Chapter 10: Feigned Earnestness Before the Provincial Inspector: Turning the Tables

From: Hau Kiou Choaan, or The Pleasing History. Translated by James Wilkinson, edited by Thomas Percy (London, 1761)

Note: This text was digitized via OCR from the original 1761 print. Some scan errors may remain -- compare with the modern translation and Chinese original to verify.

[Volume II, Book II, Chapters IX-X]

CHAP. IX.^[1]

Shuey-guwin carried the paper of verses to his niece. "Well, said he, to oblige you I have made enquiry, and find it to be true. It is a very dirty business^[2]. When I told you before that this man was a cheat, and every thing that was bad, you would not believe me. Now I have brought a convincing proof of it. You will both find that he is so; and that he hath caused reflections to be thrown upon us." She asked him, "What he meant?"

He answered, "As I went to the Che-hien's, I saw a croud of people reading a paper; so many, that I was not able to come near. I heard them say there were more in other places. I went in search, and accordingly found one. I thought you would not believe me, so I took it down and here have brought it." The young lady having opened and read the paper, fell a laughing, and said to her uncle, "Kong-bob, or much joy!" "Why, said he, do you give me joy? What do you mean by it?" She answered, "Because you, that a little while ago could neither write nor read, are now able of a sudden to compose and write verses."

"Whatever others, said he, might be disposed to believe concerning me, you know very well my insufficiency, and how incapable I am of any such thing. You are disposed to be merry." "It is true, said she, it was not you that made them, but Kwo-khe-tzu. They are the offspring of his masterly pencil^[3]." "Alas! answered Shuey-guwin, he is looked upon as a man of letters: so am I. But he knows as little as myself. Far from being master of his pencil, he knows not how to use it at all^[4]." "If he knows not how to handle his pencil, said the young lady, he knows how to use his tongue. The composition is altogether his own." "Why, said Shuey-guwin, should you talk thus? He is no enemy to Tieh-chung-u, what reason then could he have to abuse him?"

"Think not, replied she, I am unacquainted with what passes in the breast of your son-in-law. He was alone the author of these verses. Nobody besides him knows any thing of the stranger. But fine as their composition may be, your niece, Sir, is a weak filly girl, and so far from being able to discover their beauties, she cannot even comprehend their meaning. How then can she be touched or affected by them? You had better lay aside all thoughts of this kind, and not spend your time to so little purpose."

Shuey-guwin was so disconcerted, that he had not a word to offer farther on that head; but he said, "Niece, there is one thing I have to tell you. Think not that Kwo-khe-tzu will ever give you up; or lay aside his thoughts of you. He waits for the sanction of higher authority, than that of the Mandarines of this city. Yesterday the news arrived, that a Ngan-yuen or a Grand Visitor is coming hither, whose name is Fung-ying; one that was a pupil of his father's, and highly esteemed by him^[5]. When he arrives, Kwo-khe-tzu intends to apply to him for his authority to conclude the marriage: which he will have compleated at your own house. Now as your father is not at home, and as I am a private person without any habit, and you a young woman of sixteen or seventeen years, how will you be able to manage this matter?" "Uncle, replied the young lady, this Mandarine comes with the Emperor's commission, and will doubtless act conformably to it. He is sent to supervise the province, and to rectify whatever is amiss. But I imagine he will exceed the bounds of his commission, if he comes here to offer any violence. Now marriage is an affair of private concern, and no way relates to the business of his office: nor is he any ways required to interpose in it. Should he therefore be wrought upon in the manner you threaten, he may not perhaps see himself in his post at the expiration of the year. But he is a man of understanding, and will not break the Emperor's laws: or even if he should, let us not be afraid."

"You affect to speak in a very lofty strain, said her uncle; and talk of not fearing. When you come before the Grand Visitor, should he speak but two words with authority and justice, will not you be afraid? Certainly you will be very much frighted." "True, she replied, when it is with justice. Every body is afraid that is guilty: but who is concerned that is altogether innocent? You must not talk of this Mandarine only: but was it the Emperor himself, I should not fear: nor will I be terrified so far as to give myself up to the loss of my happiness^[6]." "To me, said Shuey-guwin, you may talk in this manner. It would excite the laughter of any one else. What I tell you proceeds from friendship; regard it as you please: but when the time comes, you must not blame me: nor can you deny I have given you warning." "It is an old saying, replied his niece, Every one hath an understanding, a memory, and a will to direct him^[7]. If you do not comprehend this, there is another common saying, that Every one knows his own necessity, whether it be hunger, cold, or heat. Be pleased therefore, Sir, to manage your own affairs. Your niece knows how to observe that which is lawful, just, and reasonable. Whatever I do, whether it be well or ill, whether it prove unfortunate or happy, let it not affect you with any concern."

These words seemed to Shuey-guwin like the keen edge of swords dividing an iron bar. He looked very stern and out of humour, and rising up from his seat, said, "All I have told you proceeds from good will. A village mouth is good physic^[8]. You may hearken to my words or not, as you please." He then went away, resolving to urge Kwo-khe-tzu to prosecute the affair with the utmost rigour^[9].

It was about two months after this, that the Grand Visitor arrived. Kwo-khe-tzu went two leagues out of the city to meet him^[10]: and made him a great many presents and entertainments. That Mandarine thought himself very much obliged by these civilities, and expressed a concern that he did not know how to return them: telling him that as he was but just arrived from the court^[11], he had nothing to present him worth his acceptance; he desired him therefore to point out some way in which he could do him service. Kwo-khe-tzu answered, "Sir, you are a person of high quality and office. How can I presume to ask you any favour?" "Do not consider me in that distant light, replied the other, but rather as your intimate friend, to whom you may speak with intire freedom." "You do me a great deal of honour, replied the youth; there is indeed one thing which intimately concerns my welfare, and sits nearest to my heart. Could I but obtain your assistance in that—" The Mandarine desired to be informed what it was. "My father, he replied, is in a public employment; which so intirely engrosses his attention, that he hath none to bestow on the affairs of his family. For this reason, I am not yet married^[12]."

"What, said the other, have you yet made no offer of marriage to any one's daughter?" "Yes, he replied, I have; but the lady whom I would wish to marry, hath refused me; and therefore I intreat you to interpose in my favour."

When the Grand Visitor heard these words he laughed aloud, and said, "There is something very singular and strange in all this. Your father is a minister of the first rate. You are a young man of quality. Who can refuse to marry with you? Pray whose daughter have you applied to, that you have been so unsuccessful?" He replied, "To the daughter of Shuey-keu-yeh, assistant to the tribunal of arms." "Her father, said the Mandarine, hath long been banished into Tartary^[13]. Who takes care of his house? Is it her mother? She I suppose will not give her consent." Kwo-khe-tzu answered, "Her mother hath been dead many years. There is no one left here beside this young person. It is she herself who refuses my offer." "How! said the other, she, who is a young maiden! how can she refuse you? I fancy when you made your offer, or gave your present, she might know nothing of it." "My Lord, replied the youth, she knew it very well: but hath always been endeavouring to play me tricks." "If it be so, said the Grand Visitor, why did not you apply to the Che-foo and Che-hien, and get them to manage this business for you?" "I have applied to them both, said he, but she esteeming their offices but small, paid little regard to them. I therefore now have recourse to your lordship: and beg you will compleat this affair in my behalf. This will lay me under the greatest obligation as long as I live." "To promote marriage, said the Grand Visitor, is a thing highly good and charitable. I see nothing wrong in the affair in question: and therefore will undertake it for you. Who was your mediator or bridesman^[14] before? Perhaps he did not make the offer clearly understood." The other told him, it was the Pao Che-hien, who carried the present himself to her house; which in her father's absence, was received by her uncle: and that every body knew this to be matter of fact. "If it be so, replied the Mandarine, I will issue out an order to-morrow, impowering you to go and carry her home to your house in order to marry her." "Should I go for her, replied the other, she would never be prevailed on to enter the chair: but would doubtless contrive some way to escape. I only beg the favour of you to let me go to her house and solemnize the marriage there." The Grand Visitor replied, "Very well: you may do so." Having finished their discourse on this and other subjects, and the entertainment being ended; Kwo-khe-tzu retired.

