Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	write_n	write_v	writing_n	326	4	8.8356	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49911	Memoirs and observations typographical, physical, mathematical, mechanical, natural, civil, and ecclesiastical, made in a late journey through the empire of China, and published in several letters particularly upon the Chinese pottery and varnishing, the silk and other manufactures, the pearl fishing, the history of plants and animals, description of their cities and publick works, number of people, their language, manners and commerce, their habits, oeconomy, and government, the philosophy of Confucius, the state of Christianity : with many other curious and useful remarks / by Louis Le Compte ... ; translated from the Paris edition, and illustrated with figures.	Le Comte, Louis, 1655-1728.	1697 (1697)	Wing L831; ESTC R15898	355,133	724

and it is more than probable that if it had not been for the Assistance from above the Missionaries would never have been so great Proficients as to make such a progress that has astonisht the ablest Doctors of the Empire Amongs● these Characters there are some of divers sorts The first are almost out of use and they preserve them only out of Veneration to Antiquity The second not so ancient by far take place only in Publick Inscriptions when there is occasion for them they consult Books and by the help of a Dictionary it is easie to decipher them The third much more regular and fair serve for the impression and also for the ordinary writing Nevertheless the strokes or draughts of them being very exact and curious there needs a considerable time to write them in And for that reason they have contrived a fourth kind of writing the strokes whereof being more joyned and less distinguisht one from another facilitate the writing faster for that reason they are called voluble Letters These three last Characters do much resemble one another and do answer to our Capital Letters to the printed Letters and ordinary Writing Instead of a Pen they use a Pencil held in the hand not obliquely as our Painters but directly as if the Paper were to be prickt The Chineses always write from top to bottom and begin their first Letter where ours ends so that to read their Books the last page must first be sought for which with them is the beginning There Paper being very thin and almost transparent they are fain to double it for fear least the Letters do run one into another when they write on the backside But these doubled Leaves are so even that one can hardly perceive it To write a bad Hand was never in China as formerly in France a sign of Nobility every Body is ambitious to write fair and before one stands Candidate to be admitted to the first degree of Learning he must give a Specimen of his fair Hand A Letter ill cut in a Composition in a Work in a Petition is a considerable fault and because one stroke often alters the whole Sense there needs no more to make one upon examination to lose the Degree of Doctor and consequently to ruin his Fortune So that all the Mandarins write fair and the Emperor excels in that as in all other things Printing which is but an Art in its infancy in Europe hath been from all Antiquity in use in China however it is something different from ours as we have but few Letters from which we can compose huge Volumes by putting them together few Characters suffice because those that have served for the first Leaf are still employed for all the others The prodigeous number of China Characters hinder you from using this way except only in some Restrictions that concern the Palace and Title pages into which few Letters can come in On all other occasions they find it more easie to Engrave their Letters upon Wooden Boards and the Charge is much less This is the way they go to work He who intends to print a Book gets it fair written over by a Master Scribe the Engraver glews each Leaf upon an even smooth Table and then the Draughts with the Graving Tool are done so exactly that the Characters have a perfect resemblance with the Original so that the Impression is good or bad according as a good or bad Scribe hath been employed this Skill of the Gravers is so great that one cannot distinguish that which is imprinted from what was written by the Hand when they have made use of the same Paper and Ink. It must be confest that this sort of Printing is somewhat incommodious inasmuch as the Boards must be multiplied as much as the Leaves so that an indifferent big Chamber will not suffice to contain all the little Tables that served for the Impression of a large Volume yet when the engraving is finisht one is not obliged at the same time to draw off all the Copies by running a venture of not selling above half and ruin his Estate by a needless Charge The Chineses print their Leaves according as they put them off and the Wooden Plates which they easily run over again after they have drawn off Two or Three hundred Copies serve for many other different Impressions Besides that they have no occasion for a Corrector of the Press for provided that the Leaf be exactly written it is very rare that the Engraver makes any Faults which is none of the least Advantages The Paper of China seems so fine that they imagined in France that it was of Silk or Cotton but Cotton is not so proper for that purpose as People imagine and the Artificers have assured me that the little threads of Silk cannot be beat small enough to compose an uniform Paste such as is requisite for the Leaves All the China Paper is made of the Bark or inward Rhind of Bambou it is a Tree more even thicker straiter and stronger than the Elder They throw away the first Rhind as too hard and thick the undermost as being whiter softer pounded with fair Water serves for the Matter whereof they compose Paper which they take up with Frames or Moulds as long and broad as they think fit as we do here There are Leaves of ten and twelve foot long and the Paper of the Leaves is as white and much more even and smoother than ours Instead of Glew they pass Alom upon it which does not only hinder it from sinking but renders it also so shining that it appears as washt over with Silver or impregnate with Vernish It is extream smooth under the Pen but especially under the Pencil that requires an even Ground for it be rugged and knotty like our Paper the little threads separate and the Letters are never well terminated Yet for all that the China Paper is not lasting it is subject to fret any Moisture or Dust sticks to it and by reason of its being made of the Bark of a Tree Worms infallibly breed in it if care be not taken to beat the Books now and then and expose them to the Sun So that they cannot preserve in China as we do in Europe ancient Manuscripts and they continually renew the Libraries that are therefore ancient because they consist of Authentick Copies of Ancient Originals Since I have told your Grace all things that concern the Books and Printings of China I hope you will not take it amiss if I speak a word or two concerning the particular quality of their Ink It is most excellent and they have hitherto vainly tried in France to imitat● it that of Nankin is most set by And there be Sticks made of it so very curious and of such a sweet Scent that one would be tempted to keep some of them tho' they should be of no use at all I say Sticks of Ink for it is not a Liquor like ours it is solid

