ket by her parents, and publicly sold for a slave. In cases of mutual dislike, or incompatibility of temper, the woman is generally sent back to her parents. A woman can inherit no property, but it may be left to her by will. If a widow has no children, or females only, the property descends to the nearest male relation on the deceased husband's side, but he must maintain the daughters until he can provide them with husbands.

"The prohibition against the frequent intercourse with modest females, for there are public women in every great city, is not attended here with the effect of rendering the pursuit more cager; nor does it increase the ardour, as among the ancient Spartans, who were obliged to steal, as it were, the embraces of their lawful wives. In China it seems to have the contrary effect of promoting that sort of connexion which, being one of the greatest violations of the laws of nature, ought to be considered among the first of moral crimes-a connexion that sinks the man many degrees below the brute. The commission of this detestable and unnatural act is attended with so little sense of shame, or feelings of delicacy, that many of the first officers of state seemed to make no hesitation in publicly avowing it. Each of these officers is constantly attended by his pipe-bearer, who is generally a handsome boy, from fourteen to eighteen years of age, and is always well dressed. In pointing out to our notice the boys of each other, they made use of signs and motions, the meaning of which was too obvious to be misinterpreted. The two Mahomedans, I observe, who

"It has been remarked that this unnatural crime prevails most in those countries where polygamy is allowed, that is to say, in those countries where the affections of women are not consulted, but their persons purchased for gold-—a remark which may lead to this couclusion, that it is rather a moral turpitude than a propensity arising from physical or local causes.

"The appetite for female intercourse soon becomes glutted by the facility of enjoyment; and where women, so circumstanced, can only receive the embraces of their proprietors from a sense of duty, their coldness and indifference, the necessary consequence of such connexions, must also increase in the men the tendency to produce satiety. I think it has been observed that, even in Europe, where females in general have the superior advantage of fixing their own value upon themselves, it is the greatest rakes and debauchees, who,

- bred

fly sometimes in search of fresh enjoyment in the detestable way here alluded to.*

"I have already observed that the state of domestic society, in China was ill calculated to promote the affection and kindness which children not only owe to, but really feel for their parents, in many countries of Europe. A tyrant, in fact, to command, and a slave to obey, are found in every family; for, where the father is a despot, the son will naturally be a slave; and if all the little acts of kindness and silent attentions, that create mutual endearments, be wanting among the members of the same family, living under the same roof, it will be in vain to expect to find them in the enlarged sphere of public life. In fact, they have no kind of friendly societies nor meetings to talk over the transactions and the news of the day. These can only take place in a free government. A Chinese having finished his daily employment, retires to his solitary apartment. There are, it is true, a sort of publichouses where the lower orders of people sometimes resort for their cup of tea or of seau-tchoo (a kind of ardent spirit distilled from a mixture of rice and other grain), but such houses are seldom, if at all, frequented for the sake of compa

ny. They are no incitement, as those are of a similar kind in Europe, to jovial pleasures or to vulgar ebriety. From this odious vice the bulk of the people are entirely frce. Among the multitudes which we daily saw, in passing from one extremity of the country to the other, I do not recollect having ever met with a single instance of a man being disguised in liquor. In Canton, where the lower orders of people are employed by Europeans, and necessarily mix with European scamen, intoxication is not unfrequent among the natives, but this vice forms no part of the general character of the people. Whenever a few Chinese happen to meet together, it is generally for the purpose of gaming, or to eat a kettle of boiled rice, or drink a pot of tea, or smoke a pipe of tobacco.

"The upper ranks indulge at home in the use of opium. Great quantities of this intoxicating drug are smuggled into the country, notwithstanding all the precautions taken by the government to prohibit the importation of it; but it is too expensive to be used by the common people. The officers of the customs are not beyond a bribe. After receiving the sum agreed upon between the importer and themselves, they frequently become the purchasers of the prohibited article. Most of the country ships from Bengal carry opium to China; but that of Turkey sent from London in the China ships is preferred, and sells at near double the price of the

their virtues."

other.

other. The governor of Canton, after describing, in one of his late proclamations on the subject, the pernicious and fatal effects arising from the use of opium, observes, "Thus it is, that foreigners by the means of a vile excrementitious "substance, derive from this em66 pire the most solid profits and ad"vantages; but that our country"men should blindly pursue this "destructive and ensnaring vice, " even till death is the consequence, "without being undeceived, is in"deed a fact odious and deplorable "in the highest degree." Yet the governor of Canton very composedly takes his daily dose of opium.

"The young people have no occasional assemblies for the purpose of dancing, and of exercising themselves in feats of activity, which in Europe are attended with the happy effects of shaking off the gloom and melancholy that a life of constant labour or seclusion from society is apt to promote. They have not even a fixed day of rest set apart for religious worship. Their acts of devotion partake of the same solitary cast that prevails in their domestic life. In none of the different sects of religion, which at various times have been imported into, and adopted in China, has congregational worship been inculcated, which, to that country in particular, may be considered as a great misfortune. For independent of religious considerations, the sabbatical institution is attended with advantages of a physical as well as of a moral nature; and humanity is not less concerned than policy, in consecrating one day out of seven, or some other given number, to the service of the great Creator, and to rest from bodily labour. When

the government of France, in the height of her rage for innovation, fell into the hands of atheistical demagogues, when her temples were polluted, and every thing sacred was invaded and profaned, the seventh day was considered as a relic of ancient superstition, and the observance of it accordingly abolished; and about the same time it became the fashion among a certain description in our own country; as being, for example, a day for the encouragement of idleness, drunkenness, and dissipation. Such a remark could only be applied to large cities and towns; and in crowded manufacturing towns the mechanic, who can subsist by working three days in the week, would be at no loss in finding opportunities, were there no sabbath day, in the course of the other four to commit irregularities. And who, even for the sake of the mechanic and artificer, would wish to see the labouring peasant deprived of one day's rest out of seven, which to him is more precious than the wages he has so hardly earned the other six? What man possessed of common feelings of humanity, in beholding the decent and modest husbandman, accompanied by his family in their best attire, attending the parish church, does not participate in the smile of content which on this day particularly beams on his countenance, and bespeaks the serenity of his mind? Having on this day discharged his duty to God, refreshed his body with rest, enjoyed the comfort of clean clothing, and exercised his mind in conversing with his neighbours, he returns with double vigour to his daily labours, having, as Mr. Addison observes in one of his Spectators, "rubbed off the rust of the week."