Within two days the Grand Visitor performed his promise, and sent a chop or order to the Che-hien, as follows.

"I, the Ngan-yuen or Grand Visitor, signify, that as marriage was the first law or contract in the world, the time for solemnizing it should not be neglected: therefore as Kwo-khe-tzu son of Kwo-sho-fu hath made offers and presents to the daughter of Shuey-keu-yeh, which treaty of marriage was under the direction of you the Che-hien; the marriage-present being carried by yourself: and it being requisite that they should now proceed to the completion of the same, I therefore command and authorize the said Kwo-khe-tzu, now in the absence of her father, to go to the house of his bride and marry her there: it being a thing good and laudable. And you the Che-hien are hereby required not to delay the execution of this order beyond the space of one month, under pain of prosecution for default thereof."

The Pao Che-hien when he had received this order and read it, saw plainly it was the contrivance of Kwo-khe-tzu. Yet to go and lay open the whole affair, he thought would expose him to that young man's resentment. On the other hand, the Grand Visitor would be apt to call him to account, whenever the truth should be discovered. After some deliberation therefore, he resolved to send a private account to that Mandarine of what he knew of the matter: which was conceived in these terms.

"This is to acquaint your Excellency^[15], in answer to your chop or order: that I was indeed the person who undertook the treaty of marriage you mention. The other persons concerned were Kwo-khe-tzu and Shuey-guwin. The young lady opposed it, as a thing she disliked: for which reason it yet remains in dispute, and unfinished. Yesterday I received an order to see the marriage concluded, which it behoves me to obey. But I am sensible that she is still very averse to it: and therefore lest any difficulty or disgrace should happen, which may extend so far as to reflect upon your Excellency, I have ventured to give you this information; which I hope you will not take amiss. Nevertheless be it done according to your pleasure."

When the Grand Visitor received this letter, he was very angry with the Che-hien. "What! said he, am I in this great office, and have every thing at my disposal, even life and death, and yet am not able to prevail in so inconsiderable an affair, as the marriage of a filly girl, daughter of a banished criminal? It would be an affront to my dignity to pay any regard to her weak reasoning and trifling arguments." Accordingly he dispatched a second order to the Che-hien, which was to this purpose.

"If Shuey-ping-sin did not consent to the marriage, why did you make yourself the bridesman? You seem determined to perplex and disturb me. You are therefore hereby required to go once more to her house, and acquaint her that she must marry Kwo-khe-tzu without farther delay. If she refuses, bring her before me."

The Che-hien when he had received this second order, and observed it to run in very positive terms, such as would admit of no evasion, went in the first place to the house of Kwo-khe-tzu, and gave him notice that he was required to marry within the space of one month. He answered very joyfully, "Ay, ay! with all my heart." From thence he went to the house of Shuey-ping-sin: and bade a servant inform her, that he was come to speak with her by the Grand Visitor's order. The young lady, who knew well enough what was in agitation, commanded two of her servants to fix up the curtain in the great hall; and, as soon as it was let down, she entered. Then she bade one of them go to the Che-hien, and desire him to inform her in plain terms what was the purport of the order he had brought. He replied, "It is concerning your marriage with Kwo-khe-tzu. When I interposed at first, you shewed such aversion to it, that he hath for a long time desisted. But this great Mandarine, who is newly arrived, was a pupil of his father, and therefore hath been prevailed on to lend his countenance and assistance to have the marriage at length compleated. Yesterday I received an order requiring me to give notice to you both, that it must be concluded within the space of one month. I am just come from the house of Kwo-khe-tzu, whom I have advised of it. And I now wait upon you on the same account, that you may be prepared accordingly." The young lady replied, "Far am I from objecting to so honourable a thing as matrimony. Only my father is not at home, and I have not his licence. I am not mistress of myself, therefore beg you will do me the favour to go and acquaint his Excellency of it." "This, said the Che-hien, is the second order I have received to this purpose. The first I set aside, and gave my reasons for it. After which I received a severe reprimand, together with this new order, which is very positive. I cannot presume therefore to say any thing more to him. But do as you please. I do not pretend to force your inclinations. I only give you notice, as I am in duty bound." She begged the favour to see the order itself, which was so absolute and positive. He called his secretary, and bade him deliver them both to her servant. When she had perused them, she said to the Mandarine: "The reason why I refused to marry Kwo-khe-tzu, was because my father was absent, and I had not his consent. Should I marry without it, I am afraid he will be very angry with me when he comes home. For my vindication therefore, be pleased to intreat the Grand Visitor to let the two orders remain in my hands: which will declare plainly the conduct of the whole affair; and that it is done by his Excellency's appointment." The Che-hien consented to leave them with her, and promised to acquaint the Grand Visitor with her request, telling her he doubted not but that Mandarine would either permit her to keep them, or afford some other way for her to shew the reasons of her conduct.

"How is this, said the Che-hien when he was withdrawn, that the young lady so suddenly accepts of Kwo-khe-tzu! Is it this superior authority, which hath made her comply? or hath she any other design which I cannot discover? I imagined she had kept herself all along for the handsome stranger." He went immediately to the Grand Visitor and told him what she said. That Mandarine laughed, and was very well satisfied. "How came you the other day, said he, to send me word that she was very cunning and subtle, and altogether averse to this marriage? You see now she is all compliance. If she desires to keep the two orders by her, as a justification of her conduct, let it be granted." The Che-hien went immediately, and informed her of it. "You must not now, said he, change your resolutions. This is no longer the affair of Kwo-khe-tzu; but relates to the Grand Visitor himself. Let your house therefore be put in order, and when the bridegroom can fix on a fortunate day, I will wait upon you with previous notice." The young lady replied, "As this is his Excellency's order, I shall not disobey it or go from my word; though he himself possibly may." "How! said he, can so great a man vary in his resolutions? No, no! that cannot be. You may depend on his steadiness." Then withdrawing, he went to Kwo-khe-tzu, and gave him notice to choose a fortunate day to compleat his marriage. He believing that the young lady had consented, was very joyful, and hasted to provide and prepare things for his wedding.

CHAP. X.

The Grand Visitor seeing that Shuey-ping-sin had accepted his order, was very well pleased, and having now been a few days in possession of his post, opened his gates to administer justice. The first day that he gave audience, about fifty came to present their petitions. He received them all, and appointed them to attend a few days after, when they should have them considered. All the company retired except one young woman, who remained upon her knees. The servants of the audience on both sides bade her depart. She did not obey them: but rising up went still nearer to the tribunal. And then cried aloud, "I am the daughter of one under condemnation. For this reason I did not get up and depart: not daring to hide myself or fly from justice. I came here this day to end my life. By this means I shall neither disobey your Excellency's orders, nor yet offend my own honour." With these words she drew forth a knife or poinard, and was going to plunge it in her bosom^[16]. The sight of this very much surprized the Mandarine, who asked, Who she was, and what was the matter? "If you are injured, said he, I will redress you." At the same time he ordered his people to prevent her from doing herself any mischief. She replied, that she was daughter of the Mandarine Shuey-keu-ye, who was at present under sentence of banishment. "I am now, proceeded she, in my seventeenth year. My mother being dead and my father at a distance, I remain alone in my house a poor helpless maiden, observing the laws of virtue and modesty, as it becomes all young ladies to do. While I thus past my time in innocence, suspecting no harm, I have been treacherously persecuted by a youth, named Kwo-khe-tzu, who hath contrived a hundred ways to ensnare me; all which I have still endeavoured to avoid. For some time past he hath foreborne to trouble me: but there is lately arrived a Mandarine of great power and rank, who was his father's pupil. With this gentleman hath Kwo-khe-tzu lodged a petition, and obtained his favour: insomuch that the first thing he did after his coming, was to do violence to my inclinations by commanding me to marry this young man, contrary to all reason and law: [for he hath obtained no licence of father or mother: neither hath any mediator or bridesman interposed.] Two orders have been delivered out for that purpose. These I could not oppose, as being a young woman lone and friendless. But when I saw them, I was even bereaved of my life with apprehension and fear. Finding at length there was no other remedy, I sent my servant with a petition to Pe-king, with orders to strike on the Emperor's drum^[17]. He hath accordingly been gone three days. This procedure I imagine you can never pardon, and am therefore come here with a firm resolution to end my life in your presence." As soon she had spoken these words, she again attempted to stab herself with her poinard.

