese manners and society that we possessed ; and Dr. Percy was not answerable for the imperfections of his materials. He was naturally puzzled by some parts of his manuscript, and expresses his surprise in notes at a number of incongruities, which, in a reference to the original, are not found to exist. In fact, at the distance of more than one hundred years since, for that is the date of the manuscript, no countryman of ours could possibly be competent to the task of translation ; and the work in question appears evidently to have been taken down in great part from the mouth of a native, probably in the imperfect jargon of English spoken at Canton." 1829 A writer wrote in Quarterly review : "At the distance of more than one hundred years since... no countryman of ours could possibly be competent to the task of translation ; and the work in question appears evidently to have been taken down in great part from the mouth of a native, probably in the imperfect jargon of English spoken at Canton." 1887 Reverend J. Pickford said, that the whole work was translated from the Portuguese by Percy. 1908 Aulice Cecilia Caroline Gaussen (1857-1918). Alice C.C. Gaussen writes in : Percy : prelate and poet. (London : Smith, Elder, & Co., 1908) : "The work was a translation from a Portuguese MS. Of a Chinese novel... The actuel translation from the Chinese was executed by Mr. Wilkinson, and Percy merely translated the granslator into good English." 1926 Milner-Barry, Alda. A note on the early literary relations of Oliver Goldsmith and Thomas Percy. In : The review of English studies ; issue 2 (1926). She wrotes that the novel “Was a rendering of a Portuguese translation of a famous Chinese work”. 1926 L.F. Powell : Percy had access to all Wilkinson's papers ; he had the manuscripts before him ; and he had a knowledge of Portuguese. Thus equipped, it is almost incredible that he could have failed to discover the truth ; and having discovered it, there does not appear to be any cogent reason for its suppression. Wilkinson probably studied Chinese under a Portuguese tutor ; or with a Portuguese student under a Chinese tutor ; he had not finished studfying the whole work when he went home ; being interested in the story, he brought the Portuguese translation home to England together with a set of the Chinese original ; probably he studied Chinese through the medium of Portuguese, or at least depended on the Portuguese translation for a better understanding of the Chinese text ; Percy either did not see the Portuguese translation in whole, or concealed parts of it. Percy's general attitude toward the Chinese race, - their boasted deism, their enlightened government, their excellent morals, and their learning – it only remains to be pointed out that his opinion is his own. 1933 Vincent H. Ogburn : The stock of Wilkinson manuscripts relating to Chinese subjects came to Harvard University with the materials purchased by Professor Francis James Child, from the Sotheby sale of the Percy library in April 1884. The first part reads thus : Feb. 28th, 1758 Borrow'd of Cap't Wilkinson the following Books, which I hereby promise to restore upon demand. The History of Shuey Ping Sin, a Chinese Novel in 4 Books MS. stitch'd in blue Paper. The Argument of a Chinese Play, in 2 loose Sheets of Paper. Four Chinese Books, with Cutts, I of human figures. 3 of Sketches of Landscapes etc. - Stitch'd in blue Chinese Paper. Thomas Percy. Bugbrook 23d Dec'er [vermutl. 1758] : Rec'd of the Rev'd. Mr. Percy all the above articles except the last. J. Wilkinson. 1936-1937 Ch'en Shou-yi : The Chinese novel was interesting to European readers only as a mirror of Chines ideas and manners, but not as a piece of creative art. 1941 Qian Zhongshu : Percy's knowledge of China, though acquired at second-hand, seems astonishingly extensive. The list of reference books given in the first volume of The pleasing history testifies to his wide reading on China. 1946 T.C. Fan The manuscript on which Percy worked has never been discovered, and our knowledge of it is derived largely from the Preface to his edition. According to Percy, it was contained in 'four thin folio books or volumes of Chinese paper', of which the first three were in English and the fourth in Portuguese. His information is incomplete : he does not even give the name of the 'gentleman', of the East India Company, among whose papers the manuscript was found. Immediately upon the publication of Hau kiou choaan in 1761, doubt was cast upon its authenticity. Naturally, Percy was disturbed. He seems to have made inquiries about the novel in China through the East India Company. At the end of the 2nd ed. Of the Reliques of ancient English poetry (1767) he inserted an 'Extract of a letter from Canton', showing that the novel did exist in China and that people at Canton knew ist. But immediately this letter was pronounced a forgery. Then, in 1774, in the Advertisement to a re-issue of Hau kiou choaan which was never published, he gives more information about the owner of the manuscript – 'Mr. James Wilkinson, an English merchant, equally respected for his ability and his probity'. Even as late as 1805 the question of the authenticity of the manuscript remained. On 13 August 1805 Edmond Malone [(Dublin 1741-1812) : Jurist, Historiker] inquired about it in his letter to Percy : Malone had heard some imperfect account of the work ; but 'nothing distinctively'. To this letter Percy replied on 28 Sept. 1805, repeating in the main what he had already said in the Prefact to his edition and in the Advertisement to its re-issue in 1774. He did not, as he could not, produce definite proof of its authenticity. Questions should arise : Was the merchant, whose name was Wilkinson, the translator ? Or was he only the translator of a translation ? Or, quite likely, was the whole thing simply a literary hoax, like Walpole's Letter from Xo Ho and Goldsmith's Citizen of the world ? Percy did try to gather further information ; and in 1800, when a new edition of the novel was contemplated, he wrote to Lard Macartney for proof of its authenticity. If the translation is on the whole a condensed version, it is in certain prose portions quite literal, being a word-for-word rendering of the original. It seems likely that the translator was using the Chinese novel as a text in his study of the language. The manuscript was in the main a chapter-by-chapter translation, though each chapter was condensed and most of the poetical passages omitted. In the first three volumes Percy indicates the places where the chapters in the manuscript began ; and these agree entriely with the