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The Chinese Student

191

"I can't make it out," said he, at last, removing his eyes from the vase, and leaning back on the chair, "I can't make it out.

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"I wish I could assist you," said I.

"Assist me," said the old man, looking at me with a half smile.

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Yes," said I, but I don't understand Chinese,' "I suppose not," said the old man, with another slight smile; but-but

66

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"Pray proceed," said I. "I wished to ask you, said the old man, 66 how you knew that the characters on yon piece of crockery were Chinese; or, indeed, that there was such a language?"

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"I knew the crockery was china,” said I, and naturally enough supposed what was written upon it to be Chinese; as for there being such a language-the English. have a language, the French have a language, and why not the Chinese?"

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May I ask you a question?"

"As many as you

like.

"Do you know any language besides English?" "Yes," said I, "I know a little of two or three." 66 May I ask their names?"

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66

Why not?" said I,

Anything else?"

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Yes, a little Welsh, and a little Haik." "What is Haik?"

66 Armenian."

"I am glad to see you in my house," said the old man, shaking me by the hand; "how singular that one coming as you did should know Armenian !"

"Not more singular," said I, "than that one living in such a place as this should know Chinese. to acquire it?"

66

How came you

The old man looked at me, and sighed. I beg pardon," said I, “for asking what is, perhaps, an impertinent question; I have not imitated your own delicacy; you have never asked me a question without first desiring permission, and here I have been days and nights in your house an intruder on your hospitality, and you have never so much as asked me who I am.

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"In forbearing to do that," said the old man, I merely obeyed the Chinese precept,' Ask no questions of a guest;'

it is written on both sides of the teapot out of which you have had your tea."

66

"I wish I knew Chinese," said I. Is it a difficult language to acquire?"

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I have reason to think so," said the old man. I have been occupied upon it five-and-thirty years, and I am still very imperfectly acquainted with it; at least, I frequently find upon my crockery sentences the meaning of which to me is very dark, though it is true these sentences are mostly verses, which are, of course, more difficult to understand than mere prose.

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"Are your Chinese studies," said I, confined to crockery literature?"

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Entirely," said the old man; 'I read nothing else." "I have heard," said I, that the Chinese have no letters, but that for every word they have a separate character-is it so?"

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"For every word they have a particular character,' said the old man; "though, to prevent confusion, they have arranged their words under two hundred and fourteen what we should call radicals, but which they call keys. we arrange all our words in a dictionary under twenty-four letters, so do they arrange all their words, or characters, under two hundred and fourteen radical signs; the simplest radicals being the first, and the more complex the last." "Does the Chinese resemble any of the European languages in words?" said I.

"I am scarcely competent to inform you," said the old man; "but I believe not.

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"What does that character represent?" said I, pointing to one on the vase.

"A knife," said the old man,

of the simplest radicals or keys."

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'that character is one

"And what is the sound of it?" said I.

"Tau," said the old man.

"Tau!" said I; "tau!"

"A strange word for a knife! is it not?" said the old

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"What is tawse?" said the old man.

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You were never at school at Edinburgh, I suppose?"
Never," said the old man.

That accounts for your not knowing the meaning of

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tawse,' said I; "had you received the rudiments of a classical education at the High School, you would have known the meaning of tawse full well. It is a leathern thong, with which refractory urchins are recalled to a sense of their duty by the dominie. Tau-tawse-how singular!" "I cannot see what the two words have in common, except a slight agreement in sound."

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You will see the connection," said I, when I inform you that the thong, from the middle to the bottom, is cut or slit into two or three parts, from which slits or cuts, unless I am very much mistaken, it derives its nametawse, a thong with slits or cuts, used for chastising disorderly urchins at the High School, from the French tailler, to cut; evidently connected with the Chinese tau, a knife -how very extraordinary!"

CHAPTER XXXIII

Convalescence-The Surgeon's Bill-Letter of RecommendationCommencement of the Old Man's History.