The Grand Visitor did not much regard what she said about Kwo-khe-tzu, but when he heard she had dispatched a servant to Pe-king, and saw her so resolutely determined to kill herself, he was seized with the greatest apprehensions. He begged her to forbear; saying, "How should I know what you have been telling me? Till now I never learned how the affair stood. But you have great reason for what you say. You must not offer any violence to yourself. I will take care you shall have justice done you. Yet there is one thing I must observe: you say you have licence of neither father nor mother; so far you are right: but that you had no mediator or bridesman, is not true." "The Pao Che-hien, replied the young lady, was indeed a bridesman, but not to me. He was such to my sister, my uncle's daughter^[18]: and her hath Kwo-khe-tzu accordingly married, and long since carried home to his house." "If it be so, said the Mandarine, you have great reason on your side. But why did not you deliver in a petition to me, and inform me truly of the case. Had this been done, the last order had never been issued out. Why were you so hasty to send away a petition to Pe-king?" "I should not have taken these measures, she replied, had I not seen how absolute your last order was: wherein too plainly appeared the interest my adversary had gained in you. Now if I had sent up no petition to the court, but had died here in obscurity, every thing had continued in impenetrable darkness, and there had remained nothing to clear up my fame and conduct." He told her, the injury she complained of was not of such consequence, but that he could have redressed it; so that she needed not have applied to the Emperor, or have carried matters so far. "As this, added he, is a trifling affair, I can hardly conceive how a petition could be drawn up without enlargement or misrepresentation; which must fall very heavy upon you when it comes to be read^[19]." She replied, "Why should I need to put any thing in it but matter of fact?" Then taking a paper out of her bosom, she presented it to him, as a true copy of what she had sent. He cast his eye over it, and found it contained a brief and succinct relation of the injustice done her, and by whom: informing his majesty, that before this could have reached his hands, she should have surrendered up her life, by killing herself before his tribunal: and that she sent her slave to fall down at his feet in order to petition for redress: and that though she should be laid in her tomb, her shade would still retain a grateful sense of the justice his majesty would do to her memory^[20].

The very sight of the address of this petition threw the Grand Visitor into a cold sweat, and made him shudder. At first he was disposed to chide her severely for a precipitancy so fatal. But fearing it should drive her to extremities, he thought it better to sooth her with gentle speeches. "When I came here, said he, I was utterly ignorant of this affair. Kwo-khe-tzu drew me designedly into it. I thought I was doing a good action in promoting a marriage. It was out of friendship and benevolence that I interposed. I find I have been mistaken; and was misinformed as well about the consent of your father and mother, as about the intervention of the bridesman. Lady, proceeded he, return home to your house. Rest easy and quiet. Think no more of the tricks which have been played you: for I will set forth an order forbidding any one to molest you, or to concern themselves in any wise farther on the subject of your marriage. In return for which I must intreat you to dispatch a messenger away to bring back your petition." She replied, "To deliver out such an order as you mention is all I can expect or desire of your Excellency; and will be such a mark of your goodness as will deserve my best thanks. But how shall I cause my servant to return, when he hath been gone already three days on his journey?" "I will undertake to do that, answered he, if you will but give me a description of his person and dress." Then calling some of the most capable men of his audience, he dispatched them away, with an account of the person they were to pursue, commanding them to travel night and day with all imaginable speed, 'till they had overtook him and brought him back with the young lady's petition. She then took her leave, and went home in a chair, which the Grand Visitor had prepared for her. There at present we shall leave her and return to the Che-hien, Shuey-guwin, and his son-in-law, none of whom had the least notice of what had happened.

On the contrary the latter of these was very joyfully employed in preparing things for his wedding, and in choosing out a fortunate or good day. Of which, as soon as it was concluded on, he gave notice to her uncle; who accordingly went to acquaint her with it, and to give her joy. At this Shuey-ping-sin laughed, and said, "What do you mean by a good day, and by giving me joy? Do you mean in this world or the other^[21]?" Shuey-guwin replied, "Oh niece! you may make a jest of it to me: but you must not trifle with the Grand Visitor. Do you consider that he is a great Mandarine and whatever he says is the same as if spoken by the Emperor himself. He hath power over life and death^[22]." She replied, "how should I make a jest of any thing to you, who are to me as a father. But the Grand Visitor that is now, is not the same that was the other day. He is quite changed, and become another person. To jest with the former is a thing of no consequence." "If you meant to make a jest of him, said her uncle, why did you accept the orders he issued out." "Uncle, said she, I took them merely to make a jest of them."

She had hardly spoke before a servant entered to acquaint her that the Grand Visitor had sent a paper of declaration. She asked of what nature. "Doubtless, said her uncle, it is to hasten the completion of your marriage. Let me go out and see what it contains." The young lady assented. He accordingly went into the great hall, and seeing the officers, asked them what they had to say to his niece. "I suppose it is to require her to prepare for her wedding." The officers told him it was not so. "Our master the Grand Visitor, said they, having been but a short time arrived, knew not how affairs stood with regard to the marriage of this young lady. He never suspected but she had licence from her father and mother to marry, and that the bridesman had been accepted. It was but yesterday he was informed of the truth. He now gives out this order and declaration, forbidding any one to concern himself or meddle with her, whether by laying claim to her, or otherwise forcing her to marry against her inclinations."

Shuey-guwin seeing the declaration and hearing what the officers said, was ready to die with fear, and utterly unable to answer one word: but taking the paper he went in and gave it to his niece. "Here, said he, is a declaration from the Grand Visitor; I know not what it contains." She accordingly opened it and read as follows.

"Whereas the Mandarine Shuey-keu-ye^[23] when banished into a distant country, left at home one only daughter, who hath not yet been presented in marriage^[24]; and whereas she, who is left thus alone and desolate, keepeth her house quietly in his absence, and observeth all the duties becoming a young woman: I hereby require and command the Che-foo and Che-hien to take particular care that she be no way molested; and that no one be suffered either by force or other unfair practice to endeavour to marry her. Upon the first notice that any presume to act contrary to this Order, let me be advised, and I shall prosecute them with the utmost rigour."

When she had read it, she smiled and said: "What is this to the purpose? This is not to frighten men but monkeys. However, as it is a proof of his good will, I shall esteem it a great favour." Then she ordered her servant to put two taels of silver in a red paper for the officers that brought the declaration, and five mace^[25] for the officers' servant. These she delivered to her uncle to give them. Not knowing how to refuse her, he quietly went and presented it to them, with his niece's thanks. Then he came back to her and said, "You were not mistaken when you said this Mandarine would change his sentiments. It is certain he hath now done it. But how comes he, that was before so pressing for the conclusion of your marriage, to give out now so contrary an order? This is what I cannot comprehend." His niece replied, "Where is the difficulty in this matter? He was then but just arrived, and esteeming me a poor silly girl, thought it was of no consequence what became of me. Then he only regarded Kwo-khe-tzu. But being now better informed; and finding that should he persist to offer me injustice, it would endanger his office; he hath altered his measures." "Your father, said Shuey-guwin, is not at home to protect you. What can you do of yourself? Can he be afraid of you?" She smiled and said, "Uncle, you must ask no farther questions. In a few days you will be better informed."