chapter divisions of the Chinese version. Curiously, the Chinese novel was often used by Westerners in China as a language text : it was still used as such in 1904, when a special edition was published with notes in English. It seems that the Portuguese portion which constitutes considerably less than one-sixth of the manuscript, was drastically condensed, so that the whole manuscript was composed of sixteeen chapters only. It was this translation, about five-sixths in English and the remainder in Portuguese, incomplete, inaccurate, though in certain portions quite literal, that Percy edited and published for the English public. In his Preface and Notes he tels us what he had done with the manuscript. He translated the Portuguese part and edited the English part. The manuscript was not very legible, and some portions of it, especially the Portuguese part, were so obscurely written or over-written that he had to guess at the meaning. There were missing passages and missiong pages, and more than once he had do 'throw in a few words' in order to smooth a transition or bridge a gab. A number of pages in the manuscript contained 'an appearance of indelicacy', and he had to take the trouble either to suppress them altogether or 'soften' them in the interest of decorum. And then there werde dull passages and passages that forestall our curiosity ; these he had to cut or reduce, knowing that English readers could not possibly be interested in Oriental prolixities. Equally remarkable is the liberty he took to transpose wpisodes. His footnotes contain a large number of readings from the manuscript, and they give us an idea of what the language of the manuscript was like and how Pery altered it. He says in his Dedication to Lady Longueville, 'at a time when this nation swarms with fictious narratives of the most licentious and immortal turn', this curious work from China has its value as a moral diquisition. Starting with scenes of virtue in distress and ending with scenes of virtue rewarded, it bears some resemblance to the sentimental fiction of England in the eighteenth century. An other reason why Percy found the work valuable ; namely, it gives a faithful picture of Chinese manners. On the title-page of Hau kiou choaan, he quotes with approval a passage from Du Halde's Description : "Il n'y a pas de meilleur moyen de s'instruire de la Chine, que par la Chine même : car par la on est sûr de ne se point tromper, dans la connoissance du génie et des usages de cette nation." From the very beginning of his work he had planned, not only to edit and emend the text, but also to explain the uncommon customs and manners of China so as to make the events in the novel more intelligible to the English public. For this purpose, he borrowed bookis from Captain Wilkinson, from Dodsley, from the library of the Earl of Sussex and from other sources. |
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| 2 | 1762 |
Percy, Thomas. Miscellaneous pieces relating to the Chinese [ID D11696]. James Watt : As far as Chinese gardening is concerned, Percy offered little comment on the extract that he included from Sir William Chambers's work (drawn from his Designs of Chinese Buildings), other than briefly to declare the insubstantiality of "such pompous shews and splendid processions." Percy was much more concerned with the need to defend Christian orthodoxy against the false sublime of Chinese antiquity, however, as well as to return to the issue of how Jesuit missionaries had established and tried to maintain their foothold in China. Percy's description of the Jesuits as "this crafty order" strikingly recalls the Pleasing History footnote that refers to the Chinese as "the most subtle crafty people in the world." Several of the Miscellaneous Pieces were actually translated from different volumes of the Jesuit Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, but Percy once more sought to emphasize his critical distance from the sources on which he to a large extent relied, as well as to demonstrate his lack of illusions about the culture that these sources chronicled. In the extract that is included from "A Description of the Emperor of China's Gardens and Pleasure-Houses Near Peking," for example, the writer Jean-Denis Attiret laments the difficulties that "would quickly drive me back to Europe, if I did not think my pencil subservient to religion, and likely to render the Emperor favourable to the missionaries, who preach it". Addressing "the protestant reader," Percy's footnote cautions that "it is a Jesuit here who tells his own story," and who "whatever his real motives . . . will take care that none but the most plausible shall appear to the world"; alluding to the reputation for insinuating "craftiness" that he helped to perpetuate, but without offering any corroborating evidence, Percy knowingly stated that "other writers who have examined into the conduct of these gentlemen more narrowly, will tell a different tale." As well as introducing the work of others, Percy's Miscellaneous Pieces incorporated one essay that was entirely his own, the first and also perhaps the most arresting essay in the whole collection. In his "Dissertation on the Language and Characters of the Chinese," Percy in effect anticipated the attack on the utility of Arabic and Sanskrit made by Macaulay's infamous "Minute on Indian Education" (1835), over seventy years later, with his claim that the Chinese were held back by their use of pictorial symbols, rather than "an alphabet of letters expressing the simple sounds into which all words may be resolved". At once unsophisticated and bewilderingly refined, in Percy's terms, this system of characters took so long to master that the Chinese spent their best years - "the finest and most vigorous part of human life" - learning to read and write. While even renowned sinophiles such as Voltaire claimed that the Chinese found the communication of ideas in written form "a thing of the greatest difficulty," Percy took this argument much further than any of his contemporaries, emphasizing the basic inadequacy of the Chinese manner of writing : "it does not so soon furnish them with the knowledge and learning already provided to their hands. It requires so much more time and pains for them to climb to the top of the edifice, that when once they have arrived there, they have less time or ability to raise it higher." |
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Cited by (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2000- | Asien-Orient-Institut Universität Zürich | Organisation / AOI |
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