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List of Notes & Queries volumes and pages

Notes.

EDMUND BURKE, AND THE "ANNUAL REGISTER."

That Burke wrote the Annual Registers for Dodsley for some period after its commencement is well known, but no one has yet distinctly stated when his participation in that work ceased. Mr. Prior, in his Life of Burke, places in his list of his writings: "Annual Register, at first the whole work, afterwards only the Historical Article, 1758," &c. He also states that "many of the sketches of contemporary history were written from his immediate dictation for about thirty years," and that "latterly a Mr. Ireland wrote much of it under Mr. Burke's immediate direction." (Life, vol. i. p. 85. edit. 1826.)

In proof of this statement, a fac-simile is given of Burke's receipts to Dodsley for two sums of 50l. each "for the Annual Register of 1761," the originals of which were in Upcott's collection. At the sale of Mr. Wilks's autographs this month, I observe there was another receipt for writing the Annual Register for 1763. I am not aware whether any other receipts from Burke are in existence for the money paid to him for his contributions to this periodical, but for the Annual Registers beginning with 1767, and terminating in 1791, I have the receipts of Thomas English, who appears to have received from Dodsley, first 140l., and subsequently 150l. annually, for writing and compiling the historical portion of the work. Burke's connexion with the publication must therefore have lasted a much shorter period than Mr. Prior appears to have supposed, and apparently was not continued beyond seven or eight years, from 1758 to 1766, after which year, English seems to have taken his place.

Everything relating to Burke is of importance; and if any of your correspondents can afford any further assistance in defining as correctly as possible the limits of his participation in the Annual Register, I feel assured that the information will be gladly received by your readers.

I have not seen it noticed, that the historical articles in the Annual Registers, from 1758 to 1762 inclusive, were collected in an 8vo. vol. under the title of—

"A compleat History of the late War, or Annual Register of its Rise, Progress, and Events in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, &c." London, 1763.

This work went through more than one edition. My copy, containing 559 pages, is a Dublin edition of the date of 1763, printed by John Exshaw.

As there seems to be no question that what is contained in this volume is the composition of Burke, and as it has never yet been superseded as a spirited history of the stirring period to which it relates, it ought undoubtedly to be attached as a supplement to the 8vo. edition of Burke's Works, with his "Account of the European Settlements in America," his title to which is now placed beyond dispute.

It is greatly to be regretted that some of Burke's early publications are yet undiscovered, amongst which are his poetical translations from the Latin, and his attack upon Henry Brooks, the author of the Fool of Quality.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

JEWS IN CHINA.

The mail which arrived from East India and China about the middle or end of March last, brought news of the discovery of a race of Jews in the interior of the latter country, of which I have seen no notice taken by the English press.

It being a subject in which a number of your readers will probably feel interested, and but comparatively few of them see the China newspapers, I beg to enclose you an account from the Overland China Mail, dated Hong Kong, Jan. 29, 1851.

The existence of a fragment of the family of Abraham in the interior of China has been certainly known for upwards of two hundred years, and surmised much longer. The Jesuit Ricci, during his residence at Peking in the beginning of the seventeenth century, was the means of exciting the attention of foreigners to the Jews of Kai-fung-fú, the ancient capital of Ho-nan province. In 1618 they were visited by Aleni, a follower of Ricci; and a hundred years later, between 1704 and 1723, Fathers Gozani, Domenge, and Gaubil were enabled from personal investigation on the spot to give minute descriptions of the people, their synagogue and sacred books, the latter of which few could even then read, while the former was, with the peculiar institutions of Moses, fast falling to decay. Beyond a few feeble and ineffective efforts on the part of Biblical critics, nothing was subsequently attempted to maintain a communication with this handful of Jews until in 1815 some brethren in London addressed a letter to them in Hebrew, and offered a large reward if any one would bring an answer in the same language. The letter was entrusted to a Chinese bookseller, a native of the province, who is reported to have delivered it, which was doubted, as he brought no written answer.

Recently the Jews' Society in London, encouraged by the munificence of Miss Cook, who placed ample funds at their disposal, instituted enquiries on the subject, and sought the co-operation of the Bishop of Victoria, who having previously opened a correspondence with Dr. Medhurst on the subject, during his Lordship's recent visit to Shanghae, the plan of operations was agreed upon. This was to despatch two Chinese Christians, one of them a literary graduate, the other a young man with a competent knowledge of English, acquired at the London Missionary School. The North China Herald of the 18th January contains an interesting account of their mission, from which we gather the following particulars.

The two emissaries started on the 15th November last, and after an absence of fifty-five days, returned to Shanghae, the distance between the two cities being about six hundred miles.[1] Arrived at their destination, they found in the decayed city of Kai-fung-fú, both Mohamedans and Jews, the latter poverty-stricken and degraded, their synagogue in a state of dilapidation, and the distinguishing symbols of their religion nearly extinct. The books of the Law, written in a small square character on sheepskin, are however still preserved, although it would seem for many years they have been seen by no one able to read them.

[1] Kai-fung-fú, according to Williams's map, is situated about a league from the southern bank of the Hwang-ho, or Yellow River, in 34° 55´ N. Lat., and 114° 40´ E. Long.

The Jesuits mention the existence of the sacred books, but were not suffered to copy or even to inspect them; but the Chinese Christians encountered no such scruples; so that, besides taking copies of inscriptions on the stone tablets, they were enabled to bring away eight Hebrew manuscripts, six of them containing portions of the Old