more Doleful and at once more Honourable to us than the Funeral of Father Verbeist which his Imperial Majesty had ordered to be put off till the last Devoirs had been paid the Empress Dowager Father Thomas a Jesuit has described this Ceremony at large I dare hope an Extract of what he has wrote will not be unwelcome to you both because it will give you some insight into their Customs on the like Occasions and that you will thereby grow better acquainted with a Man whom his Merit has made known to all the World Be pleased then to accept of it as follows It seemed good to Divine Wisdom to take to himself from this Mortal Life Father Ferd●nando Verbiest a Fleming and to bestow on him the Recompence of Saints Our Missionaries Affliction may not easily be expressed but much harder would it be to reckon by how many Exemplary Vertues and Considerable Services he has merited their Esteem and Gratitude Besides several other good Qualities the Greatness of his Soul is particularly to be admired which has never failed him in the most Cruel Persecutions so that he was ever Triumphant over the Enemies of the Faith The Survey of the Mathematicks was at first proffered him which Dignity he accepted of in hopes it would enable him to set on foot our Missions which were then wholly laid aside He did indeed obtain a Toleration for Evangelical Pastours who after a long Banishment had their Churches restored them He sti●●ed some Persecutions in their Birth and others he prevented which threatned the tender Flocks The Mandarines no sooner knew him but they had a Respect for him and the Emperor entertained so Good an Opinion of his Capacity that he kept him above a quarter of a Year near his Person and during that time spent three or four hours every day with him in private discoursing of several Sciences especially Mathematicks In these Conversations our Zealous Missionary endeavoured to bring him into a Liking of our Religion He would explain to him its most stupendious Mysteries and made him observe its Holiness its Truth and Necessity insomuch that the Emperor struck with his powerful Arguments often owned that he believed a God He assured him of it by a Writing under his Majesty's own Hand wherein he said among other things That all the Religions of hi● Empire seemed to him Vain and Superstitious that the Idols were nothing and that he foresaw Christianity would one day be built on their Ruins A Chinese Doctor having in one of his Books taken the liberty to place the Emperor's Religion among the several Heresies China was infected with the Emperor upon the Father's Complaint struck out those Lines himself telling him all the Empire should know what he had done Father Verbiest's Interest was such that at his Instigation the old Instruments which stood on the Platform of the Observatory were pulled down to make room for new ones of his Contriving He gave Directions for the casting of Brass-Guns which saved the States from Ruin He applyed himself to several other Works to serve the Publick or satisfie the Emperor's Curiosity and one may say that on this last account he has searched into the most rare and and ingenious Inventions that Arts and Sciences have ever offered us The whole Court looked upon him as the Wisest man of his Age but above all was charmed with his Modesty It is true no Man ever was more Mild and Tractable than he humbling himself before every one while every one strove to Exalt him Insensible to all the Things of this World except where Religion was concerned for then he was no more the same Man and as tho' he had been animated by a new Spirit his Looks his Words his Actions all were Great and becoming a Christian Hero The very Emperor dreaded him at such times and was not easily perswaded to admit him into his Presence He will fly out would he say into some undecency which I must be forced tho' unwillingly to resent This holy Boldness proceeded from a lively Faith and a great Confidence in God He despaired of nothing though humanly impossible and would often say We must never forget two of the Chief Maxims of Christian Morality First That let our Projects be never so well laid they will certainly fall if God leaves us to our own Wisdom Secondly That it were in vain the whole Universe should arm it self to destroy the Work of God nothing is Powerful against the Almighty and every thing Prospe●s that Heaven approves of So he never entered on any Enterprise without imploring its help tho' however he left no Means untried that Reason and Christian Prudence offered him Thus did his Zeal each day increase in Strength and Purity The Establishment of our Faith wholly employed his Thoughts and whatever Occupation else he was put upon proved a Torment to him He avoided all idle Visits and Conversations and could not endure to see People study only for Curiosities sake He never so much as read the News that came from Europe which at such a Distance we are usually so greedy of only he would hear the Chief Heads provided you would speak them in a few words He would spend whole Days and Nights in writing Letters of Consolation Instruction or Recommendation for the Missionaries in composing divers Works for the Emperor or Chief Lords at his Court and in Compiling the Kalendar Calculating with an indefatigable Industry the Motion of the Stars for every Year This and the Care of all the Churches so impaired his Strength that in spight of the Strength of his Constitution he fell at last into a kind of Consumption which yet did not hinder his framing great Designs for the Advancement of his Religion He had taken such exact Measures for the settling of it in the most remote Parts of China in the Eastern Tartary and even in the Kingdom of Kovia that nothing but his Death could have prevented the Execution of so well contrived a Project Let us view him now in Private At his first Admittance into our Order he was a true Monk strict in the Performance of its Rules very observant to his Superiours and loving Study and Retirement above all things which he persisted in even among the multitude of Business in the midst of which he would be as Sedate as a Hermit in his Cell His Conscience was Nice to Extremity so that no Man could take more Care than he did to be always ready to make his Appearance before him who can espy Faults even in Saints and Angels To preserve his Innocence he never went out without a severe Cilice or an Iron Chain and used to say It was a shame for a Jesuit to be clothed in Silks and in the Livery of the World and not to wear the Livery of Christ. His Soul was naturally great and when others Necessities wanted a Supply his Charity was boundless But he was hard-hearted to himself courting Poverty even in