Upon this he left her, his imagination being wholly busied in unravelling an affair which seemed to him of inscrutable intricacy. Unable to fathom so great a mystery, he went to inform Kwo-khe-tzu of it. To the latter it appeared so incredible, that he openly professed he could not believe it. "Do you think I would deceive you, said Shuey-guwin? Was not I there myself? And did not I give her present to the servants? If you have any doubt of it, I would have you apply to the Grand Visitor himself. This I would also advise you to do, in order to learn the motives of his conduct." This advice appeared so reasonable to Kwo-khe-tzu, that he ordered his chair and went immediately.

That Mandarine had hitherto received him with the greatest kindness; and notwithstanding the most urgent business, always had him admitted. But now he sent an excuse, and said he had so many petitions and other affairs to dispatch, that he could not see him. Finding he could not gain admittance, Kwo-khe-tzu bowed and withdrew. The next morning he presented himself again, but still was answered that the Grand Visitor was prevented from seeing him by unavoidable business. He returned four or five days successively, but constantly received the same excuse. Surprized at this change, and enraged at the repeated mortifications he met with, "I will send a letter, said he, to my father at court, and acquaint him of the abuse and contempt I receive."

He was very much provoked and mortified: but what farther relates to him will be seen at large in Book the Third.

The End of Book the Second.

