vii.
might best allure the attention, and enable the memory most easily to retain them. I have observed in another place,[1] that the language of the Chinese is well adapted to this purpose.
Their most ancient Moral Maxims, (and especially those of Confucius) bear a strong resemblance to the sententious sayings of the Sages of Greece. In the earlier stages of society, before the diffusion of book learning, and when the teachers of truth addressed themselves orally to their disciples, such pithy and condensed sentences were not only best calculated to excite immediate attention, but also the most likely to be remembered by the hearers. Being treasured up and handed down to posterity, they have at length become so many texts or theses for the more Prosaic Discourses of modern times; and accordingly, I think it will be found, that the earliest records of every country abound most with this species of sententious wisdom. Loner trains of reasoning and laboured deductions are suited neither to the inclinations nor capacities of men in the infancy of society; nor were they required, when every word that fell from the lips of the teacher was received with submissive reverence by his disciples. The process of argumentation becomes necessary, only when
- ↑ Preliminary Observations to a volume of Chinese Novels.
