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fpairing to feize the expected booty, they defited from their endeavours, and Jeft us to pursue our voyage without interruption.

Our joy on this occafion was great; but foon a difappointment more terrible, because unexpected, fucceeded. The barque, in which our women and treasure were fent off, was wrecked upon the banks of the Wolga, for want of a proper number of hands to manage her, and the whole crew carried by the peasants up the country. Of this, however, we were not fenfible till our arrival at Mofcow; where, expecting to meet our feparated barque, we were in

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formed of it's misfortune, and our lofs. Need I paint the fituation of my mind on this occafion! Need I defcribe all I feel, when I defpair of beholding the beautiful Zelis more! Fancy had dreffed the future profpect of my life in the gayeft colouring, but one unexpected ftroke of fortune has robbed it of every charm. Her dear idea mixes with every fcene of pleasure; and without her prefence to enliven it, the whole becomes tedious, infipid, infupportable. I will confefs, now that the is loft, I will confefs, I loved her; nor is it in the power of time, or of reafon, to erafe her image from my heart. Adieu..

LETTER XCV.

FROM LIEN CHI ALTANGI, TO HINGPO, AT MOSCOW

OUR misfortunes are mine. But as every period of life is marked with it's own, you must learn to endure them. Difappointed love makes the mifery of youth, disappointed ambition, that of manhood; and fuccefslets avarice, that of age. These three attack us through life; and it is our duty to ftand upon our guard. To love, we ought to oppofe diffipation, and endeavour to change the object of the affections; to ambition, the happiness of indolence and obfcurity; and to avarice, the fear of foon dying. Thefe are the fhields with which we fhould arm ourfelves; and thus make every scene of life, if not pleafing, at leatt fupportable.

Men complain of not finding a place of repofe. They are in the wrong; they have it for feeking. What they fhould indeed complain of is, that the heart is an enemy to that very repofe they feek. To themfelves alone fhould they impute their difcontent. They feek within the fhort fpan of life to fatisfy a thousand defires; each of which alone is infatiable. One month paffes and another comes on, the year ends, and then begins; but man is ftill unchanging in folly, ftill blindly continuing in prejudice. To the wife man, every climate and every foil is pleafug; to him a par

terre of flowers is the famous valley of gold; to him, a little brook, the foun

tain of the young peach-trees +;' to fuch a man, the melody of birds is more ravishing than the harmony of a full concert; and the tincture of the cloud preferable to the touch of the finest pencil.

The life of man is a journey: a journey that must be travelled, however bad the roads or the accommodation. If, in the beginning, it is found dangerous, narrow, and difficult, it must either grow better in the end, or we fhall by cuftom learn to bear it's inequality."

But though I fee you incapable of penetrating into grand principles, attend, at least, to a fimile adapted to every apprehenfion. I am mounted upon a wretched als. I fee another man be fore me upɔn a sprightly borse, at which I find fome unealinefs. I look behind me and fee numbers on foot ftooping under heavy burdens; let me learn to pity their estate, and thank Heaven for my own.

Shingfu, when under misfortunes, would, in the beginning, weep like a child; but he foon recovered his former tranquillity. After indulging grief for a few days, he would become, as ufual, the moft merry old man in all the province of Shanfi. About the time that

This letter is a rhapsody from the Maxims of the philofopher M. Vide Lett. curieufe et edifiant. Vide etiam du Halde, Vol. ii, p. 98, This paffage the editor does not understand..

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his

his wife died, his poffeffions were all confumed by fire, and his only fon fold into captivity; Shingfu grieved for one day, and the next went to dance at a mandarine's door for his dinner. The company were furprised to fee the old man fo merry when fuffering fuch great Joffes; and the mandarine himfelf coming out, asked him, how he, who had griev ed fo much, and given way to the calamity the day before, could now be fo chearful? You afk me one queftion,'

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cries the old man, let me

me answer by afking another: Which is the moll durable, a hard thing, or a foft thing; that which refifts, or that which makes no refistance? An hard thing, to be fure, replied the mandarine. There you are wrong, returned Shingfu; I am now fourfcore years old, and if you look in my mouth, you will find that I have lost all my teeth, but not a bit of my tongue. Adieu,

LETTER XCVI."

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FROM LIEN CHÍ ALTANGI, TO FUM HOAM, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE CEREMONIAL ACADEMY AT PEKIN, IN CHINA.