↑ Chap. X. In the Translator's manuscript.
↑ "Very ugly and nasty." Translator's M.S.
↑ In the Translator's M.S. it is, "He wrote them with a great or master pencil."
↑ The Chinese Idiom is, "You must not talk of his master pencil; he knows not how to use a little one." The Author of this History intended to sink these two characters very low in the opinion of his Readers, by representing them so illiterate in a country, where letters are in high repute, and also very common. For as the meanest may be candidates for degrees, many apply to letters, who being rejected at the examinations, have no other way to subsist, but by teaching others. There are few men therefore but can write and read in some degree. It is no less uncommon to find a woman that can do either. This must render the character of Shuey-ping-sin the more extraordinary. Yet a Chinese Moralist says, "You cannot commend a woman more, than to say she is not learned." See P. Magal. p. 88. P. Semedo, p. 58. P. Du Halde, vol. 2. p. 50. Lettres edif. xiii. 353. The Chinese in writing use no pens, but pencils made of the hair of some animal, commonly a rabbit. This pencil they hold not obliquely as painters use; but perpendicularly, as if they would prick the paper. The Reader perhaps needs not to be informed, that they write not from the left hand to the right, as we; nor from the right hand to the left, as the Hebrews; but in lines from the top of the leaf to the bottom, beginning at the right hand. The Chinese paper is not made of silk, as is commonly supposed; but of the inward bark of Bambu and several other trees; and is remarkable, not only in that they can make it into sheets of extraordinary size; but also that, after it hath been written on and worn to pieces, they can work it over again, and from the scraps make new paper. The Chinese paper hath a beautiful silken gloss, but it is thin, brittle, and not at all durable. (Lettres edif. xxi. 128.) Their ink (which is known in Europe by the name of Indian ink) is made of lamp-black, of which the best is got by burning old pines. They mix perfumes with it to correct the smell. These ingredients are worked into the consistence of paste, which is then put into wooden moulds of the shape they would have it. The Chinese standish is a little polished marble, with a hollow at one end to contain water: in this they dip their stick of ink and then rub it on the smooth part of the marble. The pencil, paper, ink and marble, are called by the Chinese see pau, or the four precious things; which they pique themselves on keeping very neat. Every thing which relates to letters is so reputable in China, that even the making of ink is not esteemed a mechanic employment. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 366-374.
↑ The employment of a Tutor or Preceptor is accounted very honourable in China, and many of those, who afterwards arrive to the greatest posts, employ in their younger years the intervals of study in instructing the children of great men, especially if they have not much substance of their own. The Parents maintain them, make them presents, treat them with great respect, and every where give them the upper hand: Sien-sing, our Master, our Doctor, is the name they give them. The Tutors not only teach their Pupils letters, but accompany them, and form their manners.—They instruct them not only in the history and laws of their country, but in the ceremonies, salutes, compliments and rules of visiting; these being no less the objects of study, and equally deemed to belong to learning. In return for all this care, and pains their Pupils treat them with the greatest reverence, bowing to them with four prostrations, as to their Father, and never addressing them with you or I. [See note above pag. 150. and note vol. 1. p. 202.] They also retain the highest respect for them as long as they live. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 375. P. Semedo, p. 36, 59, &c.
↑ In the original, "To the loss of myself."
↑ The original literally is, "Every one is governed [sc. directed] by an understanding, a memory, and a will." The meaning of this Proverb is doubtless, as given above. It contains a fine rebuke on such, as too forwardly take upon them to direct others.
↑ That is, The advice is commonly wholesome which flows from the mouth of the homely villager, whose simplicity of manners hath kept him unacquainted with the arts of falsehood: and therefore such advice is not to be rejected on account of the meanness of its author.
↑ Here follows in the original a very prolix and unimportant paragraph, wherein Shuey-guwin relates to his son-in-law all that had passed between him and his niece, and confirms him in his resolution of applying to the Ngan-yuen, &c. As there was nothing in the whole passage worth retaining, the Editor hath suppressed it: a liberty he hath sometimes taken elsewhere.
↑ When one of the superior Mandarines comes to take possession of his government, he is received with great pomp and state. When he is ready to set out from court, many of the officers of the tribunal go thither to attend him: others advance a great way to meet him, who as he passes from city to city is honourably accompanied both by horse and foot: and at least a league before he comes to the place where he is to reside, two or three thousand soldiers are marched out to receive him. After these follow all the Mandarines, and after them a vast concourse of people. P. Semedo, p. 128. P. Du Halde, &c.
↑ This will be accounted for, when we consider the expensive presents every Mandarine is obliged to make, who solicits for any government. There is not any government of a city or town, which does not cost the person, who is preferred to it, several thousands of crowns; sometimes twenty, sometimes 30,000, and so proportionably for all other offices great and small. To be a Viceroy of a province, before a Mandarine can have his commission sealed, will cost him sometimes 70,000 crowns. All this, under the specious name of presents, is given to the ministers of state, to the presidents of the six supreme councils, &c. &c. On the other hand the great Mandarines of the provinces, to reimburse themselves and to satisfy their avarice, extort presents from those under them; and these again replenish their purses at the expence of the miserable people. In short there is not any Viceroy, or Visitor of a province, who at the end of three years does not return with six or 700,000, and sometimes a million of crowns. So that it may be said of China, as it was of ancient Rome, "All things are there set to sale." See P. Magal. p. 134, &c.
↑ He means probably "not married to his satisfaction:" or perhaps he does not stick at a little falsehood.
↑ The Original is Pien-thing, i.e. out of China, or without the wall. Transl. Tartary is the common place of Banishment for the Chinese. See P. Du Halde, vol. 1. 229. Lettres edifiant. xvii. 114, &c. How grievous a punishment Banishment must be to them, we may easily conceive from their excessive fondness for their own country. [See Ogilbye, vol. 2. pag. 2. & 7.]
↑ The Chinese never marry (although the parents of the young people be never so intimate) without a Mediator, or one who goes between both parties: wherefore they choose whom they please, there being as well men, as women, who perform this office. P. Semedo, p. 71. Lettres edifiant. x. 140.
↑ Ngan Thai—Thai is as much as Excellency. Transl.
↑ It is worth observation that the Chinese, who are the most cowardly people in the world, are much addicted to Suicide, and none more than the females and most pusillanimous among them: and yet the love of life is one of the foibles of their character, in which they exceed all other nations; carrying it to such a height, that it is reckoned unpolite to mention Death in their hearing.—It is certain their language affords a thousand periphrases to soften the expression. Something hath happened to him: He is retired afar off in ascending: He hath reposed his chariot [or, as we should say, finished his carreer,] &c. are phrases they would use to avoid saying a person is dead: and these even in their Edicts and Memorials. Lettres edifiant. xxiii. 98. P. Du Halde, i. 280, 502, 544, 525, &c.
↑ Besides the Drum, some of the ancient Emperors had a Bell fixed at the gate of the palace, and a white Table. So that he, who chose not to speak with the Emperor in person, wrote his request on the latter, and it was instantly carried to him. But whoever would speak with him rang the bell or beat on the drum, and they were presently brought in and had personal audience. It is recorded of one of their first Emperors, that one day he rose from table twice at the sound of the bell, and another day left the bath three times to receive the complaints of the poor. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 146. It is pity so excellent an institution is no longer kept up. The drum still remains, but its use hath long been discontinued. P. Semedo tells us that during his residence, of two and twenty years, he never remembered it beaten upon above once; and then he that did it had his answer in bastinadoes, for having disturbed the Emperor, who was half a league off. This father was in China before the conquest of the Tartars in 1644, when the reigning family had quite shut themselves up from all public access, which was the cause of their ruin. The new succession of Emperors of the Tartar race have observed a very different conduct, often shewing themselves to the people, and attending to their grievances, but they have not revived the ancient practice in question, notwithstanding that the remembrance of it is still kept up. P. Gaubil, whose curious description of Pe-king was published last year in the Philosophical Transactions, tells us, that in the Pavillion, called Tchoua-kou-ting, there is "a drum, and that Mandarines and soldiers keep guard there day and night. In ancient times when any person had not justice done him, and thought himself oppressed, he went and beat this drum; at the sound of which the Mandarines ran, and were obliged to carry the complaint of the party oppressed to the great men or ministers, [rather to the Emperor. Vid. Author. infra citat.] At present the use of the drum is abolished: but it hath been thought proper to preserve this ancient monument of Chinese government." See Philos. Transact. Roy. Soc. for 1758, part 2d. P. Semedo, pag. 110. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 474, 523, &c.
↑ It is owing to the remains of the patriarchal authority, which so still remarkably prevails in the domestic and political conduct of the Chinese, and not to any defect in their language, that a Niece occasionally calls her uncle father, and her cousins brothers, and that an Uncle calls his niece daughter, &c. It is perhaps owing to a concurrence of both these causes, that some of the wild nations of North America do the same. See an account of the Iroquois in Lettres edifiant. xii. 144. As to the Chinese, there is no nation in the world where the various degrees of consanguinity are more accurately defined by particular names. We only use the word uncle to signify the Brothers of both Father and Mother: but in the Chinese language there are words not only to distinguish the Brothers of the Father from those of the Mother (as in the Latin) but also those which are Younger or Elder, than the Father or Mother. In like manner they have four different words to express the Grandfather and Grandmother of both sides. With the same exactness they express all the other degrees of affinity. See P. Magal. pag. 102. See Lettres edif. xv. 164. xxiii. 31.
↑ It may be thought a paradox to say, that the Chinese can inflict punishments or confer rewards after death: and yet 'tis certain they affect to do both. The Chinese are remarkably sollicitous about their sepulture; there are even sons who will sell themselves in order to bestow funeral honours on their parents. These honours are therefore by way of punishment sometimes denied the defunct, and their ashes are burnt and scattered in the air. The Chinese are no less greedy of rank and title; these again are sometimes cancelled after their death; and their memory is declared for ever infamous. On the other hand, it is not unusual for the Emperor to bestow both title and rank upon those who no longer exist to enjoy them: he issues out patents by which he raises the deceased to the dignity of Mandarines, and annexes honourable distinctions to their names. Nay when he is disposed to reward the services of his departed ministers by uncommon honours to their memory, it is not unfrequent by express patents to confer marks of distinction also on their fathers and grandfathers, and even female ancestors. [See copies of such patents in P. Du Halde, i. 271.] It is also customary to erect grand sepulchres for the deserving at the public expence, and for the greater honour the Emperor sometimes writes their elogium with his own hand: but the most signal mark of favour is to declare them Saints, to build them temples, and to sacrifice to them among their idols: Divinity being as easily communicated in China, as the quality of a Count or Marquis is in some countries of Europe. Lettres edifiant. xv. 131. xix. 78, &c. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. 306, 352, & ubi supra. P. Le Compte, ii. 59, &c.
↑ The literal translation is, "that although she was laid in her tomb, she should still have a grateful remembrance of the justice his majesty would do to her." Although it appears not that either Confucius, or the other ancient Chinese lawgivers, ever inculcated any notion of a future state, and although the modern Literati generally treat it all as fiction; [See note above pag. 169.] yet various doctrines relating to it prevail in China. The most general is that of the Bonzees or followers of FO, who teach that there is a paradise or delightful abode in the west, where FO waits to receive [the most distinguished of] his votaries, and to make them partakers of his bliss. On the other hand, that there is a hell beneath the earth, the abode of Yen or evil spirits, and under the dominion of a Yen-wang, or king of demons; and that there are Lo-han or spirits of destiny, whose business it is to convey the souls of men into their bodies at the moment of their birth, and to drag them away at the moment of death to the subterranean dominions, where [if they have deserved it] they are cruelly tormented by [the] other spirits. They believe hell to contain nine several compartments, and that after the soul hath passed through them all, it transmigrates into a new body (FO the author of this doctrine lived 500 years before PYTHAGORAS, who may therefore well be supposed to have picked it up in his travels into India, among the followers of FO, viz. Brachmans or Bramins.): if it hath behaved well in its former state, into that of a man, a prince, &c. if otherwise, into that of a beast, &c. They believe even brutes to be capable of future rewards and punishments; and that if they have been either more or less cruel than is suitable to their nature, they either become human creatures, or lose all existence. These opinions are so prevalent in China, that it is a common expression of acknowledgment for any favour, If after my death, my soul shall pass into the body of a dog or a horse, I shall be at your service. P. Du Halde, vol. 2. 67. The sect of Tao-tse also acknowledge a future glory and a hell: the glory to be conjoined to the body, not only in the other life, but in this; pretending that by certain exercises, meditations, or, according to some authors, by certain chymical secrets, a person may renew his youth and childhood, and even become one of the Sien-jin, that is, fortunate ones of the earth, [or according to P. Du Halde] immortal men, or flying immortals, so called because they never die, but fly from one mountain to another. This sect also make some profession of belief in a metempsychosis. See P. Du Halde, vol. 2. p. 168. See also on the above articles, P. Semedo, p. 99, 87. P. Du Halde, i. 646, 673, 675, &c. P. Magal. p. 74, &c. Such is the best account of this subject which the Editor hath been able to collect from various writers concerning China, who are all of them very confused and obscure on this article. It may perhaps give the Reader the clearest notion of what the Chinese generally believe concerning the soul and a future state, to subjoin a few passages from the writings of the Chinese themselves in their own words. "The reason [for setting up the image or tablet of a deceased ancestor, in order to reverence it] saith a Chinese writer quoted by P. Du Halde, is, because the soul or spirit of the dead being invisible, a child stands in need of a sensible object to put him in mind of his parents." Vol. 1. p. 300. In a Chinese novel, given by the same author, it is said of a Mandarine's lady, "She fainted away, and remained a long while in that condition, as if her three souls had intirely left her." Vol. 2. p. 162. In a memorial which a Mandarine makes to one of the Emperors, he thus apologizes for the freedom he had taken. "Being old and ready to join your father under the earth, I would prevent the reproaches he would make me did I hold my peace." Ibid. vol. 1. pag. 567. "Although I should not punish him, (saith the late Emperor Yong-ching in a declaration concerning one of his ministers) the soul of my father, which is in heaven [Lai-tien-chi-ting] doubtless sees clearly his criminal conduct, and will cause secretly to descend upon him the chastisement he deserves." Lettres edifiant. xxii. 194. "By digging up the dead (saith a Mandarine in a public edict) by stealing their bones, and by mixing them with those of beasts, they would cause the souls of the defunct to cast forth bitter cries." Lettres edifiant. xv. 131. "If the person guilty of imbruing his hands in the blood of another, be not punished with death, (saith a Chinese author) the ghost [manes lat.] of him, who was murthered, and which cries for justice, will never be at rest." P. Du Halde, vol. 2. p. 155. We may conclude this long note with observing, that no people are more superstitious than the Chinese in the article of apparitions, spectres, &c. and that they have a ridiculous opinion that the soul of a criminal, when he is executed, in passing out of the body falls upon the first persons it meets with, on whom it vents all its fury and loads with curses; especially those who have contributed to its punishment. And hence it is, that as soon as they see the stroke of death given, they run away with all their might. Lettres edifiant. xxvii. 398. See also P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 584. n. 646, 671. vol. 2. p. 78, 84, 123, &c. Lettres edif. xv. 134.
↑ In orig. Kin shih Lay shih.
↑ It belongs to the Visitor to cause the sentences of death passed throughout the whole province to be put in execution: in order to which he assigns the city whither, on a day appointed, all those that are condemned shall be brought to him, and there he is presented with a list of their names: then taking his pencil he marks six or seven of them, (if he prick down more he is counted cruel) these are presently carried to execution, the rest returned to their respective prisons. It belongs also to this Mandarine to visit the walls, castles, &c. He sets forth with a great train and pomp, having banners carried before him, and other ensigns of majesty. This is usually performed every year. P. Semedo, pag. 129. It seems to be this officer, whom P. Du Halde describes under the name of Ngan-cha-tse or The chief criminal judge of a province, [vol. 2. p. 299.] But according to this last author, unless in some extraordinary cases, wherein the Emperor permits execution on the spot, no Mandarine, or even Superior Tribunal, can pronounce definitive sentence of death. The judgments passed on all persons for capital crimes are to be examined, agreed to and subscribed by the Emperor. The late Emperor Yong-chin gave orders in 1725, that none should be put to death till after his trial was presented to him three times. When the crime is very enormous, the Emperor in signing the dead warrant, adds: As soon as this order shall be received, let him be executed without delay. Otherwise he writes, Let him be kept in prison, 'till autumn and then executed. There being a day fixed in autumn, whereon all capital offenders are put to death throughout the empire. See P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 313.
↑ In the original his title is given at length, viz. The Ping-pu Shuey-she-lang. That is, "Shuey, assistant to the tribunal of arms." The administration of the Chinese government is chiefly managed by six sovereign courts at Pe-king, called Leu-pu, whose power and authority extend over all the provinces of the empire. Each of these councils hath a president, whom they call Chang-shu (Written Cham-Xu and Xi-lam, by P. Semedo, after the manner of the Portuguese; with whom X hath the sound of SH; and M of NG. The not attending to this hath caused strange confusion in the orthography of Chinese names. See Dion. Kao, p. 124. note. and Mod. Univ. Hist. ubi supra.), who is a Mandarine of the first rank. It hath also two assistants or assessors; one of the left hand, called Co-she-lang; the other of the right, called Geu-she-lang; these are Mandarines of the second order. Excepting only that of Co-lau, these are the highest and most profitable offices of the whole empire; so that when a Viceroy of any province, even the most principal, is to be preferred, he esteems himself well provided for, if he be but made assessor of one of these councils. Which are as follows: 1. Li-pu, or tribunal of Mandarines. [See note p. 170.] 2. Hu-pu, or tribunal of the treasury. 3. Li-pu, or tribunal of rites. [See note p. 170.] 4. Ping-pu, or tribunal of arms. [See vol. 1. note p. 69.] 5. Hing-pu, or tribunal of crimes. [See vol. 3. chap. 7. note.] 6. Kong-pu, or tribunal of public works. Subordinate to these are forty-four Tribunals, each of which hath a President and at least six Councellors. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 248. P. Semedo, p. 124. N.B. It may be proper to mention here once for all, that the Mandarines are throughout this history always mentioned either with the title of their office subjoined to their first name, as, "The Shuey-she-lang;" "The Tieh-tu-yuen;" "The Kwo-hio-tse;" "The Fung-ngan-yuen," &c. Or else with the addition only of Lao-ye; as "Shuey-lao-ye," &c. [See note p. 184.] but to prevent confusion, the Editor hath chosen to retain every where their proper name only.
↑ i.e. who hath never yet accepted any nuptial present, or offer of marriage. See note vol. 1. p. 90.
↑ Two Taels are 13s. 4d.—Five Mace are 3s. 4d.