"The first of the new year in China, and a few succeeding days, are the only holidays, properly speaking, that are observed by the working part of the community. On these days the poorest peasant makes a point of procuring new clothing for himself and his family they pay their visit to friends and relations, interchange civilities and compliments, make and receive presents; and the officers of government and the higher ranks give feasts and entertainments. But even in those feasts there is nothing bears the resemblance of conviviality. The guests never partake together of the same service of dishes, but each has frequently his separate table; sometimes two, but never more than four sit at the same table; and their eyes must constantly be kept upon the master of the feast, to watch all his motions, and to observe every - morsel he puts into his mouth, and every time he lifts the cup to his lips; for the Chinese of good breeding can neither eat nor drink without a particular ceremony, to which the guests must pay attention. If a person invited should from sickness or any accident be prevented from fulfilling his engagement, the portion of the dinner that was intended to be placed on his table is sent in procession to his own house; a custom that strongly points out the very little notion they entertain of the social pleasures of the table. It is customary to send after each guest the remains of his dinner. Whenever in the course of our journey we visited a governor or viceroy of a province, we generally found him at the head of a range of tables, covered with a multitude of dishes, which invariably were marched af ter us to the yachts. Martial, if I

mistake not, has some allusion to a similar custom among the Romans. Each carried his own napkin to a feast, which being filled with the remains of the entertainment, was sent home by a slave; but this appears to have been done more out of compliment to the host, to shew the great esteem in which they held his cheer, than for the sake of the viands; for the Romans loved conviviality.

"The Chinese, also, like the Egyptians, as exemplified in the enormous mess which Joseph gave to little Benjamin above the rest of his brothers, testify on all occasions, that they consider the measure of a man's stomach to depend more upon the rank of its owner, than either his bulk or appetite. The embassadors allowance was at least five times as big as that of any person in his suite. In this particular, however, these nations are not singular, neither in ancient nor in modern times. The kings of Sparta, and, indeed, every Grecian hero, were always supposed to eat twice the quantity of a common soldier ; and the only difference with regard to our heroes of the present day, consists in their being enabled to convert quantity into quality, an advantage for which they are not a little indebted to the invention of money, into which all other articles can be commuted.

"Whatever may be the occasion of bringing together a few idlers, they seldom part without trying their luck at some, game of chance, for which a Chinese is never unprepared. He rarely goes abroad without a pack of cards in his pocket, or a pair of dice. Both of these, like almost every thing else in the country, are different from similar*

articles

articles elsewhere.

Their cards are much more numerous than ours, and their games much more complicated. Nor are they at any loss, even if none of the party should happen to be furnished with cards or dice; on such an emergency, their fingers are employed to answer the purpose, which are all that is required to play the game of Tsoimoi, a game of which the lower class of people is particularly fond. Two persons, sitting directly opposite to each other, raise their hands at the same moment, when each calls out the number he guesses to be the sum of the fingers expanded by himself and his adversary. The closed fist is none, the thumb one, the thumb and fore-finger two, &c. so that the chances lie between 0 and 5, as each must know the number held out by himself. The middling class of people likewise play at this game when they give entertainments where wine is served, and the loser is always obliged to drink off a cup of wine. At this childish game two persons will play to a very late hour, till he who has had the worst of the game, has been obliged to drink so much wine, that he can no longer see either to count his own or his adversary's fingers. I have thus particularly noticed the Chinese Tsoimoi, on account of the extraordinary coincidence between it and a game in use among the Romans, to which frequent allusion is made by Cicero. In a note by Melancthon, on Cicero's Offices, it is thus described: Micare digitis, ludi 66 genus est; sic ludentes, simul digitos alterius manus quot volunt "citissime erigunt, et simul ambo "divinant quot simul erecti sint;

VOL. XLVI.

"quod qui definivit, lucratus est: "unde acri visu opus, et multa fide "ut cum aliquo in tenebris mices." "Micare digitis, is a kind of game. "Those who play at it stretch out, "with great quickness, as many "fingers of one hand each, as they "please, and at the same instant "both guess how many are held up "by the two together; and he who guesses right wins the game : hence a sharp sight is necessary, "and also great confidence when it "is played in the dark."

"The Chinese have certainly the acer visus, but I doubt much whether they have faith enough in each other's integrity to play at the game of fingers in the dark; which, in the opinion of Cicero, was a strong test of a truly honest man. The same game is said to be still played in Italy, under the name of Morra*.

"The officers about Yuen-miRyuen used to play a kind of chess, which appeared to me to be essentially different from that game as played by the Persians, the Indians, and other oriental nations, both with regard to the lines drawn on the board, the form of the chessmen, and the moves, from which I should rather conclude it to be a game of their own invention, than an introduction either from India, or by the army of Gengis-khan, as some authors have conjectured.

"The spirit of gaming is so universal in most of the towns and cities, that in almost every bye-corner, groups are to be found playing at cards or throwing dice. They are accused even of frequently staking the wives and children into slavery; there can be little remorse in the breast of a gamester reduced to