It has frequently been asserted that the art of wood engraving in Europe was derived from the Chinese; by whom, it is also said, that the art was practised in the reign of the renowned emperor Wu-Wang, who flourished 1120 years before the birth of Christ. As both these statements seem to rest on equal authorities, I attach to each an equal degree of credibility; that is, by believing neither. As Mr. Ottley has expressed an opinion in favour of the Chinese origin of the art,--though without adopting the tale of its being practised in the reign of Wu-Wang, which he shows has been taken by the wrong end,--I shall here take the liberty of examining the tenability of his arguments. At page 8, in the first chapter of his work, Mr. Ottley cautiously says that the “art of printing from engraved blocks of wood appears to be of very high antiquity amongst the Chinese;” and at page 9, after citing Du Halde, as informing us that the art of printing was not discovered until about fifty years before the Christian era, he rather inconsistently observes: “So says Father Du Halde, whose authority I give without any comment, as the defence of Chinese chronology makes no part of the present undertaking.” Unless Mr. Ottley is satisfied of the correctness of the chronology, he can by no means cite Du Halde’s account as evidence of the very high antiquity of printing in China; which in every other part of his book he speaks of as a well-established fact, and yet refers to no other authority than Du Halde, who relies on the correctness of that Chinese chronology with the defence of which Mr. Ottley will have nothing to do.