[1] Chap. X. In the Translator's manuscript.

[2] "Very ugly and nasty." Translator's M.S.

[3] In the Translator's M.S. it is, "He wrote them with a great or master pencil."

[4] The Chinese Idiom is, "You must not talk of his master pencil; he knows not how to use a little one." The Author of this History intended to sink these two characters very low in the opinion of his Readers, by representing them so illiterate in a country, where letters are in high repute, and also very common. For as the meanest may be candidates for degrees, many apply to letters, who being rejected at the examinations, have no other way to subsist, but by teaching others. There are few men therefore but can write and read in some degree. It is no less uncommon to find a woman that can do either. This must render the character of Shuey-ping-sin the more extraordinary. Yet a Chinese Moralist says, "You cannot commend a woman more, than to say she is not learned." See P. Magal. p. 88. P. Semedo, p. 58. P. Du Halde, vol. 2. p. 50. Lettres edif. xiii. 353. The Chinese in writing use no pens, but pencils made of the hair of some animal, commonly a rabbit. This pencil they hold not obliquely as painters use; but perpendicularly, as if they would prick the paper. The Reader perhaps needs not to be informed, that they write not from the left hand to the right, as we; nor from the right hand to the left, as the Hebrews; but in lines from the top of the leaf to the bottom, beginning at the right hand. The Chinese paper is not made of silk, as is commonly supposed; but of the inward bark of Bambu and several other trees; and is remarkable, not only in that they can make it into sheets of extraordinary size; but also that, after it hath been written on and worn to pieces, they can work it over again, and from the scraps make new paper. The Chinese paper hath a beautiful silken gloss, but it is thin, brittle, and not at all durable. (Lettres edif. xxi. 128.) Their ink (which is known in Europe by the name of Indian ink) is made of lamp-black, of which the best is got by burning old pines. They mix perfumes with it to correct the smell. These ingredients are worked into the consistence of paste, which is then put into wooden moulds of the shape they would have it. The Chinese standish is a little polished marble, with a hollow at one end to contain water: in this they dip their stick of ink and then rub it on the smooth part of the marble. The pencil, paper, ink and marble, are called by the Chinese see pau, or the four precious things; which they pique themselves on keeping very neat. Every thing which relates to letters is so reputable in China, that even the making of ink is not esteemed a mechanic employment. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 366-374.

[5] The employment of a Tutor or Preceptor is accounted very honourable in China, and many of those, who afterwards arrive to the greatest posts, employ in their younger years the intervals of study in instructing the children of great men, especially if they have not much substance of their own. The Parents maintain them, make them presents, treat them with great respect, and every where give them the upper hand: Sien-sing, our Master, our Doctor, is the name they give them. The Tutors not only teach their Pupils letters, but accompany them, and form their manners.—They instruct them not only in the history and laws of their country, but in the ceremonies, salutes, compliments and rules of visiting; these being no less the objects of study, and equally deemed to belong to learning. In return for all this care, and pains their Pupils treat them with the greatest reverence, bowing to them with four prostrations, as to their Father, and never addressing them with you or I. [See note above pag. 150. and note vol. 1. p. 202.] They also retain the highest respect for them as long as they live. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 375. P. Semedo, p. 36, 59, &c.

[6] In the original, "To the loss of myself."

[7] The original literally is, "Every one is governed [sc. directed] by an understanding, a memory, and a will." The meaning of this Proverb is doubtless, as given above. It contains a fine rebuke on such, as too forwardly take upon them to direct others.

