Book on China and Learning Chinese from 1847

[gato]

I was playing around with public domain books on Google Books and found this book by a former interpreter to the British Consul at Canton in the 1840s. It's filled with his observations on the Chinese language, culture, and government. I've only skimmed it so far, and it looks fairly amusing.

He writes in the preface that he learned his Chinese at the Royal University of Munich in 1841, with the goal of seeking a job in China with the British foreign service.

http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC02099210&id=WiZFUA4UqbMC&printsec=toc&dq=chinese+language&as_brr=1&hl=zh-CN

Desultory Notes on the Government and People of China, and on the Chinese Language：Illustrated...

Author: Thomas Taylor Meadows

http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node2245/node63852/node63862/node63875/node64499/userobject1ai58098.html

密迪乐（Thomas Taylor Meadows　1815～1868年）

英国人。大学毕业后赴德国慕尼黑大学留学，习中文。1843 年奉派至香港，旋至英国驻广州领事馆任翻译。1852年初调往上海，仍任翻译。后随英国驻华公使文翰访问太平军控制下的南京，同年冬因病回国休假。 1856年返沪任副领事，旋升任宁波及上海领事。1861年2月，上书英国外交大臣罗素，对太平天国表示同情。后调职盛京、牛庄。1868年卒于牛庄任上。著有《中国人及其革命》，记载太平天国初期历史甚详。还曾将一些满文资料翻译成英文。