tholic missionaries established in Pekin attend by turns, as a part of the duties of their office, in order, as one of them expressed himself tó me on this subject, to chuse among them those that are the most lively, to make future proselytes, and by the administration of baptism to such of the rest as might be still alive, pour leur sauver l'ame. The Mahomedans who, at the time that their services were useful in assisting to prepare the national calendar, had a powerful influence at court, did much better: these zealous bigots to a religion, whose least distinguishing feature is that of humanity, were, however, on these occasions, the means of saving the lives of all the little innocents they possibly could save from this maw of death, which was an humane act, although it might be for the purpose of bringing them up in the principles of their own faith. I was assured by one of the christian missionaries, with whom I had daily conversation during a residence of five weeks within the walls of the emperor's palace at Yuenmin-yuen, and who took his turn in attending, pour leur sauver l'ame, that such scenes were sometimes exhibited on these occasions as to make the feeling mind shudder with horror. When I mention that dogs and swine are let loose in all the narrow streets of the capital, the reader may conceive what will sometimes necessarily happen to the exposed infants, before the police-carts can pick them up.".

"The natural colour both of the Chinese and Tartars seems to be that tint between a fur and dark complexion, which we distinguish by the word brunet or brunette; and the shades of this complexion are deeper, or lighter, according as they have been more or less exposed to the influence of the climate.

The women of the lower class, who labour in the fields or who dwell in vessels, are almost invariably coarse, ill-featured, and of a deep brown complexion, like that of the Hottentot. But this we find to be the case among the poor of almost every nation. Hard labour, scanty fare, and early and frequent parturition, soon wither the delicate buds of beauty. The sprightliness and expression of the features, as well as the colour of the skin, which distinguish the higher ranks from the vulgar, are the effects of ease and education. We saw wo men in China, though very few, that might pass for beauties even in Europe. The Malay features however prevail in most; a small black or dark brown eye, a short rounded nose, generally a little flattened, lips considerably thicker than in Europeans, and black hair, are universal.

"The Man-tchoo Tartars would appear to be composed of a mixed race: among these we observed several, both men and women, that were extremely fair and of florid complexions: some had light blue eyes, straight or aquiline noses, brown hair, immense bushy beards, and had much more the appearance of Greeks than of Tartars. It is certainly not improbable that the Greeks of Sogdiana, whose descendants must have blended with the western Tartars and with whom the Man-tchoos were connected, may have communicated this cast of countenance. Tchien-Lung, whose nose was somewhat aquiline and complexion florid, used to boast of his descent from Gengis-khan : these, however, are exceptions to the general character, which is evidently the same as that of the Chinese.

"But although their appearance and manners are externally the

same, a closer acquaintance soon discovers that in disposition they are widely different. Those who are better pleased with a blunt sincerity bordering on rudeness, than a studied complaisance approaching to servility; who may think it better to be robbed openly than cheated civilly, will be apt to give the preference to the Tartar cha,racter. Yet those Tartars of distinction, who fill some of the higher situations in the state, soon lose their native roughness, and are scarcely distinguishable in their manners and demeanour from the Chinese.

"The ease, politeness, and dignified carriage of the old viceroy of Pe-tche-lee, who was a Man-tchoo, could not be exceeded by the most practised courtier in modern Europe: the attention he showed to every thing that concerned the embassy, the unaffected manner in which he received and entertained us at Tien-sing; the kindness and condescension with which he gave his orders to the inferior officers and to his domestics, placed him in a very amiable point of view. He

was a very fine old man of seventy, eight years of age, of low stature, with small sparkling eyes, a be, nign aspect, a long silver beard, and the whole of his appearance calm, venerable, and dignified, The manners of Sun-ta-gin, a relation of the emperor and one of the six ministers of state, were no less dignified, easy, and engaging; and Chung-ta-gin, the new viceroy of Canton, was a plain, unassuming, and good-natured man. The prime minister Ho-chang-tong, the little Tartar legate, and the ex-viceroy of Canton, were the only persons of rank among the many we had occasion to converse with that discovered the least ill-humour, distant hauteur, and want of complaisance. All the rest with whom we had any concern, whether Tartars or Chinese, when in our private society, were easy, affable, and familiar, extremely good-humoured, loquacious, communicative. It was in public only, and towards each other, that they assumed their ceremo nious gravity, and practised all the tricks of demeanour which custom requires of them."

