New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1849-11-07
BY GREELEY & McELRATH.

style OF writing. bear more analogy 10 epgravi ne
or ordinary pictures FOR orBsmeDtsl purposes
and afford little aid, az fad, in decipberine III
original designs Of the characters In u,e ,or
writing purposes. They are now found in book,
merely as curious antiquarian monuments, and are
said 10 have been taken from vases tripods
bells, and other brazen ornaments. which have
been carefully preserved in the temples Of the
IDOLS. They are al extremely elaborate and vsrle ]
apparently according TO the sty le or whiB Of esch
individual artist. 1t does no: appear that any book
wa ever written in this ye Of characters or TIA.
they were ever applied to literary purposes snd
inasnach they were evidently the prod
Of fancy, rather than the elements Of necessary
art, which is known % have originated with the
very rise Of the Chinese nation, think there
ls strong reason 10 doubt their claim ~ &c
perior antiquity 70 that Of the next style which
am sbou. to mention. For these reasons, we m sy
for the most part discard them from consideration,
for the present purpose
OF the remaining styles Of characters properly
called cratiAg, there three principal and I'M
portant ones. The first Of these to be mentioned
is toe Stdo Chuea or Anc,sHt CtaSUccf Stye
which had its origin ia the remotes. antiquity OF
the natiou-probably no: far from four thousand
years ago-and hss been wonderfully preserved
as, perhaps, the very earliest monument Of the
operations Of the human intellect now extant. The
first books written in China appeared in this char
scter In it the gres: ConiUcius indited his sage
and venereted Instructions, and it is still in
familiar use for Inscriptions, the titles Of books,
aud the like, furnishing striking Illustration OF
the enduring nature Of Chinese habits and inst.tu
tons
or this stye Of writing there were also almost
an Infinite number Of varieties or bastard imits-
tions during the centuries tha preceded the Chris
tian era, and while China remained loose and
'uctaating assemblsge of distinct nstonalites.-
| I csc diilerenc esmay, however, have been nothing
moe than the result Of that fancy ana love Of or
namn ut and variety which has given rise 10 he
Germ, n Text, the Old English Black Letter, &c
among,s At all events, it appears that the IN
cent CLASSICAL ssie proper maintained itsei l. .
distinct sli well defined condition. |. is chsrsc
terzed by Irculsr aud curved lines, and vas 1T
ten with a &yls upon slips Of bamboo smooth
pieces Of WOO, or leaves Is ia still done IN South
ern India.
The modern eqs,icai styie, that in watch The
great mass Of nsdern books are printed md
which IS tlso usea extensively for manuscript pur-
poses dates back u he third century Of the Chris
tan era, and has it, nigiR in the change which
naturally resulted frtn the introduction and IN
vention Of paper and inl and the pencil as inttru-
ments for writing. IL was subsequently some
" ha. modified also by tn process of wood-cutiing
for printing purposes an the result has been y
style OF characters difieriny, Us general charac
,erisiic from the ancient CLASSICAL in the fact thsi
the strokes are heavy or fat, s1 straight or ansu-
lar. instead OF circular. Beside this, there q
course numerous other minor diieeuces resulting
fr, m the mere wear ard tear OF Tn.
The cursiye style is the running lsad corresi On
ding TO oUr manuscript, though notsC universally
used, "a mauy prefer always to Pres'r'e the inl
classical form OF the characters Ia writing
The FLOWING are specimens OF ch'r,cters ia
| those three styles
| ancient CIassicai hfos,r7 Classical CrarS
! THF