allusion, shew what a sense these people entertain of politeness; while the congratulations or condolence lavished on every prosperous or adverse occasion, and the readiness displayed to "rejoice with them that do rejoice, and to weep with them that weep," manifest the degree of interest they appear to take in each other. Any one who would examine the style of their epistolary correspondence, the form of their invitation cards, and the phraseology of their polite discourses, must see, that, professedly at least, "they esteem every other better than themselves," which is the foundation of politeness. Their civility may indeed verge towards adulation, and their compliments assume the air of flattery; but, when we see a whole nation thus externally soft, affable, and yielding, we must acknowledge that they have made some advances in the art of good breeding.
But the civilization of the Chinese appears in a more substantial form, in the discoveries they have made, and the arts and sciences which they have cultivated. Their inventive genius has been manifested in various particulars, and at early periods. Three most important discoveries, which have given an extraordinary impulse to the progress of civilization in Europe, were known to the Chinese previous to their being found out by us. First of all ranks the invention of the mariner's compass, with which the Chinese seem to have been long acquainted. The earliest allusion to the magnetic needle is met with in the traditionary period of their history, about 2600 years before Christ; when the Yellow Emperor, having missed his way, invented a carriage, upon the top of which was a gallery, sur-
