envelope really
contained some information on the Chinese language and writing, amounting
to about as much as you gained from me the other day. On learning that
the marks on the teapot expressed words, I felt my interest with respect
to them considerably increased, and returned to the task of inspecting
them with greater zeal than before, hoping, by continually looking at
them, to be able eventually to understand their meaning, in which hope
you may easily believe I was disappointed, though my desire to understand
what they represented continued on the increase. In this dilemma I
determined to apply again to the shopkeeper from whom I bought the tea.
I found him in rather low spirits, his shirt-sleeves were soiled, and his
hair was out of curl. On my inquiring how he got on, he informed me that
he intended speedily to leave, having received little or no
encouragement, the people in their Gothic ignorance preferring to deal
with an old-fashioned shopkeeper over the way, who, so far from
possessing any acquaintance with the polity and institutions of the
Chinese, did not, he firmly believed, know that tea came from China.
"You are come for some more, I suppose?" said he. On receiving an answer
in the negative he looked somewhat blank, but when I added that I came to
consult with him as to the means which I must take in order to acquire
the Chinese language he brightened up. "You must get a grammar," said
he, rubbing his hands. "Have you not one?" said I. "No," he replied,
"but any bookseller can procure you one." As I was taking my departure
he told me that as he was about to leave the neighbourhood the bowl at
the window which bore the inscription, besides some other pieces of
porcelain of a similar description, were at my service, provided I chose
to purchase them. I consented, and two or three days afterwards took
from off his hands all the china in his possession which bore
inscriptions, paying what he demanded. Had I waited till the sale of his
effects, which occurred within a few weeks, I could probably have
procured it for a fifth part of the sum which I paid, the other pieces
realizing very little. I did not, however, grudge the poor fellow what
he got from me, as I considered myself to be somewhat in his debt for the
information he had afforded me.

'As for the rest of my story, it may be briefly told. I followed the
advice of the shopkeeper and applied to a bookseller, who wrote to his
correspondent