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THE manner of grieving for our departed friends in China is very different from that of Europe. The mourning colour of Europe is black; that of China white. When a parent or relation dies here, for they seldom mourn for friends, it is only clapping on a fuit of fables, grimacing it for a few days, and all, foon forgotten, goes on as before; not a fingle creature miffing the deceased, except perhaps a favourite houfe-keeper, or a favourite cat.

ample of forrow and decorum to our country, Pious country, where, if we do not grieve at the departure of our friends for their fakes, at least we are taught to regret them for our own.

All is very different here; amazement all. What fort of a people am I got among! Fum, thou fon of Fo, what fort of a people am I got amongft! No crawling round the coffin, no dreffing up in hempen bags; no lying on mats, or fitting on fools. Gentlemen here fhall put on first mourning with as fprightly an air as if preparing for a birth-night; and widows fhall actually drefs for another husband in their weeds for the former. The best jest of all is, that our merry mourners clap bits of mulin on their fleeves, and there are called weepers. Weeping muffin! alas, alas, very forrowful truly! Thefe weepers then, it feems, are to bear the whole burthen of the diftrefs,

. On the contrary, with us in China it is a very ferious affair. The piety with which I have feen you behave on one of thefe occafions fhould never be forgotten. I remember it was upon the death of thy grandmother's maiden filter. The coffin was expofed in the principal hall in public view. Before it were placed the figures of eunuchs, horfes, tortoifes, and other animals, in attitudes of grief and refpect. The more diftant relations of the old lady, and I among the num- But I have had the ftrongeft inftance ber, came to pay our compliments of of this contraft; this trag-comical becondolance, and to falute the deceafed haviour in diftrefs upon a recent occaafter the manner of our country. We fion. Their king, whofe depaiture, had fcarce prefented our wax-candles though fudden, was not unexpected, and perfumes, and given the howl of died after a reign of many years. His departure, when, crawling on his belly age, and uncertain ftate of health, ferved from under a curtain, out came the re in fome measure to diminish the forrow verend Fum Hoam himfelf, in all the of his fubjects; and their expectations difmal folemnity of diftrefs. Your looks from his fucceffor feemed to balance were fet for forrow; your cloathing con- their minds between uneafinefs and fafifted in an hempen bag, tied round the tisfaction, But how ought they to have neck with a ftring. For two long months behaved on fuch an occafion? Surely, did this mourning continue. By night they ought rather to have endeavoured you lay ftretched on a fingle mat, and to testify their gratitude to their de fate on the tool of difcontent by day. ceafed friend, than to proclaim their Pious man, who could thus fet an ex-bopes of the future. Sure even the fuc

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cefor must suppose their love to wear the face of adulation, which fo quickly changed the object. However, the very fame day on which the old king died, they made rejoicing for the new.

For my part, I have no conception of this new manner of mourning and rejoicing in a breath; of being merry and fad; of mixing a funeral proceffion with a jig and a bonfire. At leaft, it would have been juft, that they who flattered the king while living for virtues which he had not, should lament him dead for thofe he really had.

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In this univerfal cause for national diftrefs, as I had no intereft myself, fo it is but natural to suppose I felt no real affliction. In all the loffes of our friends, fays an European philofopher, we first confider how much our own welfare is affected by their departure, and moderate our réal grief juft in the fame proportion,' Now, as I had neither received nor expected to receive favours from kings or their flatterers; as I had no acquaintance in particular with their late monarch; as I knew that the place of a king is foon fupplied, and, as the Chinese proverb has it, That though the world may fometimes want coblers to mend their fhoes, there is no danger of it's want ing emperors to rule their kingdoms: from fuch confiderations, I could bear the lofs of a king with the most philofophic refignation. However, I thought it my duty at leaft to appear forrowful; to put on a melancholy alpect, or to fet my face by that of the people.

The first company I came amongst after the news became general, was a fet of jolly companions, who were drinking profperity to the enfuing reign. I entered the room with looks of defpair, and even expected applaufe for the fuperlative milery of my countenance. In tead of that, I was univerfally con

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demned by the company for a grimacing fon of a whore, and defired to take away my penitential phiz to fome other quarter. I now corrected my former miftake; and, with the moft fprightly air imaginable, entered a company, where they were talking over the ceremonies of the approaching funeral. Here I fat for fome time with an air of pert vivacity; when one of the chief mourner's immediately obferving my good humour, defired me, if I pleafed, to go and grin fomewhere elfe; they wanted no difaffected fcoundrels there. Leaving this company, therefore, I was refolved to affume a look perfectly neutral; and have ever fince been ftudying the fafhionable air: fomething between jest and earneft; a compleat virginity of face, uncontaminated with the fmallest fymptom of meaning.

