Henry Yule

“ You see, then, Chinese words are not a was to be taken literally. We pay cult to Confucius and to the dead, to express our respect for them. How is that inconsistent with your religion? When did it begin to be so? Is it since. Ly-Mattheu’s time? Hast thou ever read Ly-Mattheu? ' The Most Reverend, turning to P. Parenin, whispers, Who’s he?' and learning that it was P. Matteo Ricci, . ”

“ In the early part of his residence at Peking, when enjoying constant intercourse with scholars of high position, Ricci brought, out the T’ien-chu shih-i, or “Veritable Doctrine of the Lord of Heaven,” which deals with the divine character, and attributes under eight heads. “This work,” says A. Wylie, “contains some acute reasoning in support of the propositions laid down, but the doctrine of faith in Christ is very slightly touched upon. ”

“ In 1604 Ricci completed the Erh-shih-wu yen, a series of short articles of moral bearing, but exhibiting little of the essential doctrines of Christianity. Chi-jên shih pien is another of his productions, completed in 1608, and consisting of a record ten conversations held with, Chinese of high position. The subjects are: (1) Years past no longer ours; (2) Man a sojourner on earth; (3) Advantage of frequent contemplation of eternity; (4) Preparation for judgment by such contemplation; (5) The good man not desirous of talking ”

“ RICCI, MATTEO (1552–1610) , Italian missionary to China, was born of a noble family at Macerata in the March of Ancona on the 7th of October 1552. After some education at a Jesuit college, in his native town he went to study law at Rome, where in 1571, in opposition to his father’s wishes, he joined the Society of Jesus. ”

“ His correspondence, which was often devoted to the collection of new material for his work, was immense, and embraced many distinguished men. Among those Whose names have still an odour of celebrity were Fracastoro, just mentioned, Cardinal Pietro Bembo, Damiano de Goez, and Sebastian Cabot; among lesser lights, Vettor Fausto, Daniel Barbaro, Paolo Manuzio, Andrea Navagero, the cardinals Gasparo Contarini and Gregorio Cortese, and the printer Tommaso Giunti, editor after Ramusio’s death of the Navigationi. ”

“ The wife of Paolo, bearing the singular name of Tomyris Macachio, bore him three sons and four daughters. Paolo died at Bergamo on 19th August 1506 at the age of sixty-three, and was buried in S. Agostino at Padua. Paolo was the author of a variety of legal treatises and the like, and also published at Verona in 1483 both a corrected edition and an Italian translation of a once famous book, Valturius, De re militari, dedicating both to Pandolfo Malatesta of Rimini. ”

“ By this lady he had one son, Paolo. In his old age Ramusio resigned the secretaryship and retired to the Villa Ramusia, a property on the river Masanga, in the province of Padua, which had been bestowed on his father in 1504 in recognition of his services in the acquisition of Rimini the year before The delights of this retreat are celebrated in the poems and letters of several of Gian Battista’s friends. He also possessed a house at Padua in the Strada del Patriarcato, a mansion noted for its paintings and for its collection of ancient sculpture and inscriptions. ”

“ RAMUSIO. The noble Italian family of Ramusio—the spelling adopted in the publication of the Navigationi, though it is also written Ramnusio, Rhamnusio, Rannusio, &c.—was one of note for literary and official ability during at least four generations. ”

“ A few days before his death Ramusio removed to this house in Padua, and there died, 10th of July 1557, at the age of seventy-two. He was, by his own desire, buried at Venice, in the tomb which he had made for his mother, in Santa Maria dell’ Orto. ”

“ Eventually troubles at Chow-king compelled them to seek a new home; and in 1589, with the viceroy’s sanction, they migrated to Changchow in the northern part of Kwang-tung, not far from the well known Meiling Pass. ”

“ Vol. iii. also contains (omitting maps and figures inserted in the text, or with type on the reverse) a two-page topographical view of Cuzco, a folding map of Terra Nova and Labrador, a two-page map of Brazil, a two-page map of Guinea, &c., a two-page map of Sumatra, a two-page pictorial plan of the town of Hochelaga in New France, and a general map of the New World in a hemisphere. ”