[8] That is, The advice is commonly wholesome which flows from the mouth of the homely villager, whose simplicity of manners hath kept him unacquainted with the arts of falsehood: and therefore such advice is not to be rejected on account of the meanness of its author.

[9] Here follows in the original a very prolix and unimportant paragraph, wherein Shuey-guwin relates to his son-in-law all that had passed between him and his niece, and confirms him in his resolution of applying to the Ngan-yuen, &c. As there was nothing in the whole passage worth retaining, the Editor hath suppressed it: a liberty he hath sometimes taken elsewhere.

[10] When one of the superior Mandarines comes to take possession of his government, he is received with great pomp and state. When he is ready to set out from court, many of the officers of the tribunal go thither to attend him: others advance a great way to meet him, who as he passes from city to city is honourably accompanied both by horse and foot: and at least a league before he comes to the place where he is to reside, two or three thousand soldiers are marched out to receive him. After these follow all the Mandarines, and after them a vast concourse of people. P. Semedo, p. 128. P. Du Halde, &c.

[11] This will be accounted for, when we consider the expensive presents every Mandarine is obliged to make, who solicits for any government. There is not any government of a city or town, which does not cost the person, who is preferred to it, several thousands of crowns; sometimes twenty, sometimes 30,000, and so proportionably for all other offices great and small. To be a Viceroy of a province, before a Mandarine can have his commission sealed, will cost him sometimes 70,000 crowns. All this, under the specious name of presents, is given to the ministers of state, to the presidents of the six supreme councils, &c. &c. On the other hand the great Mandarines of the provinces, to reimburse themselves and to satisfy their avarice, extort presents from those under them; and these again replenish their purses at the expence of the miserable people. In short there is not any Viceroy, or Visitor of a province, who at the end of three years does not return with six or 700,000, and sometimes a million of crowns. So that it may be said of China, as it was of ancient Rome, "All things are there set to sale." See P. Magal. p. 134, &c.

[12] He means probably "not married to his satisfaction:" or perhaps he does not stick at a little falsehood.

[13] The Original is Pien-thing, i.e. out of China, or without the wall. Transl. Tartary is the common place of Banishment for the Chinese. See P. Du Halde, vol. 1. 229. Lettres edifiant. xvii. 114, &c. How grievous a punishment Banishment must be to them, we may easily conceive from their excessive fondness for their own country. [See Ogilbye, vol. 2. pag. 2. & 7.]

[14] The Chinese never marry (although the parents of the young people be never so intimate) without a Mediator, or one who goes between both parties: wherefore they choose whom they please, there being as well men, as women, who perform this office. P. Semedo, p. 71. Lettres edifiant. x. 140.

[15] Ngan Thai—Thai is as much as Excellency. Transl.

[16] It is worth observation that the Chinese, who are the most cowardly people in the world, are much addicted to Suicide, and none more than the females and most pusillanimous among them: and yet the love of life is one of the foibles of their character, in which they exceed all other nations; carrying it to such a height, that it is reckoned unpolite to mention Death in their hearing.—It is certain their language affords a thousand periphrases to soften the expression. Something hath happened to him: He is retired afar off in ascending: He hath reposed his chariot [or, as we should say, finished his carreer,] &c. are phrases they would use to avoid saying a person is dead: and these even in their Edicts and Memorials. Lettres edifiant. xxiii. 98. P. Du Halde, i. 280, 502, 544, 525, &c.

[17] Besides the Drum, some of the ancient Emperors had a Bell fixed at the gate of the palace, and a white Table. So that he, who chose not to speak with the Emperor in person, wrote his request on the latter, and it was instantly carried to him. But whoever would speak with him rang the bell or beat on the drum, and they were presently brought in and had personal audience. It is recorded of one of their first Emperors, that one day he rose from table twice at the sound of the bell, and another day left the bath three times to receive the complaints of the poor. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 146. It is pity so excellent an institution is no longer kept up. The drum still remains, but its use hath long been discontinued. P. Semedo tells us that during his residence, of two and twenty years, he never remembered it beaten upon above once; and then he that did it had his answer in bastinadoes, for having disturbed the Emperor, who was half a league off. This father was in China before the conquest of the Tartars in 1644, when the reigning family had quite shut themselves up from all public access, which was the cause of their ruin. The new succession of Emperors of the Tartar race have observed a very different conduct, often shewing themselves to the people, and attending to their grievances, but they have not revived the ancient practice in question, notwithstanding that the remembrance of it is still kept up. P. Gaubil, whose curious description of Pe-king was published last year in the Philosophical Transactions, tells us, that in the Pavillion, called Tchoua-kou-ting, there is "a drum, and that Mandarines and soldiers keep guard there day and night. In ancient times when any person had not justice done him, and thought himself oppressed, he went and beat this drum; at the sound of which the Mandarines ran, and were obliged to carry the complaint of the party oppressed to the great men or ministers, [rather to the Emperor. Vid. Author. infra citat.] At present the use of the drum is abolished: but it hath been thought proper to preserve this ancient monument of Chinese government." See Philos. Transact. Roy. Soc. for 1758, part 2d. P. Semedo, pag. 110. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 474, 523, &c.

[18] It is owing to the remains of the patriarchal authority, which so still remarkably prevails in the domestic and political conduct of the Chinese, and not to any defect in their language, that a Niece occasionally calls her uncle father, and her cousins brothers, and that an Uncle calls his niece daughter, &c. It is perhaps owing to a concurrence of both these causes, that some of the wild nations of North America do the same. See an account of the Iroquois in Lettres edifiant. xii. 144. As to the Chinese, there is no nation in the world where the various degrees of consanguinity are more accurately defined by particular names. We only use the word uncle to signify the Brothers of both Father and Mother: but in the Chinese language there are words not only to distinguish the Brothers of the Father from those of the Mother (as in the Latin) but also those which are Younger or Elder, than the Father or Mother. In like manner they have four different words to express the Grandfather and Grandmother of both sides. With the same exactness they express all the other degrees of affinity. See P. Magal. pag. 102. See Lettres edif. xv. 164. xxiii. 31.

[19] It may be thought a paradox to say, that the Chinese can inflict punishments or confer rewards after death: and yet 'tis certain they affect to do both. The Chinese are remarkably sollicitous about their sepulture; there are even sons who will sell themselves in order to bestow funeral honours on their parents. These honours are therefore by way of punishment sometimes denied the defunct, and their ashes are burnt and scattered in the air. The Chinese are no less greedy of rank and title; these again are sometimes cancelled after their death; and their memory is declared for ever infamous. On the other hand, it is not unusual for the Emperor to bestow both title and rank upon those who no longer exist to enjoy them: he issues out patents by which he raises the deceased to the dignity of Mandarines, and annexes honourable distinctions to their names. Nay when he is disposed to reward the services of his departed ministers by uncommon honours to their memory, it is not unfrequent by express patents to confer marks of distinction also on their fathers and grandfathers, and even female ancestors. [See copies of such patents in P. Du Halde, i. 271.] It is also customary to erect grand sepulchres for the deserving at the public expence, and for the greater honour the Emperor sometimes writes their elogium with his own hand: but the most signal mark of favour is to declare them Saints, to build them temples, and to sacrifice to them among their idols: Divinity being as easily communicated in China, as the quality of a Count or Marquis is in some countries of Europe. Lettres edifiant. xv. 131. xix. 78, &c. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. 306, 352, & ubi supra. P. Le Compte, ii. 59, &c.