“

A'

all the departments connected with the court, although somewhat modified by the personal disposition of those at their head; but as to that genuine politeness which distinguishes our manners, it cannot be expected in Orientals, considering among other things the light in which they are accustomed to regard the female

tribunals,

tribunals, sometimes relax from the stiff and formal deportment observed towards each other in pub. lic, I am not able to say; but when at court they invariably observe certain stated forms and expressions, as studied and ceremonious as if they had never met before. It appeared to us highly ridiculous to see our friends, the two colleagues Van-ta-gin and Chou-ta-gin, on meeting in the precincts of the palace, performing to each other all the genuflexions and motions of the body which the ceremonial institutes of the empire require.

"I rather suspect, however, that where any degree of confidence prevails among these people they sometimes enjoy their moments of conviviality. Our two worthy conductors met at Canton an old ac quaintance who was governor of a city in Fokien. He gave them an evening entertainment on the river in a splendid yacht to which I was privately invited. On entering the great cabin I found the three gentlemen with each a young girl by his side very richly dressed, the cheeks, lips, and chin highly rouged, the rest of the face and neck whitened with a preparation of cerate. I was welcomed by a cup of hot wine from each of the ladies, who first sipped by way of pledging me. During supper, which for number and variety of dishes exceeded any thing I had hitherto met with in the country, the girls played on the flute and sung several airs; but there was nothing very captivating either in the vocal or instrumental part of the music. We passed a most convivial evening, free from any reserve or restraint; but on going away I was particularly desired by Van not to take any notice of what I had seen, apprehensive, I suppose, that their brother officers might condemn their want of prudence in

admitting a barbarian to witness their relaxation from good morals. The yacht and the ladies it seemed were hired for the occasion.

"The incalculable numbers of the great officers of state and their attendants, all robed in the richest silks, embroidered with the most brilliant colours, and tissued with gold and silver, the order, silence, and solemnity with which they arrange and conduct themselves on public court-days, are the most commanding features on such occasions.

"This sober pomp of Asiatic grandeur is exhibited only at certain fixed festivals; of which the principal is the anniversary of the emperor's birth-day, the commencement of a new year, the ceremonial of holding the plough, and the reception of foreign embassadors, most of whom they contrive to be present at one or other of these festivals. The birth-day is considered to be the most splendid; when all the Tartar princes and tributaries, and all the principal officers of government both civil and military, are expected to be present.

"For reasons of state, whia will be noticed hereafter, the emperor rarely shows himself in public among the Chinese part of his subjects, except on such occasions; and even then the exhibition is confined within the precincts of the palace, from which the populace are entirely excluded. Consistent with their system of sumptuary laws, there is little external appearance of pomp or magnificence in the establishment of the emperor. The buildings that compose the palace and the furniture within them, if we except the paint, the gilding, and the varnish, that appear on the houses even of plebeians, are equally void of unnecessary and expen

F4

sive

sive ornaments. Those who should rely on the florid relations, in which the missionaries and some travellers have indulged in their descriptions of the palaces of Pekin and those of Yuen-min-yuen, would experience on visiting them a woeful disappointment. These buildings, like the common habitations of the country, are all modelled after the form of a tent, and are magnificent only by a comparison with the others and by their number, which is sufficient, indeed, to form a town of themselves. Their walls are higher than those of ordinary houses, their wooden columns of greater diameter, their roofs are immense, and a greater variety of painting and gilding may be bestowed on the different parts; but none of them exceeds one story in height, and they are jumbled and surrounded with mean and insignificant hovels. Some writer has observed that the king of England is worse lodged at St. James's palace than any sovereign in Europe. Were I to compare some of the imperial palaces in China to any royal residence in Europe it would certainly be to St. James's; but the apartments, the furniture, and conveniences of the latter, bad as they are, infinitely transcend those in China. The stone or clay floors are indeed sometimes covered with a carpet of English broad-cloth, and the walls papered; but they have no glass in the windows, no stoves, fire-places, or firegrates in the rooms; no sofas, bureaux, chandeliers, nor lookingglasses; no book-cases, prints, nor paintings. They have neither curtains nor sheets to their beds; a bench of wood, or a platform of brick-work, is raised in an alcove, on which are mats or stuffed mattresses, hard pillows, or cushions, according to the season of the year;

