"It is thine alone to influence and stay the whole empire." Shoo-king, vol. i.

In this sentence, nái, the second character from the right, performs the office of the second personal pronoun.

7. A third character thus occasionally used is

oh, which in general

signifies 'like, as,' &c. The imperial dictionary however says, that it also

denotes the second personal pronoun, and supports this definition by the

following quotation from the Tsin-yu :

In this sentence the second personal pronoun is expressed by the character yöh in the second line from the right.

This application of yoh may be still further substantiated by a sentence, from the Annals of China,' in the eleventh volume of which the emperor Kao-choo thus addresses an offending mandarine,

Pp2

"The emperor said, 'Hast thou taught the chief of Hwai-yin to rebel ?”

Kang-kyen, vol. xi.

In this sentence yoh, in the second line from the right, unequivocally expresses the second personal pronoun.

Characters expressing the Third Person.-Among the various characters which denote the third personal, there is scarcely one which exclusive ly belongs to the Personal pronoun: nearly all thus applied are also to be met with occasionally as Demonstratives. The characters by which the third personal pronoun is generally expressed, are tha, fee, pee, and and 其 #khee.

1. A Tha. This character is generally used in conversation to express

the third personal pronoun. But although applied in conversation to denote he, &c. it does not often occur in this sense in their best works. As found in these it is often equivalent to, another;

t'ha yin, 'that man,' an possibly from its pointing

expression not unfrequent, denotes another, out a person different from the one whom the reader is supposed to have more immediately in view. But this we shall have occasion to notice when treating of the Indefinite pronouns.

2. The character #ee, is sometimes used for the pronoun he; but it is more generally found united with a substantive, like the demonstrative 'that,' than met with alone, like the English personal pronoun 'he.' This character does not seem to have been so anciently in use as t'ha. It occurs however in the Shee-king, though seldom in the Shoo. It is at present frequently used in respectable writings; but it is less frequent in conversation.

3. The demonstrative peé, that,' is not unfrequently used alone in the sense of the third personal pronoun. An instance of this occurs in the following example selected from the first volume of Mung, wherein that philosopher, to shew that virtue is equally easy to all, quotes one as affirming that he possessed ability for walking in the path of virtue as really as any

one who had formerly trodden that path;.

'If he, (the virtuous man), be a man of full age, l'also am the same."

Mung, vol. i.

4. But the character which like our pronoun he, is most frequently used alone to express the third personal pronoun, is khee. This character is ancient; it occurs frequently in the Shoo-king, and has uniformly main-tained its place to the present time. It is not unfrequent as a demon strative; and is said to be occasionally used as a relative. In the following example however, as well as in many others, it has evidently the force of the pronoun he: Confucius, quoting a passage from an ode in the Shee

ling, with which he was much pleased, adds respecting the author,

These four are the characters most generally used to express the third

personal pronoun.

Were all the characters which express the Personal

Pronouns brought into one view, they would stand thus:

The Relative and Interrogative pronouns have a near affinity with

each other, as the former point out a person well known to the reader, and

the latter refer to one as yet unascertained, and respecting whom, therefore, a question is moved.

Among the Relative pronouns, the

Of the Relative Pronouns. most ancient, and the most general in its use, is the characters, which is used to denote all three persons; and is equally applicable to persons, places, and things. This might be shewn by numerous examples, were it necessary; one or two may however suffice. In the second volume of

Lun-yu, the sage, describing to Kwi-tse, the usurper of Loo, a truly great

"He who is a great minister, serves his prince in the path of virtue; when he

cannot, he stops."

Lan-yu, vol. ii.

In this sentence so, the first character to the right, is applied to a Person. The following, sentence which contains the sage's directions for thoroughly knowing a man, exhibits it as applied to Things.