But though grief be a very flight affair here, the mourning, my friend, is a very important concern. When an emperor dies in China, the whole expence of the folemnities is defrayed from the royal coffers. When the great die here, mandarines are ready enough to order mourning; but I do not fee that they are fo ready to pay for it. If they fend me down from court the grey umdreis frock, or the black coat without pocket holes, I am willing enough to comply with their commands, and wear both; but, by the head of Confucius! to be obliged to wear black, and buy it into the bargain, is more than my t'anquillity of teniper can bear. What, order me to wear mourning before they know whether I can buy it or no! Fum, thou fon of Fo, what fort of a people am I got amongft; where being out of black is a certain lymptom of poverty; where those who have miferable faces cannot have mourning, and thofe who have mourning will not wear a miferable

face!

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LETTER XCVII.

FROM THE SAME.

Tis ufual for the bookfellers here, when a book has given univerfal pleafure upon one fubject, to bring out leveral more upon the faime plan; which are fure to have purchasers and readers from that defire which all men have to

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cient to illuminate the fucceeding efforts; and no other fubject can be relished till that is exhaufted. A tupid work coming thus immediately in the train of an applauded performance, weans the mind from the object of it's pleasure; and refembles the sponge thruit into the mouth of a difcharged culverin, in order to adapt it for a new explosion.

This manner, however, of drawing off a fubject, or a peculiar mode of writ ing, to the dregs, effectually precludes a revival of that fubject or manner for fome time for the future; the fated reader turns from it with a kind of literary naufea; and though the titles of books are the part of them most read, yet he has fcarce perfeverance enought to wade through the title-page.

Of this number I own myfelf one; I am now grown callous to leveral fubjects, and different kinds of compofition. Whether fach originally pleased, I will not take upon me to determine; but at prefent I fpurn a new book merely upon feeing it's name in an advertisement; nor have the smallest curiofity to look beyond the fift leaf, even though in the fecond the author proinites his own face neatly engraved on copper.

I am become a perfect epicure in reading; plain beef or folid mutton will never do. I am for a Chinefe difh of bears claws and birds netts. I am for fance strong with affafoetida, or fuming with garlick. For this reafon there are an hundred very wife, learned, virtuous, well-intended productions, that have no charms for me. Thus, for the sbui of me, I could never find courage nor grace enough to wade above two pages deep into Thoughts upon God and Nature; or, " Thoughts upon Providence; or, Thoughts upon #Free Graces or indeed into Thoughts pon any thing at all I can no longer meditate with Meditations for every day in the year; Effays upon divers fubjects cannot allure me, though never fo intereftings and as for Funeral Sennons, or even Thanksgiving Sermons, I can neither weep with the one, nor rejoice With the other.

But it is chiefly in gentle poetry, Where I feldom look farthers than the title. The truth is, take up books to Be told fomething new; but here; as it is how managedy the renderis told noHe opens the book, and there aaqs.i nave LIS JUL NOND

finds very good words, truly, and muéte» exactness of rhyme, but no information. A parcel of gaudy images pafs on bea fore his imagination like the figures in a dream; but curiosity, induction, reafon, and the whole train of affections, are faft asleep. The jocunda et idonea vite; thofe fallies which mend the heart? while they amufe the fancy, are quite forgotten; fo that a reader who would take up fome modern applauded performances of this kind, must, in order to be pleased, firft leave his good fenfe behind him, take for his recompence and guide bloated and compound epithet, and dwell on paintings, juft indeed, becaufe laboured with minute ex-" aftnefs.

If we examine, however, our internal fenfations, we fhall find ourselves but little pleased with fuch laboured va nities; we fhall find that our applaufe rather proceeds from a kind of conta gion caught up from others, and which we contribute to diffufe, than from what we privately feel. There are fome fabjects of which almost all the world perceive the futility; yet all combine in impofing upon each other, as worthy of praife. But chiefly this imposition obe tains in literature, where men publicly' contemn what they relish with rapture in private, and approve abroad what has given them difguit at home. The truth is, we deliver thofe criticifms in public which are supposed to be beft calculated not to do justice to the author, but to imprefs others with an opinion of our fuperior discernment.

