After successfully accomplishing his journey, as has been already mentioned, Goes was detained for some seventeen months at the frontier city of Suchen, and there died a few days after the arrival of the native Christian whom Ricci and his comrades at Peking had sent to his aid and comfort.' The narrative of his journey was put together, apparently by Ricci himself, from some fragment of Benedict's note-book, along with the oral statements of his faithful comrade Isaac the Armenian, and was published after the death of Ricci, with other matter that he had compiled concerning China and the mission history, in the work of Trigautius (Trigault) entitled De Christiana' .Expeditione aped Sinas. From this our translation has been made, but some additional particulars given by Jarric from the Indian reports, and from the letters which Goes was occasionally during his journey able to send back to his superiors at Agra or Goa, have been brought forward in the notes. Altogether it is a miserably meagre record of a journey so interesting and important ; and
1 Matthew Ricci was born at Macerata, in the March of Ancona, in 1552. He entered the Jesuit Society in 1571. Being sent to India, he reached Goa in 1578, but speedily left it for Macao on being chosen by Father Valignan, the founder of the Jesuit Mission in China, as one of his aids. Not till 1583, however, were they able to establish themselves in the Canton territory. Ricci's great object for a long time was to get to Peking, and he did reach it in 1595, but was obliged, by an accidental excitement among the Chinese, to withdraw to Nanking. In 1600, he was enabled to go again, carrying presents, which had come from Europe for the Emperor. He was admitted ; and having acquired the Emperor's favour, he devoted himself to the mission at the capital. Some striking conversions were made ; and Ricci's science and literary works in Chinese gained him much esteem among the most eminent persons at Peking. He died 11th May, 1610, leaving Adam Schall to succeed him. The chief literary men of the city attended his funeral. His name appears in the Chinese annals as Li-mated. The principles of Ricci as a missionary appear to have been to stretch conciliation as far as possible; and to seek the respect of the educated Chinese by the display of superior scientific attainments. As regards the former point, he is accused of having led the way in those dubious concessions which kindled the disputes that ended in the downfal of the missions. He was the first European to compose books in Chinese. His works of this kind were fifteen in number, and one of them is said to have been included in a collection of the best Chinese writers ordered by the Emperor Khian-lung (see Ternusat's article in Biog. Universelle).
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