[20] The literal translation is, "that although she was laid in her tomb, she should still have a grateful remembrance of the justice his majesty would do to her." Although it appears not that either Confucius, or the other ancient Chinese lawgivers, ever inculcated any notion of a future state, and although the modern Literati generally treat it all as fiction; [See note above pag. 169.] yet various doctrines relating to it prevail in China. The most general is that of the Bonzees or followers of FO, who teach that there is a paradise or delightful abode in the west, where FO waits to receive [the most distinguished of] his votaries, and to make them partakers of his bliss. On the other hand, that there is a hell beneath the earth, the abode of Yen or evil spirits, and under the dominion of a Yen-wang, or king of demons; and that there are Lo-han or spirits of destiny, whose business it is to convey the souls of men into their bodies at the moment of their birth, and to drag them away at the moment of death to the subterranean dominions, where [if they have deserved it] they are cruelly tormented by [the] other spirits. They believe hell to contain nine several compartments, and that after the soul hath passed through them all, it transmigrates into a new body (FO the author of this doctrine lived 500 years before PYTHAGORAS, who may therefore well be supposed to have picked it up in his travels into India, among the followers of FO, viz. Brachmans or Bramins.): if it hath behaved well in its former state, into that of a man, a prince, &c. if otherwise, into that of a beast, &c. They believe even brutes to be capable of future rewards and punishments; and that if they have been either more or less cruel than is suitable to their nature, they either become human creatures, or lose all existence. These opinions are so prevalent in China, that it is a common expression of acknowledgment for any favour, If after my death, my soul shall pass into the body of a dog or a horse, I shall be at your service. P. Du Halde, vol. 2. 67. The sect of Tao-tse also acknowledge a future glory and a hell: the glory to be conjoined to the body, not only in the other life, but in this; pretending that by certain exercises, meditations, or, according to some authors, by certain chymical secrets, a person may renew his youth and childhood, and even become one of the Sien-jin, that is, fortunate ones of the earth, [or according to P. Du Halde] immortal men, or flying immortals, so called because they never die, but fly from one mountain to another. This sect also make some profession of belief in a metempsychosis. See P. Du Halde, vol. 2. p. 168. See also on the above articles, P. Semedo, p. 99, 87. P. Du Halde, i. 646, 673, 675, &c. P. Magal. p. 74, &c. Such is the best account of this subject which the Editor hath been able to collect from various writers concerning China, who are all of them very confused and obscure on this article. It may perhaps give the Reader the clearest notion of what the Chinese generally believe concerning the soul and a future state, to subjoin a few passages from the writings of the Chinese themselves in their own words. "The reason [for setting up the image or tablet of a deceased ancestor, in order to reverence it] saith a Chinese writer quoted by P. Du Halde, is, because the soul or spirit of the dead being invisible, a child stands in need of a sensible object to put him in mind of his parents." Vol. 1. p. 300. In a Chinese novel, given by the same author, it is said of a Mandarine's lady, "She fainted away, and remained a long while in that condition, as if her three souls had intirely left her." Vol. 2. p. 162. In a memorial which a Mandarine makes to one of the Emperors, he thus apologizes for the freedom he had taken. "Being old and ready to join your father under the earth, I would prevent the reproaches he would make me did I hold my peace." Ibid. vol. 1. pag. 567. "Although I should not punish him, (saith the late Emperor Yong-ching in a declaration concerning one of his ministers) the soul of my father, which is in heaven [Lai-tien-chi-ting] doubtless sees clearly his criminal conduct, and will cause secretly to descend upon him the chastisement he deserves." Lettres edifiant. xxii. 194. "By digging up the dead (saith a Mandarine in a public edict) by stealing their bones, and by mixing them with those of beasts, they would cause the souls of the defunct to cast forth bitter cries." Lettres edifiant. xv. 131. "If the person guilty of imbruing his hands in the blood of another, be not punished with death, (saith a Chinese author) the ghost [manes lat.] of him, who was murthered, and which cries for justice, will never be at rest." P. Du Halde, vol. 2. p. 155. We may conclude this long note with observing, that no people are more superstitious than the Chinese in the article of apparitions, spectres, &c. and that they have a ridiculous opinion that the soul of a criminal, when he is executed, in passing out of the body falls upon the first persons it meets with, on whom it vents all its fury and loads with curses; especially those who have contributed to its punishment. And hence it is, that as soon as they see the stroke of death given, they run away with all their might. Lettres edifiant. xxvii. 398. See also P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 584. n. 646, 671. vol. 2. p. 78, 84, 123, &c. Lettres edif. xv. 134.

[21] In orig. Kin shih Lay shih.

[22] It belongs to the Visitor to cause the sentences of death passed throughout the whole province to be put in execution: in order to which he assigns the city whither, on a day appointed, all those that are condemned shall be brought to him, and there he is presented with a list of their names: then taking his pencil he marks six or seven of them, (if he prick down more he is counted cruel) these are presently carried to execution, the rest returned to their respective prisons. It belongs also to this Mandarine to visit the walls, castles, &c. He sets forth with a great train and pomp, having banners carried before him, and other ensigns of majesty. This is usually performed every year. P. Semedo, pag. 129. It seems to be this officer, whom P. Du Halde describes under the name of Ngan-cha-tse or The chief criminal judge of a province, [vol. 2. p. 299.] But according to this last author, unless in some extraordinary cases, wherein the Emperor permits execution on the spot, no Mandarine, or even Superior Tribunal, can pronounce definitive sentence of death. The judgments passed on all persons for capital crimes are to be examined, agreed to and subscribed by the Emperor. The late Emperor Yong-chin gave orders in 1725, that none should be put to death till after his trial was presented to him three times. When the crime is very enormous, the Emperor in signing the dead warrant, adds: As soon as this order shall be received, let him be executed without delay. Otherwise he writes, Let him be kept in prison, 'till autumn and then executed. There being a day fixed in autumn, whereon all capital offenders are put to death throughout the empire. See P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 313.

[23] In the original his title is given at length, viz. The Ping-pu Shuey-she-lang. That is, "Shuey, assistant to the tribunal of arms." The administration of the Chinese government is chiefly managed by six sovereign courts at Pe-king, called Leu-pu, whose power and authority extend over all the provinces of the empire. Each of these councils hath a president, whom they call Chang-shu (Written Cham-Xu and Xi-lam, by P. Semedo, after the manner of the Portuguese; with whom X hath the sound of SH; and M of NG. The not attending to this hath caused strange confusion in the orthography of Chinese names. See Dion. Kao, p. 124. note. and Mod. Univ. Hist. ubi supra.), who is a Mandarine of the first rank. It hath also two assistants or assessors; one of the left hand, called Co-she-lang; the other of the right, called Geu-she-lang; these are Mandarines of the second order. Excepting only that of Co-lau, these are the highest and most profitable offices of the whole empire; so that when a Viceroy of any province, even the most principal, is to be preferred, he esteems himself well provided for, if he be but made assessor of one of these councils. Which are as follows: 1. Li-pu, or tribunal of Mandarines. [See note p. 170.] 2. Hu-pu, or tribunal of the treasury. 3. Li-pu, or tribunal of rites. [See note p. 170.] 4. Ping-pu, or tribunal of arms. [See vol. 1. note p. 69.] 5. Hing-pu, or tribunal of crimes. [See vol. 3. chap. 7. note.] 6. Kong-pu, or tribunal of public works. Subordinate to these are forty-four Tribunals, each of which hath a President and at least six Councellors. P. Du Halde, vol. 1. p. 248. P. Semedo, p. 124. N.B. It may be proper to mention here once for all, that the Mandarines are throughout this history always mentioned either with the title of their office subjoined to their first name, as, "The Shuey-she-lang;" "The Tieh-tu-yuen;" "The Kwo-hio-tse;" "The Fung-ngan-yuen," &c. Or else with the addition only of Lao-ye; as "Shuey-lao-ye," &c. [See note p. 184.] but to prevent confusion, the Editor hath chosen to retain every where their proper name only.

[24] .e. who hath never yet accepted any nuptial present, or offer of marriage. See note vol. 1. p. 90.

[25] Two Taels are 13s. 4d.—Five Mace are 3s. 4d.

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Hao Qiu Zhuan/en-wilkinson/Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Feigned Earnestness Before the Provincial Inspector: Turning the Tables

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