Reading Chinese in Oxford - Map of China: Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer - page 57

no one could read Chinese? Was he showing that, yes, he had mastered the most
elusive Oriental language in the Bodleian catalogue? Was he seeking to elevate
himself above the already exclusive club of Orientalists by declaring that he alone
had mastered Chinese? Or was learning some Chinese simply the most exciting
study he ever did?
These suspicions pushed another question to the forefront as I stared up at his
portrait. Hyde never learned that Michael Shen succumbed to sickness on board
ship between the Cape of Good Hope and Mozambique, but surely he should have
imagined that the time would come when people other than Michael who actually
knew Chinese would look at the portrait and unmask this gentle fraud. Perhaps I
am being unfair. Who of us can look into the future and guess with any confidence
what will become common knowledge and what will sink into obscurity? Where
Hyde stood at the end of the seventeenth century, there were no Chinese at hand
and none on the way. He stood alone, a sentinel at a lonely frontier post.
Just before retiring as Keeper in 1701, Hyde wrote to the Archbishop of Can-
terbury to offer advice regarding his replacement. The new Keeper must 'have the
advantage of the Eastern languages,' Hyde stressed, 'otherwise, he will be much
in the darke'. It was sensible advice, but the tide of scholarly fashion was already
flowing in a different direction. The wonder-seekers were looking elsewhere by
then;theystillare,forthatmatter.NoscholarofOrientallanguageswilleveragain
head that library. As for deciphering Chinese documents, there are specialists for
that sort of thing. Like me.
We're finished in the library. As we leave the stacks and head to sea, we must
alsomovebackintimetothemaritimetradingworldthattheSeldenmapcaptures,
back before John Selden ever picked up the thread that started at his meeting with
King James.