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CHAP. V.

MANNERS AND AMUSEMENTS OF THE COURT-RECEPTION OF EMBASSADORS--CHARACTER AND PRIVATE LIFE OF THE EMPEROR--HIS EUNUCHS AND WOMEN.

General Character of the Court.-Of the Buildings about the Palace.-Lord Macartney's Account of his Introduction.-Of the Celebration of the Emperor's anniversary Festival.-Of a Puppet-Show.-Comedy and Pantomime.— Wrestling.-Conjuring and Fire-Works.-Reception and Entertainment of the Dutch Embassadors, from a Manuscript Journal.-Observations on the State of the Chinese Stage.-Extraordinary Scene in one of their Dramas.Gross and indelicate Exhibitions.-Sketch of Kien-Long's Life and Character-Kills his Son, by an unlucky Blow-conceives himself immortal.-Influence of the Eunuchs at the Tartar Conquest-their present State and Offices.-Emperor's Wife, Queens, and Concubines.-How disposed of at his Death.

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AFTER the sketch I have exhibited of the state of society among the different ranks in China, a tolerable notion may be formed of the general character and complexion of the court. It is, as Lord Macartney has justly observed, “ a singular mixture of ostentatious hospitality and inbred suspicion, ceremonious civility and real rudeness, shadowy complaisance and substantial perverseness; and this prevails through all the departments connected with the court, although somewhat modified by the personal disposition of "those at their head: but as to that genuine politeness, which distinguishes our manners, it cannot be expected in Orien "tals, considering, among other things, the light in which they are accustomed to regard the female part of society. Whether the great ministers of state, who have daily intercourse in the different tribunals, sometimes relax from the stiff and formal deportment observed towards each other in public, I am not able to say; but, when at court, they invariably observe certain stated forms and expressions, as studied and ceremonious as if they had never met before. It appeared to us highly ridiculous to see our friends, the two colleagues Van

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R

ta-gin and Chou-ta-gin, on meeting in the precincts of the palace, performing to each other all the genuflexions and motions of the body which the ceremonial institutes of the empire require.

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

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

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

For reasons of state, which will be noticed hereafter, the emperor rarely shews himself in public among the Chinese part of his subjects, except on such occasions; and even then the exhibition is confined within the precincts of the palace, from which the populace are entirely excluded. Consistent with their system of sumptuary laws, there is little external appearce of pomp or magnificence in the establishment of the empor. The buildings that compose the palace, and the furniture within them, if we except the paint, the gilding, and the varnish, that appear on the houses of even plebeians, are equally void of unnecessary and expensive ornaments. Those who should rely on the florid relations, in which the missionaries and some travellers have indulged, in their descriptions of the palaces of Pekin and those of Yuen-min-yuen, would experience, on visiting them, a woful disappointment. These buildings, like the common habitations of the country, are all modelled after the form of a tent, and are magnificent only by a comparison with the others, and by their number, which is sufficient, indeed, to form a town of themselves. Their walls are higher than those of ordinary houses, their wooden columns of greater diameter, their roofs are immense, and a greater variety of painting and gilding may be bestowed on the dif ferent parts; but none of them exceeds one story in height; and they are jumbled and surrounded with mean and insignificant hovels. Some writer has observed that the king of England is worse lodged at Saint James's palace than any sovereign in Europe. Were I to compare some of the imperial palaces in China to any royal residence in Europe, it would certainly be to Saint James's; but the apartments, the furni ture, and conveniences of the latter, bad as they are, infinitely transcend any of those in China. The stone or clay floors are indeed sometimes covered with a carpet of English broadcloth, and the walls papered; but they have no glass in the windows, no stoves, fire-places, or fire-grates in the rooms; no sofas, bureaux, chandeliers, nor looking-glasses; no bookcases, prints, nor paintings. They have neither curtains nor sheets to their beds; a bench of wood, or a platform of brickwork, is raised in an alcove, on which are mats, or stuffed mattresses, hard pillows, or cushions, according to the season of the year; instead of doors they have usually skreens, made of the fibres of bamboo. In short, the wretched lodgings of the state-officers at the court of Versailles, in the time of the

French monarchy, were princely palaces, in comparison of those allotted to the first ministers of the emperor of China, in the capital, as well as at Yuen-min-yuen.

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

into common use,

As the ready compliance of the late Dutch embassadors with all the degrading ceremonies required by the Chinese, added to their constant residence in the capital, gave them more opportunities of observing the manners and the amusements of the court than occurred to the British embassy, I shall here avail myself of that part of a journal relating to this subject, which was kept by a young gentleman in the suite of the former, and whose accuracy of observation may be depended on. The account given by him of the new year's festival, added to Lord Macartney's description of his introduction and the birth-day solemnities, which his lordship has obligingly permitted me to extract from his journal, together with my own observations at the palace of Yuen-minyuen, will serve to convey a tolerably exact idea of the state, pleasures, and amusements, of the great monarch of China.

"On the 14th September," observes his lordship, "at "four o'clock in the morning, we set out for the court, under "the convoy of Van-ta-gin and Chou-ta-gin, and reached it "in little more than an hour; the distance being about three "miles from our hotel. We alighted at the park-gate, from "whence we walked to the imperial encampment, and were “conducted to a large handsome tent prepared for us, on one "side of the emperor's. After waiting there about an hour, "his approach was announced by drums and music, on which "we quitted our tent, and came forward upon the green

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"carpet. He was seated in an open palankeen, carried by six"teen bearers, attended by numbers of officers bearing flags, "standards, and umbrellas; and, as he passed, we paid him "our compliments, by kneeling on one knee, whilst all the "Chinese made their usual prostrations. As soon as he had "ascended his throne, I came to the entrance of his tent, and, holding in both my hands a large gold box, enriched with "diamonds, in which was enclosed the king's letter, I walked deliberately up, and, ascending the steps of the throne, deli"vered it into the emperor's own hands, who, having received "it, passed it to the minister, by whom it was placed on the "cushion. He then gave me, as the first present from him to "his majesty, the eu-shee, or symbol of peace and prosperity, "and expressed his hopes that my sovereign and he should always live in good correspondence and amity. It is a "whitish agate-looking stone, perhaps serpentine, about a "foot and a half long, curiously carved, and highly prized by "the Chinese; but to me it does not appear, in itself, to be of any great value.

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"The emperor then presented me with an eu-shee of a "greenish-coloured serpentine stone, and of the same emble"matic character: at the same time he very graciously re"ceived from me a pair of beautiful enamelled watches, set “with diamonds, which, having looked at, he passed to the minister.

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"Sir George Staunton (whom, as he had been appointed "minister plenipotentiary, to act in case of my death or departure, I introduced to him as such) now came forward, "and after kneeling upon one knee, in the same manner as I "had done, presented to him two elegant air-guns, and re"ceived from him an eu-shee of greenish stone, nearly similar "to mine. Other presents were sent, at the same time, to all "the gentlemen of my train. We then descended from the steps of the throne, and sat down upon cushions at one of "the tables on the emperor's left-hand. And at other tables, according to their different ranks, the chief Tartar princes and the mandarins of the court at the same time "took their places; all dressed in the proper robes of their respective ranks. These tables were then uncovered, and "exhibited a sumptuous banquet. The emperor sent us se"veral dishes from his own table, together with some liquors,

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