The Confucian Analects

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In the preface to the previous volume, the author explained how he was encouraged and enabled to undertake the publication of this work by the generous support of the late Honorable Joseph Jardine, Esquire. He must now record another instance of generosity regarding this project from another of the leading merchants on this island. Through an arrangement with the Honorable John Dent, Esquire, these volumes will be sold at half price to missionaries—to Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries alike.

While publishing the Works of Mencius, the author is pleased to acknowledge the translation of them published by Stanislaus Julien in Paris between 1824 and 1829. He does not feel significantly indebted to that version, however, because his own translation was first completed before he had seen it, and the structure of his notes differs substantially from Julien’s commentary. Nevertheless, he has rarely consulted it without finding reason to admire the translator’s keen insight and accurate scholarship. The wish has often arisen that Monsieur Julien had spent his life in China and devoted himself exclusively to Chinese studies; had he done so, the author would likely not have needed to perform his current labor.