any

of

instead of doors they have usually skreens, made of the fibres of bam boo. In short, the wretched lodg. ings of the state-officers at the court of Versailles, in the time of the French monarchy, were princely palaces in comparison of those al fotted to the first ministers of the emperor of China, in the capital as well as at Yuen-min-yuen.

"When attending the court, on public occasions, each courtier takes his meal alone in his solitary cell on a small square table crowded with bowls of rice and various stews; without table-linen or napkins, with out knife, fork, or spoon; a pair of small sticks, or the quills of a por cupine, are the only substitutes for these convenient articles: placing the bowl under his chin, with these he throws the rice into his mouth and takes up the pieces of meat in his soup or stews. Having finished his lonely meal, he generally lies down to sleep. In a government so suspicious as that of China, if parties were known to meet toge ther, the object of them might be supposed something beyond that of conviviality, which however mu tual jealousy and distrust have prevented from growing into common use."

"It would be impossible to com. pliment the court of Pekin on the elegance and refinement of its entertainments, but at the expense of truth and reason. Those of Tartar origin will no more bear a compa rison with the noble contests of strength and agility displayed by the old hardy Romans in the Circensian games, than the regular drama of the Chinese will admit of being measured by the softer, but more refined and rational amusements of a similar kind in Europe. It is true the scenic representations in the decline of the Roman em pire, as they are described to us, ap

pear

pear to have been as rude and barbarous as those of the Chinese. They began by exhibiting in their vast amphitheatre the rare and wonderful productions of nature. Forests enlivened with innumerable birds; caverns pouring forth lions, and tygers, and panthers, and other beasts of prey; plains covered with the elephant, the rhinoceros, the zebra, the ostrich, and other curious animals, which the wilds of Africa furnished, were all brought together within the circuit of the arena. Not satisfied with the rich productions of the earth, the sea must also become tributary to their amusements. The arena was convertible into a sheet of water; and, at length, the two elements concluding a marriage, as on the Chinese theatre, produced a race of monsters which, according to the Latin poet's description, might vie with those of China.

«Non solum nobis sylvestria cernere

Europeans; but in the variety of their fire-works they, perhaps, may carry the palm against the whole world. In every other respect the amusements of the capital of China appear to be of a low and trifling nature, neither suited to the affected gravity of the government nor to the generally supposed state of civilization among the people.

"The old emperor, as he observed to lord Macartney, seldom partook of such amusements. Considering, indeed, all the circumstances connected with the reign of the present dynasty on the throne, the government of an empire of such vast magnitude, stored with an almost incalculable population, must necessarily be a task of inconceivable vigilance and toil; a task that must have required all the time, the talents, and the attention of the four sovereigns to ensure the brilliant and unparalleled successes that have distinguished their long reign. Tchien-Lung, at the age of eighty-three, was so

little afflicted with the infirmities of

age, that he had all the appearance and activity of a hale man of sixty. His eye was dark, quick, and penetrating, his nose rather aquiline, and his complexion, even at this advanced age, was forid. about five feet ten inches, and he His height I should suppose to be was perfectly upright. Though neither corpulent nor muscular at eighty-three, it was not difficult to perceive that he once had possessed great bodily strength. He always enjoyed a vigorous constitution, which the regularity of his life did not impair. Like all the Man-tchoo Tartars he was fond of hunting, an exercise that during the summer months he never neglected. He had the reputation of being an expert bowman, and inferior only in drawing this weapon to his grand

father