the version was made. It was presented, as stated in the Introduction, par. 1 , to Mr. Raper by P. de Grammont, Missionarius Apostolicus, ex-Jesuita . The chief object of the translator or translators was to show that “the Mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Incarnate God were anciently known to the Chinese nation.” The version as a whole is of little value. The reader will find, in endnote 108 , its explanation of Lao’s seventy-second chapter ;—the first morsel of it that has appeared in print.
Protestant missions to China commenced in 1807; but it was not till 1868 that the Rev. Dr. Chalmers, a member of one of them, published his Speculations on Metaphysics, Polity, and Morality of “The Old Philosopher,” Laozi . Meanwhile, Abel-Rémusat had aroused the curiosity of scholars throughout Europe, in 1823, by his Memoir on the Life and Opinions of Laozi, a Chinese Philosopher of the sixth century before our era, who professed the opinions commonly attributed to Pythagoras, to Plato, and to their disciples . Rémusat was followed by one who had received from him his first lessons