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Two days-three days passed away-and I still remained at the house of my hospitable entertainer; my bruised limb rapidly recovering the power of performing its functions. I passed my time agreeably enough, sometimes in my chamber, communing with my own thoughts; sometimes in the stable, attending to, and not unfrequently conversing with, my horse; and at meal-time-for I seldom saw him at any other-discoursing with the old gentleman, sometimes on the Chinese vocabulary, sometimes Chinese syntax, and once or twice on English horseflesh; though on this latter subject, notwithstanding his descent from a race of horse-traders, he did not enter into with much alacrity. As a small requital for his kindness, I gave him one day, after dinner, unasked, a brief account of my history and pursuits. He listened with attention; and when it was concluded, thanked me for the confidence which I had reposed in him. "Such conduct," said he, "deserves a return. I will tell you my own history; it is brief, but may perhaps not prove uninteresting to you

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Pray,

With

Then you would scarcely

though the relation of it will give me some pain." then, do not recite it," said I. Yes," said the old man, "I will tell you, for I wish you to know it." He was about to begin, when he was interrupted by the arrival of the surgeon. The surgeon examined into the state of my bruised limb, and told me, what indeed I already well knew, that it was rapidly improving. You will not even require a sling,' ," said he, "to ride to Horncastle. When do you propose going?" he demanded. "When do you think I may venture?" I replied. "I think, if you are a tolerably good horseman, you may mount the day after to-morrow, answered the medical man. 'By-the-bye, are you acquainted with anybody at Horncastle?" no living soul," I answered. find stable-room for your horse. But I am happy to be able to assist you. I have a friend there who keeps a small inn, and who, during the time of the fair, keeps a stall vacant for any quadruped I may bring, until he knows whether I am coming or not. I will give you a letter to him, and he will see after the accommodation of your horse. To-morrow I will pay you a farewell visit, and bring you the letter. "Thank you,” said I; " and do not forget to bring your bill." The surgeon looked at the old man, who gave him a peculiar nod. "Oh!" said he, in reply to me, for the little service I have rendered you, I require no remuneration. You are in my friend's house, and he and I understand each other."

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"I never

receive such favours," said I, as you have rendered me, without remunerating them; therefore I shall expect your bill." "Oh! just as you please," said the surgeon; and shaking me by the hand more warmly than he had hitherto done, he took his leave.

On the evening of the next day, the last which I spent with my kind entertainer, I sat at tea with him in a little summer-house in his garden, partially shaded by the boughs of a large fig-tree. The surgeon had shortly before paid me his farewell visit, and had brought me the letter of introduction to his friend at Horncastle, and also his bill, which I found anything but extravagant. After we had each respectively drank the contents of two cupsand it may not be amiss here to inform the reader that though I took cream with my tea, as I always do when I can procure that addition, the old man, like most people

The Old Man's History

195 bred up in the country, drank his without it-he thus addressed me :-"I am, as I told you on the night of your accident, the son of a breeder of horses, a respectable and honest man. When I was about twenty he died, leaving me, his only child, a comfortable property, consisting of about two hundred acres of land and some fifteen hundred pounds in money. My mother had died about three years previously. I felt the death of my mother keenly, but that of my father less than was my duty; indeed, truth compels me to acknowledge that I scarcely regretted his death. The cause of this want of proper filial feeling was the opposition which I had experienced from him in an affair which deeply concerned me. I had formed an attachment for a young female in the neighbourhood, who, though poor, was of highly respectable birth, her father having been a curate of the Established Church. She was, at the time of which I am speaking, an orphan, having lost both her parents, and supported herself by keeping a small school. My attachment was returned, and we had pledged our vows, but my father, who could not reconcile himself to her lack of fortune, forbade our marriage in the most positive terms. He was wrong, for she was a fortune in herself—amiable and accomplished. Oh! I cannot tell you all she was-" and here the old man drew his hand across his eyes. By the death of my father, the only obstacle to our happiness appeared to be removed. We agreed, therefore, that our marriage should take place within the course of a year; and I forthwith commenced enlarging my house and getting my affairs in order. Having been left in the easy circumstances which I have described, I determined to follow no business, but to pass my life in a strictly domestic manner, and to be very, very happy. Amongst other property derived from my father were several horses, which I disposed of in this neighbourhood, with the exception of two remarkably fine ones, which I determined to take to the next fair at Horncastle, the only place where I expected to be able to obtain what I considered to be their full value. At length the time arrived for the commencement of the fair, which was within three months of the period which my beloved and myself had fixed upon for the celebration of our nuptials. To the fair I went, a couple of trusty men following me with the horses. I soon found a purchaser

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