But let works of this kind, whìch have already come off with fuch applaufe, enjoy it all. It is neither my with to diminish, as I was never confiderable enough to add to their fame. But, for the future, I fear there are many poens of which I fhall find (pirits to read but the title. In the first place, ali odes upon winter, or fummer, or autuhin ; in fhort, all odes, epodes, and monodies whatsoever, fhall hereafter be deemed too polite, claffical, obfcure, and refined, to be read, and entirely above human comprehension, Paftorals are pretty enough for thofe that like them to me Thyris is one of the most insipid fellows I ever converted with; and as for Corridon, I do not chufe his company: Elegies and epiftles are very fine to thofe to whom they are addressed;

but

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and as for epic poems, I am generally of the human breast; that we should nor able to discover the whole plan in read--, resist Heaven's will, før in resisting Heaing the two first pages. ven's will, Heaven's will is achtted; with feveral other feriments equally new, delicate, and Ariking. Every new tragedy, therefore, I shall go to fee; for reflections of this nature make a tolerable harmony, when mixed up withea proper quantity of drum, crumpet, thunder, lightning, or the seene-shifter's whittle. Adieu. To bud & to

Tragedies, however, as they are now made, are good instructive moral fer mons enough; and it would be a fault not to be pleased with good things. There I learn feveral great truths; as, that it is impoffible to fee into the ways of fu turity; that punishment always attends the villain; that love is the fond foother

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FROM LIEN CHI ALTANGI, TO FUM HOAM, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE CEREMONIAL ACADEMY AT PEKIN, IN CHINA, 201

I Had forme intentions lately of going tinget. I, as we fet forward, At what

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reafons have you to think an affair að lalt concluded, which has given fo many former disappointments?" --/ My lawyer tells me, returned he, that I have Salkeld and Ventris strong in my favour, and that there are no less than fifteen cafes in point, I understand,' faid I, thofe are two of your judges who have already declared their opinions. Pardon me," replied my friend, Salkeld and Ventris are lawyers who some hundred years ago gave their opinion on cafes fimilar to mine; these opinions which make for me my lawyer is to cite, and those opinions, which look another way are cited by the lawyer employed by my

to vifit Bedlam, the place where those who go mad are confined, I went to wait upon the man in black to be my conductor, but I found him preparing to go to Weltminster Hall, where the English hold their courts of justice. It gave me fome furprize to find my friend engaged in a law-fuit, but more fo when he informed me that it had been depending for feveral years. How is ⚫it poffible, cried I, for a man who knows the world to go to law ! I am ⚫ well acquainted, with the courts of juftice în China; they resemble rattraps every one of them, nothing ⚫ more easy to get in, but to get out again is attended with some difficulty, and more cunning than rats are geantagonist: as I obferved, I have Sal nerally found to poffefs!'

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Faith,' replied my friend, I should not have gone to law, but that I was • affured of fuccefs before I began;

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keld and Ventris for me, he has Coke and Hales for him, and, he that has moft opinions is most likely to carry his caufe. But where is the necef

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things were prefented to me in fo alfity,' cried I, of prolonging a fuit luring a light, that I thought by barely declaring myself a candidate for the prize, I had nothing more to do but to enjoy the fruits of the victory. Thus have I been upon the eve of an imaginary triumph every term these ⚫ ten years; have travelled forward with victory ever in my view, but ever out of reach however, at prefent, I fancy we ⚫ have hampered our antagonist in fuch f a manner, that, without fome unfore feen demur, we fhall this very day lay f. him fairly on his back.'

4. If things be fo fituated,' faid I, I I do not care if I attend you to the • courts, and partake in the pleasure of f your fuccess. But,, pr'ythee,' con←

by citing the opinions and reports of others, lince the fame good fenfe which determined lawyers in former ages may ferve to guide your judges at this day? They at that time gave their 'opinions only from the light of reafong your judges have the fame light at present to direct them; let me even add, a greater, as in former ages there were many prejudices from which the prefent is happily free. If arguing from authorities be exploded from every other branch of learning, why fhould it be particularly adhered to in this? I plainly foresee how fuch a method of investigation must embarrafe every fuit, and even perplex the ftu

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⚫dent

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