more correct than another; for there being no sound in any character, each one calls it as he has been taught, while all give it the same meaning, exactly as Europeans do with the numerals. Of course, no one can read or write Chinese before he has studied it, and the apparent singularity of people from China, Japan, and Annam all being able to communicate by writing but not converse by speech, is easily explained by the different sounds they give the characters. It is, however, really no more singular than that scholars in all Christian nations understand each others' music and arithmetic, after they have learned those sciences and the mode of notation. The diversity of pronunciations tends naturally to break up the nation into small communities, and the Chinese owe their present homogeneity and grandeur in no small degree to their written language; for, however, a man may differ in his speech, he is sure that he will be everywhere understood when he writes, and will understand every one who writes to him. It has also been a bond of union from its extensive literature, at once the pride of its own scholars, and the admiration of surrounding nations. It is perhaps owing to the fact that the literature of China contains the canons of the Budhist religion and the ethics of Confucius, that it was adopted by the Japanese, Coreans and Annamese. These nations have taken the characters of the Chinese language, and given them such names as pleased them. In Japan and Corea, there has been no uniform rule of adoption, but the Annamese, who formerly had more intimate connexions with China than at present, approach much nearer to the sounds spoken by the Chinese.